[Review] Redmi Note–The affordable Phablet is in town

I have never been a fan of phablets. I have always wanted mobile devices to be slim, thin and sleet. But there is a demanding market for large mobile devices. People like the concept of tablets, but carrying them around is a bit of an inconvenience for them. So they started welcoming the hybrid concept of Phablet. A device that is small enough to carry around and large enough to do more. Xiaomi is known for its disruptive pricing strategy and user friendly MIUI Rom. Naturally the news of a phablet from Xiaomi managed to kept people anxious. Especially in a country like India, where a vast majority of the market are hungry for value for money products, Xiaomi’s offerings are welcomed with both the hands. The latest product to be available in the Indian market, from Xiaomi, is the Redmi Note. The Redmi Note comes in 2 variants: 3G and 4G. These variants are physically identical, except for a few spec changes that was needed in the 4G to support the Indian LTE band. Before I start talking about the Redmi Note, let me voice out a few points which I don’t like about Xiaomi. Firstly, the Flash sales model. While sales model has been working out for the company to buy them enough publicity without spending a penny on marketing or advertisement, it definitely is a pain in the wrong side for consumers. Frustration leads to hatred and the hatred makes people find reasons to hate the product. Remember the Fox and the sour grapes story? The Second point is that Xiaomi starts phasing out existing product line when they launch a new model in India. When Redmi 1s was launched, the MI3 was discontinued and now the Redmi 1s is on the verge of being discontinued. Also the the Redmi Note 3G would be discontinued once the 4G variant is available. When a company cannot make a commitment to its existing line up, how can a consumer commit to buying from the company. India is not a country where “Use and Throw” concept is at large. People still try to reuse even use-n-throw cups, forks and even tissue papers. We love long term relationship. When we buy a product, we typically get committed to it till the end.

Redmi Note

Coming back to the intent of this post, let us talk about the mobile: Redmi Note. The design is not from the future. It is an average looking device with minimalism at heart. It will be available in one color, Glossy White. It is heavy at 199 grams, but it does not feel heavy when held in hands. There are lighter phablets in the market, but this dead weight need for ergonomic convenience. It feels solid and though glossy, it is not slippery. It is a dual SIM device. The SIM 1 supports 3g data while the SIM 2 supports 2G data. The SIMs supported are mini SIM and given that micro and nano SIMs have become quite common these days in India, Xiaomi will ship SIM adapters along with the phone. The screen is a 5.5 inch IPS display capable of 1280 x 720p resolution. It is protected by corning gorilla glass 3. The display delivers sharp images with vibrant colors and a natural visual experience. The screen sensitivity was less than decent. It does misses some touch interactions and not accurate at times. But I feel it is a software issue and hope that Xiaomi can fix those issues. For a visual tour of the device, do check out the video review.

Performance

The 3G variant of the Redmi Note is powered by a octa core mediaTek processor clocked at 1.668 GHz. It has 2 GB RAM and 8 GB of internal memory of which 5.5 GB is available for user. Memory can be expanded by microSD card slot by upto 32 GB. The device also has the ARM Mali 450 GPU for graphic rendering. We ran the usual set of benchmark test and found that the device does not score high on test results, but actually performs better in real life. The device was able to play HD videos without any stuttering and when it comes to 4K YouTube videos, it just wouldn’t play. The gaming experience was smooth, but the calibration of accelerometers and gyro sensors was a bit off the mark. Turning interaction in racing games was non-instantaneous and that was a bit frustrating. The speakers are placed at the back and it is a mono speakers. They are not very loud and especially for a phablet that needs to deliver a good entertainment experience, this is a disappointment.

Camera

The primary camera is a 13 MP shooter while the front facing camera is 5 MP sensor. The camera does not have any fancy feature like image stabilization or laser assisted focusing. It is very basic and delivers more than what is expected out of a device at this price band. The cameria UI is also basic and minimal. The image output is pretty sharp when there is enough light in the ambience. The details come out well and the color reproduction is natural. But the device suffers under low light conditions. There are lot of noise and the sensor fails to capture the details under low light. The story is similar with the front facing camera as well. Though it has a wide aperture, it is a fast and sharp shooter only when there is enough natural light.

Check out the image and video samples

Battery

Redmi Note has a 3200 mAh Lithium ion Polymer battery. It is user replaceable. For a large device like this, a huge battery backup is an absolute necessity. Luckily the 3200 mAh battery and optimal power utilization by the processors, the device lasts for more than a day of regular usage under normal conditions.

Software

Another drawback of the device is the older Android version 4.2.2 on it. It may not be upgraded to the latest version of Android, because of the general commitment which Xiaomi has towards its older devices as I mentioned earlier. I wouldn’t worry too much about the Android version on a Xiaomi device as it runs on a highly forked custom ROM, MIUI. MIUI V5 is on this device and I am sure we will get MIUI updates because there is a huge developer base constantly listening to fans for issues. The senior citizen friendly Lite mode is also inherited from Redmi 1s.

Verdict

At Rs 8999, the Redmi Note somehow masks out all its cons. You cannot ask for anything more when you actually pay very little. If you budget was only 10k and you want a decent phablet, look no further. On the launch date, 50000 units will be available to purchase from Flipkart and make sure you register for the sale before midnight today and also make sure you have a fast finger tomorrow at 2PM.