Redmi Note 14 Pro+ full review

The mid-range smartphone market in India has just given us one last major launch before we head into 2025, and that is the new Redmi Note 14 series phones.

Armed with more performance and a better camera as always, the new Redmi Note smartphones also put aspects like the design and battery life in the crosshairs. Naturally, the asking price has gone up, and the new Redmi Note 14 Pro+, the top-end model in the series now costs above Rs 30,000.

“But, it’s still a Redmi Note phone, so should I be spending that kind of money over it?” is what you’re probably thinking right now. Well, as someone who has now used the phone thoroughly for a few weeks, I have exactly the answers you’re looking for – check out our detailed Redmi Note 14 Pro+ review.

Redmi Note 14 Pro+ design

The design of the phone has had us in splits since setting our sights on all three phones in the Note 14 family. While the metallic finish on the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ looks premium, I actually like the premium-feeling vegan leather finish on the Note 14 Pro more.

The textured finish also makes gripping the phone easy. It would have been great to have at least one vegan leather finish option on the top-end Pro+. Sadly, that isn’t the case.

But it’s not all bad news. The Redmi Note 14 Pro+ has the most curved display panel in the lineup – something that adds to its premium-ness, and helps the phone feel tall and thin, in addition to being lightweight – just the right combination.

The result? Holding the phone is very comfortable in both landscape and portrait orientations. So, whether we were surfing the web or had the camera open sideways, using the phone was easier than some of the bulkier devices in the segment.

Like a lot of devices these days, the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ also puts both the power button and the volume rocker keys on the right, which will take some getting used to if you’re coming from a phone with a more conventional button layout.

With all buttons on the right, actions like triggering the power menu or taking a screenshot do become a two-hand task. But how much that matters to you, is purely subjective.

Redmi Note 14 Pro+ display

The display is among the many highlights of the Redmi Note 14 Pro+. The 1.5K panel is crisp, and great if you do a lot of reading on the device. It also means you can leverage the extra pixels when watching higher resolution YouTube videos.

The OLED panel also comes with great colour reproduction and viewing angles, so sharing a quick reel with a teammate across the desk (at inhuman angles) is not a problem. It also goes all the way up to 120Hz, letting you enjoy all of HyperOS’ fancy animations and transitions in all their glory.

I used the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ as my primary entertainment device on a bunch of flights I took over the past few weeks, and watching downloaded Netflix and YouTube content was a fun experience.

I have also used the phone in very dim-lit environments as well as under direct sunlight, and brightness levels on both ends of the spectrum were not a problem for me.

There’s also an in-display fingerprint scanner that is very quick and accurate. But (like a lot of phones in the segment) it suffers from being placed too low on the screen. This means most hands may need a little bit of repositioning before the thumb gets there. However, that is something you should get used to quickly.

Redmi Note 14 Pro+ cameras

I had the pleasure of being in one of the most beautiful cities during my time with the Redmi Note 14 Pro+. Hence, I could really go all out with the camera and the built-in image editor during my trip. The result is a set of photos and portraits that are great for social media and in general, look very pleasing to the eye.

We have already covered all the aspects of the phone’s camera performance with image samples in a detailed camera review. Here’s a TL;DR version:

The Redmi Note 14 Pro+ comes with a very versatile camera setup, highlighted by a very capable main sensor and a very handy 5x telephoto sensor. It is easily one of the best camera phones in this segment.

Redmi Note 14 Pro+ performance

A good design and a versatile camera performance are great additions to any phone, but the ethos of the ‘Redmi Note’ series is built on one aspect above all – performance.

The Note 14 Pro+ didn’t let us down in this area either. For the geeks out there, who swear by absolute numbers, the phone’s internals scored 1,157 on single-core tests and 3,069 on multi-core tests. The phone even got a GPU score of 3,272 on Geekbench.

For others, the above numbers mean that the phone was snappy throughout all kinds of day-to-day tasks. Even running multiple apps and casual games were not a problem. More demanding games like BGMI or GTA San Andreas: Definitive Edition had the phone running a little warmer but were definitely not an issue at appropriate settings.

The phone also offers a bunch of AI feature baked into HyperOS. While you did need to give permissions to the device to use these, they were quite handy for doing things like summarising notes or removing elements from photos – something you would usually find in more expensive devices running Apple Intelligence or Galaxy AI.

Redmi Note 14 Pro+ software

Like all Redmi phones, the Note 14 Pro+ is powered by HyperOS (previously MIUI). The new skin is however, still stuck with a dated Android 14. The good news is that you get a wide range of HyperOS features. This includes plenty of home screen and lock screen customisation options, some advanced image-editing options and more.

The phone does come with a whole host of bloatware and pre-installed games, but thankfully, you can uninstall most of them. It’s simple – if you like highly customised Android skins, there’s a lot to like here. If you prefer clean software, look elsewhere.

Redmi Note 14 Pro+ battery life

This is where the Pro+ model really outshines the other variants in the series. The Note 14 Pro+ comes with a large, 6,200mAh, which is basically a bigger battery than some 5,000mAh power banks. This is enough to keep the phone running for two days easily, no matter what you’re doing.

When you do run out of juice, the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ also comes with a bundled 90W fast charger, which yields the following charging times from a fully dead battery.

– 5 mins – 14 per cent charged
– 10 mins – 27 per cent charged
– 15 mins – 38 per cent charged
– 20 mins – 48 per cent charged
– 30 mins – 68 per cent charged
– 50 mins – 100 per cent charged

Unboxed Take: Who should get the Redmi Note 14 Pro+?

The Redmi Note series has always produced value-for-money phones, and the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ follows that tradition. Yes, the phone’s price has gone up but so has the offerings – which still makes it solid bang-for-buck.

For this reason, we rate the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ 4/5.

However, not everyone needs the extra features of the Pro+. They can opt for the more affordable Redmi Note 14 or the mid-variant Redmi Note 14 Pro.

But coming back to the Note 14 Pro+, there isn’t much to complain about if you have the budget for this device. Well, except for the software. For those who want a similar phone but with cleaner, stock-ish software, you can consider the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, or even the OnePlus Nord 4.

Stay tuned to Unboxed by Croma for more in-depth reviews, and all things tech!