Xiaomi Redmi 6: Strictly for the budget conscious

Lately, it seems that Xiaomi wants to focus on profits with its budget lineup and the first proof of that philosophy is their latest budget offering — the Redmi 6. On paper, it’s looks like a degrade from the fantastic Redmi 5 launched a few months ago, apart from camera. Luckily, the prices haven’t shot up — the base 3GB/ 32GB costs ` 7,999 whereas the 3GB/ 64GB costs ` 9,499.

Compared to the Redmi 5, the Redmi 6 is a step backwards with its plastic build and bloaty design that loves smudges. The glass panel has a weird elevation from the frame, which makes it prone to shattering in the event of a drop. The front has thicker bezels than before and Xiaomi has even eliminated the front flash. Thankfully, the dual SIM tray with a dedicated SD card slot stays.

With a smaller 5.45- inch LCD display with an aspect ratio of 18: 9, the dynamic range is just about average and viewing angles are reasonable. Instead of a Snapdragon chipset, which has been Xiaomi’s go- to SOC for all its phones, the Redmi 6 is built around the 12nm octa- core Helio P22 chip accompanied by 3GB of RAM as standard. With Xiaomi’s heavy MIUI 9 on board, it manages to deliver a mostly lag- free user experience. The chip isn’t supposed to host resourceintensive games — so keep your expectations reasonable. MIUI offers its brilliant gesture navigation, which is easily the best in the industry after Apple’s system on the new fullscreen iPhones. The only gripe is with the face unlock system, which is useless when the ambient light goes dim.

With the optics, Xiaomi brings an actual upgrade. The 12MP + 5MP dual camera setup takes decent shots with average colours and contrasts. Portrait mode photos are good, with mostly acceptable edge detection on the subject with plain backgrounds, but failing on busy backdrops. The 5MP selfie camera is just average with dull looking selfies. The software- based portrait mode tries hard and succeeds in most situations in delivering a good bokeh effect.

At just 3000mAh, the Redmi 6 can at cover up for an entire day with moderate use, such as calls, texting, streaming videos, listening to music and occasional selfie sessions.

To sum it up, if you’re looking for a dependable budget smartphone with reasonable performance in camera and everyday usage, the Redmi 6 could be a worthy option.