Design of Redmi 8A
Contents
At first glance at the Redmi 8A, it is hard to believe that it is such an affordable smartphone. Xiaomi has worked a lot on the design of this device and the Redmi 8A Price in India is also less than Rs 7,000. The Redmi 8A has a large 6.22-inch display with a waterdrop notch on the front; remember that Xiaomi had given a 5.45-inch display in the Redmi 7A.
The earpiece is placed in the frame of the device, bezels are seen on all sides of Redmi 8A. There is a border at the bottom of Redmi 8A and you will find the Redmi logo on it. The edges of Xiaomi Redmi 8A are curved, due to which it is easy to hold the phone in the hand.
The power and volume buttons are placed on the right side of the phone while the SIM tray is placed on the left side of the phone. The top and bottom of the phone are flat, you will only find a secondary microphone in the upper part. Xiaomi Redmi 8A has a USB Type-C port, it is very good to get a Type-C port in this price segment.
The 3.5mm headphone jack, primary microphone and loudspeaker are at the bottom of the phone. The back panel of Redmi 8A has a single camera with LED flash. There is no fingerprint sensor at the back of the phone.
Redmi 8A specifications and software
Xiaomi has given HD + display with 720×1440 pixel resolution in Redmi 8A. Corning Gorilla Glass 5 has been used for screen protection. Like Redmi 7A, Redmi 8A also has Snapdragon 439 processor. There are two variants of Xiaomi Redmi 8A, one with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB storage variant which is priced at Rs 6,499.
The Redmi 8A is priced at Rs 6,999 for the 3GB RAM and 32GB storage variant. We have the base variant of the Redmi 8A for review. Xiaomi is gradually increasing the battery capacity of the phones in this series. Let us remind you that the Redmi 6A (Review) was given a 3,000 mAh battery to power it and now Xiaomi Redmi 8A has been launched with a 5,000 mAh battery.
For your information, let us tell you that the Redmi 8A smartphone comes with 18 watt fast charging support but Xiaomi has provided a 10 watt charger in the retail box. Redmi 8A has two nano-SIM slots and a separate slot for microSD card. Both SIMs support 4G and VoLTE, along with this, the handset has Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n and four satellite navigation systems.
The Redmi 8A comes with wireless FM functionality, which means you don’t need to wear a headset to listen to FM. On the software front, the Xiaomi Redmi 8A runs MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie. Our review unit ran on the August security patch. The interface is similar to what we have seen on other Xiaomi phones.
The Xiaomi Redmi 8A does not have an app drawer and all the app icons are placed on the home screen. The phone has several bloatware pre-installed including Mi Community, Paytm, Mi Credit, Mi Store, Amazon, Facebook, WPS Office, Dailyhunt, Gaana and Opera Mini. Games like Ludo Master, Block Puzzle Guardian, Pop Shooter Blast and Dust Settle will be pre-installed in the Redmi 8A. Apart from this, there is also an app store called GetApps.
Like other Xiaomi smartphones, you will get the same spammy notifications in Redmi 8A. We saw ads while installing new apps, and also found that stock apps like Mi Music and Mi Video keep sending spammy notifications. On the other hand, MIUI also has a useful feature like Dual Apps.
With the help of this feature, you can create two apps from supported apps. With the help of Google Digital Wellbeing feature, you can monitor how you spend time on the smartphone. You can also use gesture navigation instead of the traditional three-button navigation. The phone has an app lock built-in, you can lock apps with the help of password or face recognition.
The handset also comes with a Game Speed Booster app that is claimed to optimise performance. You can also disable auto-brightness and notification shade swipe gesture while gaming.
Redmi 8A performance and battery life
The Redmi 8A has good hardware that offers a good experience. There were very few instances when the phone slowed down while using it but heavy apps did take some time to load. We had the 2GB RAM variant for review and it was not able to run many apps in the background. There is no fingerprint sensor at the back of the phone but the Face Unlock feature unlocks the phone quickly.
The Redmi 8A has good viewing angles and the speakers are loud. However, when using the display in sunlight, it felt like it could have been a little better. We already have an idea of how the Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 processor performs, as we have used it in the Redmi 7A (Review), so the Redmi 8A is not much different.
The Redmi 8A is powered by a massive 5000mAh battery. We used the phone with an active WhatsApp account, took some camera samples, used Google Maps for navigation for two hours, ran some benchmarks and the battery lasted a full day with 50 percent battery still left at the end of the day.
In our HD video loop test, the Xiaomi Redmi 8A lasted for 16 hours and 31 minutes. The 10-watt charger that comes with the handset charges the phone 25 percent in 30 minutes and 46 percent in one hour. The phone took 2 hours and 30 minutes to fully charge. Let us tell you that the Redmi 8A smartphone supports 18-watt fast charging and Xiaomi sells an 18-watt charger for Rs 449.
Redmi 8A Camera
The single camera given at the back of Xiaomi Redmi 8A is equipped with Sony IMX363 sensor. A 12-megapixel camera sensor will be found on the back panel of the phone, its aperture is F / 1.8 and it comes with 1.4 micron pixel size and dual-pixel autofocus. There is an 8-megapixel selfie camera on the front panel of Redmi 8A, its aperture is F / 2.0 and it comes with 1.12 micron pixels.
Xiaomi has used the same camera app as usual. Apart from photo and video modes, you will get shooting modes like Portrait, Pro and Short Video. The handset also has HDR and AI scene detection. We found that the Redmi 8A focuses quickly during the day but the speed drops a bit in low light.
Photos taken with Redmi 8A in adequate light were good, but there was a lack of detail when we zoomed in on the sample shots. During close-up shots, we found that the camera creates a good natural depth of field. The AI in the camera app also works fast, and in this price segment, the photos taken with the handset captured details well.
Portrait shots taken with the Redmi 8A had average edge detection but the background seemed a bit overexposed in some of our samples. There was a lack of detail in low light, the Redmi 8A manages to eliminate noise in low light but the images lacked sharpness. Selfies taken during the day captured good detail and you can apply beautification filters before taking a shot.
The photo quality in low light is not very good as grains are visible when you zoom in. The primary camera is capable of recording videos at 1080p resolution but the handset lacks stabilisation.
Our verdict
Xiaomi Redmi 8A has been launched in the Indian market shortly after Redmi 7A (Review). The Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 processor is the same in both phones but the hardware has been improved. Xiaomi Redmi 8A has a bigger display and better cameras. Apart from this, Xiaomi has given USB Type-C port and a bigger 5,000 mAh battery in Redmi 8A.
Let us remind you that some time ago Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 7S (Review) shortly after the Redmi Note 7 (Review) and now the same has been done with the Redmi 8A. The price of the Redmi 8A has been fixed slightly higher than the launch price of the Redmi 7A, so if you want a budget smartphone or a secondary device at a low price, then the Redmi 8A smartphone can prove to be a good option for less than Rs 7,000.
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