premium design and incredible camera

Xiaomi is one of the most popular mobile phone companies in Europe. During its seven years of existence in our country, it has managed to compete several times with Samsung for leadership as the company that sells the most mobile phones in our market, although the Korean brand is the one of the largest in the world.

One of the strategies that worked best for the company led by Lei Jun was to offer mid-range mobile phones with a very good price and superior performance to its competitors. This is the essence of the Redmi family, which has been established for some time as an independent brand, although in Europe it is still considered a subsidiary of Xiaomi.

It is this family that the company wanted to promote in Europe, where the price of the products is very important. Much of Xiaomi's success before its official launch in this market lay in the low price of its imported products. Now he seeks to repeat the feat with the new Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 series. In EL ESPAÑOL – El Androide Libre we have succeeded a week with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro+ (from 479 dollars), the flagship of this family, a mobile phone which increasingly resembles high-end terminals.

A curved design

A few years ago, the various manufacturers mainly opted for curved screens for high-end mobile phones. It was an image exercise, boasting about what they could achieve. The problem is that usability sometimes suffered and more and more users demanded flat screens.

However, we are now seeing the same movement, but halfway. The Redmi Note 14 Pro+ is a good example. Uses a noticeably curved screen on its two largest sideswhich makes it easier to use gestures, but more difficult to write when you have to press keys close to the edge.

Analysis of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro+

Alvarez del Vayo

The back is also curved in the same waymaking it more comfortable to hold. This is where attention is drawn to the new camera module, which is reminiscent of the POCO X7. However, the overall design isn't particularly striking, although it's not ugly either. One of the things that caught our attention the most is that, although it keeps both speakers, the infrared sensor has been removedone of those features that mid-range Xiaomi phones had and high-end phones lost years ago. AND the same thing happened with the microSD slot.

Fortunately, in this high-end approach, things have also been gained, such as Water resistance IP68. Its predecessor, the Redmi Note 13 Pro+, already had it, but Xiaomi wants to improve the durability of its phones, and this is a good way to do it.

Additionally, the design and construction of the new phones, particularly the Note 14 Pro+, contributes to this. In the presentation of these models We were able to see how they were put to the test by throwing them on the ground, with no major issues.. It wasn't broken, dented or scratched. This obviously does not mean that the mobile phone is unbreakable, but it does mean that it will resist accidental falls better than others.

Correct performance

The year 2025 will be remembered as the year of the great leap forward in the power of high-end mobile phones. Processors such as the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 or the Snapdragon 8 Elite are responsible for this. The power jump is noticeable and increases the difference with the mid-range.

The Redmi Note 14 Pro+ uses the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processora chipset that does what you can ask of it. We have done several tests and it is even possible to play with it without problem. The fact is that the transition from high to average is now much more noticeable, due more to the merit of the former than to the demerit of the latter. There are different versions, with 8, 12 and 16 GB of RAM and 256 and 512 GB of internal memory.

By this we don't mean that this model lacks power, as it didn't cause us any lag, crashes or the like. What we want to emphasize is that if you are looking for maximum power, phones like the Xiaomi 15 will be the ones we should look for. That said, Is more power necessary for most users? At all. Even those who like demanding games can use this terminal as their primary device.

Large screen

The panel of the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ is made up of 6.67 inchesbut it looks bigger. It's a good quality screen, with a OLED panel with FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, with a peak brightness of 3,000 nitsalthough only occasionally. Nevertheless, we are talking about screens that a few years ago were not even seen at the high end.

The visual experience is very good, although The curvature of the sides sometimes makes reflections more visible. This is not a failure of Xiaomi, but something that needs to be addressed if you choose to use this type of curvature.

A fingerprint sensor has also been integrated under the sameone that works surprisingly fast, and which we can easily configure to use to launch applications without first unlocking the mobile and even to measure the pulse, although some are experimental functions.

¡Optical zoom!

One of the flaws we saw in the mid-range compared to more expensive phones was the lack of a dedicated zoom. The quality of the cameras was sometimes up to par, but his versatility has been affected due to the absence of this sensor. In the case of Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro+ is not like that.

He has a 200 Mpx main camera, And 8MP wide angle and a third sensor, 50 Mpx also with 2.5x optical zoom. It's not the most powerful in the world but it is appreciated. This is one more step after seeing it in the Xiaomi T family a few years ago, and it finally reaches a mid-range mobile phone family.

The camera system definitely surprised us. To start, we have an app that takes photos quickly. Consistency between cameras is good and the images use the same colors, contrast, brightness… It is true that at night the wide angle suffers more, due to its aperture and its resolution, but it remains compliant given the category of the terminal. As for video, it also records decently, although the optical stabilization is more visible than in other models.

In front we have a 20 Mpx camera that takes very good selfies and also video recordings. Xiaomi continues to be one of the brands that takes the most care of this section of its mobile phones, and the truth is that it is appreciated. Yes indeed, we will not be able to record 4K video with this camera.

Battery Changes

In recent months we have seen how many Chinese brands have chosen to integrate high capacity batteries into their best mobile phones. We've seen 6,000 and 7,000 mAh models. However, European regulations are not as lax as Chinese regulationsthat's why some devices arrived in our market with less battery. Additionally, Xiaomi is studying the market to see if it is interested in larger batteries.

This is the case of this Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro+, which in China has a 6,200 mAh battery and 90 W fast charging and is now arriving in Europe with 5,110 mAh and 120 W fast charging. Of course, in our case, in addition to having a smaller capacity, it comes without a charger in the box, again due to European regulations.

The autonomy of this model is, however, more than notable. We have enough energy to get through the day and, depending on what we do and whether we use our cell phone more indoors than outdoors, we can reach two days chargeor at least charge it every other evening.

Still with Android 14

Xiaomi took an important step by leaving MIUI aside and betting on a new system, which not only changed its name, but also became the center of the brand's ecosystem. HyperOS has been with us for some time and is the system of this Redmi Note 14 Pro+.

The downside is that this mobile arrives with Android 14, not Android 15although three years of major updates are expected. Overall, Xiaomi is not a brand that favors this, and even less so in the mid-range. However, the average user doesn't like it enough to make it a reason to buy. The company confirms that Android 15 will arrive alongside HyperOS 2.0, but there's no date yet.

The system works well and has no incompatibilities or issues. Integration with the rest of Xiaomi products is strengthened and this will only increase since the company has one of its main differential values ​​there. Of course, AI functions will be present, especially in the camera app and the photo editing app, since the company seeks to democratize these features so that not only premium mobile users can access them. Of course, these features will arrive in an OTA on January 31, so we haven't been able to test them.

Should I buy it?

Redmis are almost always recommended cell phones. In the case of the best in the family, price is usually the only drawback. However, in this case, It's so close to the high end that even its cost isn't a reason to throw it away..

Un Redmi con teleobjetivo, con mucha carga rápida, con resistencia al agua y al polvo… Sí, es cierto que aún carece de algunas funciones propias de móviles de 1.000 dollars, pero tampoco cuesta lo mismo. Como siempre, habrá usuarios que queden satisfechos con el Redmi Note 14, o con el Redmi Note 14 Pro, pero sólo por la presencia del teleobjetivo ya podríamos decir que este modelo merece más la pena que sus hermanos menores.