Xiaomi has been on a roll as they released quite a few smartphones lately and we have a few really interesting devices here – the Redmi 3 and the Remi Note 3. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the battle of Xiaomies.

In case you missed it, check out full Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 review and Xiaomi Redmi 3 review.

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Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 VIDEO REVIEW:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMb_S2CCTu0[/embedyt]

Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Comparison Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

When it comes to the looks, both phones carry the same design language but what is obvious is that the Redmi 3 is a lot smaller as it sports only a 5” 720p panel whereas the Note 3 has a 5.5” 1080p one.

Speaking of displays, it is evident that the Note 3 has a better panel mainly due to its sharpness as it simply has more pixels. The Redmi 3 also sports a good display but it has only 720p resolution. On the other hand, it is slightly brighter and the white colour does not look a bit yellowish as on the Note 3.

On the front top both smartphones have 5MP selfie shooters and the Note 3 has a notification LED here whereas the Redmi 3 has implemented it near the home button, which is, the same as other capacitive keys, not backlit.

The Redmi Note 3 has an edge here as its capacitive buttons have a nice backlight.

Both Xiaomies are made almost entirely of metal (except for the top and bottom parts for antennas). As far as optics, smartphones have 13MP shooters with PDAF but only the Note 3 has a dual tone dual LED flash as the Redmi 3 has a single LED.

Another advantage that the bigger Xiaomi phone has – a fingerprint scanner, which is a feature that has become important for many users. 

The buttons, which are located on the right on each phone feel nice and they are made of metal too. On the left we have a dual micro SIM card slot on the Redmi Note 3 but the Redmi 3’s one slot also doubles as a microSD card for storage expansion.

Besides the usual ports, it is really cool that Xiaomi adds the IR blaster in their budget phones lineup. The setup of it is pretty straightforward on each device and I was able to control my TV in a few minutes.  

Overall, both Xiaomies feel solid and they are well-constructed devices. The metal build adds that premium look and feel we don’t see on all budget phones and this is what you are getting with either Xiaomi handset. 

Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Comparison Review: USER INTERFACE 

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Xiaomi Redmi 3 comes with MIUI 7.1, which is built on top of Android 5.1 and the Note 3 has a very similar yet older Android 5.0 build. 

The user interface is identical on each phone, well, they run the same MIUI after all. But what about performance? Well, it is really comparable. However, the Note 3 is just slightly faster at times, e.g. it may take a split of a second longer to open up the settings menu or do some other basic stuff on the Redmi 3. On the other hand, this phone still runs on  a very early software build whereas the Note 3 has already received numerous software updates. 

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. 

Finally, MIUI runs fast and fluid most of the times on each device. 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 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Comparison Review: BENCHMARKS

Xiaomi Redmi 3:

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Xiaomi Redmi Note 3:

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Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Comparison Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

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. 

The Redmi Note 3 is no slouch either. The lower-end model of the phone, which is my review unit, has an octa-core Mediatek Helio X10 chip with the clock speeds of 2.0GHz, 2GB of RAM and only 16GB of non-expandable storage. 

Both phones have enough processing power, so you can have enjoyable 3D gaming experience without any stutter or lag, well, if you do not max out the graphics settings. 

In addition, neither phone has overheating issues.

Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Comparison Review: CAMERA

If you want to download camera samples, check out full Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 review and Xiaomi Redmi 3 review.

As far as the image quality, I have made a separate camera comparison video, so you may want to check it out for more camera samples.  

The daylight photos taken with the Redmi Note 3 usually have more details, a little bit less noise and they tend to be slightly brighter. However, some of the images taken by both Xiaomies are comparable.

It is a similar story with indoor shots and here the Redmi Note 3 shines in one more aspect – dynamic range. The auto-mode does a better job equally exposing the main object and shadows of the scene. 

What is more, Redmi 3’s camera produced a lot more blurry shots, which led to quite terribly looking photos. 

Finally, the Redmi Note 3 has a wider FOV (field of view) meaning that you can fit more into the shot. 

As for night images, the Note 3 just blows the Redmi 3 out of the water. It produces images with much more details and less noise and the pictures just look much better overall.

The Redmi 3 also has a very annoying red tint in each night photo.

As for selfie shooter, the Redmi Note 3 is also better overall but the difference is not always significant. 

1080p video recording is a department where the Note 3 shines again. It’s footage is not flawless as it is also a budget phone but the device’s camera captures more details, the footage looks sharper and last but not least the sound quality is much better.

Overall, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is a clear winner in each and every aspect. Although some of the daylight images taken with the Redmi 3 can be comparable, its camera’s capabilities are much worse than the Note 3’s. Hopefully, we will see a few software updates to improve that. 

Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Comparison Review: MULTIMEDIA

As for multimedia consumption, the Redmi Note 3 is better mainly due to a bigger and higher resolution display. However, other aspects like sound via earphones and the loudspeaker are very close in terms of the overall quality and it is hard to choose a winner. 

Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Comparison Review: CONNECTIVITY

All the connectivity options work great on each device. Call quality is okay and signal reception is excellent. Also, Wifi, GPS and Bluetooth are working fine. However, I was disappointed that the Redmi 3 does not support 5GHz Wifi connection, while the Note 3 has this feature.

Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Comparison Review: BATTERY LIFE

The Xiaomi Redmi 3 has a huge 4100mAh non-removable battery. However, its bigger brother is no slouch either as it sports a 4000mAh unit. That sounds comparable but the Redmi 3 has to power a smaller display with lesser resolution and thus it leads to a better battery life.

Xiaomi Redmi 3:

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In fact, the power pack on the Redmi 3 is one of the best in class. I could not squeeze the battery out in one day even on heavy usage that involved gaming, installing lots of apps, watching a lot videos, taking pictures, browsing the web and so on. 

I was able to achieve over 7 hours of screen-on time with max. auto brightness setting of the screen. 

Redmi Note 3:

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The Redmi Note 3 is not that good but it still performs well. I could get from 5 to 5.5h of SOT under exactly the same usage. 

Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Comparison Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, there you have it, the Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3. Both smartphones are great choices in their respective price categories.

However, the Redmi Note 3 is a better device overall. It has a bigger and better display, better camera and some extras like a fingerprint scanner, and backlit capacitive buttons.

On the other hand, the Redmi 3 is for those who want a compact phone, a better battery life and a storage expansion option via the microSD card slot. Finally, the Redmi 3 costs less. It can be bought from the third-party resellers  for around $150 whereas the Remi Note 3 would cost you around $180. 

At the end of the day, if you want a better device and you don’t mind its size, take the Redmi Note 3. If you love compact cheap phones but you can’t find a good one, take the Redmi 3 but make sure to consider its flaws. 

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The post Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 – The Battle of Xiaomies appeared first on Gizmochina.

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

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

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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.

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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

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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

Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Camera Comparison:

The 13MP camera takes pictures very fast thanks to PDAF system. But what about the image quality?

Daylight images turn out to be pretty good. There is a reasonable amount of details, colour reproduction is very accurate and most of the pictures look pretty sharp.

However, some of the pictures have softer focus on the corners or in some parts of the image or uneven focus throughout the image. Also, I had a few slightly blurry shots meaning that auto-focus is not always reliable.

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When it comes to indoor and lower-lit environments, it is a hit or miss situation. Most of the times, the Redmi 3 will take a good and sharp looking image but other times you may face some camera’s struggles like less details than expected, uneven focus or even blurry shots. In addition, sceneries I took pictures of didn’t look that good on the camera’s viewfinder and thus I used tap-to-focus technique in a lot of shots to be 100% sure about the correct object the sensor focuses.

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As far as night shots, they do not impress. There is a low amount of details and a lot of noise in each and every picture. To be honest, they looked a lot better on the phone than on the computer’s screen.

1080p video is not bad for the phone this cheap. However, the footage looks a bit shaky and the camera could capture a bit more details. See a video review for a video sample.

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As for selfie shooter, it will do the trick for social media but I suggest you taking images in good lighting conditions.

All in all, the Redmi 3 has a decent camera for daylight images but it becomes inconsistent in lower-lit situations and it kind of disappoints at night.

On the other hand, maybe we shouldn’t be so picky for the phone this cheap, right?

Download full resolution camera samples 

Xiaomi Redmi 3 Review: CONNECTIVITY

All the connectivity options work great. Call quality is okay and signal reception is excellent. Also, Wifi, GPS and Bluetooth are working fine. However, I was disappointed as the phone does not support 5GHz Wifi connection.

Xiaomi Redmi 3 Review: BATTERY LIFE

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The Xiaomi Redmi 3 has a huge 4100mAh non-removable battery. It sounds really impressive considering a 5” 720p display and it delivers in real life.

In fact, the battery is one of the best in class. I could not squeeze the battery out in one day even on heavy usage that involved gaming, installing lots of apps, watching a lot videos, taking pictures, browsing the web and so on.

I was able to achieve over 7 hours of screen-on time with max. auto brightness setting of the screen. That means that you can achieve even more impressive results if you reduce the brightness or don’t use the phone that heavily like I did during my testing period.

Finally, Xiaomi claims that the Redmi 3 has a fast charging feature. It took me just over 3.5h to charge the phone. While it is not the fastest charging time I’ve seen, it is not a bad result for the battery this huge.

Xiaomi Redmi 3 Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, there you have it, another affordable yet awesome Xiaomi. The Redmi 3 costs just $107 in China which is simply ridiculous. As always, you would need to pay extra for third-party resellers if you want to order the phone in the West and it will cost you less than $150.

Still, I believe the Redmi 3 is well worth the price. You are getting a very compact phone with a premium metal design, good build quality, quite a powerful hardware, good gaming performance, feature-rich user interface and some other good stuff.

The battery life is definitely one of the selling points here and the Redmi 3 is definitely for those who use their phones day in, day out.

However, while the screen is definitely good for a 720p panel, we would love to start seeing 1080p displays even on the cheapest devices.

Also, the camera is not bad for daylight images but it faces various issues with less lighting and there were times that it really disappointed.

Last complaint would be non-backlit capacitive buttons but it is definitely not a deal breaker.

At the end of the day, the Xiaomi Redmi 3 is a very easy recommendation especially for those on a budget. It brings a powerful hardware and it does most of the things right without breaking your bank. Some features may be even improved with future software updates, some may not but you have to keep in mind that you are not paying a fortune for this device.

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