XiaomiXiaomi Redmi Note Review: Best budget smartphone in its price range in India

Xiaomi Redmi Note Review: Best budget smartphone in its price range in India

We’ve delivered a quick review of the Xiaomi Redmi Note before and now that it has finally hit market availability in India, we’re offering an in-depth look at the phone which was gone in 6 seconds on Flipkart. Better luck next time, if you were among those who didn’t manage to lay hands on it. You can always try again next week when it’s up for grabs again. For you as well as the triumphant lot who are waiting for the phone to reach their doorsteps, here are four things to love about the handset.

It’s all in the price when it comes to the Indian market, no exceptions made. The features offered by the Xiaomi Redmi Note certainly don’t make it seem like a phone costing Rs 8999. You may think it only sounds good on paper and so did we, but that was before we got our eager paws on a review unit. And believe us, there are more pros to the device than cons. Four things about it stand out above all others, summaries of which you can scroll down to see if you please.

Xiaomi Redmi Note Screen

The Redmi Note goes unchallenged in terms of price seeing as no other company is packing their device with equally impressive specs for Rs 8999. In fact, you could declare the Redmi 1S itself to be its strongest rival for someone going after value for money in a cheaper package. Sure, the OnePlus One is out in India and has better innards on some counts. But it’s still pegged at a hefty Rs 21999 when compared to the Xiaomi smartphone.

The second aspect of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3G that’s really attractive is the combination of the 13MP and 5MP cameras at a bargain cost. The main lens struggles with low-light photos as you can see from the images posted below. The picture has taken on a greenish tinge, has a noticeable amount of noise and has forced the brighter colors to pop unnecessarily. The macro shots are handled well and so are images, under normal lighting conditions.

Redmi Note Camera

The front snapper is one of the better sort, although it does exaggerate shades a wee bit more than it needs to whether you’re clicking selfies under bright sunlight or in a slightly dimmed room. Moving down the list to the third best element of the Redmi Note, Xiaomi has stuffed a 3100mAh battery into it, which can thankfully be removed and replaced with a spare in case you’re traveling to an area where finding a wall outlet would be impossible.

As we’ve already noted previously, you get about 2.5 days of mixed usage out of the smartphone. We ran a few tests and found it to be good for roughly 6 hours of video watching. Last but not the least, is the 5.5-inch 1280 x 720p touchscreen on the Redmi Note. The mere size of the display is enough to inspire awe, though the viewing angles give trouble sometimes in spite of the IPS technology involved. But the overall effect is not bad at all and smudges can be wiped away easily.

Redmi Note Design Back Panel

Xiaomi Redmi Note specs at a glance:

– 1.7GHz octa core Cortex A7 MediaTek processor
– Android 4.2 Jelly Bean w/ MIUI V5 software
– 5.5-inch 1280 x 720p IPS touchscreen
– Dual SIM card slots
– 2GB RAM, 8GB ROM, 32GB expandability
– 13MP camera, 5MP front-facing lens
– HSPA+, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB OTG
– 3100mAh battery
– 154mm x 78.7mm x 9.45mm
– 199gm

Delivering lag-free performance, a slightly annoying interface, an excellent display and great cameras, the Xiaomi Redmi Note makes for a superb budget smartphone at Rs 8999. It’s 4G version is coming later this month for Rs 9999.

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