Xiaomi Redmi 4A Review: The best budget smartphone

HIGHLIGHTS

The Xiaomi Redmi 4A has been priced at Rs. 5,999

It's a decent option for first-time smartphone buyers

Gadgets 360 rates the phone 7 out of 10

Smartphones have transcended to being more than mere communication devices. They are powerful computers. In a market like India, affordable smartphones are all the rage. Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has made a name for itself in India by selling droves of affordable gadgets. Its success in India has been typified by phones like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, the Redmi Note 3S Prime and the recently launched the Redmi Note 4. The Redmi 4A is its most affordable smartphone — billed like a successor to the Redmi 1S which was launched way back in 2014. The mission is quite straightforward; to make the best Android smartphone in the market that is dirt cheap at the same time. Has the Chinese upstart with global ambitions succeeded? We think so, here's why.

One of the most impressive things about the Redmi 4A is its design. Xiaomi says that it has evolved the design of the Mi 4i which was a phone the company had launched in India a couple of years ago specifically for the market. The Mi 4i, however, was a mid range phone which was priced at almost three times the price of the Redmi 4A at launch in 2015. Essentially, we're talking about a cuddly design which is mostly a rectangle with rounded corners.

At 132 grammes, it is a lighter phone which is made out of polycarbonate and has a polished finish on the back which gives out the illusion of a metal build. By modern standards, the phone has a slightly thick chassis at 8.5mm but considering its small 5-inch HD screen this is rather acceptable.

The fantastic thing is that the design of the phone is ergonomic and it feels relatively premium especially for a phone that costs so less. Its build quality certainly is a cut above what's available in the market; we even managed to drop the phone a couple of times, and it came out unscathed which speaks volumes about the build quality of the device.

If we had to be overly critical then it can be argued that Xiaomi could've outfitted the phone with a metal body like the Redmi 3S, which was launched six months ago for Rs 6,999. Sure, the margins are low in this price band, however, a metal phone for Rs 5,999 would've been truly disruptive.

For a budget smartphone, it also boasts of relatively decent screen. True, by modern standards its 720p doesn't even convert to a 'retina' resolution which was popularised by the iPhone 4 in 2010, however, it is more than usable for basic uses. By this we mean, browsing the web, watching videos on YouTube or doing viewing photos on the screen of the phone.

One also noted that the display on the phone had a slight yellowish tint to it, but besides this, we found the viewing angles to be good enough and the screen to bright enough to be more than sufficient under direct sunlight. Disappointingly, this phone doesn't afford the convenience of Gorilla Glass protection which adds an additional layer of protection for the screen.

Source PC Mag