Xiaomi has released quite a few great affordable smartphones lately. Firstly, we have the recently reviewed Redmi Note 3, which turned out to be one of the best in class. This time around we have a just released very affordable Redmi 3. Find out if it is any good in our full Xiaomi Redmi 3 review.
Thanks to Giztop for sending Xiaomi Redmi 3 for a review.
Xiaomi Redmi 3 VIDEO Review:
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Review: UNBOXING
The device comes in a nice looking little box and the contents include a charging plug, USB cable, SIM ejector pin and some documentation.
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Review: SPECS
Display |
5″ 720p (HD) |
Processor |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 616, 64-bit, octa-core (up to 1.5GHz) |
RAM |
2GB |
Camera |
5MP Front/13MP Back |
Connectivity |
Bluetooth, 3G, 4G, GPS, WIFI, GSM,EDGE, GPRS, UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, dual-SIM.LTE Bands: LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 7(2600), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) |
Battery |
4.100 mAh (non-removable) |
Dimensions |
139.3 x 69.6 x 8.5 mm (5.48 x 2.74 x 0.33 in) / 144g |
OS |
MIUI 7.1 (based on Android 5.1.1) |
Storage |
16GB (expandable via microSD card slot up to 128GB) |
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
When it comes the design, we are looking at a very compact phone as it has a 5” display and it is similar to the iPhone 6s in terms of the overall footprint.
Speaking of display, we have just a 720p panel, which was chosen to keep the low cost of the phone. It is not a bad panel though as it is quite bright, it has good viewing angles and natural colour reproduction. However, it is not as sharp as 1080p panels and you can notice that immediately. Also, the colours could look more vibrant to my taste.
On the front we have a 5MP selfie camera and some other usual stuff, and on the bottom there are 3 capacitive buttons, which are, however, not backlit. A funny thing is that Xiaomi implemented a notification LED light right below the home button (not on the top side of the device like the majority of phones).
The backplate is made of metal (except for the top and bottom parts for antennas) and it has some nice looking diamond shape patterns, which also hide most of visible smudges.
As far as optics, we are looking at 13MP camera with PDAF and a single LED flash.
On the bottom there is just a speaker grill.
The buttons are located on the right, they are also metal-made and have a good tactile response.
The left side is where you can find a dual SIM card slot, where one slot also doubles as an optional microSD card slot for storage expansion up to 128GB.
On the top there is a headset jack and the IR blaster to control devices like TV and on the bottom you can find the micro USB port.
Overall, I’m really happy with the design of the Redmi 3. It feels nice in the hand, it is very compact and almost all-metal design makes it look like a premium phone. However, the backlight for capacitive buttons would have been nice.
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Review: UI
Xiaomi Redmi 3 comes with MIUI 7.1, which is built on top of Android 5.1. As usual, there is no app tray and all apps sit on the home-screens.
If you are not yet familiar with the MIUI, it has tons of customisation options, which include a wide choice of themes, wallpapers, fonts and so on. You can select from a few pre-installed ones or simply go to the online theme store where you will find thousands of different themes to suit everyone’s taste. Also, you can highly customise the LED light, assign different tasks to capacitive buttons and so on.
MIUI 7.1 runs fast and fluid most of the times. There were just a few minor hiccups but they are not even worth complaining about. Overall, I’m happy with the way the user interface works on a daily basis especially if you consider a feature set and customisation options it offers.
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMACE
Xiaomi Redmi 3 has a pretty good hardware as it sports an octa-core Snapdragon 616 chip with the clocks speeds of up to 1.5GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.
Although the phone is far from being the synthetic benchmark champion but it performs really well in 3D gaming.
Asphalt 8 runs perfectly on medium graphics and there were just a few minor skipped frames on the highest graphics settings, so you may enjoy playing even the most demanding games on the Redmi 3.
Finally, the phone does not heat up much even after 30 minutes of gaming.
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Review: MULTIMEDIA
Watching full-HD content is a blast as videos in different formats play smoothly. The sound via earphones is pretty good with a loud volume output and clear sound for a budget device.
As far as the loudspeaker, it is pretty good too. While it is definitely not the best but it has a reasonable amount of depth and it does not sound tinny like a lot of cheap phones.
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Review: CAMERA
The MIUI camera app is fast and easy to use and there are a few shooting modes and settings to play with. However, I don’t like that picture taking and video recording modes are separated.
Xiaomi Redmi 3 Review: IMAGE QUALITY