Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A Review - Chinese “Hi” for $ 105

Ultrabudgetary models Xiaomi Redmi A are in good demand in the CIS. Recently, the series was further developed and today not only smartphones are available for purchase, but also fablets of this line like Redmi Note 5A for as low as $ 105. With this, the youngest in performance, today and get acquainted.

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Specifications

Screen: 5.5-inch IPS display with HD (1280 x 720) resolution

Body materials: plastic body

Colors: golden, pink, gray

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 with 4 cores in one cluster: 4x Cortex-A53 (up to 1.4 GHz)

Graphics: Adreno 308

Operating system: MIUI 8 (upgraded to MIUI 9) based on Android 7

RAM: 2/3/4 GB

User memory: 16/32/64 GB + the ability to install a memory card up to 128 GB (VFAT)

Camera: 13 Mp (f / 2.2), LED flash, phase autofocus; front camera 5 MP (f / 2.0)

Network support: GSM 900/1800/1900, WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100, FDD-LTE B1 / 3/5/7/8, TD-LTE B38-41, two slots for nanoSIM cards, one radio module

Wireless technologies: Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n (2.4 and 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS / GLONASS / BDS, support for A-GPS

Sensors: fingerprint scanner, accelerometer, Hall sensor, gyroscope, digital compass, distance and illumination, infrared

Optional: microUSB, 3.5 mm headset jack, indicator LED

Battery: 3080 mAh, non-removable

Delivery set: the power supply unit (5 V, 1 A), a USB cable, a clip for extraction of a tray, the instruction

Dimensions: 153x76.2x7.55 mm

Weight: 150 grams

Price: from 105 dollars (the official price in China) for the 2/16 GB version

Design and ergonomics

The smartphone comes in a compact red and white box. Inside, everything is modest: a 5V / 1A power supply unit, a USB cable, a clip to remove the tray.











Externally, the smartphone can be called partly impersonal, its appearance is fully consistent with the budget positioning. Neat round corners and stripes on the back panel create a strong association with the phone you know yourself.







The case of Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A can pretend to be metallic, but in fact it is still plastic, which the manufacturer casually mentions on its website .



The frames around the display of the smartphone are small, the device is convenient to intercept when using with one hand.



The buttons are placed on the right side, are clearly distinguishable blindly, have a short stroke. The left side is empty, there is only a built-in tray for a pair of SIM-cards and a memory card. Finally, we have three full-fledged sockets and no longer have to choose between the second sim card and the memory expansion. This moment immediately makes senseless overpayment for the version of Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A with 32 GB of memory. It would be wiser to increase the volume of the card.











On the top edge, besides the second microphone and 3.5 mm jack, an infrared port was found, which is especially nice given the budget of the device. He helps me manage a pair of TVs at home and office air conditioning.











At the bottom, under the two arrays, a conversational microphone and a multimedia speaker are hidden. The latter is quite loud and does not suffer from wheezing at high volume levels. But the microphone in my copy is very pumped up. The interlocutors complain that they can hear me very badly, but my voice is like a bucket. Whether Xiaomi was greedy with a microphone, or if I got an unsuccessful device.



There is no fingerprint scanner in my version. To overpay for it or not is a good question. If you increase the budgets for the purchase of a smartphone, I would look in the direction of a full line - without an index "A" - with a more advanced hardware.







The buttons below the display do not have the backlight, but after a week of habituation, there are no problems blindly. The smartphone is available in three colors: gray, gold and pink.

Screen

Despite the fact that Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A received a display only with HD resolution, I do not leave the feeling that it makes up the lion's share of the unit's prime cost. The 5.5-inch IPS matrix has wide viewing angles, customizable color rendering and, subjectively, good brightness indicators. The effect of graininess or a fuzzy picture is not.







During the day, the screen does not fade in the sun, and at night the sensor intelligently lowers the brightness to a value that is comfortable for the eyes. The display is covered with a protective glass with a good oleophobic coating. Fingerprints on the glass almost do not remain.

Cameras

The smartphone Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A received a main camera of 13 megapixels, as well as a frontal selfie module of 5 megapixels.



The numbers in the resolution of the smartphone cameras are just numbers with a pinch of marketing. The real quality of the pictures leaves much to be desired. The smartphone can be well photographed by day on the street. Autofocus is not the fastest, so the device will not forgive the hand shake during shooting.













Full-size images can be downloaded from this link .



Both cameras produce a rather positive impression and take exactly their money. With them you will not become an Instagram star, but removing important information (the results of the meeting on the blackboard) or scanning a business card will help you without problems.

Iron and software

With Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 you can’t go far in terms of toys, and this is quite clearly confirmed by the results of synthetic tests.







Limits the performance and a very modest amount of RAM in the basic version of the smartphone - only 2 GB. I say “everything” because if it was enough on the Android (Nexus 5, 5X) or Motorola (Droid MAXX) goal, then on the Xiaomi devices, the MIUI shell eats the RAM very actively and does not let it go.



That is, applications run quickly, scrolling and navigation is mostly smooth. But one has only to switch to another program, and the old one instantly closes in the background and will be restarted next time.



Periodically, due to a lack of RAM, Chrome or Pocket crashes when reading bulk materials. The situation is not saved by either blocking applications in memory or disabling aggressive power saving in the MIUI settings.



Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A is well sharpened for single-task work and field operation, you should not try to hang him the role of a multi-threaded machine. The use of a budget chip gives unobvious advantages - the device is practically not heated even after long gaming sessions or an hour-long viewing of the series.



The smartphone comes with Chinese firmware MIUI 8 on board. You can unlock the bootloader and install a multilingual unofficial firmware. And you can, like me, turn on the English language and roll it onto a Google Play smartphone, restoring it from a previously prepared backup copy. The instruction and files from the video helped me cope.



After that, Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A can already be used comfortably, except that in the drop-down menu to the right and a pair of stock applications there are still hieroglyphs in places.









I did not find any functional problems with the firmware, the responsiveness and smoothness of the interface were at a comfortable level for the budget phablet.

Autonomy

Another unobvious bonus of the relatively low resolution of the display and low-power processor is that the smartphone runs for a long time on one battery charge.



In the PC Mark test (simulates different scenarios of smartphone operation), the average screen brightness of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A lasted a little longer than 8 hours. And this is quite a real 1.5-2 days of active exploitation.







Non-removable battery with a capacity of 3080 mAh was very tenacious. True for this had to pay a little. From the complete power supply for 5V - 1A, the smartphone charges for more than three hours. I think that buying a more powerful unit will significantly speed up the process.

findings

Xiaomi has turned out a very good budget phablet, which is generally pleasant to use. It is clear that from the point of view of the filling, the device is dead-end and will lose its relevance in a year. But if you need a good smartphone with a large screen in a budget of up to $ 120 - Redmi Note 5A can be safely considered for purchase.

What you liked:

• nice design and build quality;
• MIUI8 shell capabilities;
• two slots for SIM + separate for microSD;
• interface and shell speed;
• availability of infrared port;
• no heating under load.

What did not like:

• problems with unloading applications from memory;
• no global firmware;
• slow charging;
• poor speaking microphone.

You can purchase a smartphone for as low as $ 119 dollars at the Gearbest online store. Price indicated at the time of publication of the review.





Thanks for attention!