close
close

Premium power in a user-friendly package

Premium power in a user-friendly package

Redmi A4 5G Review: The recently released Redmi A4 brings back the ‘budget but brilliant’ factor to the Redmi wallet that the original Redmi Note had. The phone has a solid spec sheet for this segment and is a no-brainer for 5G at under Rs 10,000.

Redmi A4 Review: Quick Pointers

What we like:

  • Large high screen
  • Excellent main camera
  • Long battery life
  • Generally smooth performance

What we don’t do:

  • Slow loading speed
  • No Full HD display
  • Below average front camera
  • No support for NSA 5G networks (Airtel 5G will not work on it)

Packing Solid Specs

The Redmi A4 comes with some really powerful specs for its price. The phone features a large 6.88-inch HD+ LCD display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 processor, which is rare in this price segment and that the generally found on slightly more expensive smartphones.

This is paired with 4GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage, with support for microSD cards. There is a 50-megapixel sensor on the back while a 5-megapixel lens takes care of selfies and video calls.

The phone runs on a 5,160mAh battery that charges at 18W, and Xiaomi has added a 33W charger in the box. Android 14 runs the Redmi A4 show and has a HyperOS layer on top. You get a single speaker, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, an IR blaster, 5G support, and IP52 dust and splash resistance.

Overall, a very good spec sheet for the price segment, although some might have expected an FHD screen.

Premium Looker

The design of the Redmi A4 will easily make it confused with a more expensive device. At first glance, we cannot place it in the Rs 10,000 category. It has a large display on the front which is coupled with a waterdrop notch.

The bezels around would be considered thick by today’s standards, but they still look like a typical smartphone front, which can also easily blend into the sub-Rs 20,000 price category. The rear is actually what gives the phone a more premium look.

It has a huge circular camera unit that protrudes slightly on the upper half of the back. There are four small circles inside the camera, making it look like there are multiple cameras on the phone. In reality, one houses the main sensor, another an auxiliary lens, another an LED flash, and the fourth is simply branded “50 MP AI camera.”

Adding to the premium look is the combination of glass front and back, which is quite rare in this price segment, where you usually only see plastic backs. We received the Starry Black unit and it has a very nice reflection that shimmers when you move the phone in the light – a very subtle touch – with a silver Redmi logo near the base.

The back attracts stains and dust quite easily, but it looks good nonetheless. The frame is plastic but doesn’t look cheap as it is matte black. The right side features a volume rocker and power/lock button, while the left side houses the SIM card slot.

The top houses the Redmi Staple IR blaster while the base has a USB Type C port and a speaker grille. The phone is also dust and splash resistant, making it a tough bird. This is a very large phone at 171.9mm, but relatively thin at 8.2mm and slightly heavy at 212.4 grams.

Stable daily performance

The phone performs daily smartphone tasks without any problems. Switching between apps like Messages, Social Media, and Gallery was seamless and casual titles like Candy Crush and Subway Surfer also ran smoothly on the device.

Binge-watching on the phone is a pleasure considering its battery life and large screen. It has a mono speaker, so we ended up using wired headphones to add to the experience. The large screen is an LCD and could have used a little more vibrancy, and well, in a perfect world we would have liked it to be Full HD.

Although it is quite bright, under intense sunlight it can sometimes be difficult to read text on it. But the 120Hz refresh rate makes scrolling a delight on the device. It’s not meant for high-end gaming, but then what phone at this price is it?

The phone’s 50-megapixel sensor is quite impressive, taking good detailed photos in well-lit conditions. Surprisingly, the zoom didn’t disappoint either, and even the photos we clicked didn’t get too grainy when we zoomed in. The quality drops a bit when the lights go out, but we rarely got photos we couldn’t use at all. The video quality is also decent, but don’t expect too much.

The 5-megapixel selfie sensor is unable to capture much skin texture and the results can look a little washed out, but the selfies are good enough to use on social media.

Good autonomy but with the 5G blues

The phone runs Android 14, which is a year old, but HyperOS runs quite well and Redmi promises two years of updates, which is a plus at this price point.

There are plenty of third-party apps on the phone, but Redmi has organized them into folders so they don’t seem too overwhelming. The phone comes with 5G, but at the time of writing it only supported standalone (SA) 5G networks, which are primarily seen in India by Reliance Jio, although other carriers are also point towards this.

However, 5G on this phone won’t work at this point with Airtel’s 5G which has non-standalone networks (NSA), and that could be a turnoff for some.

The fingerprint scanner works smoothly and the infrared blaster is also useful from time to time to replace the TV and AC remote.

Once charged, the phone can easily see you through more than a day of moderate to heavy use. The phone takes just under two hours to charge, which is a long time in today’s fast charging world.

You get a 33W charger in the box, but it still charges the phone at 18W.

Redmi A4 5G Review: Final verdict

The Redmi A4 5G comes with a starting price of Rs 8,499 for its 4GB + 64GB variant (the 4GB + 128GB one will cost you Rs 9,499), which is frankly incredible value for money for a phone with a good and stable technical sheet. performance in each department.

The combination of a large screen, big battery, and 3.5mm audio jack makes the Redmi A4 5G a great device for content consumption, and an impressive 50-megapixel sensor is the icing on its cake .

It faces competition from the Motorola Moto G35 and Moto G45 duo in this area, which also comes with decent specs and 5G support. But all things considered, the Redmi A4 5G is a solid, budget-stable 5G driver, perhaps the best you can get for under Rs 10,000. One that will keep your smartphone running smoothly on the roads of the 5G, without any major disappointment.