Some of you might know the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro as the K20 Pro. That’s no surprise since they are just different names for the same product – well, almost the same product. Since we have tested the Mi 9 and the Mi 9T – we are able to deduce that the new Mi 9T Pro is the best of both worlds.
It’s no surprise that the Mi 9T Pro shares the exact same body with the Mi 9T but with the internals of the Mi 9. We compared the Mi 9, the Mi 9T, and the Mi 9T Pro here.
Watch our video review down below to know all about it.
Special thanks to Shopee as our unit of the Mi 9T Pro is from the MiFans Global Store. Learn more about it here.
Unboxing
The Mi 9T Pro comes with this fairly simple box design. If you have seen the Mi 9T before, then the box itself is exactly the same.
Even the unboxing experience is the same – revealing the same contents. You get a hardshell case, some documentation, a USB-C cable, an 18W Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 charger, and the phone itself. Yes, even the phone looks the same – so make sure you don’t get cheated.
Design
Once again, the Mi 9T Pro is exactly the same as the Mi 9T. It looks the same, feels the same, and shines the same way as well. The Mi 9T Pro we have here is in the Flame Red color option. It is available in Glacier Blue which is basically Flame Red but in blue color instead, and also Carbon Black with carbon fiber texture, and Pearl White.
When I showed off the Flame Red color to a few people, a majority of them said the same thing – “wow, it’s beautiful!” And I agree, the Flame Red really does look nice as the frame of the phone is also in red color. Honestly, it looks even better in pictures. 😍
I like the shape and grip of the Mi 9T Pro overall. The curvature at both sides makes it easy to grip yet feel really good in the hands. Definitely a beautifully crafted phone in both the shape and looks.
However, do you realize there’s a very large, noticeable gap between the back glass and the frame of the phone? 🤔 From what we found out, this gap also present on the Mi 9T. Perhaps a tradeoff in having such a beautiful back – but not a big problem since slapping on a case will seal the gap off anyway.
Anyway, the included hardshell case snaps onto the back of the phone but covers a majority of the shining, shimmering, splendid back of the Mi 9T Pro. I suggest buying a transparent TPU case for this phone instead.
Connectivity & Ports
Here come the biggest differences when comparing the Mi 9T Pro and the Mi 9. We have mentioned all of these in our review video – but here we mention them again. The Mi 9T Pro has an audio jack. The Mi 9T Pro does not have a dedicated AI assistant button, IR blaster, or wireless charging.
Depending on how much you use these features, some might argue that wireless charging or IR blaster is more important than audio jack. That is important – and you can click here to know why.
For us, we think that the Mi 9T Pro is okay and both IR blaster and wireless charging are nice things to have, not a necessity. The audio jack, however, is necessary for us.
Not having the AI assistant button is great too – which means no accidentally mashing onto that button when pressing the power button. Though, that means one less shortcut key to available for customization.
Across all the 3 devices, the Mi 9T, Mi 9T Pro, and Mi 9 does not have microSD card slot. I’m not sure why Xiaomi decided that this is a good decision since both the Mi 9 and Mi 9T Pro can record videos at 4K 60fps. For that purpose, 128GB of internal storage is not enough.
Display
Another huge improvement – for us at least – is not having a notch. Both the Mi 9T and Mi 9T Pro comes with this full view play without any notches. No notch at all – just pure display. This is possible solely because of transforming the selfie camera to become a motorized selfie camera.
This 6.39-inch AMOLED display is also the same as the one on the Mi 9T, and it is just beautiful to look at – especially since there is no cutouts or notches on the display.
Xiaomi is once again using Samsung’s AMOLED displays which are of fantastic quality. Color reproduction is fantastic though Xiaomi could’ve further calibrated the colors. In either case, the display itself does not have any fundamental issues like green screens as we’ve seen on other expensive flagships.
Cameras
Without a surprise, Xiaomi took all of the rear cameras on the Mi 9 and placed them on the Mi 9T Pro. Now, I specifically worded that sentence because the Mi 9T Pro has a Sony IMX586 instead of a Sony IMX582 that is found on the Mi 9T. This enables the phone to take 4K 60fps videos – which is a big deal for us here at Nasi Lemak Tech since we have moved to 60fps videos now. Learn more about the differences between the Xiaomi phones here.
As for the selfie camera on the Mi 9T Pro, Xiaomi took it from the Mi 9T instead since they both are using the motorized selfie camera.
Here is the full list of specs on the Mi 9T Pro’s cameras:
- Triple usable rear-facing cameras
- Telephoto: 8MP f/2.4 with 2x optical zoom; PDAF + laser AF
- Main: 48MP f/1.8; PDAF + laser AF
- Ultrawide: 13MP f/2.4 with 0.6x optical zoom; fixed focus
- Motorized selfie camera
- 20MP f/2.2 with fixed focus
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the pictures taken with the Mi 9T Pro. As usual, click here to head on to our Shutterfly album to have a look at all the images in full resolution with all metadata.
The camera is pretty similar to the Mi 9. It’s not bad, but definitely not the best – especially when it comes to indoor shots. As for night shots, it’s good enough but I do think there are room for improvement. You can also use the Gcam mod for Mi 9 on the Mi 9T Pro, actually.
Software – Android 9.0 Pie with MIUI Global 10.3.1
I honestly don’t have much to say regarding MIUI 10 as of now. What I wanted to say has already been said previously – like the Mi 9 review, and also the Redmi Note 7 review.
MIUI 10 works – but it’s buggy and has a very clunky and clumsy settings menu. There are bugs everywhere which I do think that they have to clean up in the upcoming MIUI 11. Moreover, the camera UI in MIUI is… rather messy, to say the least.
Though for an Android skin, MIUI 10 is actually not the worst. Potential to improve is definitely there.
Performance & Gaming
One of the biggest upgrades from the Mi 9T is the hardware that is under the hood. The Mi 9T Pro packs this list of hardware:
- 6.39-inch AMOLED display with 1080p resolution
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset
- 6GB LPDDR4X RAM
- 128GB internal storage (no microSD card slot)
- Android 9.0 Pie with MIUI Global 10.3.1
- 4,000mAh battery
One specific upgrade that the Mi 9T Pro has over the Mi 9T is the 8-layer graphite cooling system. It makes sense for a phone with beefier chipset to have a beefier cooling system – but cooling systems on all phones are only meant to spread out heat faster – not to kick it out of the system itself.
Anyway, the Mi 9T Pro performs just like the Mi 9 in benchmarks, since they both have the same Snapdragon 855 chipset as well.
Gaming
What do you expect? All the games run perfectly well on the Mi 9T Pro. Best of all, the Mi 9T Pro comes with an audio jack as well. Learn more about why audio jack is important by clicking here.
Bluetooth audio delay – Here’s why Bluetooth audio sucks for gaming
Battery
One of my biggest complaint about the Mi 9 when we reviewed it, was the horrendously tiny battery. Now, the Mi 9T Pro packs a 4,000mAh battery – which is considerably larger than the tiny 3,300mAh on the Mi 9. Of course, that translates to a much longer battery life too – just shy of 13 hours in our battery life test.
Charger
As for the charger… Xiaomi opted for the same as what the Mi 9 came with. In the box itself, you get an 18W charger that is compliant of Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0. However, just like the Mi 9, the Mi 9T Pro also supports the 27W fast charging standard as well – but you’ll have to buy that separately. We reviewed the 27W fast charging too.
Keep in mind that the Mi 9T Pro does not have wireless charging.
Review – Xiaomi Mi Wireless Fast Charger: 20W wireless+ 27W wired charger
Anyway, as for the charging speeds, the Mi 9T Pro is rather good.
Here’s the table of summary on the charge speeds.
|
Battery level |
Time taken (minutes) |
|
|
Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 (18W) |
Standard 5V 2A charger (10W) |
|
|
50% |
25 |
46 |
|
75% |
43 |
80 |
Wrapping up the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro review
Like I’ve stated in the review video, I honestly really like this phone. It took what the Mi 9 lacks and solves that in a smart way – by using the Mi 9T’s body with the Mi 9’s hardware. By combining the best of both worlds, I think the Mi 9T Pro is a replacement of the Mi 9.
Larger battery, no notch, and most important of all – an audio jack. These few features make the Mi 9T Pro a far more superior phone than the Mi 9 and yet at a lower price when the Mi 9 was first launched.
You can now buy the Mi 9T Pro at both Lazada and Shopee at these prices:
- 6GB RAM + 64GB internal storage @ RM1,599
- 6GB RAM + 128GB internal storage @ RM1,799
Seriously, if you are looking for a smartphone that has the best hardware for gaming, then the Mi 9T Pro is the one to get.
P/S: I just can’t stop recommending this smartphone.
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