Redmi Note 15 5G review: Impressive slim aesthetics and functionality

Since last year, we have been seeing the trend of bulky phones with flat designs and massive batteries. Whereas the newly launched  Redmi Note 15 5G truly arrives as a breath of fresh air with a remarkably slim design, curved display, bright display, and impressive features. Its slim form factor instantly grabs attention, and the overall smartphone design feels premium and high-end in hand.

Alongside its design, the Redmi Note 15 5G offers impressive upgrades over its predecessor, such as a bigger and brighter display, a 108MP Master Pixel camera, a bigger battery, and much more. With upgrades, the company has also increased the pricing of the base model, and it is now priced at Rs 22,999 in India. 

I have been using the Redmi Note 15 5G for about 10 days to know if it's worth the upgrade. While the smartphone offers reliable performance in many areas, it also comes with some trade-offs that you may want to know. Therefore, let’s have a closer look at the Redmi Note 15 5G, and check who should buy the smartphone.

Redmi Note 15 5G: Remarkably slim

One of my favourite things about the Redmi Note 15 5G is its design. In a market full of similar-looking smartphones, the Note 15 5G feels fresh as it does not follow the repetitive designs that we have seen in previous years. The smartphone features a sleek profile with just 7.35mm thickness. However, I have the Mist Purple colour variant that measures 7.4mm. It has a curved display, which raises some doubts over its durability, but in-hand, the phone feels quite sturdy.

In addition to a slim profile, the Redmi Note 15 5G has a squaricle camera module, housing a triple camera setup. It looks attractive on the rear panel, considering it does not have a major bump, though the camera design camera aesthetics are similar to the Redmi Note 14 Pro model. For durability, the Redmi Note 15 offers an IP66 rating for water and dust resistance and MIL-STD-810H certification.

Overall, the Redmi Note 15 5G has an appealing design, and may be a preference for many buyers. In terms of colour options, the smartphone comes in three variants: Black, Glacier Blue, and Mist Purple, and my favourite would be the purple one, as it shines bright in sunlight and looks quite pleasing.

Redmi Note 15 5G: Crisp curved display

The Redmi Note 15 5G features a 6.67-inch curved AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 3200nits peak brightness. The display delivers crisp visuals with vibrant colours, making it perfect for media consumption and even graphics-intensive gaming. The brightness of the phone is also impressive, but I was not able to test the brightness in sunlight due to Delhi’s smog-filled weather. 

Since it has a curved display, many doubt accidental touches, but surprisingly, I did not encounter any issues during regular use. Hence, the display will surely not disappoint in terms of usage and entertainment as it is swift, responsive, and immersive. In addition, the display is also protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 7i, offering relief in case of accidental drops.

Redmi Note 15 5G: Reliable performance and software

The Redmi Note 15 5G is powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor paired with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 256GB internal storage. As far as real-time performance is concerned, the device handles daily essential tasks such as social media scrolling, browsing, and camera captures, and other tasks smoothly, without any lag or stutter. It also offers smooth multitasking, as I often switch between apps, make edits to copies on Google Docs with dozens of Chrome tabs open in the background, and simultaneously communicate with the team on WhatsApp.

Coming to Redmi Note 15 5G’s gaming performance, I ran BGMI on the mobile and in lower graphic settings, the performance felt smooth, the frame rates were stable, and I did not encounter any lag even with 40 minutes of continuous gaming. Even in higher graphics settings, the gameplay struggled with slight heat towards the camera island. In addition, following heavy gaming sessions, you may notice a slight lag in basic UI navigation. Hence, you may want to avoid excessive gaming on this device

The Redmi Note 15 5G runs on Android 15-based HyperOS 2, which offers a decent user experience. The animations and transitions feel smooth, making day-to-day navigation feel fluid and responsive. The phone also offers a few AI features, Circle to Search, AI eraser, AI summary, and other camera AI features. However, the amount of bloatware could get annoying. Apart from this, the phone offers 4 OS-based upgrades and 6 years of security patches.

Redmi Note 15 5G: Camera covers the basics

Redmi Note 15 5G features a 108MP main camera and an 8MP ultrawide camera. Well, coming to the camera performance, it's not quite as impressive as I expected it to be. In a daylight scene, the smartphone captures decent images, but highly saturated, and the colours appear unnaturally bright. Although it was mostly social media worthy, if not the best, in the segment. 

The portrait images on the phone are well-rendered and capture great details, although don't be fooled by the preview while clicking, as it may look basic, but the post-capture results appear promising. However, the 3x zoom lacks clarity and detailing. Therefore, if you want to capture Instagram-worthy portraits, then you may want to stick to the 1x zoom.

Now, coming to night photography, the camera struggles as colours are not consistent, and the details are washed out, which may leave you wanting more. On the other hand, the ultrawide camera also felt okay. Hence, the camera performance could have been refined, especially considering the competitors.

Redmi Note 15 5G: Impressive battery life

The Redmi Note 15 5G is backed by a 5,520mAh battery, which may not be as big, but considering its thinness, it's exceptionally large. In addition, the battery backup is also quite impressive. The smartphone lasts almost an entire day with moderate usage like browsing, social media, camera usage, etc. The smartphone supports a 45W adapter, which comes in the box. It takes about an hour to fully charge the device. 

Redmi Note 15 5G: Verdict

Now, who should buy the Redmi Note 15 5G? Well, the smartphone gets the basics right with an attractive design, slim build, and crisp AMOLED display. The smartphone also offers an impressive day-to-day performance, and multitasking is also a breeze. However, heavy gamers could avoid this phone. In addition, the smartphone also offers impressive battery life, and it charges in a reasonable amount of time. The only thing that bothered me was the camera performance, which may be a deal-breaker for photography enthusiasts.