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Technology

Xiaomi Redmi Go quick review: Affordable and seems apt for first-time smartphone buyers

indiatoday.in

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Xiaomi has partnered with Google to launch its first Android Go smartphone aka Redmi Go. The phone was launched by Xiaomi in India on Tuesday at an event in New Delhi. This is a very important phone, and although it debuts at a price of Rs 4,499 that seems fairly close to the regular Android smartphones, given that this is a Xiaomi phone it is bound to be noticed by millions of people in India who might be looking to move away from their feature phone to their first smartphone.

For people looking to buy an affordable first smartphone, or even people who just want to buy a functional smartphone without spending too much money, the Redmi Go could be the best option.

The Redmi Go is the cheapest phone Xiaomi has launched in India so far. Until now this distinction belonged to the Redmi 5A and the Redmi 6A. Xiaomi’s first Android Go phone will go on sale for the first time in India on March 22 on Flipkart, Mi Home store and Mi.com.

With the Redmi Go, Xiaomi is targeting the first-time smartphone users in India and also aiming to move users from a feature phone, which continues to be in vogue even in 2019. Over here at India Today Tech, I spent some time with the Redmi Go.

With the Redmi Go, Xiaomi is basically aiming to take on the likes of other Android Go phones like Nokia 1, Samsung Galaxy J2 Core and as well as the JioPhone 2, which is cheaper and has a good hold on the consumers who are looking to buy a smartphone but don’t want to spend Rs 7,000 or even Rs 5,000 on such device.

If you’re looking for a premium looking smartphone that is big on specs, the Redmi Go is definitely not meant for you. But if you’re looking to switch to a smartphone from a feature phone or looking for a secondary device which is easy to use and could be reliable, I believe that Redmi Go is a good option for you to consider at Rs 4,499. The Redmi Go serves all basic requirements most first-time phone users may have.

The Redmi Go comes with a 5-inch HD display, decent design, 3000mAh battery, Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, camera on both front and back, among other things. The Redmi Go supports 20+ language support, and also allows users to use Google Assistant in English, Hindi and Hinglish.

One of the best things about the Redmi Go is that its lightweight. The Redmi Go feels extremely light in the hands and is also very sleek, which usually isn’t the case with phones this cheap. For example, the Redmi 5A and also the Redmi 6A – which are pricier than the Redmi Go — are fairly bulky devices. All in all, I believe, the Redmi Go has the perfect size and fits perfectly in the hands, especially for people with small hands, like me.

The Redmi Go runs Google’s Android Go program based on Android Oreo – yes, sadly no Android Pie for this Go phone. Also, while the software in the Redmi Go has the usual stock Android interface, there are a number of apps bundled with it. The phone ships bundled with several third-party apps like Amazon shopping, Mint Browser, Facebook Lite, Mi Community, Mi Drop, among others. Being an Android Go phone the Redmi Go comes packed with all Go or “lite” versions (which is smaller in size and hence eat up much lesser mobile data) of Google’s apps like Gmail Go, YouTube Go, Chrome Go and others.

In India, the Redmi Go is going to be available in two colours – black and blue — and both look pretty good. I’m using the blue one. Overall, I’m particularly impressed with the design and the display of the Redmi Go. The screen of the phone on the first impression seems bright in both outdoor and indoor conditions. The Redmi Go sports a 5-inch HD display with resolution of 1280×720 and aspect ratio of 16:9. One feature that I’m glad to see in the Redmi Go is Night display mode.

Even though the price is relatively affordable, the Redmi Go is a phone that comes with decent hardware. The Redmi Go includes a single camera on the back and front. On the rear panel, the phone has an 8MP camera, paired with LED flash while on the front the Redmi Go includes a 5MP selfie shooter. I clicked some pictures with the Redmi Go in bright sunlight and also in indoors and overall I feel both the front and back camera of the phone does a good job. The pictures aren’t very detailed or capture great colours but they look decent, at least that is the impression I get from the pictures clicked in the low light.

For example, see these images clicked with the Redmi Go. And do keep in mind that a phone with a price of Rs 4,499 clicked them.

I’m yet to test the overall performance of the Redmi Go or its battery backup. I will talk about these aspects in details in the full review of the phone in the upcoming days. The Redmi Go is powered by Qualcomm Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 425 chipset, paired with 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage that can be expanded with up to 128GB microSD card. It is great to see a phone this cheap to come with dual SIM support. The Redmi Go comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, dual microphones, bottom speaker grills and microSD port for charging. Inside, it has a big 3000mAh battery that Xiaomi claims can offer up to 12 hours of call time, 78 hours of music playback and 5 hours of video playback.

We will talk about the Redmi Go and my more detailed experience with Xiaomi’s cheapest phone in India yet in our full review in the days to come. Stay tuned.

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