Xiaomi just launched the Redmi 4A, which is a budget android smartphone priced at only 5,999 INR. Redmi 4A is Xiaomi's first budget android smartphone to come under 6000 rupees. The ultimate selling point of a budget android smartphone is low price and great features. The Redmi 4A offers a set of decent features that you want in a budget android phone. A budget android smartphone cannot be better than this when you have to consider the design, features, and price. The only reason why you would be buying the Redmi 4A is its low price and power packed software and hardware features.

In this post, we will be reviewing and unboxing the Xiaomi Redmi 4A and will also tell you whether you should buy this phone or not.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A Review: Best Budget Android Smartphone With Awesome Features

What's In The Box

The retail box of Redmi 4A is white in color and is very compact in size. On the top of the box, 4A is written. So after unboxing the retail pack, we get the handset with a USB cable, SIM tray ejecting tool, quick start guides and a charger with a rating of 5V-1A. We are not getting any earphones or headphones with this phone. Read Xiaomi Redmi 4A tips, tricks and hidden secrets.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A Build Quality

The phone is entirely made up of polycarbonate plastic. The back cover is not removable. The build quality of Xiaomi Redmi 4A is decent besides having the plastic frame. The in hand grip of this phone is very good and doesn't attract many fingerprints.

The phone easily fits in a pocket and you can use it without a back cover. The phone weighs 131 grams only and is very light to hold in hand.
The screen is protected by some 2.5D curved glass. So the screen will prevent scratches. But it is mandatory to install a tempered glass screen protector.
Overall the build quality is decent at such a low price. The phone is quite slim and looks premium.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A Build Quality

Coming to the front part of the phone you will see a big earpiece, front camera for selfies, light sensor and proximity sensor.

At the top, a secondary noise cancellation mic and a 3.5 mm headset jack can be found with an IR (Infrared) Blaster sensor. Read IR Blaster tutorial.

At the bottom, you can see a micro USB port for data cable and battery charging with the primary microphone.

Just above the USB port, you can find three touch capacitive buttons which do not have any backlight. Just below the home button, a notification LED is given.

The volume rocker and the power button are present on the right side of the handset.

Coming to the back part, the 13 MP rear camera with single LED flash can be seen.

At the bottom, you can find a dedicated loudspeaker which is an added advantage on this phone because most phones only provide a single speaker for earpiece and loudspeaker function.

On the left side of the phone, you can easily locate the SIM tray which can be removed with the help of the tool provided in the box.

The Redmi 4A has a hybrid SIM slot. So you can either use two SIMs or one SIM or a microSD card at a time. The battery is non-removable.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A Unboxing and Video Review

You can find an unboxing and review video for Xiaomi Redmi 4A in Hindi. This is a detailed video so do check it below on our YouTube channel.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A Hardware Specifications

1. CPU and RAM

Xiaomi Redmi 4A runs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset which is a 64-bit 1.4 GHz quad-core CPU paired with 2 GB RAM. The CPU is good enough for multitasking. Almost about 1 GB of RAM is always free if you don't install many apps. The chipset has sensors like accelerometer, light sensor, gyro sensor, magnetic sensor, and compass. Having the gyro sensor makes this phone suitable for enjoying the VR content on a VR headset. Also, the compass makes navigation easy in Google Maps. This is good to note that we are getting gyro and compass (magnetometer) in this phone.

2. GPU

This phone has Adreno 308 GPU. The Adreno 308 is an entry-level GPU which can also run heavy android games but with frame loss.

3. Screen

The Redmi 4A equips a 5 inch HD IPS touchscreen with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. The PPI density is 296. The screen clarity is good and viewing angles are perfect. The phone also has built-in "Read mode" which helps to reduce eye strain while using the phone in the dark. Because of an HD screen, the battery performance is greatly increased. The screen is protected by a 2.5D curved glass protection. Installing a tempered glass screen protector is mandatory for this phone. The screen’s superior color production can be seen while watching a Full HD (1920x1080) video. There is an option in the 'Settings' which will let you change the screen's color temperature between warm and cool. The screen also supports double tap to wake it up.

4. Camera

The main camera is 13 MP with a single LED flash and autofocus feature. The selfie camera is 5 MP. Both the cameras are of f/2.2 aperture. The cameras do not have any image stabilization technology. So, while capturing photos make sure not to shake or move the phone.

5. Battery

Xiaomi Redmi 4A has a 3000 mAh non-removable Li-ion polymer battery. The phone doesn't support fast charging. The USB charger's rating is 5V-1A which can take anywhere between 1.5-2 hours to fully charge the battery from 0-100%. While charging the phone no heating is encountered. A notification LED below the home button lights up in red color while charging.

6. Connectivity

Xiaomi Redmi 4A has all the basic connectivity options like the Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz only), Bluetooth 4.1, portable hotpsot, USB and Bluetooth tethering, Dual 4G SIM and USB OTG support. The phone supports 4G/LTE in both SIM slots but only one SIM will work in 4G at a time the other will work in 3G/WCDMA. It also supports VoLTE. The GPS location services are managed by BDS, AGPS, and GLONASS. It also has FM radio with recording support.

7. Android OS

It runs android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OS with December security patch. Android Nougat update will not come to this phone. The phone comes with some pre-installed apps that you can uninstall easily. Bloatware apps are not found on Xiaomi Redmi 4A which is a good thing.

8. MIUI v8

It runs the MIUI v8 user interface above the android OS. We can customize the MIUI v8 with custom themes and wallpapers all provided by Xiaomi. The good thing about MIUI v8 is that we get all the useful apps pre-installed on the phone. These apps include a music player, and advanced file manager app, a scanner app, an advanced calculator, security app, built-in read mode, built-in app and privacy lock. So we don't need to install third party apps most of the time.

9. OEM Apps

Xiaomi Redmi 4A is coming with some OEM android apps. These high-quality apps include a file manager, music player, calculator, voice recorder, antivirus, and scanner app.

10. Loudspeaker Sound and Call Quality

The Redmi 4A has a dedicated loudspeaker which is very loud and clear. Call quality is also very good and is free from noise. The call dialer app is good enough and automatically tells the country location of the phone numbers that you type, but they are always not correct especially when you are dialing a mobile number within your country. The calling app interface is nice with useful buttons like hold, speaker, disable mic and add a new call (conference call), call recording, add note and a direct video call. The direct video call will only work with Xiaomi Redmi phones. If you make a direct video call from your Redmi phone to a non-Redmi phone then the call will be converted to a voice call.

The call settings let you set up IP dialing, unwanted call blocking, and SIP calling. You also have an option to block spam and fake calls by using the Xiaomi's caller ID. So overall the features are beyond our expectations in a budget android phone.

11. Earphones Sound Quality

The earphones sound quality is awesome if you use high-quality earphones either from Sony or Sennheiser. The Xiaomi Redmi 4A doesn't rely upon Google play music and has its own music player app. So at this price range, I can say that the music sound quality of Xiaomi Redmi 4A is even better than Moto G4 Plus and Moto G5 Plus.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A Camera Quality

The Redmi 4A has a 13 MP rear camera with f/2.2 aperture and single LED flash. The front camera is 5 MP with f/2.2 aperture. The selfie camera is just like the one that you find in most phones which come at a price between 12,000-15,000 INR. So the selfie camera is very good and takes good selfies in indoor lighting conditions. Low light photography is not good on this phone. But if you turn on the HDR then the low light images will improve a little bit but comes out to be grainy. The camera captures a lot more detail while using the flash in the night. In sunlight, the images come with high fidelity colors.

Daylight Photo with HDR Mode

➜ See the above image in full resolution - check here

Low light photo with HDR

➜ See the above image in full resolution - check here

Low light photo without HDR

➜ See the above image in full resolution - check here

Photo with LED flash

➜ See the above image in full resolution - check here

The camera app is also very good and easy to use. On opening the camera app will give you options like the HDR mode, enable or disable flash, real-time photo filters, camera modes, camera switch, gallery shortcuts and button to switch to video camera. You can access the camera settings by first tapping the 'Mode's button then tapping the 'Settings' icon on the top right. The camera mode includes panorama, timer, audio, manual mode, straighten, beautify, HHT and scene. The video camera can record 'Full HD' videos at 30 fps. You can also record videos in the dark or at night by enabling the flash torch. The camera supports 8X digital zoom.

At this price range, the camera is superb and has very good autofocus. The camera focuses objects accurately even in low light which helps it to take sharp and detailed images. But make sure while taking photos do not shake the phone otherwise the photos will become blurry. This is because Xiaomi Redmi 4A's camera doesn't have any image stabilization technology. At just 5,999 rupees the camera is offering some high-quality features except the EIS or OIS. If not considering the image stabilization and low light photography on this phone then you can take some high-quality photos in daylight and even in the night with LED flash. But keep your phone steady while capturing photos.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A Gaming Performance

The Xiaomi Redmi 4A houses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset which is actually not meant for heavy gaming. If you are an average gamer then this phone will not disappoint you. You can enjoy games like temple run, Super Mario Run without any lag or performance issues. But when we played some heavy games like the NOVA Legacy and NFS No Limits then we encountered some frame drops. These heavy games are still playable but with low frames and graphics. Heating issues were not found while gaming. Check the gaming review of this phone below.

Retro Gaming On Xiaomi Redmi 4A

Apart from regular android gaming I am a great fan of retro games like NES, SNES, Playstation, DOS, CPS1, MAME. I play these games on Redmi 4A and they run very smooth without hiccups and lags. You can read the tutorials below to play these retro games on your phone.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A Heating Issues

Before buying an android phone we always think about the heating level of that phone. A phone that heats up quickly is not the choice of an android user. But Xiaomi Redmi 4A doesn't heat up. The Snapdragon 425 chipset is a battery friendly chipset and doesn't produce much heat. Even while gaming, we noticed that the phone was cool. A little heat was felt while using the 4G/LTE for download. This heat is perfectly normal and you won't even notice this heat. So the Xiaomi Redmi 4A is completely free from overheating issues.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A Pros

64-bit 1.4 GHz CPU with Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset. This is a mid-range chipset good for nice battery backup and powerful performance at low cost.
Gaming on the Xiaomi Redmi 4A is satisfactory with Adreno 308 GPU.
2 GB RAM is enough for multitasking.
The phone has a unique feature know as dual apps which lets you run two same android apps on the phone. With this feature, I can run two WhatsApp on Redmi 4A with dual SIMs.
Camera takes sharp photos in daylight.
3030/3120 mAh battery is capable of providing more than a day's backup with normal usage.
IR Blaster and the MI Remote app can work as a universal remote for all your electronic devices like TV, AC, DVD player, AV receiver and set top box.
A notification light makes things easier on an android phone. You will never miss important notifications on this phone because the LED notification light will keep notifying you unless you see it.
Good call quality, music quality, and loudspeaker sound quality.
Comes with some pre-installed OEM apps like the file manager, music player, voice recorder and scanner app.

Xiaomi Redmi 4A Cons

Hybrid SIM slot: For most buyers, this hybrid SIM slot may become a problem as they can't use two SIM cards along with a microSD card. But instead of using a sd card you can use a USB OTG drive which can be used to transfer data quickly from the phone. You can also watch movies and listen to songs directly from the OTG drive. So hybrid SIM slot is not a problem in Xiaomi phones because they are making their phones with it since a long time now.
Navigation keys do not have any backlight. So you may feel some inconvenience while using the phone in the dark. But over time you will get used to using the keys in the dark.

What You Should Not Expect From This Phone

Xiaomi Redmi 4A is an entry level budget android phone which offers some good features at a low price. You are getting more than what you are paying. So at this price point, you should not expect a fingerprint sensor, fast charging, camera with image stabilization, android nougat 7.0, and full HD screen. If these specifications are your prime requirements then you can go for Redmi 3S Prime.

Why Should You Buy Xiaomi Redmi 4A

You should definitely buy this phone if you are extremely low on budget and want some good features in an android phone. This phone is a complete android phone with all the essential features that you want in an android phone. The Redmi 4A offers good cameras, nice build quality, dual apps feature, a big battery, superior sound and music quality, direct video call support and some OEM android apps. You can also use this phone as your secondary android phone.

Where To Buy

Xiaomi Redmi 4A is an Amazon.in exclusive phone. The phone is being sold via a flash sale that hardly lasts 2-3 minutes. So if you are planning to buy the Redmi 4A then log in to your amazon account and when sale starts add the phone to your cart and checkout immediately. You only have maximum 10 seconds to purchase this phone.

Verdict

Overall the Xiaomi Redmi 4A is the only budget android smartphone till date that you can purchase at a low price of rupees 5,999. Being a budget android phone it provides some good features that can't be found in other android smartphones. The best feature of this phone is the ability to run two WhatsApp accounts with dual SIM. This feature can't be found in any other android phone. This phone also has good camera configuration if you don't consider image stabilization or low light photography at such a low price.

The Xiaomi Redmi 4A is providing great features that you can't even expect at this price range from any other android smartphone. This phone provides a premium android experience, entertainment, gaming and good photography at low cost. So, if you are planning to buy this phone then it would be an okay decision.

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