Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5 Pro was amongst the best selling devices launched in 2018 but it runs on Android 8.1 (Oreo) based MIUI 10 as of now. As per an official announcement, Redmi Note 5 Pro is expected to get Android 9.0 (Pie) in Q1 2019 but the public beta testing for the MIUI Global ROM hasn’t started yet.
Earlier, we tried Oxygen OS 9.0 Port, Pixel Experience and Pixel Experience Extended ROM on Redmi Note 5 Pro all of which were based on Android Pie. Resurrection Remix is another custom ROM that is popular amongst users for the customizations it offers. Resurrection Remix V 7.0 based on Android Pie was recently released for many devices including Redmi Note 5 Pro. We tried it 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 115286 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:
Resurrection Remix is based on latest Android Pie 9.0 and comes with January security patch (updated to February security patch now). There is no bloatware pre-installed with the ROM and only a few apps are preinstalled. Out of 64 GB internal storage, 10.3 GB is occupied by the system and users get around 52 GB of free storage. It also supports Dual 4G VoLTE, during our testing we found Jio and Airtel VoLTE working simultaneously without any issues.
Resurrection Remix offers plenty of customization options, quick settings tiles along with the number of tiles to be shown in each row and column can be customized as per the user preference, a pull-down from the right side (customizable) opens quick settings panel directly.
Users can set the system UI style amongst light, dark and automatic along with accent color and font style as per their preferences under display section.
Users can choose between Stock, Smartbar, and Fling to customize the soft navigation bar as per the preference. Users also have an option to turn on Pill-based navigation gestures or can also choose Swipe-up gestures (similar to the gestures found on Pixel Experience Extended ROM on Redmi Note 5 Pro).
Features like double tap to wake the device, double tap on status bar to lock the device, slide three finger gesture to take screenshot and ambient display are also available.
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, but the Wind Down feature is broken and doesn’t turn the display greyscale as can be seen in the following screenshot (fixed in February security update).
Fingerprint Sensor:
The fingerprint works flawlessly on this ROM and users can add up to five different fingerprints to unlock the phone. The fingerprint performance is similar to stock MIUI Global ROM, during our usage, it was fast, accurate and reliable.
Camera:
Resurrection Remix comes preloaded with MIUI camera 2.0, if you have used any Xiaomi device in the past, you must be familiar with the app interface and UI.
Cam2API is enabled by default on Resurrection Remix, unlike MIUI. Users can use ported GCam to enjoy Portrait mode and Night sight, a working GCam apk can be downloaded from here, for more ported GCam apks users can visit this website.
Battery Life:
The battery performance on this ROM is similar to stock MIUI ROM, it lasts for a whole day with heavy usage. On moderate usage, the device should last for more than a day easily. I was able to get 9 hours screen on time on a busy day with 15% charge left on my device and device lasted for 2 days on moderate usage.
It takes about 2 hours and 10 minutes to charge the device from 0 to 100%, but 0-60% takes only 1 hour. Battery manager is also present here and users can restrict apps to start in the background to save some power. Resurrection Remix also offers different battery profiles such as Power save, Efficiency, Balanced, Quick and Performance to cater variety of users. It also shows 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 performance, MIUI like gestures and tons of customizations, you should try Resurrection Remix.
Pros
- Fluid day to day performance
- System-wide themes and accent colors
- Bloat-free UI
- Customizations
- Cam2API enabled
- Gestures based navigation
- Dual 4G VoLTE support
- Decent battery life
- Supports OTA updates (No need to flash monthly security patch updates manually)
Cons
- No face unlock
Requirements
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro with an unlocked bootloader – To Unlock the bootloader of your device, apply here.
- Redwolf TWRP for Redmi Note 5 Pro – You can download the recovery file from here.
- Resurrection Remix ROM – Download the latest ROM ZIP file from here.
- GApps – Download GApps package here, users are supposed to download GApps for ARM64 platform on Android 9.0 as ROM is based on Android Pie.
- 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 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 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 zip and GApps package, it’s better to keep these zip files on SD Card or USB OTG drives. Select the ROM file and GApps package and then swipe towards the right to flash.
- Click on ‘Reboot’ and then ‘System’, within 10-15 minutes device will boot with Resurrection Remix ROM.
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. Credits for Resurrection Remix ROM and Redwolf Recovery go to their respective developers.