After the massive success of Note 3, Xiaomi plans on bringing an upgrade for its prolific Redmi 3 smartphone. The Chinese conglomerate has already unleashed Redmi 3 Pro in its home-market, and we suspect, it’ll soon make a move against the Indian players with the high-end variant. The new beauty from the company has been packed with a bunch of upgrades and tweaks over the original Redmi 3. It has been crafted with some noticeable design and hardware changes, which basically includes a clean Redmi Note 3 like unibody and a faster chipset under-the-hood.
So, what is it that makes Redmi 3 an unbelievable package in the entry-level arena? Looks, performance or pricing? There are innumerable ways to look at it, but here, we’ll give you a brief review of all that comes with mind-boggling masterpiece of technology. Sit tight to know more!
Design and Build Quality
After making a design focused Redmi 3 with textured back and metal body, Xiaomi has moved back to the old mantra of success- simple, clean, and effective! The company has replaced textured finish with a clean and nicely crafted metal unibody, bearing a fingerprint scanner to play with. It all looks so nice and simple on Redmi 3 Pro, that you’ll find a hard time ignoring this beauty. Yes, it looks somewhat identical to Note 3, but as you might have seen on 91mobiles, there’s a lot more to keep you interested. The overall profile and build quality of this handset is a real treat to explore.
Display and Visual Experience
If you’re shopping for a crisp and vibrant display, Redmi 3 Prime is a good choice to count on. The device incorporates a 5-incher HD IPS panel, and endows its users with a truly beautiful lifelike visual experience. It packs a strong punch against the likes of leading giants, and delivers rich colours with perfect viewing angles. Since it’s just high-definition, you might feel Xiaomi has given a little less in the display department, but using and playing with this handset will tell you the difference. It not only offers crisp and lifelike colours, but also adapts to available lighting conditions with innovative night and reading mode!
Processor and Hardware
Xiaomi, with its super-cool product line, continues to extend the hardware capabilities of its devices. This time, the company has upgraded its entry-level beauty Redmi 3 with a powerful chipset and enhanced memory under-the-hood. The new device Redmi 3 Pro, uses an octa-core Snapdragon 616 processor, the elder sibling of SD615, and pairs up with 3GB RAM, Adreno 405, and 32GB internal storage. It makes use of the same octa-core processor that ships with original Redmi 3, but there’s a big bump-up in terms memory and inbuilt storage. You get more power for work and play and sufficient storage to keep a humongous selection of apps, files, and music. The improved Snapdragon chipset performs much better than its predecessor and throttles seamlessly without any lags or heating troubles.
Software
On the software side, Xiaomi boastsits customizedAndroid Lollipop based MIUI 7 out-of-the box. The custom interface packed with this handset includes a slew of mind-boggling features, and delivers seamless performance without any snags or issues. It stands out with colourful app icons, innovative features, and innumerable customizations, but lack of an-app drawer, which we’ve seen in most Chinese phones, is something that is totally unbearable. As for performance and overall ecosystem, Xiaomi gets full-marks for making just the right interface with required tweaks. MIUI 7 currently runs on the all new Mi5as well.
Camera Performance
The camera setup bundled with Redmi 3 Pro incorporates no major change. The handset features the same 13-megapixel rear autofocus shooter and 5-megapixel front-facing snapper that we saw on the original Redmi 3. It delivered decent performance back then, and is still doing a great job with an aperture as wide as f/2.0, phase detection auto-focus, and a bunch of features and filters. Plus, just like the main camera, the selfie-camera of the device also offers support to shoot 1080p videos at 30 frames per second.
Connectivity Options
Along with basic options, Redmi 3 Pro packs advanced bio metric capabilities for keeping your data safe and secure. The handset incorporates a snappy fingerprint scanner on its rear panel, just like Note 3, and unlocks the phone within half-a-second.It creates an ideal ecosystem for seamless locking and unlocking, and is fits in nicely at the tip of index finger. Inclusion of a fingerprint scanner is a major upgrade over the original variant!
Battery Life
Despite being unimproved, the battery life of Redmi Note 3 Pro outperforms most players in the budget segment. The handset bears an immensely powerful 4,100 mAh battery, and offers more than enough power for continuous work and play. It retains a slim profile with a big battery, and gives a whole lot more than just a day. If you’re shopping for a phone for non-stop gaming or music playback, Redmi 3 Pro is just the right buy that too under 10k.
Pricing and Availability
As of now, Redmi 3 Pro is available in the Chinese market at a tempting CNY 899 (roughly Rs. 9,000). The device went on sale on April 6 via company’s flash sale model, and is currently hitting the shelves successfully across the country. There’s no word on its official India launch, but from here suspect, Xiaomi will soon upgrade its Redmi series for Indian buyers as well!
Bottom-line
Taking a page from Lenovo’s book, Xiaomi has created a perfect Redmi 3 upgrade. As seen on 91mobiles, the Pro variant of the handset will not just show up under 10k, but will alsostand out against all players in the Indian budget segment, just like older Redmi phones. Though the company has come a long way from Redmi 1s to Redmi 3 Pro, it is still following the same strategy of high-end features at unbelievable prices. In a nutshell, it’ll be a complete bang for the buck deal this summer!