Xiaomi has established new dimensions of success with the Redmi series, and he was included in most of our list of budget smartphones. The new Redmi smartphone will not only intensify rivalry in the market, but will also have pressure to repeat its previous variants. And talking about specification, this is definitely an upgraded variant. Let’s know whether the new Xiaomi Redmi 4 meets expectations in terms of price?
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Design
When we first saw Redmi 4 in our office, we made a mistake of considering it to be the ‘light’ or small variant of Redmi 4. The design of both these phones is very similar to the same. At the pre -launch event of Redmi 4, Xiaomi’s product manager, Jai Mani, bapped Gazettes 360 that the look of Redmi 4 is inspired by the big Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Review). Redmi 4’s all-metal is rear polished and this phone looks more premium than previous variants. However, this is afraid of slipping the phone and avoided falling several times while trying to take pictures from the phone during our review.
The basic formula of the Redmi series has not been changed a huge change. Like the Redmi 3S, the Redmi 4 has a 5 -inch screen. The new model, however, looks slightly thicker with 8.65 millimeter thickness and weighs 150 grams. The thickness of the Redmi 3S was 8.5 millimeters and weighs 144 grams. Overall, despite the increase in thickness or weight, the Redmi 4 has not changed much as it is easy to use the phone with one hand.
We never had trouble using fingerprint sensor. The phone has only one Me logo on the rear, but in small letters ‘designed/made in India’ is written. We liked a protective ring around the camera lens.
The phone has power and volume buttons on the right side. And during one hand use, the phone is easily accessible to use. A micro-USB port has been given to the bottom for charging and data transfer in the phone. There are grills on the other side, although only one of these speakers. On the top is a 3.5mm audio jack and infrared ammeter.
The phone has navigation buttons at all below the screen but these are not backlit, which means that it will be difficult to use them in the dark. Just below the home button is a notification LED and is shiny to alert the user for upcoming notifications. Like the second Redmi smartphone, the new Redmi 4 smartphone comes with a dual-SIM tray, which means that users will be able to use two SIM cards and a SIM card or a microSD card simultaneously. Redmi 4 smartphone will be available in Champagne Gold and Matt Black color variants. And we got a mat black color for review.
The retail box with the phone will get a guideline book, a data cable, a power adapter and a SIM projector tool.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Specification and Software
Xiaomi Redmi 4 has a 5-inch HD (720×1280) IPS display that comes with 2.5D curved-edged glass. It seems that Shaiaomi has used 2.5D glass for the first time in a Redmi smartphone less than Rs 10,000. The phone has a 4100 mAh non-removable battery. The company also used the same battery in the last Redmi 3S smartphone and is being described as the biggest feature of the phone. The phone has an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor that runs on 1.4 GHz. There are three variants of Redmi 4- 2 GB RAM/16 GB storage, 3 GB RAM/32 GB storage and 4 GB RAM/64 GB storage. Our review unit was 3 GB RAM/ 32 GB storage. The storage of Redmi 4 can be increased to 128 GB via microSD card.
This phone has a 13 -megapixel rear camera with aperture F/2.0, PDAF and an LED flash. The phone has a 5 -megapixel front camera with aperture F/2.2 for selfie. The new Redmi 4 smartphone will support connectivity features like 4G and VoLTE. On using two SIM cards simultaneously, only 4G calls and data will run on the primary slot while the secondary SIM slot will support 2G.
This phone runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with Xiaomi’s MUI 8.2 skin. It is a stable build that we saw in Redmi Note 4 and Redmi 4A. Which means that Redmi 4 has many software features that we have already seen. These include dual apps so that two accounts of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp or any other app can go. The display can be shrinked in a corner with one handed mode, which makes everything easily access. The phone also has a scrolling screenshot feature from which the entire web page screenshot can be taken. The user can lock the user app from child mode, and the second space gives the user to make two profiles to separate business and personal data on the same device.
The MIUI skin looks clear and is more polished than the previous version. You can read detailed information about the software in a review of our previous Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 and Xiaomi Redmi 4A.
Talking about the previous Redmi phone, many apps are already installed in Redmi 4 such as music, me pics, mi community, news, security, notes, recorders and weather. Through the theme app, users can select the theme, wallpaper, ringtone and font from a store. The device also has a Me Store app through which Xiaomi can buy products and accessories. We feel that the MIUI interface can be lighter if it would not have had so much apps. But not all of them can be deleted and they consume a lot of storage in the device. Some third-party apps are already installed in the phone such as Amazon, PhonePe Wallet, Flipkart, Facebook and Swift.
On signing in with me account, the user will get 5 GB storage of Mi Cloud Storage for free. This storage is different from the 15 GB free cloud storage given by Google on signing in Gmail.
The Redmi 4 smartphone does not run on Android 7.0 Nougat nor supports Google Assistant at the time of review, which disappointed us. When pressing the home button for a long time, the Now on tap feature -based search box opens. Xiaomi says that Redmi 4 will get updates for Android Nougat. And before that, Google Assistant can be found but the company has not promised any date.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Camera
The 13 -megapixel rear camera focus rapidly and the credit goes to the phase detection autofocus feature. The camera app has a face recognition feature that can be easily used. Comparing with Redmi 3S Prime, we found the autofocus of Redmi 4 faster. Photos coming from the camera are detailed and sharp, while the color remains vibrant. Most of the time colors in landscape photos are accurate.
However, on turning on HDR mode, photos are very slow and processed and we have this big complaint from the device. When HDR mode remains on, the user has to keep his hand stable for a good picture.
The rear camera makes a lot of noise when taking pictures in low light. Some shots taken in low light were very bad. There are good pictures from Redmi 4 at night but only when the subject has good light.
The camera app of Redmi 4 is simple and it is easy to use. The app has many settings and features. HDR mode is launched on just one tap. The phone has live filters. Videos of up to 720 pixels and 1080 pixels can be recorded from the phone and the video quality is also excellent.
The selfie coming from Redmi 4 is fine. But the image is slowly processor. In the desire to take a selfie early, we took a blurred selfie several times.
Overall, the camera of Xiaomi Redmi 4 is better than the previous Redmi 3S Prime (Review) if you look at the focus and performance. The camera has a problem like poor quality in low light and slow processing in HDR mode. We hope that this problem will be solved with the update.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Performance
The general performance of Xiaomi Redmi 4 was great and the device did most of the work easily. The MIUI interface seems dull many times but the app performance does not affect it. Games like Easfault 8 and Cut the Rope 2 in the phone easily play. During the review, we did not see any major problem in the phone. Neither the phone was overheated.
We reviewed the 3 GB RAM unit and we found only 1.2 GB memory empty in the phone. Which means that there may be a problem in multi-tasking in Xiaomi Redmi 4 with 2 GB RAM variants. Even when the memory of 1 GB was empty, we did not feel the phone slow. But we will advise you to take 4 GB RAM variants by spending a little more money.
Voice quality in the phone was excellent and the phone supports VoLTE. We do not get a headset with the phone, so we tested our earphones, which the sound quality got impressed us.
The 5 inch IPS display is shiny and the text looks sharp. The screen is crisp which is equipped with great viewing angle. However, it is not the best HD display ever shown in Redmi phone. The color reproduction was good, but in our advice, the Redmi 3S proved to be better in this case. The screen can be read and used directly in sunlight. Watching a movie with a 5 inch display in the phone is a good experience to watch and play games. The phone has a reading mode.
Scored well in benchmark testing from phone. From this phone we got data like Snapdrawn 430 processor smartphones.
The Battery of Redmi 4 smartphone supported our HD video loop test for 14 hours and 20 minutes, which is good. We will give credit for the performance of the performance found in the battery loop test to the screen with low-HD resolution. With regular use, the battery lasted for a whole day. The phone has a power saving mode, which helps in running the phone for a long time. The phone does not come with a sharp charging adapter but Xiaomi’s Jai Mani told us that the phone supports fast charging. We hope that Xiaomi will also sell a fast charging adapter as an additional accessory for Redmi 4, or you can buy from a third party.
Our decision
In the past, Xiaomi’s Redmi smartphone has set standard for another smartphone in this price segment. And the Redmi series put the capacity of a budget smartphone in front of everyone. The same thing applies to Redmi 4. Xiaomi’s latest entry level is a perfect package according to Redmi performance, battery life and design. Camera quality is something in which the phone disappoints, but it is useless to expect too much from this price phone.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 will replace Redmi 3S (and Redmi 3S Prime) after some time and will be the main phone of the category less than Rs 10,000. The company has priced 2 GB RAM/16 GB storage at Rs 6,999, 3 GB RAM/32 GB storage is priced at Rs 8,999 and 4 GB RAM/64 GB storage variant is priced at Rs 10,999. Talking about the middle version, we found 1.28 GB memory empty all the time. We will advise people to buy a slightly expensive but more storage variants. The Redmi 4 smartphone will compete with Samsung Galaxy J2 (2016), Lenovo’s 6 Power (Review), Oppo A37. But it will get the most challenge from Xiaomi’s own Redmi Note 4, which has a better processor, big screen and better camera.
Availability of these smartphones is a big issue. The previous Redmi 3S (Redmi 3S Prime), Redmi 4A and Redmi Note 4 smartphones have been very difficult to buy in stock. While these smartphones have been sold at Flipkart and the company’s Mi online store.