Xiaomi as we all know is the king in the budget smartphone segment when it comes to online market in India. Almost every phone from the company has managed to beat down the limitations which consumers find on an affordable handset. The Redmi 4A is one solid example that redefined not just the price to performance ratio but also changed the perception most of us have about budget phones.
Taking ahead its leadership under 7k price bracket, Xiaomi unveiled the Redmi 5A in India pitched as 'Desh Ka Smartphone', which essentially is a minor upgrade over its predecessor. When compared to each other, both the phones hardly have any differences. It's more like how OnePlus 5T looks in in front of the OnePlus 5.
What still keeps the Redmi 5A on top of its competition is its hardware under that price. Xiaomi has announced the 2GB RAM and 16GB storage variant at Rs 4,999 for first 5 million units sold, thereafter, the price will be raised to Rs 5,999. On the other hand, the 3GB RAM and 32GB storage variant will continue selling at Rs 6,999.
Xiaomi was generous enough to share the Redmi 5A with us before the launch, and the device has been serving us well right from the time we unboxed it. After suing the phone for more than 5 days, we've are ready with our initial thoughts about the phone. So, is Redmi 5A can be the perfect smartphone on a tight budget? Let's find out.
Xiaomi Redmi 5A price and release date
The 2GB RAM + 16GB storage variant is priced at INR 4,999 for the first five million units, post which it will be available for INR 5,999 and the 3GB RAM + 32GB storage variant is priced at INR 6,999.
Redmi 5A will be available from 12 noon, 7 December 2017, across Flipkart, Mi.com, and Mi Home stores, followed by offline retailers including Mi Preferred Partners in the subsequent weeks.
Design and display
The Redmi 5A features a unibody design having a metallic finish on top of good quality plastic. It looks identical to its other Redmi counterparts, or a shrunken Redmi 4 in a plastic body or the Redmi 4A with curved back. The sides are metal which packs it firmly, hence it feels pretty sturdy to hold. It weighs 137 grams, and measures 140.4 x 70.1 x 8.4 mm, which translates that it's a pretty handy device.
Similar to the Redmi 4A, it has the front camera, earpiece and ambient light sensor on the top of the display. Physical navigations keys are right below the display, which unfortunately isn't backlit. Power/lock key is on the right accompanied with the volume rocker. On the left edge, there are two trays-- one for dual SIM cards and other one is dedicated for microSD card.
On the bottom, there's a micro USB port with primary microphone and the top of the phone carries the 3.5mm audio jack and IR blaster, which for me is a great feature. On the back panel, there's the primary camera, LED flash on the top left corner and the speaker grill is at the bottom, which also has a tiny protrusion to avoid audio blockage when the phone placed on its back.
Overall, the design and build is nothing new for those who've seen the 4A but it hardly matters if you are spending for the experience over looks. It is handy, fits perfectly in pockets and doesn't feel bulky despite a big battery.
The Redmi 5A sports a 5-inch HD IPS LCD display with a 720x1280 pixels resolution. When I compared this display with the competitors in the same price range, the handset that got closest to this phone was the Redmi 4 itself. While Redmi 4 has a more sharper and punchy output, the Redmi 5A offers a display that most of us can get away with at this price point.
Colors look rich and vivid which can be tweaked further using manual adjustment in the display settings. Moreover, it is one of the rare phones that offer a night mode for a comfortable reading experience in darkness. There's not a lot to comment on the display as of now, as my experience is still limited and the display has turned out to be decent in terms of viewing angles and sunlight legibility.
Camera
There's a 13-megapixel setup on the rear of the Redmi 5A with f/2.2 aperture, Phase Detection Autofocus and LED flash. PDAF is one of the upgrades in the camera department over its predecessor. It can shoot full HD (1080p) videos at 30fps. There's a 5-megapixel sensor on the front with f/2.0 aperture for selfies and video calls.
Moving on, the Redmi 5A comes with a 13-megapixel camera on the rear with f/2.2 aperture, Phase Detection Autofocus and LED flash. The rear camera is capable of shooting 1080p videos at 30fps. On the front, the Redmi 5A comes with a 5-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture.
I have spent limited time with the camera so far, but what I realised during my quick encounter was on the positive side. Obviously, its not an extraordinary camera, and we don't even expect it to be, at least by the end of 2017. Under this budget, the camera on Redmi 5A is still very good in day light. You can check out the colours and details in the shots below to get an idea. The main reason why the camera shots look good is the poor competition in this price range. It's hard to find a good camera and the Redmi does a fair job, in my personal opinion a little above'fair'.
Front camera is just average to get decent daylight shots, but you need to keep your hand steady for that. By decent I mean worthy for a Rs 6,000 phone, otherwise, the front camera is not that exciting.
Battery and interface
As we've not had the Redmi 5A for long, we will be updating the detailed battery stats in our full review. It's a 3,000mAh cell which is currently giving me a full day of battery backup in moderate usage.
The Redmi 5A uses the Xiaomi's latest MIUI 9 skin on top of Android 7 Nougat. Initial experience with the phone was pretty smooth but I have used the Redmi 4A for a long time and it tends to slow down in some functions over a period of time and this one has the same set of specifications, so you can expect occasional slowdown.
Apart from this, MIUI 9 has managed to impress us with the kind of appearance it has. It's neat. It comes with some preloaded Mi suite of apps like Mi Store, Mi Drop, Mi Community, Mi Remote and more. Moreover, the unit we received from Xiaomi has a set of Microsoft apps, Amazon, and UC News preloaded. Upon checking, we found that these apps along with the system software has taken almost half of the memory leaving users with a little over 8GB internal storage on the 16GB variant.
The good part is that these apps are removable and you can get rid of unwanted bloatware to free up some space. However, some of these apps are useful for a lot of users and maybe that's the reason Xiaomi is continuing with them on all their phones.
Performance and specs
Redmi 5A runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset and comes in 2GB/3GB of RAM options, having 16GB and 32GB of storage respectively.
As we know, SD 425 is a low-end chipset there's not a lot to expect in this area. However, it can handle basic tasks like texting, calling, surfing and multimedia consumption with an ease. It cannot run graphic intensive games or even if it does, the phone slows down a bit and there are visible frame drops.
The good part is that Xiaomi has got rid of its hybrid SIM slot and added a dedicated microSD card slot that supports up to 256GB, which is really impressive for a budget phone.
Early verdict
Xiaomi's follow up to its best selling budget phone in India is not a major upgrade, instead it's a revision of the Redmi 4A. Xiaomi Redmi 5A may not carry a stand out feature but it subtly defines how an affordable phone can be perfect.
At an introductory price of Rs 4,999, it is a steal and even after the price goes up by Rs 1000. We would recommend you to go for the 3GB RAM variant as it will be a more stable and smooth device among the two. The 2GB variant is a wise choice only if the price difference between the two variant is more than Rs 1000. It is a great phone for first time smartphone users, and you are waiting for more on this, wait for TechRadar's in-depth review.
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