Xiaomi Redmi 5 Full Review

Xiaomi company can be called one of the most active players in the market of high-tech devices. In the assortment of her offers, literally everything: from CCTV cameras, headphones, to smartphones, which have gained immense popularity with the domestic consumer. More recently, Xiaomi had no competitors in terms of price-quality ratio. However, today the company also confidently holds the brand. And an example of this is the new flagship budget class, Xiaomi Redmi 5.

Specifications

Like any modern mobile phone, Xiaomi Redmi 5 is offered in several versions. Differences - in the amount of RAM and internal storage capacity. The main technical characteristics of the platform look like this:

• 7 inch display with a resolution of 1440x720 pixels and a density of 282 ppi;
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor platform, 8 cores with a maximum frequency of 1.8 GHz;
• Adreno 506 graphics processor;
• RAM up to 4 GB, the drive - up to 64 GB, depending on the modification;
• camera: main 12 megapixel, front 5 megapixel, both equipped with flashes;
• 2 SIM cards or one + memory card are supported;
• Fingerprint's scanner;
• infrared port;
• FM receiver;
• 3300 mAh non-removable battery;
• all-metal body.

Connectivity is practically the standard of top equipment. Smartphone Xiaomi Redmi 5 works in 4G, 3G networks, supports CDMA, GSM standards, provides navigation in GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS systems. Wireless data protocols are represented by WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2.

AT set of delivery - Xiaomi Redmi 5 smartphone, charger, cable, silicone case, manual (multilingual, including Russian), clip for opening a card tray.

Appearance

The design with which the mobile phone Redmi 5 bestowed on the developers, is highly anticipated. He personifies modern trends in ergonomics. The corners of the smartphone are rounded, the screen takes up about 76% of the total area of ​​the front.

In the upper part of the right side is located the power button and volume control.Such positioning may seem inconvenient for some users who are used to rather outdated phones. At the top of the left side is a tray in which you can install either two SIM cards of mobile operators, or a communication and memory card. The bottom edge fits the loudspeaker sound outlets, the charging port and the main microphone. On the top there is an infrared window, a microphone of the noise cancellation system and a standard 3.5 mm interface for wired headphones.

On the front of the smartphone there are no familiar control buttons at the bottom. The transitions to the main screen, back, a call to the list of running applications are made by clicking on sensory areas. These controls are not visually highlighted, when clicked, the general illumination of all zones is activated.

At the top of the front panel, everything is also expected. Here are located:

• speaker;
• camera eye;
• LED flash;
• block of proximity sensors, lighting.

Rear part - all-metal. On it the convex block of the camera obviously appears. The fingerprint sensor, on the contrary, is recessed.The usual for the company's products and the location of the logo: in the lower third of the back cover of the smartphone.

In general, the smartphone Xiaomi Redmi 5 looks stylish, modern, quite aristocratic. The company's engineers managed to combine two opposing trends in the device: the product is simultaneously emphasized neat, without noticeable bright details, and quite catchy, attracting attention. This was achieved by combining the frosted metal of the back with a protruding chamber and a utilitarian, uniformly colored display frame.

The convenience of use

All noticeable Redmi 5 chips will be described later. However, one, the most noticeable, it is impossible not to mention when describing the appearance of the device. The smartphone has a screen of non-standard aspect ratio of 18: 9. On the one hand, this is a great opportunity to fit more information. On the other hand, when using the product, you will have to put up with some features.

1. To get one finger to all the icons on the screen is difficult, since the phone Xiaomi Redmi 5 is somewhat longer than its fellow tribesmen with the same diagonal of the display.
2. When playing video in the horizontal orientation mode, black stripes remain on the sides of the screen.

Important! For those who like to work with several applications at the same time, Xiaomi Redmi 5 has prepared a pleasant surprise: the device allows you to place two program windows on one screen. This is a convenient feature, but its usefulness to all users, without exception, is somewhat doubtful.

Using the display of exactly this format, the manufacturer managed to achieve more viewing area with a slight increase in the width of the device. As the technical characteristics of Xiaomi Redmi 5 say, the dimensions of the model are 152x73x7.7 mm (for height, width, thickness, respectively) with a weight of 157 g. The device easily lies even in the palm of a medium size. It is convenient to hold the smartphone, it is difficult to drop it, because the frosted surface of the back cover prevents slippage.

There are no difficulties and fingerprint scanner. Mobile phone from Xiaomi shows excellent response speed and overall high reliability, durability of the sensor. The location of the scanner is such that you can put your finger on it, almost without exerting effort and without changing the location of the device in your hand.

Description Redmi 5 will not be complete, if not to mention the conservatism of the company in the choice of interface for headphones.All wired models that use 3.5 mm jack. This well distinguishes the device from the background of phones that do not have an interface at all, or the unused Type B, Type C connectors are used.

Screen

The Redmi 5 display cannot boast record-breaking high resolution and pixel density per inch. However, the smartphone is very equipped high-quality matrix. It provides excellent visibility and color reproduction at almost 180 corners. In addition:

• smartphone equipment includes tempered glass Gorilla Glass;
• an oleophobic layer is applied on the display surface, eliminating the rapid appearance of fingerprints;
• level of glare, reflection indicators do not force to strain even when using the device in bright light.

Important! If you make a full review of the display capabilities of Xiaomi Redmi 5, it is impossible not to note the level of its contrast at 1: 988, excellent color rendition and saturation. In addition, despite the rather modest resolution, the smallest text on the screen is perfectly readable, the details of the image are different.

Technical characteristics of the backlight it is also well thought out: with a maximum of 414 cd / sqm, the device is convenient to use even in sunlight, and at least 1 cd / sqm will appeal to those who like to read at night.However, to fully enjoy all the features of the display will not succeed: the light sensor works extremely roughly, in steps, not allowing you to get comfortable sensations without manually changing the brightness settings.

Hardware platform

Review of the phone Xiaomi Redmi 5 in the context of its hardware platform leaves ambivalent feelings. On the positive side, the following can be noted.

1. Computing power of the processor unit (CPU and GP) enough for all applications and undemanding games. Therefore, even a minimal configuration with 2 GB of RAM and 16gb drive will be a convenient choice for lowly users.
2. The configurations offered on the market allow you to find your ideal phone for almost any buyer. Version 3 / 32gb, which satisfies most needs, is the most popular.
3. The built-in modem is characterized by high performance and can provide Maximum transfer rates on 4G networks.

However, to many aspects of the hardware platform questions arise.

1. Despite the fact that the CPU is capable of serving dual cameras up to 13 megapixels or one 21 megapixels, the phone offers a modest 12 megapixel single sensor.
2. Charging options are deliberately limited: Xiaomi Redmi 5 is normal, despite the support for Quick Charge 3 at the processor level.
3. There is no support for NFC, which Snapdragon 450 can also work with.

The policy of limitations of opportunities becomes clear if we remember that the same hardware platform is used by the manufacturer in the closest competitors of the fifth family. However, for most users, such deficiencies in the engineering solution do not seem to be of any importance. In general, the Redmi 5 does not disappoint the owner with either the level of performance or other critical characteristics.

Cameras

Cameras Xiaomi Redmi 5 is not expected to show records. The main camera makes excellent photos in good light, but the quality of the pictures drops sharply if there are bright spots and other details in the field of view that are drastically out of the statistical distribution.

On a note! The disadvantages are mainly related to the operation of the software shell serving the camera. In low light, the detail drops sharply. Bright spots make a small dynamic range manifest themselves, which also adversely affects the resulting image.

In addition, with a decrease in illumination sharply increasing amount of noise. As a result of all the listed features, the main camera perfectly shoots in good weather, and deviations in conditions make the system turn into a very mediocre product.

The camera review on the front panel sounds much nicer. In this part, everything is quite good. Somewhat annoying manifestation of noise in low light. However, using the built-in flash LED, it is almost always possible to achieve good results typical of 5 megapixel cameras.

Autonomy

Does not set records Xiaomi Redmi 5 and indicators of autonomy. The device is fully charged and the battery can last about 36 hours. But only if there is a speech about calls, periodic reading of messages. If the Wi-Fi transmitter, GPS system, 3G and LTE modem enter the battle, the battery charge level can show a frightening rate of drop in performance.

However, it is worth noting that the picture described is typical for most mobile devices. If you make a direct comparison, the autonomy of Redmi 5 looks better than competitors in the market. This is achieved by a special architecture and mode of operation of the processor platform: in the absence of a load, the CPU reduces the frequency and goes to power saving mode.

Chips and interesting

To its credit, Xiaomi Redmi 5 is worth noting: the smartphone has been carefully thought out, attention has been paid not only to interesting details and features, but also to ease of use. Briefly, you can create the following list of features.

1. Icon packused in the operating system interface are carefully drawn elements with a unique style and animation. For example, the icon of the built-in Facebook client is represented by the opening and closing, lively little book.
2. Xiaomi did not use an unpredicted charging interface. Used familiar to many Type B. On the one hand, this will force Type C connector fans to see which side to insert the cable. On the other hand, you can charge the phone from almost any adapter, including one that is temporarily occupied by friends.
3. In the management structure made many utilities. For example, a separate unit for switching on functions, the “silent” mode, as well as a number of unique schemes, which are best seen directly in the phone.
4. On the 18: 9 screen, the opportunity is given place two windows of working applications side by side.

Important! The main feature of the smartphone is the complete stability of the operating system.All software solutions are carefully verified, debugged, and feature reliable and predictable work.

Market position

The way the manufacturer positions its product on the market does not always correspond to the opinion of consumers. In its price segment, Xiaomi Redmi 5 has many competitors.

1. Chinese brand LeEco LeTV for the same money will offer a significantly more productive platform, a better screen, a 21 megapixel camera. However, it does not provide the unique Redmi 5 display format, it has flaws in the translation of the operating system.
2. Young Chinese player in the domestic market ChinaMobile offers a noticeably cheaper smartphone with a similar Redmi 5 hardware platform. However, it cannot boast stability of the operating system, cameras.

Other market participants breathe into the neck of Redmy 5. Some of them offer performance for the same price, others - excellent cameras, and others - record autonomy. But according to the overall balance of the merits, a smartphone from Xiaomi is able to attract the sympathy of a much larger number of consumers. Especially when you consider the availability of service and other benefits from a reliable manufacturer.