Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro is amongst best-selling devices launched this year, Xiaomi launched it running on Android Nougat despite launching in February and later in June rolled out Android Oreo update. If we go by the Android update history of Redmi devices then it won’t be wrong to assume that device will not get any Android update as last year’s bestseller Redmi Note 4 is still on Android Nougat 7.0 but users can still enjoy the latest Android on their Redmi Note 5 Pro, thanks to the awesome custom ROM developers community. Earlier, we tried Android Pie based Pixel Experience ROM on Redmi Note 5 Pro, it was stable for day to day usage but it lacks customization and MIUI like navigation gestures. Now, we tried Android Pie-based Pixel Experience Extended on our unit and here are our impressions,
Performance and Benchmarks:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 is capable of delivering a solid day to day performance, we obtained AnTuTu score of 112958 which is slightly lesser as compared to 115397 on Pixel Experience ROM but we experienced a smooth and reliable day to day performance and phone didn’t have any problem in handling multitasking.
Software, UI, and Apps:
As the name suggests, the Pixel Experience Extended ROM aims towards providing a Pixel-like experience on the device. This ROM is based on latest Android Pie 9.0 and comes with September security patch. There is no bloatware pre-installed with the ROM and there are only few Google apps preinstalled. Out of 64 GB internal storage, 10.5 GB is occupied by the system and users get around 52 GB of free storage.
The ROM isn’t feature-rich like MIUI but there are some customization options available, users can set the UI theme as per their preferences under extra settings section.
Users can customize the battery icon, power menu and quick settings tiles as per their preference, apart from these features like ambient display, double tap to wake, double tap to sleep and swipe three fingers to take screenshot are also available.
It offers various choices for navigation, users can choose between Navigation Bar, Pill based Navigation and MIUI like Navigation Gestures. Users can swipe up from the right or left side of the screen to go back, swipe up from the bottom to go home, swipe up and hold for the overview and swipe a little upwards and hold works as a quick switch that lets you go back to the last app.
It also offers Digital Wellbeing that will help you understand your phone usage better, app usage timers so that you can limit the usage, Do Not Disturb mode for preventing interruptions, and a new Wind Down feature for encouraging you to disconnect at night.
Fingerprint Sensor:
The fingerprint works flawlessly on this ROM and users can add up to five different fingerprints to unlock the phone. The fingerprint is a little slow as compared to stock MIUI Global ROM but during our usage, it was accurate and reliable.
Camera:
Similar to Pixel Experience ROM, it also comes preloaded with the camera app that developers have extracted from Mi A2 but this is not the only preloaded camera app. GCam is also preloaded along with the MIUI camera app, Cam2API can be enabled with a toggle on the button which can be found in settings.
To get the most out of camera users can use other ported GCam which can be downloaded from here. Portrait mode and Night sight work flawlessly on GCam, for more ported GCam apks users can visit this website.
Battery Life:
Battery life on Pixel Experience Extended is much better as compare to Pixel Experience ROM and MIUI ROM. It easily lasts for a whole day with heavy usage, I was able to get more than 11 hours screen on time on a busy day. On moderate usage, the device easily lasts for a couple of days.
It takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes to charge the device from 0 to 100%, 0-70% takes 1 hour 20 minutes with 5V/2A charger. The ROM also has an option to show charging information on the lock screen while charging.
Conclusion:
If you’re using Redmi Note 5 Pro (whyred) and want to stay updated along with great battery life, MIUI like gestures and customizations, you should try Pixel Experience Extended ROM.
Pros
- System-wide themes
- Customizations
- Bloat-free
- Cam2API enabled by default
- Great battery life
- Gestures based navigation
Cons
- PUBG lags sometimes
- Slow Fingerprint animation
Requirements
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro with an unlocked bootloader – To Unlock the bootloader of your device, apply here.
- Pixel Experience Extended ROM – Download the latest ROM ZIP file from here.
- Redwolf TWRP for Redmi Note 5 Pro – You can download the recovery file from here.
- Bypass Anti-rollback – Download the ZIP file from here.
- ADB software (For Windows) / Android zip file (For Mac)
If you are on a Mac you need to
- Extract the Android zip and place the folder on your Desktop.
- Open Terminal
- Type cd Desktop/Android
- Enter ./ADB-Install-Mac.sh
Follow the procedure mentioned below to flash the ROM on the device,
- Switch off the phone and boot it into Fastboot mode by long pressing Power and Volume down buttons simultaneously.
- Connect your phone to PC by a USB cable, open command prompt on your PC and navigate to the folder where you have downloaded Zip to bypass anti-rollback and Redwolf TWRP Recovery ZIP.
- Type ‘fastboot devices’ in command prompt and check if the device is detected by the system.
- If the system detects the phone, type ‘fastboot flash antirbpass anti-rollback_filename.zip’ and hit enter, now type ‘fastboot flash recovery redwolf_twrp_filename.zip’ and hit enter, the process will be completed in seconds.
- Now long press the Volume up and Power Button to boot the phone in recovery mode.
- It will ask to allow modifications, Slide towards the right to allow Modifications.
- Select ‘Wipe’, and choose ‘Advanced Wipe’, tick on ‘Dalvik / ART Cache’, ‘System’. ‘Data’, ‘Cache’ and then swipe towards the right to Wipe.
- Go back and click on ‘Install’, navigate to the location where you have stored ROM file, it’s better to keep ROM file on SD Card or USB OTG drives. Select the ROM file and swipe towards the right to flash.
- Click on ‘Reboot’, within 10 minutes device will boot with Pixel Experience Extended ROM.
Warning disclaimer: Bootloader unlocking and flashing ROM may void the warranty of your devices, and FoneArena is not responsible for any damage or loss caused to your device. The credit for developing the ROM and Redwolf Recovery goes to their respective developers.