Xiaomi’s Redmi range of smartphones has been very important. The good thing is that it has also found customers in the Indian market. The company claims that Redmi Note 3 and Redmi 3S (Redmi 3S Prime) were the best-selling devices in Flipkart and Amazon sales last year. Especially Redmi Note 3 has achieved tremendous success in the Indian market. According to the company, more than 23 lakh phones were sold in India in just 6 months. redmi note 3 The handsets were sold out. However, this phone is almost a year old now. Now the company has introduced its successor in the market.
The company launched the Redmi Note 4 smartphone on January 19. Like the older variant, it comes with a metal body and great specifications. Redmi Note 4 was first launched in China in August last year. It comes with MediaTek’s deca core processor. Whereas, the Indian variant has a Qualcomm chipset. The Redmi Note 4 has been priced in the budget segment and it will compete with most of the popular handsets available in the market. Will Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 once again prove to be a reliable product for the company? Will this device put a break on the success of the Redmi series? Let’s find out through the review.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Design
In Redmi Note 4, you will see a glimpse of Redmi Note 3, especially in terms of design. The front panel is very similar to the old phone. You will get 2.5D curved edge glass on the front which gives the phone a premium look. With a full-metal body, this phone feels strong. At the same time, the back part slips less in the hands compared to Redmi Note 3.
The back of the Redmi Note 4 is slightly different. It will remind you of the company’s premium handset Xiaomi Mi 5 (Review). Very thin antenna bands come from top to bottom. The setup of the rear camera, dual tone LED flash and fingerprint scanner is the same as that of Redmi Note 3. However, this time Xiaomi has placed the speaker grill in the lower part of the phone. There is a USB port at the bottom for charging and data transfer. At the top you will find an infrared emitter along with a 3.5 mm audio jack. The power and volume buttons are on the right side and are easy to reach with fingers.
With a thickness of 8.3 mm, Redmi Note 4 is thinner than the previous variant. But it weighs 1 gram more. We did not face any problem in using Redmi Note 4 with one hand. The curved edges fit easily in the palm. There was no problem in using it for a long time. Talking about the design, Redmi Note 4 is the best looking Redmi smartphone till date. In China, it was made available in dark grey and gold colors. But in India, grey has been replaced by matte black color. This color is exclusive to the Indian market. Let us tell you that we were given the gold variant for review.
The 5.5-inch full-HD IPS display has a resolution of 1080×1920 pixels. Its density is 401 pixels per inch. Due to the full-HD resolution, text and images look very sharp. You will get punchy colors from the screen. Viewing angles are good. And there is no problem in reading the screen even in sunlight. Due to the screen size, Redmi Note 4 is very suitable for watching videos or movies. You will be able to manage the color temperature by going into the settings. Due to the reading mode, it is convenient to read anything in the smartphone.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Specifications and Features
Xiaomi Redmi Note uses a 2 GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor. Adreno 506 GPU is integrated for graphics. Xiaomi is selling three variants of this in India – 2 GB RAM / 32 GB storage, 3 GB RAM / 32 GB storage and 4 GB RAM / 64 GB storage. The company gave us the top end variant for review.
The handset has a hybrid SIM slot, which means you have to choose between a second SIM or a microSD card. The company said that both SIM slots support 3G and 4G networks. It seems that the company has taken seriously the complaint about the limited 32 GB microSD card support capacity of Redmi Note 3. This phone supports microSD cards up to 128 GB.
The phone has a 4100 mAh battery which is slightly bigger than the 4050 mAh battery of Redmi Note 3. It has a 13 megapixel camera equipped with F / 2.0 aperture, phase detection auto focus. There is a 5 megapixel camera on the front panel. There is support for Voice over LTE along with 4G, you will be satisfied with the call quality.
The Redmi Note 4 will run on MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Xiaomi has added several new features. One of these is Now on Tap, which is one of the important features of Android Marshmallow. You can activate Google’s Now on Tap by long pressing the home button inside any app. The MIUI 8 present in the Redmi Note 4 looks very light and more polished than the older version.
MIUI 8 now comes with a new Gallery app that automatically stores photos from the device to Mi Cloud. Users will get 5GB of free cloud storage upon signing up for an account. The Quick Ball feature is also present in the Redmi Note 4.
Keeping privacy in mind, Xiaomi has provided dual apps and second space features. Scrolling screenshot is another important feature of this software. With its help, users can take screenshots of the entire web page. Xiaomi has also worked on the dialer app. It is lighter and easier to use than before.
Xiaomi has also offered a one-handed mode on the handset which shrinks the display to one edge of the screen. You can choose between 3.5, 4 and 4.5 inch screen sizes. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 comes with a lot of pre-installed apps. Unfortunately, you can’t delete them. We think Xiaomi should reduce the number of pre-installed apps.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Performance
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 handled any task with ease. We had no complaints with the octa-core processor. Games like Asphalt 9 and Dead Trigger 2 with high graphics were a joy to play on this handset. We used the Redmi Note 4 for several weeks and never needed a more powerful processor. Multitasking was easy on the Redmi Note 4. Apps launched without any delay.
The Redmi Note 4 is great for media playback, thanks to the IPS display. It supports videos up to 4K resolution. The bottom speaker produces decent sound. Xiaomi did not provide us with any earphones with the review unit. So, we tested the audio quality with our personal earphones and were satisfied. The benchmark tests were as per our expectations. However, the Redmi Note 3 (Review) performed better in these tests.
Modes like Beautify, Panorama and Manual will be available in the camera app. In the scene mode, the user will get options like Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night, Beach and Flower. You can also use filters while taking pictures, which is good. The camera can record videos up to 1080 pixel resolution and their quality is quite good. Selfies taken from Redmi Note 4 came with good color and detail. However, there is a lot of difference in the quality of photos taken in daylight and low light.
The 13-megapixel rear camera took good landscape shots in all conditions. Macro shots were also good. They were colour accurate and there was no lack of detail. The PDAF feature helps the camera focus quickly. There is no lack of detail in low light shots, but you will notice graininess when you zoom in on them. The Redmi Note 4 also took good pictures of moving objects.
This time Xiaomi has focused on improving the camera quality in the Redmi Note 4. Remember that there were a lot of complaints about the camera quality in last year’s model. It is good that there has been an improvement. However, we were expecting better performance in low light.
The 4100mAh battery lasted for 15 hours and 10 minutes in the video loop test. This is excellent for a battery of this capacity. The phone lasted for two days on normal use and about 30 hours on heavy use. The connectivity capability of the handset on weak mobile or Wi-Fi networks is really commendable. We were not given the retail box of the handset for review. So we cannot say anything about the time taken to charge the phone’s battery. However, it does not have support for quick charging which would have been a welcome feature in the price range.
Our verdict
Redmi Note 4 is a great package. But shortcomings like hybrid SIM slot, lack of quick charging support and too many preloaded apps are bothersome. We believe that Redmi Note 4 will give a strong challenge to the smartphones of its segment or in a slightly expensive range. This phone is a champion in terms of design, battery life and performance. For users who want a phone with a big display and good battery life in a budget, Redmi Note 4 is a good option.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 has been launched in three variants. The price starts at Rs 9,999 (2 GB RAM + 32 GB storage). Redmi Note 4 will definitely appeal to those customers who want a handset with good performance at a low price. However, the review is based on the expensive variant and considering the difference in the prices of the three variants, we would say that if possible, ignore the cheapest variant. The variant with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage will be available for Rs 10,999, that is, only Rs 1,000 more expensive. The variant reviewed by us will be available in the market for Rs 12,999.