Xiaomi Redmi 5 Review: The staple Xiaomi Phone


Xiaomi Redmi 5 Review: The staple Xiaomi Phone
Critic Rating4/5
User Rating4.7/5

Top Features

*Bezel-less display
*Good built quality
*Decent performance
If there’s a trend that has caught on like wildfire in the smartphone industry, then it’s full-screen display with thin bezels. There’s a strong case for it as the display becomes more vibrant and there’s minimal space around it. It wasn’t a surprise to see Xiaomi jump on this bandwagon of bezel-less smartphones. So far the company has introduced three smartphones with bezel-less display and the latest addition to its product portfolio is the Xiaomi Redmi 5. The smartphone is the successor of the last year’s launched Redmi 4 and one of the few in the price range of sub-Rs 8000 to offer a bezel-less display. The smartphone is a worthy update as compared to the last year launched Redmi 4. It comes with a powerful efficient processor and vibrant bezel-less display which you will often find in sub-Rs 15K smartphones. We used the Xiaomi Redmi 5 for some time to see whether it's worth the money or not.

Design: Bezel less screen with metallic unibody design
We won’t blame you if at first glance you confuse the Redmi 5 with the design of the Redmi Note 5. The smartphone looks exactly similar to the Redmi Note 5. The Redmi 5 has a good design and has sturdy build quality. The device is slimmer when compared to the Redmi 4 and is quite comfortable to hold and use with one hand. The Redmi 5 is taller and wider when compared to the Redmi 4 and boasts of rounded corners with curved edges. The front of the smartphones looks really pretty, when we compare it to the other smartphones available in the market. The bezel-less display and metal unibody adds to the looks and you don't feel like you are using a budget segment device. The front of the smartphone houses the 5.7-inch display with three soft keys and a 5MP selfie camera. The rear packs a 12MP shooter, with LED flash and a circular fingerprint sensor. You can find the power button and volume rockers on the right, while the SIM card tray on the left. The top and bottom panels consists of 3.5mm audio jack, charging port and the IR blaster used for controlling other devices. We found the overall build quality to be quite good for the price it is selling at.




















Display: 5.7-inch HD+ full screen display

One of the main highlight of the Redmi 5 is its bezel-less display. This is the first smartphone in the Redmi series to come with a full screen display with 18:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone has a large HD+ display of 5.7-inch with 720x1440 pixels resolution. The display is bright and vibrant and comes with a contrast ratio of 1000:1. The display comes with hardware level technology which adjusts the contrast of each pixel in real-time offering a better and glare free visibility under direct sunlight. The smartphone offers a The display offers the aspect ratio of 18:9 and offers pinch-to-zoom functionality in order to fill the screen when using apps like YouTube and others.




















Under the display you will find various options to adjust the contrast and colours on the basis of your preferences. The display also comes with a reading mode that enables users to reduce the blue light emission when reading at night. In the price segment of Rs 8,000, we feel that it is one of the best displays available in the market.

Performance: Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, 3GB RAM
The Xiaomi Redmi 5 runs Android 7.1.2 Nougat operating system topped with MIUI 9.2. The smartphone comes with the security patch of January, 2018. The smartphones will also receive MUIU 9.5 update which will bring support for full screen gestures, quick replies, new notification and shade and others.

It has all the basic functions of Android Nougat and users also get features of MIUI 9 like split screen, improved notifications, improved apps and others. The company has also added a new feature called App Vault which enables you to quickly access the apps via shortcuts. Users can store the shortcuts of up to 8 apps in the App Vault. The device also offers App lock which let users to protect their apps with a password and the famous dual space feature using which you can create two version of the same app.

The smartphone comes equipped with an infrared sensor which allows users to control their electrical appliances using the preinstalled Mi Remote app. We used the app with Sony TV, O General AC and Airtel Set Top Box and it worked fine without any glitches.

Coming to the processing power, the Xiaomi Redmi 5 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor. The smartphone comes with 2GB/3GB/4GB of RAM and 16GB/32GB/64GB of internal storage. We got the 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage variant. The processor makes it easier and smooth to run HD+ display and generic games without any lag. However, it does heat up after half an hour of continuous GPS tracking and 4G usage. The gaming performance was fine and you cannot expect too much gaming support from a Rs 8,000 smartphone. We also ran some benchmark tests on the device and it scored 55,437 on AnTuTu and 763 and 3515 on single core and multicore tests of Geekbench respectively. The audio quality was also fine, however, you feel distortion when you switch to high volume levels.

Camera: 12MP rear and 5MP front camera with flash on both sides
Coming to the camera, the Xiaomi Redmi 5 comes with a 12MP rear camera with LED flash, f/2.2 aperture and 1.25μm pixel size. On the front, you will find a 5MP selfie shooter with selfie flash and f/2.0 aperture. The UI of the camera is similar to the other Xiaomi smartphones and users have the ability to toggle between the flash, HDR and front camera. Along with this, there are also various shooting modes to select from -- Panorama, HDR, Timer, manual mode which allows users to adjust the ISO and White Balance, Straighten, Beautify and others. The camera app also consists of the preview window and the camera and video buttons. The selfie camera comes equipped with a Beautify mode which comes with facial recognition algorithm which guesses the age of the user at the time of capturing a selfie.





















Talking about the image quality, the Xiaomi Redmi 5 reproduces good images in bright conditions. However, you can easily notice noise and graininess in the shots captured during night or low light. The images captured in the macro mode or HDR are the best ones. They offer ample amount of detailing and clarity. The images taken with the help of flash were reasonably alright and nothing great to write about. The front camera functioned very well during video calls and the selfies captured were also satisfying. Moreover, you can also improve the selfies with the help of the beautify feature.













The smartphone is also capable of recording HD videos at 30 fps. The video quality was fine but it very well captured the audio. The camera allows you to capture slow motion videos but there is no support for time lapse. The front camera can also record HD videos. Overall, we found the camera experience to be good and definitely better when compared to the Redmi 4.


Battery: 3,000 mAh battery

The Xiaomi Redmi 5 is backed by a 3000mAh battery which is smaller in capacity when compared to its predecessor Redmi 4 which came with 4100mAh battery. Despite the less battery capacity, the smartphone offered good backup courtesy the power efficient Qualcomm processor. The smartphone manages to deliver a day’s battery backup on a single charge. Considering that it’s a budget smartphone it doesn't come with any fast charging and takes a lot of time to get charged. We witnessed that it took approximately two hours to charge completely.

The Xiaomi Redmi 5 also come with some of the battery saving modes which help you when you need some more juice.


Verdict

The Xiaomi Redmi 5 comes with a starting price tag of Rs 7,999. The smartphone definitely offers improvements when compared to the Redmi 4. The smartphone offers better display, design and camera, which makes it a good buy under this price segment. You will not find any other smartphone in this price segment with these features. In our opinion it is an all-round smartphone with all the essential features. However, if you are willing to spend more then you can go for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 which comes with a starting price tag of Rs 9,999 and offers a better processor and a larger battery
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