The best selling smartphone for 2017, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, helped the Chinese manufacturer become number one smartphone brand in India. Launched as a budget entrant, the Redmi Note 4 stands out for its excellent performance, the metal unibody design and larger screen, all which is offered at a competitive price. With almost a year since the launch of the Note 4, the question remains that is the phone still worth buying in 2018? Those interested to buy an entry-level smartphone should still go for the Redmi Note 4.
The Note 4 is the second Redmi phablet featuring a metallic design and that too without any cheap plastic inserts. The entirety of the back is made of metal while the front comes with Gorilla glass protection. All the ports, sensors and speaker grills are perfectly aligned to give you a uniform look. This makes the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 a perfect choice when you are interested in a cheap device with a great design.
The Redmi Note 4’s display comes with 5.5-inch LCD screen and FHD resolution at 1920 x 1080 pixels. The screen now has improved brightness levels as well better contrast levels. The Note 4 also offers stable performance for a smartphone in this range, packing a newer and more energy efficient 14nm Snapdragon 625 SoC. The chipset combines an octa-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU clocked at 2.0GHz with Adreno 506 GPU and comes paired with 2GB, 3GB and 4GB of RAM options. This is highly beneficial since people get to choose RAM options based on their multitasking needs.
The Note 4 also offers a good battery life, packing a hefty 4,100mAh non-removable battery for power. The device comes with improved battery life particularly due to the newer and power-efficient 14nm Snapdragon 625 processor. The smartphone can easily last about 1 to 2 days depending on your on-screen time. The only letdown for this phone is the lack of quick charge support, meaning it will take more than two hours to completely charge the device from zero to 100%.
The massive downside for the Note 4 is the cameras. The 13MP rear camera didn't impress right since its launch, while the 5MP front-facing camera is not the best in the price range.
Overall, the Redmi Note 4 still stands out of the crowd in budget phablet space. The device has much to offer at a relatively cheap price. Still, you ought to know there’s upcoming Redmi Note 5 on the horizon. Should you choose to wait, Xiaomi will be launching the upgrade to Note 4 soon as per leaks, but there’s no official confirmation till now.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5, however, may arrive not until mid-2018 as the devices will be first launched in mainland China to arrive later in India. On the other hand, Xiaomi has great deals for Redmi Note 4 including Rs 1000 discount on the original price. The 4GB RAM and 64GB storage version are up for grabs at mere Rs 11,999.
