Will Xiaomi brand’s latest Redmi 7A smartphone be able to compete with its rival handset Realme C2 (Review) in the market? And is Redmi 7A the best option in this segment? To know the answer to these questions, we have reviewed Redmi 7A, let’s know in detail about this latest smartphone of Xiaomi brand.
Design of Xiaomi Redmi 7A
Contents
In Redmi 7A, Xiaomi has given a clean unibody design instead of the low-cost Redmi look. Redmi 7A is slightly smaller than Redmi 6A but its thickness is 9.5 millimeters. Redmi 7A fits easily in the hand. Due to the curved edges and matte finish on the back of the phone, the phone feels good to hold in the hand.
The back panel of the phone is made of thick poly-carbonate and feels sturdy. We really liked the matte finish as the phone is non-slip and does not scratch easily. The Xiaomi Redmi 7A comes in three colour variants – Matte Blue, Matte Black, and Matte Gold. As per the names of the colours, the back of the phone comes with a matte finish. We have the Matte Blue colour variant for review.
This phone is protected with nano-coating material to protect it from sudden liquid splashes but it is not IP-rated. The company is offering a two-year warranty with the Redmi 7A. This is the first time that Xiaomi has offered a two-year warranty with any of its Redmi models in India. We have no complaints with the looks of the Redmi 7A which comes at a price of Rs 5,999.
If we look at its competitor handset Realme C2 in the market, then it has a geometric diamond-cut pattern on the back of the handset which makes it attractive. The speaker position has been changed in Redmi 7A. Let us remind you that the speaker of Redmi 6A was located at the bottom of the rear panel, due to which the sound was low if the phone was kept on a flat surface, but now in Redmi 7A the speaker has been placed at the bottom of the phone along with the micro-USB port.
The power and volume buttons are on the right side of the phone while on the left side of the phone there is a slot for two nano SIMs and a microSD card. It is possible to increase the storage up to 256 GB with the help of a microSD card. The option to increase the storage is quite good because the storage in the 16 GB storage variant of the phone gets filled up very quickly.
Xiaomi Redmi 7A Specifications and Software
The Redmi 7A has been upgraded a lot. The Redmi 7A has a 5.45-inch HD (720×1440 pixels) screen with an 18:9 aspect ratio. The display is certified by TUV Rheinland, it reduces eye fatigue due to blue light emission. The Redmi 7A of the Redmi A sub-series uses an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 processor with eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores with a maximum speed of 2 GHz.
Let us remind you that the quad-core MediaTek Helio A22 chipset was used in the Redmi 6A, so the Redmi 7A has been upgraded. There are two variants of the phone based on RAM and storage – 16 GB storage with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB storage with 2 GB RAM. We have a 16 GB storage variant for review in which 10 GB storage was already used.
After using some productivity, social media, benchmarking apps and downloading a few games, we found that the phone’s storage was almost full. If you are also considering buying its initial variant, then you will need a microSD card to increase the storage. The camera hardware of the Redmi 7A has also been upgraded.
There is a 12-megapixel Sony IMX486 camera on the back of the phone, which is actually better than the 13-megapixel camera in the Redmi 6A. Xiaomi’s Mi A2 (Review) handset also used the Sony IMX486 sensor, so good pictures can be expected. The handset will have a 5-megapixel selfie camera on the front panel of the phone with AI face unlock support.
The battery of Redmi 7A has also been changed compared to Redmi 6A. To power the Redmi 7A, a 4,000 mAh battery has been provided which is 33 percent more capacious than the 3,000 mAh battery given in Redmi 6A. The retail box contains a 10 watt charger, micro-USB cable, SIM eject tool.
Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS/ A-GPS, FM radio, Micro-USB, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Redmi 7A measures 146.30×70.41×9.55mm and weighs 165 grams. On the software front, the Redmi 7A runs MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie out of the box. Our review unit was running the June security patch.
There is no app drawer in the phone. Swiping up on the home screen will open the Mi Browser, while swiping to the left will show the apps installed in the phone. Swiping to the right will open a customizable shortcut page where you will see utility widgets, calendar events, app recommendations, Twitter moments, etc.
The Redmi 7A comes pre-installed with in-house and many third-party apps like Amazon, Facebook, WPS Office, Dailyhunt, Ludo Master, Paytm, ShareChat, Mi Chat etc. We also see ads in some of the pre-installed apps. To disable these ads, we had to disable the Receive Recommendations option in the Mi Security app.
MIUI 10 also has some useful features like Second Space, which creates additional user profiles on the phone. Apart from this, there is Dark Mode, Reading Mode and Dual Apps etc. To navigate in the UI, you can enable navigation gestures or Quick Ball feature.
Display and performance of Xiaomi Redmi 7A
The Redmi 7A display is an IPS panel that comes with HD+ resolution. Its color reproduction is good and the content looks sharp. Viewing angles are also good. The brightness did not seem sufficient in sunlight as there was some difficulty in reading text and watching videos etc. on the display easily.
The display is reflective and we found it dull in outdoor conditions. If compared to Realme C2, its display is more vibrant. In Redmi 7A, users can change the temperature of the display, as well as increase the contrast. Just like the border was given on the top and bottom of the smartphone earlier, the same has been given in Redmi 7A as well. But you have to remember that this is an affordable smartphone.
As far as performance is concerned, the Redmi 7A is at par with most of its rivals and runs smoothly. This is an entry-level smartphone and given its price, we can’t expect a super fluid experience but it is a good phone. After using the phone for the day, we found that apps run smoothly but they take a little time to open.
While switching between apps, we noticed that the phone would sometimes slow down, especially when there were five to six apps running in the background. Sometimes even basic apps would take a few seconds to load. With the 2GB RAM variant, multitasking is smooth if you are not running games in the background. Casual games like Temple Run and Candy Crush ran without any issues.
PUBG Mobile was played on the default low graphics settings and we did notice lag and frame drops. But the gameplay was still better than other smartphones in this price segment.
Xiaomi Redmi 7A Camera and Battery Life
The Redmi 7A has a 12-megapixel rear camera that takes crisp shots. Sharpness and colours are well captured in photos when there is enough light. Photos taken in daylight were good. When viewing them on a big screen, you will notice shallow depth and poor dynamic range, but this is not surprising at this price. Photos taken indoors and in low light were not very good as they lacked sharpness and grains were visible along with noise.
The Redmi 7A captures vibrant macro shots with good sharpness in the images. If you like true-to-life colours, then macro shots taken with the Redmi 7A will disappoint you. The phone struggles a bit to lock focus. There are many filters available in the camera app. The Redmi 7A has a beauty mode with five levels of beautification. We found that it makes the skin smooth and light. But doing so also fades the colours of the background elements.
The Redmi 7A also has a portrait mode that blurs the background well. If compared to the Realme C2, the additional depth sensor at the back of the phone helps in isolating and keeping the object in focus. The Redmi 7A has a 5-megapixel selfie camera. In selfies taken in daylight, we found that it lightens the skin color without any beautification filter, and the background details also lacked sharpness.
The pictures look good on the phone screen but grains are visible when you zoom in. Selfies taken in low light lacked details, along with poor color reproduction and noise. Redmi 7A can shoot 1080p resolution videos at 30 frames per second. Overall, grains were visible in the videos.
With normal usage like full day internet connectivity, social media usage, messaging, calling and 30 minutes of gaming, the Redmi 7A lasted the whole day. Not only this, by night the phone had about 30 percent battery left. In our HD video loop test, the Redmi 7A lasted for 14 hours and 47 minutes. The 10 watt charger that comes with the phone takes more than two hours to fully charge the phone.
Our verdict
The Redmi 7A is a big upgrade over the Redmi 6A (Review), and comes with a lot of improvements. It comes with better build quality. The display is also good considering the price and the rear cameras perform well in daylight. The battery life on the Redmi 7A is impressive and the performance is also noteworthy. The phone does slow down a bit when stressed but it is still on par with rivals in this price segment. The selfie camera is a bit disappointing and you will also find ads in the MIUI.
If you are looking to upgrade from a budget phone that is a few years old or you are a first-time smartphone user, the Redmi 7A is a good option. In this price segment, the Redmi 7A will compete directly with the Realme C2 (Review) in the market. However, if you want an attractive design and an additional camera for better portrait shots, the Realme C2 is also a great option.
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