Xiaomi Redmi 6A Review
Xiaomi's Redmi phones have just about established themselves because the de-facto choices at nearly every price point within the budget space. The Chinese brand, once considered a small upstart, has consistently launched smartphones that deliver tremendous value for money and make their competitors look overpriced. We've repeatedly wondered how far Xiaomi can push this formula, and whether the other company are going to be ready to are available and steal its thunder.
That went on to some extent at the upper end of the low-cost market this year, with players including Asus, Oppo, and Infinix launching disruptive models that have earned praise from us. rock bottom end, though, remains where Xiaomi dominates. The fresh Redmi 6 models are launched specifically to strengthen that position, and therefore the Redmi 6A is that the very lowest-priced model of all of them .
Let's examine what's new, and whether this phone remains the simplest choice for people on a shoe-string budget:
Let's examine what's new, and whether this phone remains the simplest choice for people on a shoe-string budget:
Redmi 6A design :
The first thing you'll notice about this phone is that Xiaomi has brought a trendy 18:9 screen to the very bottom of its price ladder. The front of this phone is straightforward and plain, and when it's off, the front camera and earpiece are the sole things which will indicate which way is up. The screen has very slightly rounded corners, which may be a nice touch. you do not get a bezel-free check out this price and there is quite little bit of space to the highest , bottom and sides of the screen, but the general look remains fairly slick.
The body of the Redmi 6A is made of plastic, which shouldn't come as any surprise. This phone is out there in four colours — black, blue, gold, and rose gold. Our black review unit looked good, though some smudges did become apparent on the rear over the course of multiple days. there is a camera bump, but thankfully it is not too noticeable. The body's curves and contours somewhat mask its 8.3mm thickness and make it very easy to measure with. This phone weighs just 145g, which helps also .
The power and volume buttons are on the proper , and both are well accessible . On the left, there are two individual trays - one for one Nano-SIM, and therefore the other for an additional Nano-SIM and also a separate microSD card. you will find a 3.5mm audio socket on the highest and a Micro-USB port on rock bottom , plus microphone pinholes next to both. The speaker is on the lower rear which suggests that your ringtone and alerts might be muffled when this phone is lying on a bed or other soft surface. there is no fingerprint reader — while we've seen phones with fingerprint readers at around this price index , Xiaomi has chosen other priorities.
The body of the Redmi 6A is made of plastic, which shouldn't come as any surprise. This phone is out there in four colours — black, blue, gold, and rose gold. Our black review unit looked good, though some smudges did become apparent on the rear over the course of multiple days. there is a camera bump, but thankfully it is not too noticeable. The body's curves and contours somewhat mask its 8.3mm thickness and make it very easy to measure with. This phone weighs just 145g, which helps also .
The power and volume buttons are on the proper , and both are well accessible . On the left, there are two individual trays - one for one Nano-SIM, and therefore the other for an additional Nano-SIM and also a separate microSD card. you will find a 3.5mm audio socket on the highest and a Micro-USB port on rock bottom , plus microphone pinholes next to both. The speaker is on the lower rear which suggests that your ringtone and alerts might be muffled when this phone is lying on a bed or other soft surface. there is no fingerprint reader — while we've seen phones with fingerprint readers at around this price index , Xiaomi has chosen other priorities.
Xiaomi Redmi 6A specifications and software
There usually isn't much to urge excited about within the budget market, but Xiaomi has found a minimum of one little advantage to offer its latest entry-level phone. instead of the predictable Qualcomm 400-series, Xiaomi has switched to MediaTek's fresh Helio A22 (MT6762) processor. This marks the debut of a replacement Helio A-series branding scheme for MediaTek's entry-level offerings. The Helio A22 has four ARM Cortex-A53 cores running at up to 2GHz and is manufactured employing a power-efficient 12nm process. this might give battery life a big boost.
The Redmi 6A is out there with either 16GB or 32GB of storage, and both variants have 2GB of RAM. Our review unit was the 16GB version, and that we found that we had slightly below 10GB of usable space when setting it up. If you are not getting to carry tons of music and videos around with you, this much should be fine, but you will need a microSD card otherwise, with cards of up to 256GB capacity supported.
The 18:9 screen measures 5.45 inches diagonally and features a resolution of 720x1440 pixels. Xiaomi has packed during a 3000mAh battery. The rear camera features a 13-megapixel sensor, f/2.2 aperture, and PDAF, while the front one features a 5-megapixel sensor. The Redmi 6A can use 4G data on either SIM. VoLTE HD is supported on just one SIM at a time, no matter which slot it's in. There's also Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, and GPS. Interestingly, you get the quality ambient light and proximity sensors also as a digital compass.
One of Xiaomi's defining smartphone features is its custom MIUI software, which features a vocal legion of fans. The Redmi 6A runs MIUI 9.6 which is predicated on Android 8.1. there is no official word on any release timeframe for an update to Android 9.0 Pie. MIUI hasn't changed much over the years, and with stock Android One gaining popularity, it's starting to show. We missed common features just like the ability to long-press an app icon for quick shortcuts and notifications.
There's a lot of preloaded bloat and redundant apps, for instance you've got UC Browser, Chrome, and Xiaomi's own default browser. Facebook, Amazon, PhonePe, Netflix, Opera, and a couple of other third-party apps are preloaded, and a number of other more are "promoted" right within the MIUI interface. The default Facemoji keyboard features a lot happening with emojis, stickers, GIFs, themes, and more. Then there also are Microsoft apps and various Mi utilities. The one big thing that immediately jumped out at us was the quantity of advertising that's now baked into MIUI.
We saw a couple of spammy alerts from the Mi Apps store using peer-pressure tactics to undertake to form us download specific apps. only a few of those apps are often removed. Mi Music and Mi Video also are filled with promotional content. There’s even spam within the Gallery app — sporadically, after playing a video clip we had recorded, we saw a screen of suggestions for Hungama videos.
We were extremely disappointed to ascertain what proportion advertising there was. Much of it only became apparent after a couple of days of use, so it's possible that there is even more, deeper beneath the surface, waiting to leap out at users. If this is often the tradeoff for low-cost phones, we wouldn't be surprised to ascertain even hardcore Xiaomi fans gravitating towards stock Android.
That isn't to mention that MIUI is all bad. It still has a lot of features including Ui customisation options, it has the power to clone apps, it has a fine-grained display colour tone adjustment, many useful gestures, and therefore the ability to lock apps also. There's face recognition, but Xiaomi warns that it'd be defeated by a photograph of you.
The Redmi 6A is out there with either 16GB or 32GB of storage, and both variants have 2GB of RAM. Our review unit was the 16GB version, and that we found that we had slightly below 10GB of usable space when setting it up. If you are not getting to carry tons of music and videos around with you, this much should be fine, but you will need a microSD card otherwise, with cards of up to 256GB capacity supported.
The 18:9 screen measures 5.45 inches diagonally and features a resolution of 720x1440 pixels. Xiaomi has packed during a 3000mAh battery. The rear camera features a 13-megapixel sensor, f/2.2 aperture, and PDAF, while the front one features a 5-megapixel sensor. The Redmi 6A can use 4G data on either SIM. VoLTE HD is supported on just one SIM at a time, no matter which slot it's in. There's also Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, and GPS. Interestingly, you get the quality ambient light and proximity sensors also as a digital compass.
One of Xiaomi's defining smartphone features is its custom MIUI software, which features a vocal legion of fans. The Redmi 6A runs MIUI 9.6 which is predicated on Android 8.1. there is no official word on any release timeframe for an update to Android 9.0 Pie. MIUI hasn't changed much over the years, and with stock Android One gaining popularity, it's starting to show. We missed common features just like the ability to long-press an app icon for quick shortcuts and notifications.
There's a lot of preloaded bloat and redundant apps, for instance you've got UC Browser, Chrome, and Xiaomi's own default browser. Facebook, Amazon, PhonePe, Netflix, Opera, and a couple of other third-party apps are preloaded, and a number of other more are "promoted" right within the MIUI interface. The default Facemoji keyboard features a lot happening with emojis, stickers, GIFs, themes, and more. Then there also are Microsoft apps and various Mi utilities. The one big thing that immediately jumped out at us was the quantity of advertising that's now baked into MIUI.
We saw a couple of spammy alerts from the Mi Apps store using peer-pressure tactics to undertake to form us download specific apps. only a few of those apps are often removed. Mi Music and Mi Video also are filled with promotional content. There’s even spam within the Gallery app — sporadically, after playing a video clip we had recorded, we saw a screen of suggestions for Hungama videos.
We were extremely disappointed to ascertain what proportion advertising there was. Much of it only became apparent after a couple of days of use, so it's possible that there is even more, deeper beneath the surface, waiting to leap out at users. If this is often the tradeoff for low-cost phones, we wouldn't be surprised to ascertain even hardcore Xiaomi fans gravitating towards stock Android.
That isn't to mention that MIUI is all bad. It still has a lot of features including Ui customisation options, it has the power to clone apps, it has a fine-grained display colour tone adjustment, many useful gestures, and therefore the ability to lock apps also. There's face recognition, but Xiaomi warns that it'd be defeated by a photograph of you.
Xiaomi Redmi 6A performance, battery life, and cameras
This is an entry-level phone, and that we know that it is not meant to be pushed too hard, but basic usage still must be smooth. Thankfully, we will say that the Redmi 6A — for the foremost part — wasn't frustrating to use. There was some lag when flipping through the task switcher or exiting from apps back to the house screen, but we could accept that. We also quickly learnt to avoid Xiaomi's Mi apps because the additional steps needed to dismiss ads all the time became too annoying.
On rare occasions, it took a second or two for several apps, including the essential Messaging app, to be usable after loading. you'll hide the on-screen Android navigation buttons and use gestures instead, but we found that to be extremely slow. The keyboard was also a small amount of issue, but Google's Gboard is preloaded and prepared to travel as an alternate . MIUI is strained with with only 2GB of RAM, and that we noted anywhere between 650MB and 1.2GB free during use.
The screen is sweet enough for watching videos and playing games on, and that we had no major complaints in terms of vibrancy, colour reproduction, or viewing angles considering the worth of this phone. The speaker on the rear is not clear and music doesn't sound great, but voices in videos come through tolerably .
Xiaomi's phones have always surprised us with its great performance in the HD video loop battery life test. The Redmi 6A ran for 13 hours, 22 minutes, because of its 3000mAh battery, the efficient SoC, and MIUI's optimisations. Our everyday usage consisted of a touch of sunshine gaming and video streaming, and that we comfortably made it through a 10-hour working day and therefore the remainder of the evening. If you do not use your phone for far more than calls, messages and social media, you ought to be ready to stretch to each day and a half between charges. On the downside, a full charge from zero percent took us a total time, nearly to three hours.
On rare occasions, it took a second or two for several apps, including the essential Messaging app, to be usable after loading. you'll hide the on-screen Android navigation buttons and use gestures instead, but we found that to be extremely slow. The keyboard was also a small amount of issue, but Google's Gboard is preloaded and prepared to travel as an alternate . MIUI is strained with with only 2GB of RAM, and that we noted anywhere between 650MB and 1.2GB free during use.
The screen is sweet enough for watching videos and playing games on, and that we had no major complaints in terms of vibrancy, colour reproduction, or viewing angles considering the worth of this phone. The speaker on the rear is not clear and music doesn't sound great, but voices in videos come through tolerably .
Xiaomi's phones have always surprised us with its great performance in the HD video loop battery life test. The Redmi 6A ran for 13 hours, 22 minutes, because of its 3000mAh battery, the efficient SoC, and MIUI's optimisations. Our everyday usage consisted of a touch of sunshine gaming and video streaming, and that we comfortably made it through a 10-hour working day and therefore the remainder of the evening. If you do not use your phone for far more than calls, messages and social media, you ought to be ready to stretch to each day and a half between charges. On the downside, a full charge from zero percent took us a total time, nearly to three hours.
Conclusion
The Redmi 6A may be a fairly good update to the Redmi 5A, which itself was barely any different compared to the Redmi 4A. You now get to see comparatively a tall screen, better processor, and improved polish overall. However, the worth has gone up — Rs. 5,999 remains excellent , especially considering the recent slide within the Indian Rupee's rate of exchange , but it is not quite as tempting because the Redmi 5A was at Rs. 4,999. this is often also just an "introductory" price, and that we don't yet skills long it'll last or what it'll increase to then .
With this generation, you get 2GB of RAM across the board, instead of 3GB with the 32GB storage variant. If you'll spend a touch extra money and need to intensify the ladder, likelihood is that you will find the 3GB/ 32GB Redmi 6, with its fingerprint sensor and better processor, the higher choice. As for the competition, the Redmi 6A delivers a superior experience compared to the equally priced Coolpad Mega 5A and therefore the costlier Honor 7S , and albeit its price rises by Rs. 1,000, we expect it'll remain the higher option.
MIUI has thus far been alright received, and it's one among the foremost polished non-stock Android UIs we have seen . However, that goodwill can and can evaporate if Xiaomi continues pushing ads and spam like this.
With this generation, you get 2GB of RAM across the board, instead of 3GB with the 32GB storage variant. If you'll spend a touch extra money and need to intensify the ladder, likelihood is that you will find the 3GB/ 32GB Redmi 6, with its fingerprint sensor and better processor, the higher choice. As for the competition, the Redmi 6A delivers a superior experience compared to the equally priced Coolpad Mega 5A and therefore the costlier Honor 7S , and albeit its price rises by Rs. 1,000, we expect it'll remain the higher option.
MIUI has thus far been alright received, and it's one among the foremost polished non-stock Android UIs we have seen . However, that goodwill can and can evaporate if Xiaomi continues pushing ads and spam like this.
1 Comments
so well xplained brother
ReplyDeletePlease put spam free comments only