Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G (23129RAA4G) Price, Review And Specifications.

 

 

Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G (23129RAA4G) Quick Specs:

Display: 6.67" Full-HD+ (2400×1080) Hole-punch 120hz AMOLED Display.

Software: Android 13 OS, MIUI  Skin.

CPU: E Qualcomm Snapdragon 685 (5nm).

RAM: 6GB/8GGB (And up to 4GB of Virtual RAM).

Storage: 128GB/256GB (expandable up to 1TB).

Rear Camera: Triple-lens (108MP+8MP+2MP).

Front Camera: Single-lens (16MP).

Security: Under-display fingerprint reader, Face Unlock.

Port: USB Type-C.

Network: 4G.

Speaker: Dual.

Battery: 5,000mAh.

Charging Speed: 33W.

Starting Price:

₦260,000, KSh 27,999, UGX 630,500, R 5,799, €202, £260, $275.

Despite its affordable price, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G (23129RAA4G) offers good value for money. The phone has an appealing design and good build quality. It also sports a big nice-looking display. And it's equipped with a pair of noticeably clear and loud speaker.

Under the hood, the Note 13 4G packs a competent CPU and delivers decent performance. It's also equipped with spacious inbuilt storage.

And compared to a few other similarly priced phones, the Note 13 4G has a better build quality and looks more premium. And its display is a little more vibrant. The speakers and microphones that come with the phone also produce slightly better and clearer audio output.

Selfies taken with the Note 13 4G also look slightly better. And the phone is among the very few ones in this segment that offer Ultra-wide cameras.

However, photos taken with the phone's main rear camera have the same picture quality as the ones taken with the competition. The performance of the Redmi Note 13 4G is also similar to those of the competition. Even the main contenders are equipped with a more robust CPU and scores a little higher in performance tests.

Meanwhile, the Redmi Note 13 4G preserves most of the features of the Redmi Note 12 4G. The new phone preserves the looks, display, CPU, Android version, RAM, storage space, charging speed, and battery capacity of the earlier one. Still, there are few upgrades. And the major one is camera.

Although the number of rear cameras remains the same, the primary camera has been upgraded. The front-facing camera has also been upgraded. And due to that, photos taken by the latest phone are slightly more detailed and clearer than the ones from the earlier one.

Also in spite of their similar design, the Note 13 has no rear camera bump, and as i also said, it comes with stereo speakers. The side-mounted fingerprint reader on the earlier phone has also been replaced with an under-display fingerprint reader. The IP rating has also been increased. However, the latest phone has glossy finish. Which attracts smudges and fingerprints easily, unlike the frosty finish of the earlier phone

The Main Contenders:

Apart from the fact that the standard version of the Samsung Galaxy A15 4G and the base version of the Note 13 4G attract almost the same price, they also has the same amount of RAM and storage space. The Samsung phone also features an AMOLED display like the Redmi phone. However, the A15 sports a less appealing design. The Samsung phone also features a mono speaker and a regular side-mounted fingerprint reader. And there's no charger and a few other accessories inside the box of the Galaxy A15.

Though the Galaxy A15's performance is similar to that of the Note 13 4G, its CPU packs a little more processing power. The Samsung phone is also pre-installed with the latest Android OS and it offers longer support for the major software updates. Photos taken with the Samsung phone are also more true to life than the ones taken with the Redmi phone.

Though the Infinix Hot 40 Pro attracts a little higher price than the base version of the Redmi Note 13 4G, yet the Infinix phone features the same amount of RAM and inbuilt storage as the standard version of the Redmi phone. Even, it has the same (beefier) CPU as the Galaxy A15. The Infinix phone is also equipped with a higher megapixel front-facing camera, and selfies taken with the phone are more true-to-life and clearer than the ones from the Note 13 4G. But photos taken with the Hot 40 Pro rear camera look like the ones from the Redmi phone.
The Infinix phone is also running on the same previous Android OS as the Note 13. The Hot 40 Pro also wears sleek design and features stereo speakers. It also comes with a charger and complete accessories in its box. But while both the Note 13 4GB and Galaxy A15 feature AMOLED displays, the Infinix phone is fitted with an IPS-LCD display.

 

By the way, Tecno Spark 20 Pro is another competing phone at this price point. But the Tecno phone is more of a substitute for the Infinix Hot 40 Pro. Because, from design to specs, the Spark 20 Pro is the same phone as the Hot Pro.

Design Colour And Price:

Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G is available in colour options of Ocean Sunset, Ice Blue, Midnight Black and Mint Green. Currently, the price of the phone is about 260,000 Naira.

Sleek And Premium Design:

Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 is a premium looking phone. Even despite sharing design with the earlier model, it looks more premium and sleeker. For instance, despite having an identical 6.67-inch hole-punch display, flat sides and flat back cover as the earlier model, the latest phone's display has a slimmer chin or bottom bezel. The bezels at the top and sides of the display are also slimmer.

Another thing that makes the new phone look more appealing that its predecessor is its lack of rear camera bump. Also despite that the Note 13 glossy finish attracts smudges and fingerprints quickly, it enhances the phone's sleeker design. Also with its under display fingerprint reader, the Redmi Note 13 also gives off the vibe of a flagship phone. Moreover, and as i mentioned, the single speaker on the earlier model has been replaced with stereo speakers.

Notwithstanding, the four circular modules (two big, two small) on the back of the earlier phone still remain the same. By the way, the four circular modules are made up of triple rear camera and LED Flash.

 

Meanwhile, like those of other phones, the power button and volume keys of the Redmi Note 13 4G are placed on its right side. But the phone's SIM slot (and tray) is placed on an unusual spot; the bottom side. And the SIM slot is found alongside a USB Type-C port, primary microphone and first speaker.

The phone's second speaker is placed on its top side, alongside a 3.5mm audio jack, an Infrared port, and secondary mic. As expected, there's nothing on the left side of the phone.

And when compared to the competition, the Redmi Note 13 4G stands out with its more refreshing and premium looks. For instance, despite having a similar hole-punch display as the competition (safe for the Galaxy A15), the camera cut-out on the Redmi phone is smaller and appears daintier. The bezels around the displays of the competing phones are also thicker. And despite that they also have good build quality and are IP rated, the Redmi phone has a slightly better build quality. And while most of them are IP53 rated, the Note 13 4G is IP54 rated. The Redmi phone also comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection on its front. But like the rest, its rear and frame are made of plastics.

Upgraded Camera:

Though, as i mentioned, the Redmi Note 13 4G has triple rear camera as the Note 12 4G, but the 50MP primary sensor on the earlier phone has been replaced with a 108MP sensor. However, the second camera is still an 8MP Ultra-wide sensor (for taking wide angle shots) and the third one is also a 2MP Macro sensor (for taking detailed pictures of close-up objects).

And turning to the front. The 13MP selfie lens on the earlier phone has been replaced with a 16MP lens.

Like that of its predecessor, the main rear camera of the Note 13 4G delivers nice-looking photos. Even, due to its upgraded sensor, photos from the latest phone are slightly more detailed. Though to really capture that noticeably detailed photos, you need to switch to 108MP mode because the phone shoot in 12MP by default mode. Also the issue of insufficient brightness (which is the only thing i complained about on the Note 12 4G photos) have been slightly rectified.

 

Generally, photos taken with the Note 13 4G main camera are vibrant, detailed and have good contrast. They also have nice colour rendition. Colours are true to life and moderately saturated. However, to maintain constant true to life colours, you need to exercise patience a little before you shoot. Because image processing slightly lags. Which brings about inconsistency in outcomes. You also need good lighting condition to get best looking shots from the main camera.

HDR and Portrait shots from the Note 13 also look quite good. In short, and except for the Galaxy A15, all other competing phones are no match for the Note 13 4G when it comes to dynamic range and portrait photos. Also as i mentioned, among the competition, it's only this Redmi phone and Galaxy A15 that offer Ultra-wide cameras. And photos taken by the Note 13 Ultra-wide lens retain the nice colours rendition of the Main lens. But sharpness and clarity are just okay. Micro shots are moderately clear too, but colours are on the saturated side. And with the phone's dedicated Night Mode, low-light shots from the Note 13 are impressively clear, well exposed and have lesser noise.

Turning to the front. normal selfies from the Note 13 are clear with satisfactory level of details. And when it comes to Portrait selfie, the camera also did a good job (even better than the competition with higher megapixel sensors). However, When it comes to colour rendition and skin tone, the Note 13 selfies fall shots of all the competing phones. In fact, selfies from the cheaper Xiaomi Redmi 13 has better skin tone (though it lacks their detail and clarity) than those of the Note 13 4G.

Meanwhile in spite of its higher megapixel main sensor, the video recordings of the Redmi Note 13 4G  is capped at 1080p at 30fps (frame per second). So also its front-facing camera. The phone also lack Video stabilization.

Familiar 6.67-inch 120Hz AMOLED Display:

Same as that of the Note 12 4G, the 6.67-inch display of the Note 13 4G has an AMOLED panel and features a 1080p resolution of 2400-by-1080 pixels (or 369ppi pixel density). The screen also preserves the 20:9 aspect ratio and 120Hz refresh rate (for smoother gaming, page scrolling and swiping) of the earlier one. The screen also retain the impressive picture quality. Even, as a result of its improved peak brightness (more on that soon), the screen is more vibrant.

Generally, the AMOLED display of the Note 13 4G is clear, vibrant and has nice colour reproduction. Colours are rich and vivid. The panel is impressively bright too, as i said, brighter than the one on the earlier model. Although, on paper, Redmi boasts of 1800nit peak brightness of this screen, in practical however, it's around 1400nit. That is even in Auto mode. In manual, it's about 500nit. Still, that can't erase the fact that this AMOLED panel is brighter than the earlier one (that has peak brightness of about 1200nit). The display is also the brightest around in this segment. Which makes the phone to be the best choice (among the competing phones) for outdoor usage. 

Meanwhile, like the one on its predecessor, the AMOLED display on the Redmi Note 13 4G lack support for and unable to display HDR contents. Notwithstanding, the display fully supports Widevine L1 DRM certification. Meaning, you can watch videos in "1080p or High Definitions" (and in improved colour reproduction) on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Same OS, Same CPU, Yet Decent Performance:

As i mentioned before, the Redmi Note 13 4G preserves the earlier model software and processor. In other words, the new phone is also powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 685 CPU. And it's running on MIUI 14 skin based on Android 13 OS. Though most of the competing phones features Android 14 OS, still none of them (safe for the Galaxy A15) can assure you up to three years of major OS updates (Android 14, 15 and 16) like the Note 13 4G. In addition to that, the Note 13 4G will be getting the Xiaomi's upcoming HyperOS custom UI.

The Qualcomm SD685 that powered this phone is a 6nm octa-core processor with clock speeds of up to 2.8Ghz. The CPU has enough processing and graphics power for regular tasks and casual gaming. Therefore, when it comes to regular task and day to day usage, the Note 13 4G is smooth, swift or highly responsive. Even in spite of its gaming limitation, the phone successfully played most of the demanding games at high graphics setting. Though frame rates have to be dropped.

The Redmi Note 13 4G is available in 6GB of RAM and 8GB of RAM version. Which means the 6GB of RAM version is now the base model (an upgrade from the 4GB of RAM base model of the Note 12). Also the earlier phone's 64GB base storage has also been increased to 128GB on the Note 13. Still, the maximum storage option is still 256GB. And whether 128GB or 256GB, the inbuilt storage of the latest can also be expanded, via microSD card, up to 1TB (One Terabyte).

Same Battery Capacity, Same Charging Speed:

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G retain the 5,000mAh battery and 33W fast charging of the earlier Note 12 4G. It also comes with a complementary 33W fast charger. And because the phone also retain the 6nm CPU of the earlier one, it preserves its good battery life. Though, it seems the latest phone's battery life slightly fall short of the earlier one's, but the difference in their batteries lives is negligible.

And from zero percent, it took me about one hour twelve minutes to fully charge the Redmi Note 13 4G battery. Though with its out of the box 33W charger.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G (23129RAA4G) Full Specs:

GENERAL

Maker: Xiaomi Redmi.

Name: Redmi Note 12 4G (23129RAA4G or 23124RA7EO).

Year Announced: March, 2024.

Dimensions: 165.7x75.9x7.9mm.

Build Resistance: IP54 (Splash & Dust) Certified.

Weight: 188 5g.   

Colour: Mint Green, Midnight Black, Ocean Sunset & Ice Blue.

DISPLAY
Screen Type:  AMOLED Capacitive Touchscreen.

Size and Resolution: 6.67-inch, Full-HD+, 2400-by-1080 pixels, 120Hz high refresh rate.

Aspect ratio & Pixel Densities: 20:9, 395PPI.

Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

PORTS:

3.5mm Audio Jack: Yes.

USB Type-C Port: Yes.

PERFORMANCE

Chipset: Qualcomm SM6225 Snapdragon 685, (6nm) Octa-core Processor, 2.8GHz.

GPU: Adreno 610.

RAM: 6GB/8GB (up to 4GB Extra through RAM extension).

Operating System: Android 13, MIUI 14.0.5.

STORAGE

Internal Storage: 128GB/256GB.

Micro-SD card slot: Yes, up to 1TB (OneTerabyte).

SIM AND NETWORK

SIM: Nano, Dual SIM slots.

Network:  GSM, WCDMA, HSPA+, LTE.

CAMERA

Rear camera: Triple-lens; (108MP f/1.8+8MP f/2.2+2MP f/2.4) With LED-Flash.

Front camera: Single-lens, 16MP (f/2.45) Single Front Flash.

VIDEO RECORDING:

Rear Cameras: 720p, 1080p @ 30 fps.

Front Camera: 720p, 1080p, @ 30 fps.

CONNECTIVITY:

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, HotSpots, USB-OTG, NFC.

BIOMETRIC, SENSORS & LOCATION: 

Security: Face Unlock, Under-display fingerprint reader.

Sensors: Ambient light sensor, G-sensor, Accelerometer, Electronic compass And IR blaster.

Others: GPS, Location (Geo, Glonass), Beidou, Galileo, Compass.

BATTERY

Battery Capacity: 5,000mAh.

Wired Fast Charging: Yes (33W).

Reverse (Wired) Charging: N/a

Wireless-Charging: N/a.