The Xiaomi Redmi Note was launched in India yesterday. The device will start selling on Flipkart from December 2. Here are our first impressions.
After discontinuing its flagship phone and shifting focus on the Redmi 1S, Xiaomi seems to be ending the year with a phablet. The company, which entered India back in July, has only been here for about five months, but has racked up quite the following. With the Redmi 1S, Xiaomi seems to be steadily getting a handle over the Indian market as well. Its last product (most probably) for the year, will be the Redmi Note phablet, which was launched yesterday. Xiaomi packed a surprise too, announcing a 4G version of the Redmi Note that will start selling from the second half of December.
We had seen the device back when the Xiaomi Mi3 was launched, but it wasn’t the focus of our attention then. It is now, especially with the 4G angle in play. The Redmi Note sports a 5.5 inch 720p IPS display along with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. This is expandable to 32GB in the 3G version and 64GB in the 4G model. The device also sports the 1.7 GHz MediaTek MT6592 chipset for the 3G model and 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC (the same processor that powers the Moto G and many other devices).
At first glance, it’s hard to get over the size of the Redmi Note. Being in the phablet category, it is big and the large bezels don’t help, making it quite uncomfortable to use. What we really didn’t like though is the glossy back on the smartphone. You can of course get a cover, but that will only make your device thicker and more cumbersome to use. Of course, single handed use isn’t the focus of a phablet anyway. The Redmi Note is supposed to be a powerful, yet affordable phablet, which it is, at least on first impressions. The demo devices seemed to be handling MiUI 5 quite well, with no visible lags or stutters.
The MediaTek processor though is known to be battery hungry chipset, which could affect the overall prformance. The big screen is also battery intensive, which would only add to concerns. On the Snapdragon version, the 4G connectivity itself will require more power, while the screen remains the same. We can only judge if the concerns are real after conducting a full review (which shall be live soon), but they remain.
The Redmi Note also comes with a 13 MP rear camera. If you’re thinking this is as good as the Mi3’s camera, then think again. In the few photos we shot at the event, it seemed to blow out some colours and looked oversaturated. This is perhaps because of the Samsung sensor used in this device, compared to the Mi3’s Sony sensor, which is a tried and tested performer.
Overall, the Redmi Note seems to fit its profile. The glossy back and overall build doesn’t make it feel like a premium device and at Rs. 8,999, it is not one anyway. The specifications promise good performance, but we’ll only be able to confirm that in the review. The new Xiaomi smartphone presents a viable option for people looking for phablets at a budget, but once again, you shouldn't expect the insane value for money that the Mi3 gave.
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Prasid Banerjee
Trying to explain technology to my parents. Failing miserably. View Full Profile
