The Redmi 4 is the newest budget offering by Xiaomi. The company has bought three different variants targeting different price segments, with its price starting at 6,999 INR and going up to 10,999 INR. The Xiaomi Redmi 4 seems to be capable successors to the popular Redmi 3S and Redmi 3S Prime, but should you buy it? Well, we have been testing the 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM variant as part of our review, and here’s how our experience is.
Design and Build
The Xiaomi Redmi 4 has almost the same design as we have seen in all the other devices by the company. A full metallic frame with curved edges and corners. There is a fingerprint sensor at the back along with the Mi logo. The rear camera and flash is at the top right.
Along with the display, the front panel has camera at the top and capacitive buttons for navigation at the bottom. The size and weight of the smartphone is ideal, as it feels perfect to hold and use with single hand.
Overall the design is minimal and is quite solid thanks to the use of metal.
Display
The Xiaomi Redmi 4 has HD IPS display with 2.5D curved glass and 1,280 x 720 pixel resolution. The display seems a bit dull comparing to other smartphone with same display. Users will need to increase the brightness for better visibility.
Hardware and Software
Xiaomi Redmi 4 runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 SoC with Adreno 405 GPU. It comes in three different RAM and storage versions of 2GB / 16GB, 3GB / 32GB and the most powerful one with 4GB and 64GB configuration. It has a hybrid SIM card slot by which users can expand the storage up to 128GB. In our base model, out of which we got 12GB of free storage and 700MB free RAM.
On the software section, it runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with MIUI 8 on the top of it. The UI is great and offers a lot of customizations features. Although, for those who are using MIUI for the first time, it might take some time getting used to.
Performance
The performance of the smartphone is good and it handles apps with great ease. However, the multitasking experience in this smartphone is average, I found a bit of lag in it while changing the apps. The touch response of the smartphone is also very good.
Talking about the benchmark performance of the device, it scores 43016 and 11455 in AnTuTu and Quadrant Standard. The nena-mark 2.0 score was 69.9 while the Geekbench score was 667 (Single Core) and 1824 (Multi Core). The benchmark score is comparable to phones that are priced around the 10K range, which is impressive.
Entry level games ran smoothly in it but the high-end games struggle a bit while loading. Once loaded, they run smoothly without any lag. However, there is a slight heating issue in it.
The fingerprint response was bit slower in my device. It may be some issue with this particular unit only as I’ve got a positive response from others. 
The audio and video performance is great. The device has got a single speaker on the lower edge which gives a good output. 4G VoLTE , Wi-Fi and Hotspot functions works well in this device.
Battery
The Redmi 4 is backed by 4100mAh of battery which is one of its biggest highlights. It lasts for almost two days with moderate usage. Even heavy users can get a full day backup with ease.
Camera
The Xiaomi Redmi 4 sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with the LED flash. The camera performance is average as compared to the other models in its portfolio. I felt the captured images are low in quality and colour reproduction. Although it has all the same features as given on others. The daylight performance is decent, while the images captured in low light seem poor.
The front camera is of 5-megapixels and it shoots decent selfies. Captured selfies have a good amount of details and the colour tone is also natural. Xiaomi offers a lot of customization features in the camera app, which is good and yet, it remains easy to use.
Gizmo Verdict
The Xiaomi Redmi 4 is a great device if you want to buy a budget smartphone. It gives a good performance, solid build quality, decent camera and a long-lasting battery, with the starting price of 6,999 INR. It easily beats what the competition offers, though you’d need to wait for its flash sales to purchase it.
