Reviews

Redmi Note 9 Pro Max review: Perfect, like you’d expect it to be

Is it worth the extra price?

Published

June 8, 2020

Shivam Vahia

There’s no doubt that Xiaomi has become a leader in the smartphone industry, thanks to affordable phones. The Redmi Note lineup is extremely special because it delivered more for an affordable price. Bigger screen, better cameras, top-notch performance, and great battery life. What more can one ask for?

If you’re looking for an affordable “pro,” Xiaomi’s got a new offering that promises to offer “max” features. However, with rising competition from brands like Realme, can Xiaomi continue dictating the market? Furthermore, POCO X2 is also a fantastic offering. So, what makes the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max so unique?

For the first time, Redmi has stretched the existing lineup and offered a “Max” option. The company wants to cover more and more price bands, but is that it? We can consider this phone to be a premium offering that comes with an affordable price tag. When compared to the Redmi Note 9 Pro, it has a better camera and faster charging. But how does this add to the overall experience, and is it worth the upgrade?

A refined and practical design

I’ve got the Aurora Blue color variant, and that’s the first thing you’ll notice about the phone. The back is sometimes sky blue, sometimes greenish, and often grey. Due to the reflective surface, it’ll change its exterior like a chameleon depending on the surrounding lighting.

While we’ve seen a ton of reflective phones, this one is different because it doesn’t have fixed patterns or letters. Fair to say, I loved the phone’s design the moment it was out of the box.

The back panel is shielded by Gorilla Glass 5, and the first thing you’ll notice is the colossal squircle camera module. It houses a quad-camera setup, but the protrusion is significantly high. The bump is easily visible, and you can feel it making the phone clumsy when kept down on a flat surface.

I would have preferred a smaller bump, but it didn’t hamper the user experience. Thankfully, a case is provided and it perfectly covers up the bump.

The phone does feel thick and heavy to hold, and a case further amplifies this. One-handed use is difficult, and I think the fingerprint scanner/power button is located a tad-bit too high on the right side. My friend has small hands, and she struggled to reach it in one go seamlessly. The volume rockers are located above the power button.

I’m glad Redmi opted for a side-mounted fingerprint scanner instead of the weird rear scanner on the Redmi Note 8 Pro. It’s quick to unlock the phone and, when coupled with face unlock, does an excellent job.

The SIM slot is located on the left, and the top gets an IR blaster. On the bottom are the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C port, and the speaker grill. The speaker is sufficiently loud. A tiny earpiece is located on the top for calls and performs flawlessly.

An excellent screen but with something missing

When you first switch on the phone, you might think it’s an AMOLED panel due to the high saturation. The lineup has always sported top-notch LCDs that continuously push the ceiling higher in terms of output. This is the biggest screen we’ve seen in the Note-series, measuring 6.67-inches with Full HD+ resolution. Obviously, blacks are far from being black and occasionally look greyish. But honestly, these are minor drawbacks that you’ll barely notice in daily life. The viewing angles are perfect, and color reproduction is spot-on.

The brightness is sufficient but often gives up in front of direct sunlight. On the flip side, the summer was pretty intense, and the screen was hard to view just a handful of times. The punch-hole cut-out houses the front camera, and it looks considerably larger. It is even more noticeable when you compare its size to the nearby notification app icons.

Keep in mind, the display is also protected by Gorilla Glass 5. Unlike the POCO X2, it misses out on a higher refresh rate panel. The standard 60Hz panel may sound non-exciting, but I’m okay with it.

Most games have yet to support a higher refresh rate, the screen consumers more power, and the UI needs to be well optimized. With the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, the overall experience is smooth, and I didn’t miss having a better refresh rate.

“Pro” performance

Like the Redmi Note 9 Pro, the Max variant is powered by a Snapdragon 720G chipset. This phone is among the world’s first to house the brand new processor. Just like all other midrange phones these days, day-to-day tasks get done smoothly without a glitch. It comprises of two high-performance Kryo Gold cores and six high-efficiency Kryo Silver cores.

The base option comes with 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. My unit has 6GB+128GB configuration, and multitasking has always been effortless. The 6GB RAM option has perfectly fulfilled my needs, including gaming. If you’re looking for a future proof phone that can last for a couple of years, I’d recommend going with the 8GB option.

While there’s a massive demand for gaming phones, Xiaomi and chip makers are trying their best to offer a similar experience on as many phones as possible. Hence, while there’s no reduction in overall raw performance, the new chip strikes a perfect balance between execution and battery life. MIUI is deeply optimized, and hopping between apps was never a problem for the phone.

PUBG ran smoothly all along, and the chipset was able to churn out more than 40 FPS at any given time. It’s worth mentioning that the predecessor, Redmi Note 98 Pro, was slightly better and could touch 60 FPS due to a more powerful GPU. However, these are just technicalities and don’t hinder the user experience.

“Max” battery life

I usually mention the battery life at the end of the review. However, it’s essential to break the usual flow and mention it right after the performance. As I said, the processor strikes a perfect balance between performance and battery life. The Snapdragon 720G is built with an 8nm process, delivering an inherently better battery life.

It packs a massive 5,020mAh battery. When paired with a battery-friendly processor and 60Hz display, it delivers the best battery life we’ve ever seen at this price point. After a day of heavy usage, it’ll always have at least 35-40% battery left in the end. The screen on time is consistently above 10 hours, and gaming also doesn’t drain it.

It supports 33W fast charging and takes almost two hours to charge from single-digit capacity to 100 percent. The quick charging technology works till 60 percent and then gradually slows down. However, I’d consider this to be an ideal setup. Charge the phone at night and do whatever you want during the day without carrying a charger or power bank.

How about the cameras?

It has a 64-megapixel camera on the rear and an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 5-megapixel macro lens, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The primary sensor is made by Samsung and takes 16-megapixel pictures in auto-mode. Using pixel binning technology, the sensor can retain details and automatically reduce the resolution. This method comes extremely handy when shooting in low-light surroundings.

The Redmi Note 8 Pro also had a 64-megapixel sensor. However, this phone has a radically improved one. The photos aren’t oversaturated and retain details perfectly. Urban landscapes are perfectly sharp with apt white balance. Switching to the Night Mode will deliver brighter pictures with smartly enhanced areas. I say smartly because many phones aren’t able to locate the subject and randomly brighten up dark areas.

When compared to the Redmi Note 9 Pro, this one has a much better dynamic range. Thus, videos shot on this phone look more natural. Yes, it can record 4K at 30 FPS. Is it worth paying more for a better 64-megapixel sensor over the Redmi Note 9 Pro? In a nutshell, yes. The overall experience is far better, and in many cases, it’ll feel like a flagship phone has shot these pictures.

On the front is a 32-megapixel camera that clicks extremely sharp selfies. Colors and details are accurately captured, and even low-light performance is better. MIUI has many customizable options available as beauty mode, and you can switch it off with one touch.

Love-hate relationship with MIUI

The phone ships with MIUI 11 out-of-the-box, and there’s no doubt the skin has played an essential role in boosting Xiaomi’s sales. It lets you tweak everything, right from gestures, themes, and other shortcuts. Their pre-installed apps offer robust functionality like an easy to use file manager and file sharer. I’ve started to like the skin, and its made for every kind of user out there.

However, the number of third-party bloatware and ads are becoming hard to ignore. The number of these pre-loaded apps is consistently rising, and I spent the first half an hour, just getting rid of them from the home screen. Furthermore, the ads in the notification tray have gradually become impossible to handle. It’s not even like they’re relevant ads.

Xiaomi has built an unbroken skin that works for everyone and barely has a learning curve. In pursuit of ad revenues and aggressive pricing, it’s letting down the software. Many have argued that the end-user doesn’t care about this, and the sales numbers prove it. That’s correct. But we can’t ignore that these drawbacks of Xiaomi could become a unique selling point for someone else.

Is this your GadgetMatch?

The base variant of the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max starts at INR 16,499 (US$ 218). In the Philippines, this is simply called the Redmi Note 9 Pro and retails for PhP 13,990. This segment is exceedingly aggressive, with alternatives available from Realme as well as POCO. What makes this phone so unique?

It’s practicality. There are no fancy shenanigans like an in-display fingerprint scanner, a pop-up camera, a 120Hz display, or a spectacular design. But, it gets the basics right. The design is flawless, the cameras are excellent, and the battery life is unmatchable. Performance is average, and we’ve got nothing negative or positive to say about it. In the end, this phone is a perfect match for a majority of users out there.

This phone continues the Note legacy. It isn’t perfect and has a lot of minor drawbacks like a huge camera bump, standard screen, and uneventful processor. But this won’t stop you from buying the phone and are ignorable factors. If you’re looking for an alternative, the POCO X2, and Realme 6 Pro are made for you.

Reviews

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Review

8 Galaxy Folds later, Samsung finally nailed It!

Published

August 14, 2026

GadgetMatch and Michael Josh Villanueva

THE Michael Josh has reviewed every Galaxy Fold since the beginning. But, for almost three weeks, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 has been the phone he reaches for every single day.

In this Galaxy Z Fold 8 review, he is sharing what it’s actually like to live with Samsung’s latest foldable. From the size and multitasking to the cameras, battery, software, durability, and all the little things that become more obvious after weeks of daily use.

Here’s our long-term review on the newest Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8.

Laptops

30 days later with the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra: Like seeing an ex

Felt exactly as I remembered.

Published

August 10, 2026

Rodneil Quiteles

I genuinely thought that was it.

The review was done. The feature was out. ASUS had already collected the laptop. In my head, the campaign was over.

Then, out of nowhere, they sent it back.

Between the original review period and this unexpected encore, I ended up living with the ExpertBook Ultra for close to 30 days.

I wasn’t expecting to spend more time with it, but I certainly wasn’t going to complain. If anything, I just hoped they wouldn’t ask for it back again anytime soon.

Picking it back up felt familiar.

Like seeing an ex.

The butterflies came back almost immediately. So did everything I remembered about it.

It also got me thinking.

Maybe the best follow-up to a review isn’t spending another week with a laptop. Maybe it’s asking yourself one simple question:

How much did you actually miss it after it was gone?

That question was surprisingly easy to answer.

It still feels impossibly light

The first thing I noticed wasn’t the display. It wasn’t the keyboard either.

It was the weight.

That became painfully obvious on days when I absolutely had to bring my laptop around. The 0.99kg starting weight really does make a difference when you’re bouncing between cafés, meetings, and wherever else work decides to take you.

So when the ExpertBook Ultra came back, it slipped right back into the same routine. Same cafés. Dinner after. Then back home where work usually followed me all the way to bed.

Most definitely inside the Bravo Tote V2. I upgraded my bag too lol.

The thing I noticed almost immediately wasn’t that it was light. I already knew that. It was how quickly everything came back.

Like we never parted.

The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra is still everything I want my MacBook Pro to look and feel like.

I still have a weird relationship with the Nano Ceramic finish

I know this sounds ridiculous, but I still catch myself running my hand across the lid before opening the laptop.

It’s just become part of the ritual.

Pick it up. Marvel at how light it is. Run my hand across the 9H Nano Ceramic finish. Then get to work.

One of the things I wondered after ASUS took the laptop back was whether I’d still care about the finish once the honeymoon phase had worn off. It felt like one of those features that would naturally lose its magic over time.

Apparently not. If anything, the time apart made me appreciate it even more. And as I continued to use it, these words came to mind: “I wish we never parted. I wish you stayed. And I wish you never go away.”

I forgot how much I liked working on it

One thing that didn’t change while the ExpertBook Ultra was away was the kind of work I do.

The breadth and depth of it certainly didn’t magically change. I still spent my days coordinating projects, replying to emails, juggling deadlines, and letting ChatGPT help me process unresolved feelings and questionable timing in between writing articles.

That also meant I wasn’t really the target audience for some of the ExpertBook Ultra’s AI for Work features. I appreciated having tools like MyExpert, AI ExpertMeet, and Copilot+ within reach, but my workflow rarely called for them. Most days, I was simply too busy doing the work instead of exploring new ways to do it.

Although, I will say I did a lot more coordination work than the emotionally charged reviews and features I usually enjoy writing.

I also started editing a reel before eventually handing it over to one of our video editors for reasons completely unrelated to the ExpertBook Ultra. Rodneil issue.

The keyboard, though, was just as lovely as I remembered. The 1.5 mm key travel still struck a nice balance between comfort and responsiveness, while the ASUS ExpertCool keyboard with its Excimer UV coating gave me one less thing to worry about during long workdays.

People often say a good keyboard is one you stop thinking about. I never did.

Every now and then I’d be halfway through an article and randomly catch myself appreciating how good it felt to type on. It’s one of those things you don’t expect to notice after days of use, but somehow you still do.

The haptic touchpad, on the other hand, started feeling like it was fighting me a little this time around. I still think that’s more of a software thing than an ASUS thing. If there’s one thing Apple still has over practically everyone else, it’s the MacBook trackpad.

That said, I still never found myself reaching for a mouse.

I got distracted… again (thanks, 3K Tandem OLED)

Eventually, though, my brain would tap out.

That’s usually when I’d stop pretending to be productive and switch to whatever was helping me decompress that week.

This time, it was See You at Work Tomorrow. I initially watched for second female lead Kang Mina (due for a lead role, btw) but got hooked with the rest of the cast pretty quickly.

I also started Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You. It’s quietly become one of my comfort shows of late.

And naturally, there were the occasional fancams. This time, mostly of Kim Chaewon during LE SSERAFIM’s PUREFLOW concert stops.

Funny enough, I don’t think I consciously appreciated the 3K Tandem OLED display as much this time around. I think I just got used to how good it looked.

Somewhere between deadlines, comfort shows, anime, and Chaewon fancams, I stopped noticing the display altogether. I just enjoyed whatever happened to be on it.

That’s probably the highest compliment I can give it.

Turns out, I hadn’t changed my mind

One of the reasons I was genuinely happy the ExpertBook Ultra came back was because I wanted to see whether I’d remembered it too fondly. After all, that’s usually what time does. You remember the good parts, forget the little annoyances, and convince yourself something was better than it actually was.

That never happened here.

If anything, getting the laptop back just reinforced the conclusions I had already come to the first time around. It still feels impossibly light. I still think it’s everything I want my MacBook Pro to look and feel like. And yes, I still wish it ran macOS.

Sorry, Windows.

What surprised me more was that I never really found myself looking for reasons to disagree with my original review. I wasn’t paying attention to the little things anymore. Nor was I trying to re-review the laptop or see if I’d somehow missed a fatal flaw the first time around.

I just… used it.

It stopped feeling like a review unit and simply became the laptop I reached for whenever I had work to do or wanted to unwind with a K-drama at the end of the day. Looking back, that’s probably why nothing really changed. I had already formed my opinion. Getting it back just confirmed it.

The person I picture using this laptop also hasn’t changed. It’s still for people who’ve made strides in life and want a machine that reflects where they are while keeping up with everything they’re taking on.

That’s who I pictured when I first wrote about the ExpertBook Ultra.

Funny enough… That’s still who I picture today.

Sometimes the best review begins after the review ends

When ASUS took the laptop back, there was actually some relief. It signalled that the campaign was over.

That feeling didn’t last very long.

I couldn’t help but long for it shortly after, especially on days that I absolutely had to bring a laptop around. The weight really does play a big factor during days like this. And as ridiculous as it sounds, I never quite got over the Nano Ceramic finish either.

That’s probably what surprised me the most. Not that I still liked the ExpertBook Ultra. I already knew that.

It was realizing just how much of the experience stayed with me after it was gone.

If you’ve been considering the ExpertBook Ultra, my advice probably hasn’t changed after spending close to 30 days with it. Don’t buy it because it’s the lightest laptop around or because it packs every feature under the sun. Buy it because you want a machine that quietly gets out of your way and lets you focus on the work that matters. That’s what it ended up doing for me.

After this reunion, the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra will likely leave me again. Some exes are just like that. They’re meant to be exes.

And while they don’t stay, they leave an imprint on how you go about life moving forward.

I just know some part of me will always look for the best that I’ve found with the ExpertBook Ultra whenever another laptop lands on my desk.

Is that fair? Perhaps not. But it is what it is.

Thinking of making the switch?

If you’ve been considering the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra, ASUS Business Philippines is currently running an Early Bird Bundle Promo until August 31, 2026. Purchase any ASUS ExpertBook Ultra from participating ASUS Expert Stores and select tech retailers to receive over Php 13,000 worth of freebies, including an ASUS 100W GaN Charger and SSI Gift Certificates. (DTI Fair Trade Permit No. FTEB-261070 Series of 2026.)

The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra starts at Php 129,995 and is available through select ASUS authorized stores and tech retailers nationwide.

Every purchase also includes a 3-year battery and charger warranty extension, with upgradeable warranty coverage of up to 5 years, giving you added peace of mind long after you’ve taken it home.

Where to buy:

ASUS ExpertBook Ultra: https://ph.asus.click/ExpertBookUltra-WheretoBuy
ASUS Expert Store – Lazada: https://ph.asus.click/ASUSExpertBookStoreLazada
ASUS Expert Store – Shopee: https://ph.asus.click/ASUSExpertBookStoreShopee

For businesses, ASUS Business Philippines also offers flexible configurations tailored to your organization’s needs. To learn more about volume purchases, visit:
https://ph.asus.click/Business-VolumePurchase

Laptops

ROG STRIX G16 Review: Building for the moment

Setting it up however you want to make the most out of it

Published

August 10, 2026

Gab Orlina

As someone who loves to build PCs, gaming laptops do not completely appeal to me as much as it would for other people. Apart from the limited capacity to tinker and upgrade parts, in some cases, gaming performance doesn’t feel the same as an actual desktop PC.

Also, there’s the ever-present concern on its portability given that most gaming laptops come in rather hefty clam shells.

The other thing is that given we now have more portable ways to play the game, gaming laptops feel behind in the game. Handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally X make it easy to just bring the games with you even if you won’t be able to play all genres anyways.

However, there are still those that dare to take the chance on the clam shell for all the other, non-gaming aspects it excels in.

So, when ROG came to us with the ASUS ROG STRIX G16, I wanted to give it a shot to see if it’s something worth totally investing in.

On paper, it promises to be an excellent device for all of its intended use cases, but you can say that about anything at this point. There has to be something different that truly makes this device worthwhile in 2026.

Performance-maxxing at its finest

If it isn’t obvious yet, I think that this new version of the ROG STRIX G16 performs absolutely well with the hardware it comes with.

Powered by the new Intel Core Ultra 9 and an NVIDIA RTX 5080, it covers every little use case you need it for. Editing spreadsheets, creating videos from scratch, playing RTX-compatible games with high quality details – it honestly can do no wrong.

On the outside, the device sports a 16-inch, 2.5K ROG Nebula Display, maxed out with a refresh rate of 300hz. While it does come in the unorthodox 16:10 aspect ratio, it doesn’t totally ruin the viewing nor gaming experience in my opinion.

Also, that high enough of a refresh rate already puts this display within the competitive gaming tier of performance. So, expect to hit more headshots when you play on this device, hopefully.

The thing is, for me, this is expected coming out from ASUS ROG. Great internal hardware, matched with the external hardware to maximize the gaming experience – it’s what they’re known for.

At this point, they’ve continuously raised the bar on maxing out gaming and productivity performance that it bears no repeating past this point.

So, what’s new?

Designing the experience your way

The ROG STRIX G16 for 2026 sports a rather subtle, nearly minimalist physical appearance upon unboxing. Bannered by an LED ROG logo and several nods to their brand messaging, it’s as unassuming as one would expect.

Once you turn it on, you are greeted with the flash of RGB light strips surrounding the keyboard and the underside of the laptop – all fully customizable on Armoury Crate. If you ask me, that’s not even the best part.

When you flip the device to the underside, you will notice this peg that can pass off as its rubber footing. However, inspect it further and it’s actually a switch that, when slid to the left, unlocks the protective cover of the laptop’s internal hardware.

Once unlocked, it allows you to easily add another M.2 SSD storage or expand your RAM to 64GB, which is a huge deal on its own.

Upgrading your laptop was never this easy nor safe to do, considering that you will normally need to remove the screws and potentially void the warranty. With the ROG STRIX G16, both of those worries are eliminated for you to craft the perfect gaming machine.

The only thing, though, is it’s still a pretty bulky machine that made some weird tweaks to the other components.

I’m personally not a fan of the unbelievably large trackpad and the somewhat awkward key travel while typing due to the switches being small for my hands. External peripherals are a must, but the components having weird quirks are not a total deal breaker.

No heat in the moment

ROG brings its new Intelligent Cooling system that it applied to the 2026 version of the STRIX G16, which promised better heat dissipation on paper. Part of the design choice to accompany this was to open up most ventilation on the rear end, unlike other models that still evenly distributed it to the sides.

This, to me, was a welcomed change especially with Intel chips that typically throttle during intense workloads.

The most obvious pain point I had before was immediately addressed by this new cooling system. Effectively, they made the heat dissipate through one ventilation area so it no longer affects other parts of the laptop to make the experience uncomfortable long term.

One example of this: the keyboard doesn’t take the heat after three hours of non-stop play on Performance mode while the system is throttling to achieve better frame rates.

Even after I shut down the laptop after use, the underside doesn’t get too warm either. I initially thought it had to be if that was an area you would have easy access to.

Well, I’m glad to never attempt to fry eggs on a laptop ever again, at least!

Battery levels that keep you in the clutch

For a device this powerful, it’s not a surprise to me that the battery drains quickly when you’re on the move. In my regular usage, I tallied around four to five hours before zero, only slightly improved to five and a half when leaving the device idle for a while.

Surprisingly enough, increasing the intensity of the load cuts these numbers only by a bit – clocking in three and a half hours maximum with heavy gaming.

Fortunately enough, the 380W charger charged it back to full at a quicker time and pace as its battery drain time.

Going from none to done took an average of two hours when idle, nearly two and half hours when in use while charging.

To me, this is more than enough time to go on a break when the games are tilting you too much. You can also use the 100W USB-C charger if you want to keep the laptop idle for longer and it will take four hours.

Is the ROG STRIX G16 your GadgetMatch?

For a laptop priced at a whopping PhP 319,995, the ASUS ROG STRIX G16 is the kind of all-around machine you can build to capture any moment. On its own, the performance truly speaks for itself whether you need it for work in the day or play till the wee hours.

However, when you’re willing to tinker around the machine like I was, you can unlock so much more out of it, especially in the hardware department. It’s a bonus that this machine lets you do it a lot easier without risking any warranties to be voided.

Admittedly, I still have some more questions about the design philosophy and longevity because of the hardware pre-built in.

For one, some design choices truly made it feel like you could only enjoy this with additional peripherals at your disposal. Plus, the battery charges fast to compensate for how quickly it runs out, too.

Although these aren’t deal breakers for me but for others, you might want to take note and try it out too.

Overall, you can’t go wrong with a machine that lets you achieve great performance when you’re willing to dig deeper into it.

As someone who loves to build PCs, this is one of the few gaming laptops that appeals to me while ignoring the obvious dent on my wallet. Even with other options out there, this might just be the one that you can future-proof as long as you can afford to do so!