Xiaomi currently holds the pole position in the Indian smartphone market and it’s going to only further this lead, thanks to the introduction of the Redmi Note 7 series. It, however, also plans to capture the entry-level segment and the growing number of 4G users in the country by debuting its most-affordable smartphone to date – the Redmi Go.

Instead of diving straight into my thoughts on the Redmi Go, here’s a quick peek at some key specifications:

Xiaomi Redmi Go: What’s in the Box

Xiaomi ships the Redmi Go in a familiar red cardboard box with the smartphone branding up-top. Digging in, you will first find the device sitting at the top, followed by all of your essential accessories tucked into the bottom. There’s no earphones or case bundled with the smartphone here, which is understandable at this price point.

Xiaomi Redmi Go: Design and Build

Right off the bat, Redmi Go’s design will remind you of older Xiaomi budget phones that boasted a polycarbonate build with a metallic finish. The Redmi Go has been launched in two color variants, black and blue, where we have the latter one and it looks shiny and vibrant than the former. The smartphone is really compact and fits well in your hand, making it comfortable to use for longer durations.

The polycarbonate build isn’t premium, but it isn’t cheap either, and the Redmi Go has a sturdy build that’s good enough for the retail price. The back panel does attract smudges quite easily but the blue variant helps mask it, however, the same cannot be said for the myriad of scratches. Even the ‘Mi’ logo at the bottom rear of our unit has started to wear off within just two weeks.

There’s also no clutter or bumps on the rear, which I really like, and is something which premium phone makers are now trying to achieve in prototype with no ports or buttons. The camera and flash rest flush with the back and I’ve gotten over the higher placement for the sensor, which I found to bug me for a couple of days in the beginning.

The power and volume buttons on Redmi Go sit at the usual position, on the right edge, and are made from plastic. They feel a little mushy for my liking. Redmi Go includes the microUSB port, speaker, and a primary microphone at the bottom edge, and the 3.5mm headphone jack up-top with a secondary noise cancellation mic.

Xiaomi has opted to go with a 16:9 display on the Redmi Go in contrast to the taller 18:9 displays that’ve found their way to most devices, of recent. While anyone would prefer to have a bigger display on their phone, I came to appreciate the smaller form factor on this device. It was surely a pleasant change over the massive screens that we all keep staring onto all day.

Xiaomi Redmi Go: Performance

The Redmi Go is powered by the Snapdragon 425 chipset, coupled with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of onboard storage. These are low memory and storage specifications in contrast to most entry-level smartphones, which also cost a grand or two extra. Xiaomi has also not given users any choice and launched merely the lower-end variant of the smartphone in India, leaving out the 2GB+16GB variant.

Thankfully, multi-tasking isn’t too bad and the smartphone retains some recently opened apps in the memory. You should, however, mostly run lightweight apps or services on this device as opposed to heavy and memory-intensive tasks. As you can see in the video I’ve attached above, it takes a couple seconds or more for apps to open at times. This can be annoying for someone with little or no patience, but for someone switching to the Android ecosystem for the first time can live with it.

The 1GB surely is a bottleneck for the overall performance of the smartphone, but users who’re mostly going to use it for calling, WhatsApp, and watching YouTube videos will be satisfied with the Redmi Go. They may encounter one issue though and that’s storage. If you think your mom or dad can live with 8GB (usable only around 5GB) of storage, then you’re mistaken – because ‘Good Morning’ WhatsApp messages.

Benchmarks

The 1GB RAM appears to be a bottleneck for benchmark apps as well. I was successfully able to run Geekbench 4 on the Redmi Go, but the AnTuTu benchmark app just doesn’t work and freezes at zero percent in one of the tests. You can find the benchmark scores attached below:

Even at its sub-Rs 5,000 price point, Redmi Go offers users an 8MP (f/2.0) rear camera, with a single LED flash and a 5MP (f/2.2) selfie camera on board. Xiaomi has packed a number of features into the camera app of this smartphone, including real-time filters, Auto HDR, the ability to choose between 11 different scene type and manual controls, to make sure users have a fulfilling experience – even at an affordable price.

Daylight Samples

The Redmi Go performed better than my expectations in broad daylight, with the photos turning out to be pretty good for a sub-Rs 5,000 smartphone. There’s ample detail, the dynamic range is decent, and the color reproduction also isn’t too bad either. The photos captured look over-sharpened in most of the cases, with subdued shadows, but that’s manageable and you can easily share these photos on social media.

  • Lowlight Samples

Redmi Go isn’t really meant for low-light photography and the captures are half-decent. The camera samples captured in such scenarios are worth sharing and will give others a sense of what’s happening or what the picture represents. However, the pictures usually come out to be grainy (with a lot of noise) and don’t have a lot of detail.

Lowlight Samples

  • Selfies

Even though you get a 5MP selfie camera, you don’t get the infamous portrait mode that has gained importance over the past few years. It has become a necessity for buyers to have this background-blurring feature on their phones. As for the selfies clicked with the Redmi Go, they’re okay-ish with a decent amount of details but look soft in all situations. Be it indoors or outdoors.

Selfies

  • Xiaomi Redmi Go: Videos

The Redmi Go is capable of recording videos up to 1080 pixels resolution at 30fps from both the front and rear cameras. This is pretty great for casual video recordings as the sensors aboard this device aren’t the greatest (overall, not in the segment) and you can expect pretty good results. You can check out the sample video recording right here:

Xiaomi Redmi Go: Videos

The video recordings look decently detailed with good color reproduction, but they aren’t stabilized and look jittery. I, however, can’t complain about it as I never expected it to be included in the first place – especially at the Redmi Go’s selling price. The device is also a wee bit slow to focus at times, but that shouldn’t affect users who would mostly whip out their phones to capture family members have some fun and share videos on WhatsApp.

Xiaomi Redmi Go: Software

As should be evident from the name of the smartphone, the Redmi Go is powered by a lightweight version of Android known as Android Go. Xiaomi is offering users Android 8.1 Oreo (Go Edition) with this smartphone and I’m really disheartened to see the latest Android flavor not being offered out-of-the-box even when it has been out for more than six months since its release.

Redmi Go offers you a stock Android experience, something a lot of users prefer, but the Chinese giant can’t go without showing off its flair at some point, thus, the device comes plastered with Mint Launcher. It’s nothing new though. Instead, it’s merely a rebranded version of Xiaomi’s own Poco Launcher, bringing all the goodness of that app in tow.

Redmi Go includes a single bottom-firing speaker and it’s pretty good. The audio output gets loud enough for you to be able to share your music taste with peers and it’s clear too, however, don’t expect much bass from this teensy smartphone. Xiaomi has long offered a 16-step media volume control for its devices, which is excellent, and Redmi Go comes as no exception.

Even though the Redmi Go comes as Xiaomi’s most affordable smartphone to date, the Chinese giant hasn’t really compromised on the feature set. The device includes 2 SIM card trays – one offering you access to only a single nano-SIM card, whereas the other packs support for a nano-SIM card, as well as microSD card (up to 128GB storage).

This means you will not only be able to use two SIM cards at the same, where only one would support 4G at a time, but also insert a microSD card to expand the storage right from the get-go – something I suggest you do if you don’t want to be annoyed with the ‘Free up space’ notification from the Play Store time and time again.

Xiaomi has included in the Redmi Go a modest 3,000Ah battery pack that it boasts is going to offer you a standby time of up to 10 days. I haven’t managed to set aside the smartphone and not use it for such a long duration, but it lasts you a complete day on a single charge with ease.

Xiaomi hasn’t offered any fast-charging tech with the Redmi Go. Instead, you find a 5W (5V, 1A) charging adapter bundled inside the box that would require you to plug in your smartphone for close to 3 hours to fully juice up the 3,000mAh battery.

Redmi Go is certainly a “bang for the buck” smartphone, making about everything you’ll ever expect in an entry-level smartphone available for under Rs 5,000. There’s a decent display, a compact form factor with a metallic finish, powerful Snapdragon 425 processor, dual camera (one on the rear and another on the front), a huge 3,000mAh battery and a lighter Android experience for beginners.

If you’re someone who falls into any of the aforementioned categories, or someone you know does, then Redmi Go (Rs 4,499) is quite a feature-rich and handy smartphone for them. Another major thing to take into account, however, would be the price. There’s a possibility that you’ve got budget restrictions, maybe 5,000 rupees, then the Redmi Go becomes a no-brainer decision for you.

CONS:

SEE ALSO – Redmi 6A Review: The Budget King May Lose its Crown

Xiaomi Redmi Go Review: Affordable, Substantial, And Worth Recommending!

Xiaomi is pretty well-versed with the budget smartphone segment in India at this point, and the Redmi Go is a great entry-level smartphone with the right mix of hardware and software to attract the growing number of 4G and Android users in the country. There’s nothing more you can expect from a sub-Rs 5,000 smartphone except for maybe a little more memory for an extra thousand bucks.