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Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus Review
Redmi 5 plus is a flagship smartphone from the Xiaomi brand.
To be honest, Chinese phone brands have greatly improved over time.
They compete well with popular brands like Samsung and Apple
in terms of quality and they even offer great quality at cheaper prices.
Does the Redmi 5 smartphone live up to expectations? We’ll
find out soon enough. But first let us take a quick look at the specs.
Display
Screen: 5.99 inches 1080 * 2160 pixels
Memory
RAM: 3GB, ROM: 32GB, Max. Expansion up to 128GB
Processor
Snapdragon 625 Octa-core 2.0GHz, Octa-Core
Camera
Pixel: 12MP(f/2.2, 2.25m ), Front Camera Pixels: 5.0mp
SIM card
Nano SIM, 2
Battery Capacity
4000mAh
Display
This smartphone comes equipped with FHD display on a screen
that is almost six inches. The viewing angle is standard and you can easily use
it under the direct glare of sunlight.
It has a great screen refresh rate and can depict fast
scenes on movies without blurring or fading.
So based on the display alone, it gets 5 out of 5 stars.
Camera Quality
The front camera is 5.0mp and the back camera is 12mp. But
as I always say, this numbers are not as important as the phone brands make
them seem.
But having said that; this smartphone has truly impressive
camera quality.
Chuck that up to the greatly improved camera sensor and wider
aperture (things that matter more than megapixels).
It takes great photos under low light and the selfies camera
is superb.
I love the fact that you can use this phone to take awesome
selfies in poorly lit rooms without the photos ending up like products of a
chinco Nokia phone.
I’m impressed by the clearness of the front camera and the
total absence of noise. The shutter speed is also remarkable.
This feature alone enables you to take fantastic motion
photos like photos of someone jumping for example. In fact compared with Gionee
P7, this camera is out of the park.
It is not as great as the 5T model but it competes or even
outranks brands like Tecno Camon C9 or Infinix Hot Pro.
So based on the camera alone, I’ll rate it 5 out of 5 stars.
Processor/Performance
This smartphone works on Android 7.12 and on MIUI 9 OS. This
is a very recent OS and so not surprisingly, there are a few minor bugs.
Sometimes apps crash or the home screen pops up suddenly.
But this occurrence is extremely rare like once in several months.
It’s something that would be fixed as time goes on. And it
is no basis to downgrade the amazing quality of this phone.
Another thing I noticed is that it takes about one second to
activate the homescreen after hitting the home button. You’ll also notice a
slight lag when more than 15 apps are open.
But to be fair, I’ve noticed lags even in really high-end
phones like Samsung S9.
The Snapdragon processor racks up a speed of just about 2.0
GHz which is less than the 2.2GHz of previous products in the Redmi brand.
Be that as it may, it handles games just as superbly as the
5T model and the aspect ratio is ideal for playing games like Mini Militia for
example.
You can also use it for high energy apps like Forex trading apps without any fear of freezing or lagging.
Therefore based on processor/performance alone, I’ll rate it
4 out of 5 stars.
Battery
With a battery of 4000mAh, I won’t call the performance
impressive. Just like the Gionee P7 which has a similar battery rating, this
phone is great for offline activities.
These include playing games, watching movies or listening to
music. These activities drain the battery at a much slower rate.
I once played Mini Militia for over two hours and the
battery only lost 40%. Online activities on the other hand are the real power
suckers.
I’ve noticed that once the cellular data is on, you can lose
up to 30% in one hour which means you have approximately three hours of
browsing on a full battery.
Another downside is that this phone does not come with fast
charge options. But I bypassed this problem by using a Samsung charger
which seemed to activate the fast charge feature.
Apparently, its follow-come charger is unable to do this.
Another way to make the phone charge faster is by downloading a fast charging
app like ‘fast charger battery master’ which is available on Google Playstore.
Once you download the app, click on optimize and the magic
would begin. This app works for any android phone.
Network Connectivity
Thankfully, this smartphone comes with 4G capabilities. So
if you’re in an area where your ISP provides you with 4G network, then you can
take advantage of this feature.
People always ask me if there is a way to make a 3G phone 4G
capable. Sadly, buying a 4G SIM card is not enough to give you LTE access. Your
phone has to be capable and if it isn’t then you have to get a phone that is.
This is because the network connectivity is hardware related
and merely downloading an app wouldn’t solve your network problems.
Also if you don’t know how to check whether your phone is 3G
or 4G, just click this link and read through. I explained it all there.
Extra Features
This phone comes with an IR blaster so yes; you’ll be able
to remotely control your devices like TVs and air conditioners.
Some marketers also gift you with two tempered glass, one earpiece,
and one extra USB cable.
Is This Phone A Good Fit For You?
If you’re not a brand snob then you can consider this phone.
But if you can’t see anything outside the big three (Apple, Samsung and LG)
then maybe you should open your eyes.
It is great for people who love large phone screens that
still fit in one hand.
And if you desire great camera quality coupled with
incredible aspect ratio for playing games and a powerful processor at a pocket
friendly price then this phone is a good bet.
Thanks for reading. Do you have any corrections, questions
or suggestions to make?
Please leave a comment and I’ll get back to you. Have
you used this phone before? Write your own review in the comments.
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