Review on Xiaomi Redmi 4

Hi Everyone, heard about Redmi 4? Because Today I gonna review on Xiaomi Redmi 4 which was on May 2017.

Three years after the company started selling in Indian market with each budget smartphone, the company sets new benchmarks in terms of value for money offering as well as sales figures.

After the huge success of Redmi Note 4 and Redmi 4A, the company has recently launched Redmi 4. Apart from being an iterative upgrade, the Redmi 4 packs in a fingerprint sensor this time around and comes in three memory variants.Can Redmi 4 will offer a great value-for-money smartphone and hit new sales records? Let’s find out in this review.

Display

The Redmi 4 has a 5-inch HD display with a 1280 x 720 resolution. There’s a 2.5D curved glass, similar to the Redmi Note 4. It’s toughened glass, although there’s no Gorilla Glass protection. Full HD display, I think it would’ve been an overkill on a 5-inch budget smartphone. The HD display nevertheless looks fantastic in terms of color and viewing angles. The images and text looks sharp, and it is clearly one of the best displays on smartphones in this price segment.

Design

With a unibody metal construction, the Redmi 4 follows the design of Redmi Note 4. There are curved edges with a curved 2.5D glass on the front. It fits quite well in one’s single-handed usage. The build quality is excellent and it feels solid, and the matte black variant looks great and gives a very premium feel. However, the three buttons behind the display which doesn't has light and it actually finds difficult to find those but after a few days of usage you will come to know where your thumb needs to go. 

Performance

Redmi 4 is Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 octa-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz coupled with Adreno 505 GPU, the Redmi 4 comes in three memory variants – there’s one with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage, another one with 3 GB of RAM along with 32 GB of storage, and the top variant with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. The mid variant that I used for this review had just over 25 GB free memory out-of-the box. In my three weeks of usage, I haven’t really found any lags. You can also play most of the high graphics games. One of the impressive things is that even while gaming, the phone did not get hot.

The 4,100 mAh battery on the Redmi 4 saves you from the constant battery charging. A day and a half on a single charge is easily manageable for most users which is impressive really. Even for higher usage, the phone managed to offer more than a day of battery life.

Hardware

Just like the Redmi Note 4, the Redmi 4 comes with an IR blaster that you can configure to use your phone as a remote control for several electronic appliances at your home. The Phone has fingerprint scanner located at the back is quite good, and apart from authentication, can also be used to take photos, especially those selfies. The dual SIM smartphone features a hybrid slot, so essentially, you can either use two SIM cards or one SIM card and one microSD card. If you need to use two SIMs and microSD card then you should opt for the top variant that offers 64 GB internal storage. While the battery life on the Redmi 4 is really impressive, it is disappointing that there is no fast charging support on the device. The issue is phones which pack in larger batteries because it takes even longer to charge the phone completely.

Camera

Xiaomi Redmi 4 comes a 13MP rear camera with LED flash that can manage some great shots with good color reproduction and sharpness.

Outdoors in daylight, the phone really surprises with details it manages to capture and overall clarity. In low light, the camera manages to click some decent shots, but there’s a lot of noise in the pictures. Even indoors, the photos take a hit and are average at best. But this is a budget smartphone we’re talking about and it does better than the most of the smartphones in this segment.

Software

The Redmi 4 runs MIUI 8 on top of Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. MIUI is Xiaomi’s proprietary customization layer on top of Android. It is heavily skinned, and a totally different UI altogether than stock Android. MIUI comes in several useful apps like FM radio, recorder, compass, torch, and more. There’s also a security app which bundles a lot of utilities for maintenance and optimization of the software. If you’ve used a Xiaomi phone in the past, MIUI will be comfortable for you. However, if this is your first one, getting comfortable with MIUI is not much difficult.

Pricing and final thoughts

Starting at ₹6,999 for the base variant with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage, Redmi 4 has hardly anything to complain. It’s a great smartphone with solid design, Qualcomm’s newer chipset, decent camera, and great battery life. The only shortcoming of the device is lack of Android Nougat out of the box and a fast charging mode. If you can increase your budget, the middle variant at ₹8,999 which will give you 3 GB of RAM along with 32 GB of storage, The top variant at ₹10,999 with 3 GB of RAM along with 32 GB of storage is of course great too, but you can also look at other options in the market at that price or go for it only if you need all that storage.