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With people buying fewer and fewer flagship phones, mid-range and budget models are becoming more and more important. On sale you can currently get a Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 for around £130, so that puts it firmly into the budget category. And it turns out you’re getting a pretty decent smartphone. Let’s start with the design, the first thing you’ll notice when you open up the box. First impressions from the front are, it looks like a 2020 smartphone. It’s very big, about 6.5 inches, and it’s all screen except for a tiny little hole punch camera in the top left corner. The bezels around the screen are quite small, with the one at the bottom being a bit thicker than the rest. From the front, it looks good. When you turn it around you’re met with (in my case) a blue gradient colour design, and a quad-camera setup with a fingerprint scanner underneath. The back of the phone looks good too. Nothing about the way this phone looks instantly screams ‘budget’ at you, but when you actually ...