Redmi Note 4: Looks good, performs even better

The phone makes the cut in the budget category

Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker, has kept everyone, including its rivals, busy with the vast array of budget smartphones it has launched. The latest one to reach its users is the Redmi Note 4. Just like its predecessor —the Note 3 — this, too, is a budget smartphone. Xiaomi has loaded its newest product with a host of features to cater to the Indian audience in particular. Last year, it crossed the $1-billion revenue mark in India and the Redmi series played a crucial role in achieving this feat.
 
Interestingly, the company announced that it had sold around 250,000 units in about ten minutes of its first sale on Flipkart and mi.com. That is some statistic one can boast of.

 
The phone is available in three variants — Rs 9,999 for the model with 2GB RAM and 32GB internal memory, Rs 10,999 for 3GB RAM and 32GB internal memory and Rs 12,999 for 4GB RAM and 64GB internal memory. All three variants are placed in a price range that is extremely competitive. Let’s see how it fares on the other key parameters.
 

The phone boasts a full-metal body with capacitive navigation buttons below the display. The design is similar to that of Note 3, with few differences. One of them are the speakers. They are placed at the bottom between the charging port, unlike the Note 3, where they were positioned on the rear panel. It is just 8.3 mm thick and weighs a gram less than the Note 3. The curved edges make it easy to hold. The rear panel houses the fingerprint sensor, dual-LED flash along with the camera.

 
The Note 4 comes with an 5.5-inch full-HD IPS display. The screen is large enough for gaming, streaming videos and watching movies. The reading mode, where one can adjust the colour temperature while reading, is an added feature.
 
It is equipped with a 4100-mAh non-removable battery, which is slightly bigger than its predecessor. The phone comes with a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus, and a dual-tone LED flash. It also has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture and a fixed-focus lens.
 
Xiaomi has stuck with its hybrid dual-SIM slot. So, one can run a nano-SIM+microSIM or nano+SIM plus microSD card. The variants can support microSD card up to 128GB.

 
It is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 (MSM8953) processor. The Note 4 runs MIUI 8-based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. The phone has quite some features to take it forward in the race. To start with, the gallery app automatically syncs to the Mi cloud, where one can store files up to 5GB for free on logging in. Secondly, it has the Dual Apps feature. A replica of your app is created so that you can use it as two different users. So, use WhatsApp from two different accounts without any hassles. Another cool feature is the Second Space. It lets you customise your work by separating the business and personal data at the same time. It enables users to use two different separate Google accounts.

 
The pictures clicked were decently clear with no blurring. Low-light pictures were also good.
 
Placed alongside major players such as Lenovo and Asus, the phone has what it takes to make it to the top. An 8.5 on 10.