How is Xiaomi Redmi 5?– An Honest Review 2018

Xiaomi has been ruling the mid-tier range of the Smartphone for quite some time now, and brings value for money with its products. The Redmi series Smartphone’s have been doing really well in the Indian market and Xiaomi seems to do the same with the launch of the new phone in the Redmi series. While the XiaomiRedmi 4 continues to slay the Indian handset market, the handset maker has already started to work on the next iteration of the handset. Now, the buzz is around the next phone of the Redmi series, the Redmi 5 which is expected to be launched in the month of March, this year. Let’s unravel the mystery behind this phone.

Xiaomi Redmi 5

XiaomiRedmi 5 sounds like a successor to the Redmi 4, but it actually comes as a vanilla version of the Redmi 5 Plus that is essentially the follow-up of the Redmi Note 4. The device appears to have everything you would expect from a good phone in the affordable segment - an Octa-core chipset, 18:9 screen and friendly user interface.

XiaomiRedmi 5 was unveiled at an event in China in December last year, featuring large displays with 18:9 aspect ratio, bezel-less design, and selfie flash. The company has even been playing a cool little advertisement in China, boasting its uniqueness in its price range. The smartphone is expected to hit the Indian markets in the coming month.

Specifications of the Redmi 5

• Display Size - 5.7 inches, 83.8 cm2 (~75.9% screen-to-body ratio)
• Screen Resolution - 720 x 1440 pixels, 18:9 ratio (~282 ppi density)
• Processor - Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
• CPU - Octa-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53
• GPU - Adreno 506
• Camera - Primary 12 MP, Secondary 5 MP
• Battery - Non-removable Li-Po 3300 mAh battery, enough for a complete day usage
• Memory - Internal of 32 GB with 3 GB RAM or 16 GB with 2 GB RAM Card slot along with hybrid slot for microSD, up to 128 GB (uses SIM 2 slot)

Product Review

The Redmi 5 has a great build quality and feels nice in hand mostly due to its tall design which makes texting one-handed quite comfortable, especially when you have extra room for the keyboard! Another positive that you will find is that Xiaomi even provides a transparent case with the retail package, but with a small nuisance! – you remember the camera bump in older Xiaomi phones, well the story still does not change and the camera on the back still protrudes a bit which might be an issue with it in the long run.

Display

The XiaomiRedmi 5 has a 5.7-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 720 x 1,440 pixels having a PPI petrol of 282 pixels per inch, which is surely less and the capacitive touch-screen responds well to multi-touch gestures as well.

Configuration

Smartphone bears an Octa-core processor that clocks a speed of 1.8 GHz which is laid on a chipset of Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 is firmly assisted by a 2GB RAM to power through most of the multi-tasking and high-end gaming and the presence of an Adreno 506 GPU takes care of your graphical requirements with ease.

Camera

The XiaomiRedmi 5 is equipped with a 12MP primary camera, accompanied by a f/2.2 aperture that can click sharp quality images of all the landscapes you visit and also records Full-HD videos at 30 frames per second, one point worth noting is that it crops a third of the image height, so instead of getting a 12 MP image, the photo is just 8 MP with a resolution of 4000 x 2000 pixels and for all of the selfie lovers, a 5MP front camera with an LED flash which can be termed as ‘decent’.

Storage

The Smartphone houses internal storage space of 64GB/32GB/16GB as per the model which can be expanded by using a microSD card to a maximum capacity of 128GB.

Availability & Price

This is the thing that is going to take the rivals by storm as the XiaomiRedmi 5 is expected to be priced at Rs. 7,800 for the 2GB RAM/ 16GB storage variant, while the 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage variant is expected to be priced at Rs. 8,800.

The smartphone is rumored to be available exclusively on Flipkart only, through their “Flash Sale’ module. As has been the case for most of the smartphones available on the store, users can also avail flipkart mobile offers like easy EMI options, exchange offers etc., while making the purchase of this smartphone during the flash sale. It is also likely that the users can also participate in the flash sale on the Xiaomi’s website as well along with Flipkart’s sale.

Why should you buy this Smartphone?

Powerful Battery:

A normal day usage contains bit of surfing on the browser, texting on whatsapp, checking emails and may be a few minutes of games, if you are the person with such usage, this battery will easily last a complete day of usage and make for a powerful battery.

Good camera:

Apart from the battery, the handset maker is also known for its cameras. Ever since Xiaomi came out with Mi3, its handsets have been receiving accolades for their imaging prowess and this phone is no different.

Good processor:

In the budget segment, the top priority of any consumer is to have a device that performs well and has a decent spec sheet which is what has been delivered in this phone.

Drawbacks:

Hybrid SIM slot:

One of the biggest issues that Smartphone today have is the inability to use dual SIM and expandable storage together. The XiaomiRedmi 5 too will come with Hybrid SIM slot, which might even be a deal breaker for customers.

Final words

The XiaomiRedmi 5 is a good performer and is efficiently backed by a decent battery. The storage of the device is something which will encourage you to buy the device. Moreover, the presence of selfie flash makes it a great option for the selfie lovers and in its price bracket could be just the right phone if you are looking for latest design along with middle end specs!