Xiaomi Redmi 4A Review
Build and Design
The 5 inch display allows for a compact body, and Xiaomi took advantage of the opportunity to recreate the impressive polycarbonate back of the Mi 4i. It's a better version of that design now, with a polished surface that shines like metal and makes the gold color work.
At first glance, the phone does not appear to be an entry-level device. However, the back and display are frequently sticky, reinforcing the fact that it is one.
The volume rocker and power on/off button are located on the right side, while the hybrid SIM slot is located on the left. The bottom has a microphone and a micro-USB port, while the top has a headphone jack, an IR Blaster, and another microphone. There are three non-backlit capacitive buttons beneath the display.
The speakers are on the back of the phone, with a very slight bump in the plastic below them. Xiaomi claims that this design element prevents the speakers from becoming muffled when placed on a desk, for example. It's not much help if you put the phone face up on a bed, but it sounds fine on a desk or other hard surface.
Other than the camera and flash on the top left and the Mi logo near the bottom, just above the speakers, the back is empty. It's a simple and clean design that isn't particularly innovative but is meant to impress.
Display
It also retains the previous model's excellent FHD display panel, as well as all of its features, both good and bad. Colors appear vibrant, but you can't help but notice that the lighting is dim. The visibility of sunlight remains suboptimal (but not unusable), and the maximum luminance is 474 Lux, which is quite dim.
The auto-brightness is poor. When in the dark, the phone frequently misjudges ambient light, being too dim indoors and sometimes too bright for too long. Simply put, you're better off manually controlling the brightness.
Storage and OS
The Redmi 4A's choice of 16GB storage is a major flaw, at least in our opinion. It also reduces the phone's battery life, and it's disappointing that Xiaomi doesn't offer a 32GB variant. 16GB is an upgrade from the Redmi 1S, and it is also the industry standard at the moment, but given that this phone is meant to offer entry-level buyers better than what they are used to, one would expect Xiaomi to break that.
Xiaomi Redmi 4A specs:
5.0-inch IPS display @ 720x1280 px
1.4 GHz Qualcomm MSM8917 Snapdragon 425
Adreno 308 GPU
2GB RAM
16GB Internal Storage
microSDXC (uses shared SIM slot)
13 MP f/2.2 AF rear camera LED Flash, HDR, Panorama
5 MP f/2.2 front camera
4G LTE
Dual SIM, Dual Standby
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.1
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
micro USB 2.0
Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow), MIUI 10
3120mAh non-removable battery
139.9 x 70.4 x 8.5mm
131.5 g
Gold, Rose Gold, Dark Grey