Redmi 3S

Xiaomi Redmi 3S : An excellent budget Android smartphone

Besides smartphones, the Chinese company Xiaomi is into manufacturing of fitness trackers, TVs, air-purifiers and tablets. It is targeting the sub-10K market category with its affordable Redmi series of smartphones. The company has already sold more than 100 million Redmi mobiles worldwide in the past three years owing to its enhanced features and a long lasting battery capacity. In the vision to expand their business in India and China, they have recently added Redmi 3S and Redmi 3S Prime to their reasonably priced series. Both the devices are available at the online portals via flash open sale. Redmi 3S price would be 6,999 INR (with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage) whereas Redmi 3S Prime is priced at 8,999 INR (with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage). Both of them are available in multiple colour options- Gold, Silver and Dark grey. This dual SIM device is a great option for an entry-level budget handset with decent specifications like 5-inch display, huge battery backup and powerful configuration.

Pros:

• Amazing camera performance suitable for day-to-day photography
• Quick charging support
• Sharp and crisp display
• Long battery life which can last for about two days
• Smooth performance with Snapdragon 430 chipset and 2GB RAM
• Infra-red blaster and MicroSD card support

Cons:

• Does not have a screen protection against scratches
• Non removable battery
• RAM management needs improvement
• Lack of NFC
• Hybrid SIM slot

Build and Design :

Redmi 3S is a light weight and slim smartphone weighing only 14.4 gms. It is a well crafted device with premium full metallic unibody design with dimensions of 139.3 x 69.6 x 8.5mm and slim bezels around the edges. Build quality is excellent as there is no creaking, sharp edges and holes in the gap. It does not support diamond-patterned casing at the back anymore giving it a plasticky look and appeal. There are plastic panels on the top and bottom sporting camera and speaker. There is not much change in the layout as its predecessors and comes with home, back and multitasking capacitive buttons below the screen, a micro USB slot at the bottom and headphone jack and IR blaster at the top. There is a dual SIM tray on the left in which second SIM slot can also be used to add microSD card to increase the storage upto 128GB. The device comes in three colour options- Gold, Silver and Dark grey. In terms of looks and features, no other smartphones can be compared to cheap Redmi 3S price in India.

Camera Quality :

In terms of photography, the smartphone is equipped with 13 Megapixel primary camera with single lens flash and other features like PDAF (Phase detection autofocus) focussing as fast as 0.1 seconds, HDR mode, smile detection, face detection, f2.0 aperture and supports 1080p video recording with modes for various shooting conditions. The camera quality is decent though it may not be that clear when viewed in full size. It also features front shooter 5MP camera (with f2.2 aperture optics) to click outstanding selfies and is also used in making video calls and to record full HD videos (1920 x 1080 resolution) @ 30fps. It delivers good quality images in bright, sunny conditions as well as in low light environment as it has LED flash.

Display and Storage :

Redmi 3S comes with 5-inch IPS HD multitouch screen display, offering pixel resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels and pixel density of 294 ppi. It delivers great picture quality, vibrant and accurate colours and wider viewing angles, hence offering enhanced visual experience to the users at an affordable price. You can enjoy playing games and videos on this big 5-inch screen. In terms of storage, the device boasts of 16GB internal memory which can be further expanded upto 128GB using microSD card (hybrid SIM tray). The major drawback is that you have to let go of the second Sim slot if you wish to expand the storage memory.

Internals and Processor :

In order to provide great multitasking experience to the users, Redmi 3S is packed with a 1.4 GHz octa core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset which is better than the previous Snapdragon 410 processor with a better modem and decoder. The octa-core processor includes dual quad-core processors (1.4GHz Cortex-A53 + 1.1GHz Cortex-A53) to ensure that the user can work on the multiple apps simultaneously without affecting the device's performance. The processor is coupled with 2GB RAM and Adreno 505 graphics engine to provide great graphical experience. The smartphone does gets hangup while playing heavy and intense games like Modern Combat or Asphalt 8 so this phone is not suitable for avid mobile gamers. It is a dual SIM (Micro SIM + Nano SIM) Android smartphone and runs on the latest MIUI 7.5 version over Android Marshmallow v6.0 operating system out of the box. Teh latest MIUI version enables the user to double tap wake/sleep, accept incoming calls using the home button, change the colour of LED for different types of notifications and the fonts and their size can also be modified. Also, the screen gets automatically locked when you keep the device in the pocket.

Battery and Connectivity :

The device is powered by a 4,100 mAh non-removable Li-Ion battery which makes it run uninterrupted for more than two days on medium usage. This dual SIM device comes with fast charging support which ensures that it gets charged to full capacity in a couple of minutes. On connectivity front, it supports 4G (supports Indian bands), 3G, 2G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.1, Mobile Hotspot, GPS with A-GPS, Glonass, microUSB v2.0 port and FM Radio functionality. There is no NFC feature. It has a fast and accurate fingerprint sensor on the rear panel to unlock the phone on single tapping. Sensors on the phone include Proximity sensor, compass, gravity, Accelerometer, Ambient light sensor and Gyroscope. By including an IR sensor in the phone, the company has provided a value addition to reasonable Redmi 3S price. The sensor enables you to control IR-remote based home appliances with the phone.

Final Verdict :

Redmi 3 series have transformed the Indian budget smartphone market by offering great devices in all price range. Redmi 3S is the first budget Xiaomi phone to have latest MIUI7.5, quick charging support and massive battery. It comes with decent specifications like high-end connectivity, VoLTE, good battery backup at ultra low and entry level price. The phone has an impressive look and appeal making it a good value buy. Before buying, the buyer should compare the prices and go for lowest Redmi 3S price in India.