The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is here, continuing the company's tradition of launching phones with good specifications at low price tags. The strategy has paid off spectacularly, as Xiaomi crossed the $1 billion revenue milestone in India last year. While the company's vast product portfolio now includes fitness bands, earphones, air purifiers, power banks, and other devices, smartphones continue to be the stars, and the Redmi series - of which the Redmi Note 4 is the newest member - has been a key contributor to its success.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 follows in the footsteps of the Redmi Note 3 and Redmi 3S, which were among the top selling devices online last year. The Redmi Note 3, in particular, saw a lot of success in the Indian market with over 2.3 million units sold within six months of launch. However, that model is almost a year old now, and on Thursday Xiaomi finally launched the Redmi Note 4 in the Indian market.
Much like its predecessor, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 model sports an-all metal body and boasts of impressive specifications. While the Chinese version of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 was unveiled in August last year with a MediaTek SoC, the one launched in India packs a Qualcomm chip. The Redmi Note 4 has been priced competitively and will be going up against some of the most popular smartphones in the market right now. Will the new Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 be able to continue the company's dream run in the Indian market, or will it turn out to be a run-of-the-mill device? Find out in our Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 review.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 look and feel
The Redmi Note 4 follows the Redmi Note 3 closely when it comes to design. The front panel of the Redmi Note 4 is very similar to that of its predecessor, with similar capacitive navigation buttons below the display and slim borders around it. There's also 2.5D curved-edge glass across the front, giving this phone a premium feel. The all-metal phone feels sturdy, and compared to the Redmi Note 3, the rear panel on the Redmi Note 4 is less slippery.
The rear of the Redmi Note 4 is a bit different though, featuring design contours more reminiscent of the Xiaomi Mi 5 (Review). There are fine antenna bands running across the top and bottom. The rear camera, dual-tone LED flash and fingerprint scanner are set up much the same as on the Redmi Note 3. One of the few differences between the two is that this time around Xiaomi has shifted the speaker grilles from the rear to the bottom. The bottom also houses a Micro-USB port for charging and data transfers, while the top packs a 3.5mm audio jack and an infrared (IR) emitter. The power and volume buttons are placed on the right, and can easily be accessed with fingers.
At 8.3mm, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is slimmer than its predecessor, and just one gram heavier. We had no problem using the handset with just one hand. The rounded edges of the Redmi Note 4 actually fit well in palm without causing any discomfort when used for long periods. When it comes to design, the Redmi Note 4 can be considered the best Redmi smartphone so far. It was launched in China in Dark Grey, and Gold, though Grey seems to have been replaced with an exclusive Matte Black option in India. We received a Gold unit for our Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 review.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 vs. Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) vs. Lenovo K6 Note vs. Vivo Y55L
The 5.5-inch full-HD IPS display has a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels, which works out to a density of 401ppi. Thanks to the full-HD resolution, text and images appear razor sharp. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 display offers punchy colours and decent viewing angles, while sunlight legibility is also great. The screen size makes the Redmi Note 4 well suited to watching videos and movies. You can adjust the colour temperature from the Settings app. A Reading Mode makes the display more comfortable to use while reading.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 specifications and features
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 launched in India is powered by the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 (MSM8953) processor clocked at 2GHz with an integrated Adreno 506 GPU. Xiaomi is selling three variants of this model in India: 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage; 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage; and 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The company provided us with a sample of the top end variant for our Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 review.
The handset has a hybrid SIM tray which supports one Nano-SIM and one Micro-SIM or a microSD card. Xiaomi notes that both SIM cards support 3G and 4G networks. The company has definitely taken note of complaints of the Redmi Note 3's 32GB microSD capacity limit. The Redmi Note 4 supports microSD cards of up to 128GB which should be sufficient for most people.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 has a non-removable 4100mAh battery which is marginally bigger than the 4050mAh one seen on the Redmi Note 3. There's a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, PDAF (phase detection autofocus), and a dual-tone LED flash. There is also a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture and a fixed-focus lens. Users also get dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, USB OTG, FM radio, GPS/ A-GPS, Miracast, GLONASS, and BeiDou. Much like its predecessor, the Redmi Note 4 also gives NFC connectivity a miss. 4G and VoLTE are supported, and we were happy with call quality.
The Redmi Note 4 runs MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Xiaomi has added plenty of new features including Now on Tap which was one of the highlights of Android Marshmallow, introduced in 2015. Google's Now on Tap can be triggered within any app just by long-pressing the Home button, and can use what's on screen as context for your searches. MIUI 8 on the Redmi Note 4 looks light and polished compared to previous versions. We were impressed with the system animations, which look refreshing, including a neat one when you uninstall an app.
MIUI 8 comes with a new Gallery app that automatically syncs stored photos on the device with Mi Cloud. Users get 5GB of free cloud storage on signing up for an account. The Gallery app now comes with video editing and sharing features.
The Quick Ball feature, which was first seen on the Xiaomi Mi Max (Review), is available on the Redmi Note 4 as well. This is a hovering button that stays on the screen at all times, including on the lock screen, and lets users define up to five shortcuts for easy access.
With privacy in mind, the Redmi Note 4 offers Dual Apps and Second Space, two of our favourite software features. The Dual Apps feature, as the name suggests, creates two instances of any app on the same smartphone, so you can, for example, use two WhatsApp accounts at the same time. Second Space, on the other hand, lets users separate business and personal data on the same phone. The feature lets users use two entirely separate Google accounts.
Another highlight of the software is scrolling screenshots, which lets users take screenshots of entire Web pages. Xiaomi has also worked on its dialler app which is now light and easy to use. MIUI 8 brings a caller ID feature to the Redmi Note 4, which eliminates the need for third-party apps such as Truecaller. The Messages app has also received some much-needed tweaks in the latest version, such as the ability to bundle similar messages into folders. In our case, texts received from banks, food chains and other services were moved into one folder, which was helpful in prioritising what to check first. The preloaded Themes app offers plenty of options for wallpapers, ringtones, and icons.
Xiaomi has also included a one-handed mode, which basically shrinks the display to one side of the screen and lets users select effective screen sizes - 3.5, 4, and 4.5 inches.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 has plenty of preloaded apps including Security, Compass, Scanner, Recorder, Feedback, Mi Picks, Mi Community, Mi Remote, Music, Mi Store, Weather, and a default browser. Unfortunately, there is no way to uninstall the preloaded Xiaomi apps. We feel that Xiaomi should reduce the number of preloaded apps on its future devices or at least offer the option to uninstall some of them.
