The Redmi series has been immensely successful with the budget smartphone buyers. Together, the Redmi and Redmi Note series have sold more than 50 million units worldwide, and those numbers are growing faster than ever. The latest addition to the Redmi Note series, the Note 4 has been launched in China, and today at Gizmoids, we will discuss the specs, features, price and our first look impressions of the phone
The Redmi Note 4 for China has been presented with two options. The lower spec version gets 16 gigs of on-board memory with 2 GB of ram while the top spec variant gets an impressive 64 gigabyte of memory and 3 GB of RAM. Both variants get dual micro SIM hybrid slots with expandable memory. Prices for the two versions are USD 135 or INR 9,000 and USD 180 or INR 12,000 respectively – pretty much in line with the current Note 3 model.
Specs
All Redmi Note variants for China get the MediaTek Helio X20 SoC replacing the X10 version on the Note 3. However, the processor frequency of the 2.5 GHz Cortex A72 has been reduced to 2.1 GHz probably to reduce power consumption. Xiaomi claims that the Helio X20’s deca core processor delivers a 62% increment in performance as compared to Helio X10 while being 30 % more power efficient. Impressive! The variant for India, however, will most likely don a Snapdragon 652 CPU, or a newer version if its available at that time.
Battery size has also gone up slightly, and the Note 4 gets a bigger 4100 mAh battery as against the Note 3s 4000 mAh unit. The battery gets the conventional quick charge feature, which takes relatively longer, however, this might have been done owing to the tight cost constraints.
The display is a 5.5 inch. Full HD 1080p IPS unit with a special emphasis on visibility during harsh daylight. You also get a night and reading mode on the new phone.
Camera
The rear camera is a 13MP unit with phase detection auto focus while the front unit gets a 5MP sensor. Both cameras have an f/2.0 aperture. For the primary shooter, the megapixel count has gone down from 16 to 13 on the new unit – we do hope that the new camera performs better though. Here are some sample photos taken from the Redmi Note 4. These are official photo samples provided by Xiaomi, so we’d suggest you take them with a pinch of salt.
Connectivity
In terms of connectivity, the Redmi Note 4 gets LTE category 6 and VoLTE compatibility along with WiFi Direct and Bluetooth 4.2 support. The phone also gets an Infra Red port along with a whole gamut of sensors including gyro, accelerometers, proximity sensors, ambient light sensor etc.
Build
The Redmi note 4 is quite similar to its predecessor, though a few things have changed drastically. To start off, the top and bottom plastic panels for the Note 3 have given way to a full metallic construction. The weighty of the phone stands at 175 grams which is quite lightweight for its size.
The Redmi Note 4 looks great, especially for the price and rocks a symmetrical design. It gets 2.5D curved edge glass up front, chamfered edges, and slightly curved back to add to its premium feel. The fingerprint scanner is placed on the back as before and apparently keeps learning to make the scans faster as you use it.
The position of the proximity sensor up front has been moved, and is now to the left of the earpiece. The speakers which were placed on the back for the Note 3 have been moved down at the bottom. You also get to see the antenna lines on the back panel. There’s no USB type C and the Note 4 still makes do with a Micro USB. All the buttons retain their positions from the Note 3. Top and bottom surfaces are now flatter and look more solid and premium.
You get Android Mashmallow based MIUI 8 which has new features such as allowing a private or standard user mode, based on the password, pin or pattern provided.
The new phone is available in silver, gold and dark grey colours which is pretty much the norm with most phones these days.
The Redmi Note series has always delivered exceptional value for the price, and the Note 4 seems to be another incremental installation in the series. It looks like a decent phone for the price, though we will reserve our verdict until we have reviewed the phone. Stay tuned.
