The year has changed and Xiaomi has also made some changes. Now we have Redmi Y2. Is the Redmi Y2 with new hardware the best selfie smartphone in the budget range? Let’s find out…
Xiaomi Redmi Y2 Design
Looking at the Redmi Y2, you will realize that it has been updated with time. It looks similar to the Redmi S2 which was launched in the Chinese market. It has a 5.99 inch display on the front and a dual camera module on the back, like the Redmi Note 5 Pro. Redmi Y2 is mainly made of plastic. Due to the 18:9 aspect ratio display, it is tall and a bit narrow too.
Like Xiaomi’s recent phones, its edges are curved. Above the display is a metal earpiece, a selfie camera and a selfie light. However, it is not easy to reach the top of the display with one hand.
The button position in Redmi Y2 is good. The power and volume buttons on the right side are easy to use. The phone has a micro-USB port. There are grills on both sides. But only the right one has a loudspeaker. The 3.5mm headphone jack, IR emitter and secondary microphone are on the top.
Flip the phone over and you will see the dual camera setup and fingerprint sensor. Xiaomi has also provided antenna lines on the top and bottom of the phone.
Redmi Y2 weighs 170 grams and is 8.1 mm thick. The battery is 3080 mAh, about which Xiaomi has claimed a day’s battery life. A 10 watt charger is provided with the phone. There is no information about quick charging support. Like other Xiaomi smartphones, the retail box of Redmi Y2 contains the phone, charger, micro-USB cable and a cover.
Xiaomi Redmi Y2 Specifications, Features and Software
Xiaomi is known for offering robust hardware and the Redmi Y2 is no exception. The Redmi Y2 is powered by the trusted Snapdragon 625 processor. This octa-core processor has a clock speed of 2 GHz. The smartphone comes in two variants – 3GB RAM and 32GB storage and 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. The smartphone has a dedicated microSD card slot. Users can use cards up to 256GB.
The 5.99-inch display has HD+ resolution and an aspect ratio of 18:9. There is a slight upgrade in this department compared to the Redmi Y1. The viewing angles of the display are good. Neutral color output is available, you will get the facility to tweak it according to your choice. The display is slightly reflective and there is a little difficulty in reading it outdoors. Redmi Y2 is a dual SIM device. Support is available for Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, Bluetooth, GPS, 4G and VoLTE.
This phone has two cameras on the back. The primary sensor is 12 megapixels and the secondary sensor is 5 megapixels. Xiaomi has provided a 16 megapixel camera on the front panel which comes with selfie light.
In Redmi Y2, you will get Xiaomi’s MIUI 9.5 OS. It is based on Android 8.1 Oreo. You will get Xiaomi’s UI customizations like Second Space, Dual Apps and Theme Support. You will be able to access quick shortcuts and other widgets by swiping right on the home screen.
As per the current trend, Xiaomi has also provided face recognition facility to unlock the phone. The setup process is very basic. It never asked us to show our face from different angles. During the setup, a message came that someone else can unlock the device with your photo. After the setup, we tried face unlock. We found that face recognition was very slow and not accurate. Considering its performance, we would suggest you to use the fingerprint sensor only.
Xiaomi has provided some Mi apps along with other apps in this phone. You will also get some Google apps. Along with this, apps like Facebook, Amazon, PhonePe, Netflix and NewsPoint will be pre-installed. By the way, we did not need storage. In the 32 GB storage variant, you will get 22 GB storage for use. If you want, you can uninstall most of these apps.
Xiaomi Redmi Y2 performance, cameras and battery life
The Snapdragon 625 is a reliable processor that has been a part of many popular Xiaomi phones. During our use, we had no complaints about its performance. It handles multitasking with ease. Switching between apps was quite smooth. We have reviewed the 3GB RAM variant which gave good results in benchmark tests.
Battery performance depends on your usage. If you use the phone for a few phone calls or spend some time on Facebook and WhatsApp, the battery will last you the whole day. If you start playing games on the phone, the battery life takes a hit. While playing games like Clash Royale, we found that the battery drained faster. However, in our HD video loop test, the battery lasted for 14 hours and 46 minutes, which is commendable. The phone comes with a 10-watt charger which takes about 2 hours to fully charge the phone.
Xiaomi’s camera app is very easy to use. You get quick toggles for HDR and flash. You also have the option to apply filters to the photo. Other camera modes include a short mode that lets you record 10-second videos. Apart from this, there is a video mode and portrait mode. There is also a manual mode in which white balance and ISO can be controlled. In Panorama mode, you will be able to take pictures only when you hold the phone in portrait mode.
Selfies are the main feature of this smartphone and the Redmi Y2 does well in this department. It can detect multiple faces while taking selfies and does the necessary beautification enhancement. We found that the phone slightly overexposes some selfies taken outdoors. The selfie light gets activated in low light conditions.
We are satisfied with the daylight photos we took with the Redmi Y2. Landscape shots come with a lot of detail. The Y2 also captures colours quite well. macOS shots are sharp, but the phone takes a while to focus where you want. We also tried the Portrait mode which uses the secondary sensor to achieve depth of field effect. The quality of portrait mode photos depends a lot on the background of the subject. If an object is too close to the subject, edge detection becomes a problem. If the background is clean, the Redmi Y2 takes good usable photos.
Low light shots require steady hands as the camera slows down the shutter speed to capture more light. We also found that landscape shots lose details. You will be able to record videos up to 1080p with the rear camera. The quality is good due to electronic image stabilization.
Our verdict
The Xiaomi Redmi Y2 is a slight improvement over the company’s previous selfie-centric smartphone, the Xiaomi Redmi Y1. It comes with reliable hardware that delivers a great user experience with MIUI 9.5. Camera performance is good in daylight but falls short in low light. Selfies are the specialty of this smartphone and in this department, the Y2 delivers strong performance in all conditions.
If selfies are your most important concern, you can go for the Redmi Y2 which starts at Rs 9,999. However, for the same price, you can get a reliable all-rounder like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 (Review). If you are willing to spend a little more, you have options like the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1.
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