Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro was amongst best-selling devices last year, Xiaomi launched it running on Android Nougat, and was updated to Android 8.1 (Oreo) in June 2018. The company rolled out Android 9.0 (Pie) update to the smartphone back in May this year, the device is almost 18 months old and has already received two Android updates. It is almost certain that Xiaomi will not update the Android version on the Redmi Note 5 Pro, but in case you own a Redmi Note 5 Pro and wish to keep your device updated with the latest Android version, you may try a custom ROM. We had earlier tried Android 10 based Arrow OS on our Redmi Note 5 Pro and now, we are back with Android 10 based Pixel Experience custom ROM review.
Performance and Benchmarks:
It obtained AnTuTu score of 138220 on Pixel Experience. It scored 1326 points in single-core test and 4761 points in multi-core test in Geekbench 4. In Geekbench 5 test, it managed to get a 282 points in single-core test and 1242 points in multi-core test.
Software, UI, and Apps:
As the name suggests, the Pixel Experience ROM aims towards providing a clean Pixel-like experience on the device. There is no bloatware pre-installed, only a few Google apps preinstalled.
Out of 64 GB internal storage, 10.36 GB is occupied by the system and users get around 53 GB of free storage. This ROM is based on the latest Android 10 and has December security patch, the ROM maintainer updates ROM almost every month and OTA update is pushed to the users.
Android 10 offers various choices for navigation, users can choose between 3-button navigation, 2-button navigation (Pill based, similar to Android 9.0 Pie) and Gestures navigation. Users coming from MIUI will find the Android 10 gestures very familiar.
Android 10 features a system-wide dark mode along with styles and wallpapers to customize accent color, icon shape, and font.
Fingerprint Sensor:
The fingerprint works flawlessly on this ROM as you would expect, users can add up to five different fingerprints to unlock the phone. The fingerprint response felt a little slow compared to stock MIUI Global ROM but during our usage, it was accurate and reliable.
Camera
MIUI Camera V 2.0 is the default camera app on this ROM, Camera2API is enabled by default, so you can use GCam ports without any issue. A working version can be downloaded from here, for more ported GCam mods users can visit Google Camera Port Updates telegram channel.
Battery Life
The battery life on the Pixel Experience was good, it will easily last for a day without any worries. I got around 8 hours screen on time over two days’ usage, which is good.
You will find Adaptive battery feature on Pixel Experience ROM, users can also restrict background activities for the app. There is a battery saver mode that restricts background activities to save some power and should help when the phone is low on charge. Additionally, The phone also shows charging information on the lock screen.
Conclusion
If you’re using Redmi Note 5 Pro (whyred) and want to stay updated along with stock Android with all the Pixel series features, good performance, MIUI like gestures and good battery life, Pixel Experience is worth a consideration.
Pros
- Fluid day to day performance
- Bloat-free UI
- Cam2API enabled
- Gestures based navigation
- Dual 4G VoLTE support
- OTA updates
- Banking apps work without any issue after flashing Magisk
Cons
- Face unlock option isn’t available
Requirements
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro with an unlocked bootloader – To Unlock the bootloader of your device, apply here.
- Bypass Anti-rollback – Download the ZIP file from here.
- TWRP for Redmi Note 5 Pro – You can download the recovery file from here.
- Pixel Experience OS – Download the latest ROM ZIP file from here.
- GApps – Included with ROM.
- Magisk – Download 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 TWRP Recovery.
- 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 twrp_filename.img’ 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’, click on ‘Format Data’ and type ‘Yes’. Go to ‘Advanced Wipe’, select ‘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 zip, and Magisk (optional), it’s better to keep these zip files on SD Card or USB OTG drives. Select the ROM file and Magisk, then swipe towards the right to flash.
- Click on ‘Reboot’ and then ‘System’, within 10-15 minutes device will boot with Pixel Experience OS.
Credits: We would like to acknowledge the efforts of Henrique Silva towards developing Pixel Experience ROM for the Redmi Note 5 Pro, Ankit Gourav for the development of TWRP Recovery for Redmi Note 5 Pro, and all other developers who contribute to the development of GCam ports, and Magisk.
Warning Disclaimer: Bootloader unlocking and flashing ROM may void the warranty of Xiaomi devices, FoneArena is not responsible for any damage or loss caused to your device.