Xiaomi had a fantastic 2016, marked by the success of its "budget" Redmi Note 3 device — shipping 3.6 Million units in India in 2016, making it the best selling online phone in the country of all time. Packing an impressive processor and insane battery life, the Redmi Note 3 rounded it up with an unbelievable price tag that made competing with the device really difficult for others. The bar was set very high, so the question that one inevitably asks: can the Redmi Note 4 raise the bar even higher?
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 that will be available in the Indian market is by all external means the same device that was made official for China. You get an admirable one-piece metallic chassis, with a thin profile and curved side edges on the back. Xiaomi has seemingly gotten rid of the plastic caps on the back (on the top and bottom) that were there on the Redmi Note 3 to aid in signal reception. They have chosen to make use of antenna lines instead on the Redmi Note 3.
The front of the device comes with a 5.5″ FHD IPS LCD display, along with 2.5D curved glass . The back of the device houses the camera setup and flash unit. The speakers have moved from the back to the bottom of the mid-chassis on the Redmi Note 4, with symmetrical holes drilled on either side of the micro-USB port. You still get the 3.5mm headphone jack on the device, and as with all Xiaomi devices, this one too comes with a IR Blaster. On the battery end, the Redmi Note 4 packs in a 4100 mAh batter, a whole 50 mAh increase from the previous Redmi Note device.
The camera setup on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is comprised of a 13MP BSI CMOS sensor with f/2.0 aperture, PDAF and dual-tone flash. The front is a 5MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture.
The SoC on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is one area which has us confused.
The predecessor Redmi Note 3 packed in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 SoC — a processor we ended up absolutely loving. While being built on a 28nm process, the Snapdragon 650 SoC packed in 4x Cortex-A53 cores for its efficiency needs, and 2x Cortex-A72 cores for performance loads. This combination resulted in a phone package that gave absolutely stunning battery life, and an equally admirable (for its price) real world performance across games and heavy apps.
The Redmi Note 4, on the other hand, seemingly concentrates on improving the battery life from its predecessor. The Redmi Note 4 packs in a 14nm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC with FinFET technology, employing 8x Cortex-A53 clocked at 2GHz for all of its efficiency as well as performance needs. The move to a 14nm based SoC with solely Cortex-A53 cores will theoretically improve upon battery life in a noticeable manner. However, one needs to wonder how well the device will perform under strenuous tasks such as gaming. You know performance of the device could be nothing to boast about when Hugo Barra does not mention it on stage at all, choosing to focus instead on "battery performance". The Adreno 506 complements the SoC in the GPU department, as compared to the Adreno 510 on the Redmi Note 3.
The Redmi Note 4 comes in with MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. Mi Explorers do get a chance to try out a MIUI preview on Android 7.0 Nougat, but normal users will have to wait for the update to hit the stable MIUI branch.
In India, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 will come in three variants of RAM + storage combinations. The base variant starts with 2GB+32GB for ₹9,999 ($146). The 3GB+32GB variant comes in at ₹10,999 ($162). The final variant of 4GB+64GB comes in at ₹12,999 ($190) — a memory-storage combination that is not easily found in this price segment. All variants support microSD cards via the hybrid Dual SIM tray. The device goes on flash sales in India starting from January 23rd on Flipkart and Mi.com. Xioami has also introduced a new Black color for the device, which will be made available for sale later.
We will have to push our review unit of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 to see how well the Snapdragon 625 can perform in gaming as well as non-gaming scenarios. Until then, color us skeptical as the biggest competition to the Redmi Note 4 is the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 itself. For ₹9,999 ($146) for 2GB+16GB and ₹11,999 ($176) for 3GB+32GB but on Snapdragon 650, the question remains in the air on which one is the better deal.
What are your thoughts on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4? Let us know in the comments below! Stay tuned for our full review!
>>> Check Out XDA's Xiaomi Redmi 4 Forum!
from xda-developers http://ift.tt/2js5h2E
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment