#i wish someone had told me about image resizing earlier

[jezhtica]

Day 5: comic

(read from right to left)

Uhm yeah, first time I made a silly little comic ever. And ofc it had to be a sequel to this post.

That fruity prison manga has become my new obsession after rewatching the anime adaptation earlier this year, and I finally started to read the source material too some while ago.

[holankia]

Disclaimer : Just to let you all know that this will be an on going update where I will continue to update this review as I continue to use the phone.  So if you need me to test out any features or whatsoever feel free to do so in the comment, and I’ll get it tested out for you.

Introduction

For the last couple of weeks, my friend Joshua and I were researching on the possible types of phone we would get that can replace our current phone.  During that time I was using the Redmi 4X phone and had no complaints or whatsoever about it.  Was a good phone actually, but then I needed something that comes with a better camera instead.  The P10 Plus came into consideration, considering the P20 just came out so the price definitely dropped.  And unfortunately we missed out on the 11street sale the other day.  Never the less, I told Josh that the next phone I get must at least have a decent camera as I need to take pictures of the products I intend to sell online. Long story short, we’ve decided to get Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 China variant, which 12MP camera uses f/1.9, 1.4 μm instead of the f/2.2, 1.25 μm.

Comes with a free case, Redmi Note 5, USB Cable and 5V=2.0A charger

So Malaysia just officially released this phone on the 24th of April, which also uses f/1.9, 1.4 μm.  Currently they are offering 3GB & 4GB ram version.  So Josh said we should go for future proof and get the 6GB version instead.  So we went ahead as plan and got the China imported set instead.  Knowing that it will use, China ROM that comes with tons of bloatware both of us got it from Shopee.  Josh got his 3 days after the purchase, where as for me I got it 6 days later and that was with the help of Josh who went and self collected it on my behalf.  So here it is, with all it’s majestic glory I’ve finally received the Redmi Note 5.  And out of the box it comes with the free case, the phone, USB cable and 2 pin 5V=2.0A charger.

Specifications

The Snapdragon 636 did not fail me one bit, and considering how things runs better especially Mobile Legend and PUBG on this phone is way better as compared to my Redmi 4X previously.  Multitasking on this variant is smoother with the help of the 6GB of RAM.  Definitely this mid range phone really does wonders, and I really have no complaints with this.  Well minus the fact it was running using China ROM, there were a few bloatware I couldn’t uninstall.

Camera

Meet Josh my partner in crime

Now this is probably the main reason why I decided to get this phone in the very first place.  After numerous times being brainwashed by the Josh whom you can see here, and the price was irresistible.  So this was probably the first picture I took when I had this phone.  And it certainly did meet my expectation.  I’ll post a couple more pictures but it’s being compressed.  Never the less, you can be the judge on how this camera actually work.  And so far, after taking a few shots with this my products started selling almost instantly.  Wish I had this phone earlier, so would had taken better pictures during my Dad’s 70th birthday.  Never the less, all is good.

I can’t really much say about low light though, probably it will turn out better if I had a tripod and maybe see how things goes from there.  And as for the video, the EIS on this device really made a lot of difference when taking a video using handheld.  Can’t say much on the audio, but on the range of 1-10 I would probably give it a 7.  At least for now I think I’ll be able to take better and clearer videos whenever my kids are having performance.  Unfortunately they don’t support 4K recording, but it can be easily rectified by installing Open Camera.  So overall, I’m pretty happy with this phone and most likely I’ll stick to this for at least 3-4 years provided it doesn’t die out on me which pretty much would be a shame.  Never the less, if you’re planning to get a phone and not willingly forking out over RM1000 I would recommend to at least get the 4GB of Ram variant instead of the 3GB.  Please take note that I had to resize the following pictures, so quality may drop a little.

Without HDR

With HDR

HDR

With HDR

Without HDR

Portrait Mode

Portrait Mode

Portrait Mode

Portrait Mode

With HDR

Without HDR

Conclusion

Clear as it can get in this low light setting

A friend of mine told me last time, so long as you can see what’s inside the picture when taking a photo is good enough already.  We don’t need to spend so much, in getting super high quality cause once you’ve upload it onto social media you will end up losing all the qualities anyway.  Because of that I sold of my Samsung S7 Edge and got the Redmi 4X back then.  But boy was I wrong, I do miss out on taking good pictures of kids.  For places that has sufficient lights, it was fine.  But for places that had low light, I missed out a lot on those special moments.

Having said that, my brother once said “It’s only a phone, it’s not going to end wars or cure cancer”.  And it got me thinking, on how much one should actually spend on a phone.  So if a phone cost more than an i5 laptop, I think it would be over priced already.  But the problem with budget and mid range phones, you hardly can find any good alternatives.  But I seriously got to thank Xiaomi for keeping it real, considering how affordable they made their phones.

For the price I paid about less than 1/3 of the price of Huawei P20 Pro.  I’m actually getting good quality pictures that doesn’t lags when taking pictures.  And everything works just perfectly as it should, with the bigger screen it’s indeed a bonus.  Having said that, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 that has similar specs does sell cheaper as compared to Redmi Note 5 but its more of a gaming phone instead of photography. So if you’re someone who’s like me that are only interested in taking good photographs, I would highly recommend this phone to all of you.  But I do believe maybe in future updates, the Redmi Note 5 should be able to better optimize their apps so that games will run better. Not that I can tell much since PUBG and Mobile Legend still run perfectly fine for me.

Anyhow, if you’ve gotten a China ROM version and would like to flash to the global ROM do continue reading below and I’ve been using the “leaked” ROM for a few days already and it’s been fantastic!

Flashing to Global Rom Oreo 8.1

Josh told me someone managed to flash their China Variant phone to the latest Global Oreo ROM, as the current firmware on Xiaomi’s website is running on 7.1 that had problems with the camera.  But unfortunately, the original poster got taken down but that didn’t stopped us from trying to obtain the leaked ROM.  With the thanks of Google Cache we were able to download the ROM and successfully flash the global ROM onto our China Variant devices.  So Google works right out of the box, and everything works just the way it is.  From what I understand from Josh was that, network download speed seems to improved a lot.  I didn’t do the test before I flashed to the new rom so I wouldn’t know.

If you would like to try and flash this ROM, here are the steps.  And please take note that I will not be held responsible in the event if your phone get bricked or no longer work.  So if you’re not too sure what you’re doing I suggest you get someone else who knows to help you out.  Please do a full backup of your phone as this will wipe entirely everything from your phone.   I’ll break this into few parts :-

  Files Required

XiaoMiTools – https://xiaomitool.com/

TWRP Image File – https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=673956719939832671

ADB & Fastboot Installer – https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979

Redmi Note 5 Oreo Global Rom – http://bigota.d.miui.com/V9.5.6.0.OEIMIFA/miui_HMNote5HMNote5ProGlobal_V9.5.6.0.OEIMIFA_3b50aa3537_8.1.zip

Unlock Your Phone Boot loader

By default, your phone boot loader is locked.  Because we are required to flash an unapproved firmware by Xiaomi, we need to unlock it by sending a request here http://en.miui.com/unlock/.  You need to sign into your Mi Account (I suggest using your phone number), and once you are in it would ask you why you need to unlock your boot loader.  Just let them know you want to flash to a global rom which requires it to be unlocked.  Now for me it took about 20 minutes for them to approved, where as Josh got his unlock in less than 5 minutes.  Probably the main reason is that they were working that time, hence didn’t need to wait as long as other stated.  So once you received the text message stated your account has been given permission to unlock the boot loader.  Follow the instruction from the website, and your phone will be unlocked after that.

Downgrade to Nougat

To do this I had to use XiaoMiTool, which pretty much is automated.  But before you run this program, you need to make sure that you enabled USB Debugging under the developer option.  To access developer option you need to go into Settings –> About Phone –> Tap MIUI version 7 times to enable Developer Options –> Press Back one time –> Additional settings (Under System & Device) –> Developer Options  –> Enable USB debugging.

Once you enable USB Debugging, connect your phone to your PC and run the XiaoMiTool.  Please take note that it will prompt you to trust the device on your phone, just tap OK.  The software will then prompt you to select your device, so select your Redmi Note 5.  Here it will do some standard checking to see if your boot loader is unlocked and etc.  So don’t worry when your phone reboots a few times, as it’s perfectly fine. Because the phone got restarted, you may need to approve the access on your phone once again before proceeding to flash your phone.

Select Global Rom

Once it prompts you to select the ROM you want to install, choose the first one Global ROM Version 9.2.7.0 NEIMIEK. Then click on Select and you should be downloading the firmware and it will prompt you once again that it will flash your phone. Now in the event once Xiaomi officially release the Global ROM version 9.5.6.0 OEIMIFA, select that ROM instead and you don’t have to proceed anymore.

After you completed flashing your phone. Do a quick setup on your phone, so that you can get into the main home screen.  Don’t have to connect to wifi or set up your MI account for now.  Once you’re in, just copy the Oreo ROM onto the phone internal storage.  Once you’ve done that, it’s time to flash your phone.

Flashing Oreo Global ROM

Go into fastboot mode by doing the following.   1. Power off your phone 2. Press and hold Volume Down & Power Button. 3. It will then power up and boot into Fastboot mode. (A logo of the Xiaomi’s mascot operating on an android)

Boot into TWRP by doing the following 1. Open Command Prompt 2. Connect your phone to the PC 3. Go to the location of the TWRP image you downloaded. 4. Type in this command fastboot boot twrp-3.2.1-2-whyred.img 5. Your phone should restart and it will bring you into TWRP

TWRP Mode 1. Select Swipe to Allow modifications > Wipe > Advanced Wipe. 2. Select Dalvik/ART, Cache, Data, System, Vendor then Swipe to Wipe. 3. Go back and flash miui_HMNote5HMNote5ProGlobal_V9.5.6.0.OEIMIFA_3b50aa3537_8.1.zip 4. After flashing Wipe Cache and Reboot. DONE.

Once your phone restart, you can now set up accordingly.  Congratulations on Running Oreo 8.1 global rom version.

  Review : Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 The Camera Beast Disclaimer : Just to let you all know that this will be an on going update where I will continue to update this review as I continue to use the phone.