And the main contender for the title of best budget smartphone of 2018.
Every year Xiaomi releases the "best budget smartphone". This year there are 2 of them. It's the turn of the frameless one.
What Redmi are there in 2018?
The cheapest Redmi 5a and Redmi Note 5a are produced without a fingerprint scanner, with a plastic body and a flat screen.
Redmi 5 And Redmi 5 Plus differ in frameless screens of 5.7 and 5.99 inches, respectively, and aspect ratio 18:9 (similar to 5 and 5.5 at 16:9), a scanner and a normal camera. Improved Redmi Note 5 (review) - Plus in a metal case and with a dual camera.
It is Redmi 5 that continues the concept of the first Xiaomi budget phones. Look at the specifications HERE
Redmi in a traditional case
The body is clearly borrowed from Redmi 4X: the central plate is made of metal, the inserts on the edges are plastic. True, now the camera sticks out - the included case saves it.
Made to make the smartphone thinner. Convenient as a flagship. With the case, the Redmi 5 is the same thickness as the Redmi 4. Plus the finger doesn't get on the camera.
Everything else is a carbon copy: the volume rocker and the power button on one side, a hybrid dual slot (like they didn’t bring to the Redmi 5a). There is one speaker, under the grille, there is an IR scanner and a 3.5 mm port on the top.
“Frameless screen”: almost Samsung, but with frames
Redmi 5 cannot be called completely frameless: 8 millimeters on top and 9 millimeters on the bottom to accommodate the front camera and a full set of sensors. The screen is extended only due to the absence of navigation keys. The fly in the ointment is that the corners of the screen are rounded, not cut off. No point just for the finished look.
The display is low resolution, but no pixels are visible. But you can see that the screen is bright, with high contrast and correct color display.
Operating Xiaomi Redmi 5 is easy and convenient - no need to get used to it. Navigation keys respond to swipes and taps. And much closer than in regular Xiaomi - almost a replacement for TouchID, like on OnePlus, Lenovo ZUK or Meizu.
Scaling the interface helps turn the smartphone into a 3.5 or 4.5 inch. Convenient if your finger span is not enough.
All for the sake of content: screen
The screen widened to 18:9 is only needed for content. And it is revealed only with the proprietary MIUI 9, the main operating system on the market.
It scales the interfaces of all applications: from e-readers to video games and players - everything stretches to fill the entire screen, taking away the area of the navigation keys. For example, movies completely occupy the vertical and leave small black bars horizontally - this is where Xiaomi places some of the playback controls.
The system includes a set of Google applications and Microsoft office programs. From Chinese Xiaomi software - “Mi Remote”, Mi Drop, forum and MiCommunity.
Anything is possible
Xiaomi Redmi 5 processor - budget platform Qualcomm Snapdragon 450, cheap option Snap 625. Of the minuses: there is no NFC module, and there is no LTE band 20. But the scanner works like a clock, and the operating time exceeds 2 days.
The performance is enough for popular games and large files, the interface works smoothly and stably.
New camera: not Leica, but cool
Xiaomi smartphones are rarely good at taking photos. Budget ones - especially. Apparently, this is why Redmi 5 uses a modern 12-megapixel sensor with f/2.2 aperture.
There is no stabilization, no serious improvements. But autofocus is fast, and memory storage is almost instantaneous. During the day the pictures turn out great. With HDR you can get a frame in all respects comparable to those produced by flagships.
In difficult lighting conditions, without this mode, the photo may appear grainy. In the evening, Redmi 5 shoots much worse. Even HDR doesn’t help, especially since the smartphone clearly lacks a second LED for flash. So the white balance is often incorrect, and the pictures are full of noise. The front camera is normal, only 5 megapixels.
conclusions
Xiaomi Redmi 5 is the most balanced budget smartphone of the year. Excellent build, constantly updated operating system and balanced characteristics.
Pros of Xiaomi Redmi 5:
- convenient 18:9 screen,
- good assembly,
- balanced filling,
- great operating system
- Not a bad camera for the price.
Cons of Xiaomi Redmi 5:
- plastic housing inserts,
- protruding camera
For those who are already accustomed to 5.5-inch smartpeds and prefer large smartphones, Xiaomi has prepared the Redmi 5 Plus model, which has become a replacement for the popular Redmi Note 4. By and large, the main difference between them lies in size.
However, the screen increased to 5.99 inches with a resolution of 2160x1080 (Full HD+) Redmi 5 Plus required a more capacious battery 4000 mAh and faster processor: instead of the cheap 450, Redmi 5 Plus has a fast Snapdragon 625 with 4 GB RAM.
