Move over... Xiaomi’s latest all- rounder budget phone knocks it out of the park

The ‘Apple of China’, Xiaomi has achieved pretty much a similar kind of fandom for its devices in India as Apple has all over the world and the series that did the trick (right from the word go) was their Redmi series. Xiaomi’s budget phones, Redmi series have done extremely well in India ever since they launched the first Redmi device in 2014. It’s now on its Redmi 4 and it continues to impress us.

With its latest Redmi phone, Xiaomi has hit the ball out of the park. Let me get it out there right away. The new Redmi 4 from Xiaomi is a well calculated phone that can easily be a result of listening intently to the reviews/ feedbacks for its previous phones. The new device is better in style and performance, whether it’s the metal unibody with matte texture or a powerful 4100mAh battery capacity and the quick fingerprint scanner. These are some of the features that stood out apart from many others that Xiaomi managed to pack into this Rs. 8999 phone.

The first thing you notice is the look of the device, Xiaomi almost has an OCD for clean, minimalist design which can be seen across all its devices from phones to their ecosystem products and even to their newly opened Mi Home in Bengaluru (no one’s complaining). The Redmi 4 has a metal unibody that’s rounded around the corners and the back has slight detailing on the top and bottom, the camera is placed at the top left with the finger sensor placed in the middle towards the top which I feel is the perfect spot for the fingerprint scanner as it is super instinctive and easy to use. The speakers are placed on either side of the charging port with perfect symmetry, also the particular placement keep the sound flowing with no disturbance. Xiaomi Redmi 4 features a 5-inch HD (720x1280) IPS display with 2.5D curved-edge glass, which can easily give tough competition to the mid to premium phones. Also the size of the phone is perfect for those who like a more compact device. If it were any slimmer it could give premium phones a run for their money! From the looks of it the phone checks all boxes.



Let’s get on to the performance of the phone, well there are three variants of the Redmi 4, one with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (Rs. 6999); one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage (8999); and also a 4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage(not yet available). The Redmi 4 is a duel sim phone or can support expandable storage using a microSD card (up to 128GB). The phone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor clocked at 1.4GHz. The Redmi 4 does not come with Android 7.0 out of the box but the company says that an update for the phone is in the works.

Also Read: This is what Xiaomi's Mi Homes in China look like

For my review I used the 3GB Ram and 32GB ROM. The phone functions smoothly, there were no hangs and snags during almost a month long use. Its fast and you can sift through apps with ease. You will be pleasantly surprised with the 4100mAh battery; it is amazing how it is getting easier and easier with newer phones to make do without a huge battery backup, Redmi 4 has nailed it too. Being a budget phone, a good battery life is one of the key features users look for and this one has delivered on that. It doesn’t have the fast charge but the battery easily lasts a day on full charge. Apart from being well placed, the finger sensor at the back is highly responsive and a great addition. The display of the phone is good too, on the colours, sharpness and brightness the phone stands tall. While some may disagree but the size of the screen is perfectly fine for viewing movies and videos and that brings us to the heating issue.. which the phone does not have!


Moving on to the camera, you get a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, and an LED flash. There's also a 5-megapixel front camera with f/2.2 aperture. While a lot of other companies are cashing in on the selfie craze, Xiaomi takes a more bang for your money approach and gives you strong features overall. But if you are someone looking to buy a phone only for your love for photography then maybe this one’s not for you (besides who buys a phone only for the camera, or maybe you do!). The camera lacks a bit in brightness and detailing mainly indoors, the camera also gives mediocre results in low light but nothing that could hamper a usual day to day clicks. Also, don’t forget it is a budget phone and for the price you pay for the phone, you could very well be trigger happy. And the fingerprint scanner doubles up as the camera button making selfies a great deal easier.

To buy or not to buy
Well take a guess... If you are looking for a phone in this budget or may be ever a little bit higher, I would say buy. It’s a total bang for your bucks. Whether you are looking for a primary phone or maybe a back up device this phone can be a good buy, it impresses both on design and performance, which is quite rare in budget phone. Probably reason why between Amazon and Mi.com, Xiaomi sold more than 2,50,000 units within 8mins of launch! So, get your hands on this phone before they run out of it, you know what I mean, Xiaomi has had to deal with many “Out of Stock” situation in the past, but Xiaomi India MD, Manu Jain recently talked about how between the Mi Home and online partner Amazon, Xiaomi’s ‘Out of stock’ issues are in the past.