Xiaomi Redmi 4 Review: See Its Benefits, Problems and Price

Xiaomi announced that an unbelievable smartphone will be released at an unbelievable price tag back in August 2016. This device was the Redmi 3S Prime, a smartphone that
offered a lot of value for its Rs 8,999 asking price.

Xiaomi Redmi 4

The 3S Prime offered incredible value for money giving customers a decent chipset, a decent 13 MP camera, a fingerprint reader, a 4,100 mAh battery all packaged in a metal body. For its asking price, there was really nothing to complain about no matter what those components delivered.

It’s 2017, and we saw the Redmi Note 4 launch which packed in some great specifications. And like the Redmi Note 3 before it, it’s become this year’s budget favourite. Add to this the recently announced Redmi 4A, which is literally the cheapest, value for money smartphone you can buy. Indeed what was still missing was the successor to the Redmi 3.

Today, Xiaomi has announced just this. The Redmi 4 is an entry-level smartphone with a metal body, the true successor to the Redmi 3S Prime. The device features a slightly updated processor with a new, attractive design. But with competition coming from Lenovo and Motorola, how does it perform? Does Xiaomi still dominate the entry-level segment? I think it does.

The Xiaomi Redmi 4 has a  5-inch display, an LCD unit that features an HD resolution with 1280×720 pixels and a good enough 293 PPI. That 2.5D curved edge glass really makes the smartphone look premium, and it feels great when you are swiping inwards from the corners and the smooth edges.

The Xiaomi Redmi 4 comes packed to the brim with features. You get a 5-inch IPS LCD HD display on the front along with a front-facing 5 MP selfie camera that sits at the top, alongside the receiver.

Inside, there is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 (MSM 8940) octa-core chipset clocked at 1.4 GHz and paired with 3 GB RAM. There’s 32 GB of internal storage and this can be expanded up to 128 GB using the hybrid SIM tray.

Communications options include, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, an infrared port at the top and a microUSB port at the bottom end.

At the back sits a 13 MP camera with PDAF accompanied by a single LED flash. Also at the back is a fingerprint reader.

All of the above is powered by a 4,100 mAh battery that supports Quick Charge 3.0 for faster charging.

Read Also:- Finally! Sony Xperia L1 is now available in the US for $199.99 unlocked

Advantages of Xiaomi Redmi 4

• The Xiaomi Redmi 4 features a 13 MP camera with an F/2.0 aperture. This delivers crisp-looking images that looked pretty good on the phone’s display and even on my desktop. They were not over saturated, but looked fairly decent, given the price tag of the device.

• The Xiaomi Redmi 4 packs in a 4,100 mAh Li Polymer battery and supports Quick Charge 3.0 for faster charging. What is impressive, however, is how the team managed to squeeze in a 4,100 mAh battery into such a small smartphone. Add to this Quick Charge 3.0 capability, meaning that the Redmi 4 goes from 0-40 percent in one hour, 0-80 percent in 2 and 0-100 percent in 2.5 hours which is pretty darn good for such a large battery.

• The Xiaomi Redmi 4 comes with 3 GB RAM and a 32 GB of internal storage and this can be expanded up to 128 GB using the hybrid SIM tray.

Problems of Xiaomi Redmi 4

• It takes time to launch an App. You have to wait patiently for a particular app to launch successfully before tapping another one. So, what happens if you tap the wrong app. You need to wait patiently for it to load and then close it to launch the right app.

• Coming to games, the processor plays well with casual titles, but graphic intensive games will stutter at times. So clearly, this one’s not for power users or gamers. You would be better off with a Redmi Note 4 with a Snapdragon 625 inside.

• The Xiaomi Redmi 4 comes with the older android version - Android 6.0 

Xiaomi Redmi 4 Specifications

• Display

Form Factor Bar
Screen Type HD IPS Capacitive Touchscreen
Screen Size 5.0 inches
Screen Resolution 1280 x 720

• Processor

Processor Octa Core
Speed 1.4 GHz

• Memory

Internal Memory 32GB, 3GB RAM
Extendable Memory 128GB

• Camera Features

Rear Camera 13MP
Video resolution / frame rate 1080p / 30fps
Front facing camera 5MP

• General Features

OS Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
Bluetooth Features 4.1
Dual Sim Support Yes
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email
GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou
USB Connector Yes
Available Colours Black

• Carrier Networks

2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
3G WCDMA 2100 MHz
4G Yes

• Data

WiFi 802.11b/g/n

• Body

Dimensions 69.9 x 8.65 x 139.3 mm
Weight(grams) 150
Sound
Media Player Yes
Speakerphone Yes
Audio connector 3.5mm

• Battery

Type Li-Ion
Capacity(mAh) 4100

• After Sales Service

Warranty Period 1 Year

Verdict and pricing in India

The Xiaomi Redmi 4 packs in a some really good stuff, considering its price tag, and I think that it will continue to be the king of the entry-level smartphone segment for the same reason.

The improvements from the 3S Prime however, are minor and mostly relate to the design of the device. The problems with an underpowered processor that leads to slow app launches is something users in this segment will have to deal with as the Snapdragon 435 becomes the standard in this segment for the rest of this year.

Keeping everything I have discovered about the Redmi 4 in mind, I think it’s is hard to deliver a smartphone with such hardware, combined with what I could call great software at the given price launch price.