With the recent announcement that the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 will be officially on sale here in the Philippines on May 15 for Php 11,990, it can be said that Xiaomi has been very aggressive recently with their release of relatively cheap but with off the charts specifications for its price smartphones. And one of those smartphones is the Xiaomi Redmi 5A that we’re going to dissect today.
The Xiaomi Redmi 5A is currently touted as the “Budget Smartphone King” because of its price to specs ratio. On paper, it’s very hard to disagree with this statement, but does it reflect on real-life performance? Let’s find out!
MY EARLY BREAKDOWN
Pros: Decent specs for its price, Smooth performance, Decent speakers, Intuitive interface with useful apps out of the box
Cons: Very limiting internal storage, Below average camera
SPECIFICATIONS
Display: 5-inch HD (720 x 1280) IPS LCD (296 ppi)
Operating System: Android 7.1.2 Nougat/MIUI 9
Processor: Qualcomm MSM8917 Snapdragon 425
Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53
Adreno 308 GPU
RAM: 2 GB
Internal Storage: 16 GB
Expandable up to 128 GB with microSD card
Rear Camera: 13 MP with LED flash
f/2.2 aperture
Phase detection autofocus
1080p@30fps
Front Camera: 5 MP
f/2.0 aperture
Connectivity: Dual-SIM (nano)
4G LTE
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.1
Sensors: GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
IR Blaster
Battery: 3000 mAh
Dimensions: 140.4 x 70.1 x 8.4 mm
Weight: 137 g
Colors: Gold, Rose Gold, Dark Grey
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Xiaomi Redmi 5A Review – Budget Smartphone King
FULL REVIEW
Design and Construction
On my first impressions article, I mentioned that the Xiaomi Redmi 5A is very easy to use one-handed and it remained to be true after a month of it being my daily driver. The design is very nice with its curved edges and corners and the construction, although its made of plastic, is nice to the touch as well. The front panel as I’ve mentioned in the video above is pretty standard for this price range with the top and bottom bezels and capacitive navigation buttons at the bottom.
Speaking of navigation buttons, unfortunately, it’s not backlit. What’s backlit is the notification LED that’s weirdly placed at the bottom bezels right below the home button.
Up top, we have the proximity sensor, earpiece, and the front-facing camera.
At the back, we have the speaker and the 13MP camera with flash.
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Buttons and Ports
Around the phone, at the top, we have the IR Blaster, a microphone, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
At the bottom, we have the micro USB port and the primary microphone.
On the left side, we have the two Nano SIM card slots and a dedicated microSD card slot that supports up to 128GB of storage.
On the right side, we have the volume rocker and the power button. No dedicated camera button on this phone.
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Display
The display on this phone is really amazing for its price. Thanks to the IPS panel, the viewing angle is great and the color reproduction is very good with a decent amount of contrast. The display itself is a 5.0-inch 16:9 aspect ratio with a resolution of 1280x720p that pinch in a 294ppi pixel density.
Speaker
User Interface (MIUI 9)
The Xiaomi Redmi 5A runs on MIUI 9 on top of Android Nougat 7.1 and as I’ve mentioned on my first impressions, I’m sticking with it instead of installing a 3rd partly launcher like the Nova Launcher which I’ve used in the past. Reason being is that I feel comfortable with the MIUI 9 interface, it’s pretty snappy and responsive and that I’ve gotten used to it after a month of fiddling without any issues. I also appreciate the fact that it does have useful apps such as Mi Remote, Mi Drop, Barcode Scanner and Screen Recorder out of the box.
Features
The Xiaomi Redmi 5A also comes with nifty features out of the box like the security center where you can optimize your phone, clear cache, boost ram, etc. It also supports split screen view wherein you can open two apps at the same time which I think is cool and useful at times. You can also take advantage of the App locker feature wherein you can put pin codes to your notes, finance, email and other apps that require more security and privacy.
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Storage
Having a ton of features and pre-installed apps will pose its own drawbacks, one of which, and probably the most underwhelming part of this phone, is the lowly 16GB of storage. Out of the box, you’re only going to get around 8GB or so which is very tight especially if you want to install a couple of games.
Here’s the screenshot of the current situation of my storage space. I only have one game on this phone which is summoners war and I literally had to uninstall it just to try other games for this review. I also have to clear the cache every night just so I don’t receive a prompt about low storage. If you want to fix this you may need to root your phone which will subsequently void your warranty.
Performance
In terms of performance, the Xiaomi Redmi 5A packs decent hardware inside with a 1.4 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 processor, alongside the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset paired with an Adreno 308 GPU and with a 2 GB of RAM. For the most part, the phone is very snappy and responsive especially if you only have like a couple of apps opened. However, opening multiple apps at the same time you will sometimes feel the phone trying to catch its breath. Not much though that it becomes super annoying, you just have to deal with it by clearing the RAM every now and then. I’m still impressed by how this phone performs considering its price.
Gaming
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Battery Life
Call Quality and Connectivity
Camera
Same goes for the video mode and its quality. It’s decent, again with good lighting, and is substantial enough if you just want to capture precious memories in your life. Watch the video above to see the actual footage and video quality this phone can produce.
Camera Test Shots
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| Normal |
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| HDR |
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| Front Camera Selfie |
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Indoor/Low light
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| Normal |
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| HDR |
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| Flash |
All Test Shots (Normal/HDR)
Front Cam Beautify
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| Pro Default |
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| Smart Medium |
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VERDICT
Will I recommend this?: Yes!
Everything that I’ve mentioned in my first impressions article seems to be the same, I still think the Xiaomi Redmi 5A is the current “Budget Smartphone King” on the market right now. The price to specifications is just unbelievable. It’s not perfect though, to be able to cut down costs for this phone, there’s a little bit of drawback, the 16GB internal storage is just very limiting and the camera’s quality is below average, to say the least. But I am still very happy with this phone considering how snappy and responsive it is as my daily driver.
WHERE TO BUY:
LAZADA:
Cases and Tempered Glass
Heat Dissipation Case for Xiaomi Redmi 5A
- I searched for the highest amount of ratings and good feedback from buyers
- Price may vary depending on existing promos
- The views and opinions on this review are solely based on my own personal experience, your results may vary
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