All hail the battery king!
Xiaomi has done what I thought was impossible; drastically improve battery life on this phone. I’m not denying that there are phones out there that top this; the Oukitel K10000 comes to mind, but in a still vaguely phone like package? Not in the slightest. There have recently been a slew of reviews hailing the Moto Z Play (same processor, 3510mAh battery) as a great phone for the battery life, and I would like to introduce them, and all of you to the reigning champion.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Redmi 4 Prime.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Full Review
Battery life isn’t the only area in which the Redmi 4 Prime has improved. In fact, the $30 price hike over the Redmi 3 allowed for an improvement in almost every way; a full HD screen, the new Snapdragon 625 processor, and a very Redmi Pro-like metal body.
The Redmi 4, like all the other Redmi devices that came before it, is a great budget device, no doubt about that. But the Redmi 4 Prime does so much more. It not only blows the price/performance curve out of the water, it packs “midrange” specifications into a truly budget price point.
With Xiaomi’s track record, especially with Redmi and Redmi Note devices, we were expecting a great device here, and the Redmi 4 Prime does not disappoint.
“midrange, on a budget”
Xiaomi Redmi 4/Prime Specifications
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 |
| Display | 5.0″ 1920 x 1080 px, IPS LCD |
| RAM | 3GB |
| Storage | 32GB |
| Operating System | Android 6.0 with MIUI8 |
| Cameras | 16MP + 8MP Camera |
| Battery | 4100mAh |
| Physical Properties | 156g, 141.3 x 69.6 x 8.9 mm |
Big thanks to Gearbest for providing this review unit. I used the Xiaomi Redmi 4 on Fido in Toronto.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Hardware
Xiaomi has left behind the traditional Redmi 3/Redmi Note 3 designs in favour of the more elegant curved back designs as seen in the Redmi Pro, Mi Note 2, and the Mi 5s. The curve on the body is less pronounced on this Redmi 4 compared to other non Redmi/Redmi Note devices and is a move in the right direction. The Redmi 4 is slightly thicker (8.9mm vs 8.5mm) than the Redmi 3 but still feels thinner because of the curved back.
I can easily use this device with just one hand which is welcome, not many 5” devices with specs worth their salt are released anymore. The build quality is expectedly top notch, with the same matte metal finish found on the Redmi Note 4 and the Mi5s, screaming quality without trying to dive towards the floor every other second.
The back of the phone features the camera (which thankfully doesn’t protrude out), the flash and the fingerprint sensor.
Xiaomi has done a bang up job with the build quality here, not many phones can claim that honour in such a budget phone with the Ulefone Metal coming to mind, but the processor on that was somewhat old.
“Top notch build quality”
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Display
This is the first Redmi device to feature a 1080p screen, and it definitely looks good. Colours are deep and the screen is sharp. There is still a difference between the screen on the Redmi 4 and more expensive displays, but the difference is small.
I feel that Xiaomi could have left the resolution at 720p with all the benefits that would bring; longer battery life, a better gaming experience, and less SoC usage. You might not think there is a huge difference between 720p and 1080p, but 720p only has around 900,000 total pixels while 1080p has over 2,000,000 pixels, meaning that the SoC has to work almost exactly twice as hard on 1080p.
Nevertheless, the screen looks great. Maximum brightness is around 450-500 nits which is easy enough to see in sunlight, but not as easy as the Mi5s with 600 nits. Minimum brightness is also good. There is also Gorilla Glass as well.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Audio
The speakers are located beside the MicroUSB plug, and they produce some very loud sound, not as loud as the Mi5s, but definitely more than loud enough. Quality is a little below average, with bass almost nonexistent and passable mids and highs.
However, I’m trying my best not to be harsh here as this phone has an MSRP of $130, which is almost 3 times cheaper than the Mi5s and 5 times cheaper than the Mi Note 2.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Battery
Who would have thought that the battery in the Redmi 4 could surprise me any further. The Redmi 3 had insane battery life, easily getting 6 hours of battery life with 25% left. However, the Redmi 4 managed to top that and not by a bit, but by miles.
With this new Redmi 4, I was able to get 9 hours of screen on time with 25% left, and with that increase, battery life has officially crossed from insane to out of this world. There is nobody in this world that uses their phone for 9 hours a day daily, and if you do, this phone is the perfect device for you.
It was also able to get 10 hours of screen on time over two days (5 hours each day) with about 3% left at 8pm on the second day. Battery here is ridiculous. I spent almost 96 hours testing this darn battery in various configurations and I desperately need sleep!
I also did some lab testing with the battery (do I even need to?), and the phone was able to browse the web for almost 16 hours straight and it could play back video for 19 hours in total. Who would have thought that the new Snapdragon 625 was that power efficient? I wanted to do more battery tests but because each battery test took up the better part of a day I was not able to perform more tests on this incredible battery.
Gizchina News of the week
The stock charger does not support QuickCharge, so it does take a while (about 2.5-3 hours) for the phone to be charged up. Using my Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 charger it was able to charge up to 50% in about 45 minutes.
It’s still using the old MicroUSB connector which is annoying. Heavy and ultra heavy users (like me) can easily go two days without charging, while light and medium users can definitely go four days and possibly even a week without charging.
“The battery is not of this world”
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Software
Still not a fan of MIUI, and I’ll be repeating that for every single Xiaomi phone I review. There is MIUI8 over top of Android 6.0 Marshmallow and the included Snapdragon 625 chugs along quite well. I know I usually talk about Antutu at the end of this section, but this SoC as high or higher than some Helio P10 chipsets. Benchmarks do not directly translate into everyday performance, but in this case real world use backs it up.
General use, swiping between screens, and opening and closing apps was all very fast a fluid. Sure, its a tad slower than Snapdragon 821 devices, but not by much. The Snapdragon 625 coupled with 3GB of RAM makes it a very capable multitasker as well. This phone is no gaming powerhouse, but it can play most of the games on the play store with good framerates when the settings are on lowest.
Benchmarks do not directly translate into everyday performance, however real world use yielded some strange results. There was noticeable stuttering when swiping, opening and closing apps and this is most likely because of the software. There is no reason why the 625 should stutter in basic tasks at all and hopefully Xiaomi releases a fix for this.
The 625 is also no gaming powerhouse, yes it can play intense games, but definitely not on highest. The GPU is weak enough to notice some lag if you try playing intense games on highest settings; you’ll have to bump the settings down to medium or low.
The rear mounted fingerprint sensor works very well and is fast, accurate and well situated. I’m able to reach for it easily every time. However, I’ve become extremely accustomed to front mounted fingerprint sensors so it was a little bit of a transition.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Connectivity
I found the choice of network bands strange for a company trying to sell them outside of China. There are actually less FDD-LTE bands and more TDD-LTE bands which are mostly useless outside of Asia. That being said, I was still able to get strong 3G and LTE connections here in Canada, but pay extra close attention to the network bands and make sure it works on your carrier.
WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS all work well, I found that Bluetooth range on the Redmi 4 is actually farther than the Lenovo Z2 Plus, my daily driver. There is also an IR blaster which at this point is kind of useless. There is a microSD card slot that supports microSD cards up to 128GB as well.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Camera
The camera does surprisingly well in great lighting conditions. After seeing the videos and photos of the Mi5s and Mi Note 2, I was prepared to be disappointed, but I was pleasantly surprised. There is more than enough detail in each shot and colours are reproduced nicely. In great lighting conditions, photos are slightly less vivid and detailed than what is found on the more expensive Xiaomi models but still more than adequate.
The camera takes photos incredibly fast as well, not as fast as the Mi5s, but competitive. However, move to low light and the picture quality drops much faster than the Mi5s. The front facing camera takes average photos, and low light brings out a lot of noise and grain. The video camera can shoot up to 1080p video and video quality obviously doesn’t match up to pretty much any decent 4k shooter, but its definitely good for a full HD camera. Colours are markedly less vivid compared to the Mi5s though. Low light video shooting is actually kind of bad, not only is there noise and blown out colours, but video starts getting quite shaky.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Verdict
Xiaomi has had a lot of time to refine the Redmi. Each successive Redmi was a big jump from the previous one, but the Redmi 4 Prime is the biggest one yet. Starting at $130, it has made the leap from a budget, low end smartphone into a midrange one, competing quite easily against Helio P10 phones.
As a budget phone kind of guy, this phone represents the epitome of what I consider to be the most consumer-friendly phone, striking a perfect balance between price, specifications, and user experience.
Yes there are imperfections (a subjective one being the fact that I dislike MIUI), the speaker is barely average, and the camera has disappointing low light performance. But the Redmi 4 Prime does so much to advance our mindset of what a budget phone can contain. It keeps other phone manufacturers on their feet, and in the end, the consumer benefits.
Xiaomi has done a great service to anyone purchasing this phone as they have improved on already amazing battery life, giving heavy users two days of battery life which is completely unheard of. This is definitely my top pick for a budget device going forward and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an amazing device for less.
Note: November 26, 2016, even though this phone was released by Xiaomi at $130, reseller prices rise to around $200 which is ludicrous. Average resale prices hover around $160-$180, and at that price, you might as well purchase a Redmi Note 4 instead. However if you can find the Redmi 4 Prime for $130 or close to that, that is the best budget device you can get.
I would like to thank Gearbest for sending out this review unit, and if you would like to buy one, you can do so here.
“The biggest leap yet”
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Video Review
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Gallery
On the other hand, I finally got Mi Note 2 3 days ago and guess what? The battery is garbage… I think it is related to my phone only and not to all, because man it runs out of juice so fast lol
I charged my phone to 100% and went to sleep 2AM then at 9AM I saw my phone was 85% freaking pathetic. I only had this issue with Xiaomi RedMi Note 2, but not any other phone!
bah >.>
My mi Note 2 is perfectly fine.
I knew it.. I knew it is something with my phone. 🙁
Do you know a way to fix it?
Hopefully it ain’t a custom ROM issue. Some sellers sell the device with bad custom roms
No no I am 100% sure it is stock ROM.
The other thing could be that you could be on a chinese ROM while others are on international ROMs. The only three other things I can think of are defective battery, app wakelocks, or bad reception where you are (or at least worse than where I am).
I already found a solution.. It was my mistake. I thought updating my phone will ruin it like my Nubia Z9 Max… But I was wrong. I updated Note 2 and now it is working amazingly! 🙂
Very happy with it
Try installing the stock MIUI ROM from the MIUI website. Most of the time this issue is caused by third parties installing their own ROMs.
Well I bought it from a business friend. He did not touch it at all. In fact the phone was factory-sealed and it even had the receipt from Xiaomi.
wow do I suck so bad or what? XD
The problem was just me not updating the phone haha
I thought the update will damage my phone or something “I have Nubia Z9 max and I updated and it is fucked now. No Google Services etc…”
But I asked an expert and he said it won’t, so I updated and now the problem is amazing! I am loving it. :3
Lol. Good on you for managing to fix the problem. Enjoy your Mi Note 2.
Good battery, potent camera. This phone is a winner.
Nice review by the way Mr. Cheng.
Thanks
i would love to get it … but the camera is putting me off
is the Redmi Note 4 a BETTER performer in front and back camera department ?
what about low-light performance on Note 4 camera ?
Ikr, I just bought a Redmi 4 prime and compared it with Redmi 3. Its better in bright and sunlight, sure, but when in low light the resolved details are pretty disappointing and HDR shot takes as much as time as redmi 3 HDR shot. I just realized that Redmi 4 Prime has f2.2 while Redmi 3 had a f2.0 aperture. Video quality is overall improved though. Front have exactly the same quality but colour still as muted as Redmi 3.
My guess is that Redmi Note 4 will have exactly the same quality as Redmi Note 3 Pro. Which is worse than Redmi 3.
Smh.
from what i have read in the reviews , RN4 is much better than any redmi or redmi note devices in low-light.
not sure on the selfie cam. muted colors SUCK tbh , since selfies are supposed to be bright and full of energy !
i have 2 questions tho. first , what’s the advantage of a HDR shot ? what does it offer over a normal snap ?
secondly , been hearing about this aperture thing for a while now… how does f/2.0 have better low light perf compared to f/2.2 ? how crucial is the aperture in deciding OVERALL cam quality , to be precise ?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8b650b3277f618a625c72035918154f3d9ad6137ce5a4073d4ac3961f0b876f8.png
Basically below. But you’ll need a steady hand else the image will have clipping.
F2.0 vs F2.2 is the amount of light perceived by the sensor(larger the aperture the better the low light shot) and how pronounced the bokeh/dof effect on macro shot(not the blurred part, but the detail on non blurred part). But it’ll also introduced a lot of noise in low light if not managed correctly.
wait … HDR offers below a normal snap ? i dont get it .. plz elaborate
but i get thew aperture part tho… smaller aperture GUARANTEES more light intake , so more details on the NON blurred part in bokeh/macro shots. however , if something goes wrong then too much noise in the pics… or something like that
Note 4’s camera is clearly better than this
I’ve just asked airyl the same thing under a similar thread, so I’m going to ask your opinion too: have you taken a look at leeco cool1 dual? While the resellers’ rom it shipped originally was crappy, with the original rom (or the modded one by grossoshop) it looks to me like a great performer, probably the phone with the best camera performance/price ratio right now from what I’ve seen. Perhaps I’d really like to see a review, the phone had a bit of a buzz around lately because prices stabilized from resellers…
BTW, great review as always!
You can’t use HDR on photos with bad lighting because it would multiple noise & artifacts and result would be horrible.
soo.. HDR is good only when there’s good lighting ?
Yes, need to have good conditions to produce even better dynamic contrast and better looking photos.
hmm… whats the best use of HDR ? i mean what sort of scene or pics does one usually prefer to shoot with HDR ?
we all know necessity is the mother of invention , so HDR must have been invented to cater to some special demand , right ?
Hyper photo realism. Adds details & contras that whosent there with normal shots. On better (pricier) phones it’s set up to be used in auto (on/off) mode but this future (auto HDR) is slowly becoming a standard.
The best use of hdr I’ve found is when shooting a landscape with the sunset. Normally the great light coming from the sun would generate basically a black pic with a great light if you focus on the sun, or if you focus on the environment you get the scenario but with a sun pale and indistinguishable. Hdr balance the lighting and allows the environment to stand out in terms of color while also keeping the light from the sun visible and with its definition
great explanation Matt , THANKS A BUNCH !
I’m here to try and help you everytime I can, man ?
A HDR is High Dynamic Range so it have better range of tones & looks better. F2.0 lens apparatus is better as it can provide more light, as smaller the better. Don’t be filed with Xiaomi HDR mode its software calculated one the real one needs 3 pics capture process them and then blend in to the final result, that’s the real HDR. If any of you with newer Xiaomi on Snapdragon SoC really want to improve on photo quality you need to enable hal (in build.prop) required for camera 2 api that is implemented in software and use some app that supports it my recommendation still goes for Open Camera.
1. which phone has the REAL hdr , with the 3 pic capture process ?
2. how do i enable hal in build.prop , WITHOUT rooting the phone ?
3. Open Camera improves cam performance ?
P.S : also , what do you recommend ? RN4 or Redmi Prime ?
-Any phone can do hdr now in native camera app.
-No you cant
-Nothing, but you’ll get more control through manual options. Miui camera app have less control and annoying touch to focus.
-Get Redmi Pro, or forget about Redmi lineup entirely. Redmi Note 4 was an unnecessary successor to Note 3.
if the Pro fits my budget , i’ll get it for sure
but i’ll have to see how the $-prices translate into my local currency once xiaomi enters the local market
1. Lot of apps on the play store support it. Including Open Camera which is by my opinion the one of the best & certainly best Open Source one. Still it requires Camera 2 api & HAL 3 infrastructure.
2. You can’t. You need the root access so that you culd write to the build.prop following line:
persist.camera.HAL3.enabled=1
Save, match permissions & reboot.
3. It’s one of the better ones. Without root you can try Focal that is based on Snapdragon camera ment for original camera API.
thanks. learned a bit about cam management today !
so from you point of view, what’s recommended atm ? RN4 or Redmi 4 prime ?
Well I got a Mi Max (3/32) & would still recommend it against any of those all do camera is nothing special but it is a huge phablet & probably not everyone’s taste other than that; RN3 Pro Prime as the price competitor & lots of on going free development (Xda). R4 Prime is nice but not with current reseller prices and I don’t really like MTK’s X20 SoC so I won’t recommend any of those.
RN3 had a bad cam , no ?
and since RN4 has the x20 , its a no go too ?
Well with Snapdragon you get more 3rd party development & also more Xiaomi development. All budget ones with snapdragon use same Samsung 16MP ISO cell sensors but it has a particularly low dot size (1.0ux) so it’s far from a good night shoter f apparatus varies between 2~2.2 & it’s also far from a best ones & beside Xiaomi is still far from good optimising software for any of the sensors that they use. I had a Samsung phone with 8MP ISO cell 1.25ux sensors so I have a pretty much good clue what sensor is capable of achieving.
Simple if you want a outstanding low lite camera capabilities look the other side from any Chinese phone and prepare some serious money for that. I prefer; usability, endurance, longevity and long term support with a good price, smartphone camera is far from a priority for me & I always say if you want a really decent camera buy a maxi idiot one (dslr with fixed objective) that will satisfy all your photography needs for let’s say 10 years (at least).
Just to keep it clear Mi Max is still far from flawless device (if that even exists anymore this day’s) but rather a durable (& fixable regarding software problems) one.
alright
Reviews I have seen say remi note 2 camera is better than redmi note 3 which is better than redmi note 4
Will have a same quality as Mi Max as its exactly the same sensor & f 2.0. The camera is far cry from anything incredible, in good lighting conditions it even manages to impress, in in doors they are geting it usable with new firmwares but don’t expect much more than that especially at night (same goes for video) and they still didn’t menage to match flash to sync as it should.
It’s definitely much better.
Excellent review as always. I’ve been using a Redmi 4 prime for the last two days and your assessment is spot on. Great little phone, with a couple drawbacks. Can you confirm that it does indeed have Gorilla Glass? Thanks
I’m actually not sure anymore.
You tipe like maniac.
How do you know
Because I seen it right now. ???
LOL
Just watched a techyard piece on YouTube. Don’t know if it’s Gorilla glass, but it’s definitely scratch resistant.
That random candy at the end though.
Orange starburst
On the other hand, I finally got Mi Note 2 3 days ago and guess what? The battery is garbage… I think it is related to my phone only and not to all, because man it runs out of juice so fast lol
I charged my phone to 100% and went to sleep 2AM then at 9AM I saw my phone was 85% freaking pathetic. I only had this issue with Xiaomi RedMi Note 2, but not any other phone!
bah >.>
My mi Note 2 is perfectly fine.
I knew it.. I knew it is something with my phone. 🙁
Do you know a way to fix it?
Hopefully it ain’t a custom ROM issue. Some sellers sell the device with bad custom roms
Try installing the stock MIUI ROM from the MIUI website. Most of the time this issue is caused by third parties installing their own ROMs.
Well I bought it from a business friend. He did not touch it at all. In fact the phone was factory-sealed and it even had the receipt from Xiaomi.
No no I am 100% sure it is stock ROM.
wow do I suck so bad or what? XD
The problem was just me not updating the phone haha
I thought the update will damage my phone or something “I have Nubia Z9 max and I updated and it is fucked now. No Google Services etc…”
But I asked an expert and he said it won’t, so I updated and now the problem is amazing! I am loving it. :3
The other thing could be that you could be on a chinese ROM while others are on international ROMs. The only three other things I can think of are defective battery, app wakelocks, or bad reception where you are (or at least worse than where I am).
I already found a solution.. It was my mistake. I thought updating my phone will ruin it like my Nubia Z9 Max… But I was wrong. I updated Note 2 and now it is working amazingly! 🙂
Very happy with it
I already found a solution.. It was my mistake. I thought updating my phone will ruin it like my Nubia Z9 Max… But I was wrong. I updated Note 2 and now it is working amazingly! 🙂
Very happy with it
Lol. Good on you for managing to fix the problem. Enjoy your Mi Note 2.
Great, thorough review, but not sure about your battery life tests. According to GSMArena’s battery life list the overall endurance, on their scale, is better for most of the Redmi 3 series than for the Redmi 4. I would also prefer one of the 3 series just because of the weight difference – 144 grams for the 3 series vs 158 for the newer 4. I just can’t see any justification for a compact phone to weigh more than 140 grams. Otherwise, it is not compact by my criteria.
Believe only in actual SOT average use times all those synthetic tests actually are inaccurate. Still I am not impressed with the achieved battery states the Mi Max archives similar results with only 750mAh bigger battery carrying 60% large display aria & having more potent 28nm planar SoC so I think software is far from polished but the same goes & for Max.
I partially don’t agree. When synthetic tests are conducted properly, e.g. video playback or web browsing, they can be informative. If you play back the same video file at the same brightness without letting the screen go off, that’s as standard a test as you can get. Web browsing is a little more tricky. Same browser, same webpage (can’t be updated obviously), same brightness and reload time. You can control for background processes and location (for reception as well) of course.
SOT is IMO less controlled environment as there are so many more factors. Location (meaning reception strength), how sunny it is (screen brightness), app usage (you can’t replicate it 100% every time), and app installs (background drain). However, SOT as a general number is a very useful indicator.
But I partially agree with you, synthetic tests are not useful ALONE, but combined with SOT it gives you a clearer picture of what to expect.
Well GSMarena battery duration test is useful and informative as you can see what you can expect in the end as you can tune usage scenario parameters (browsing, video playback and telephony) to more realistic ones (as you intend to use phone) but nothing more than that.
Actuality I used term average SOT. In the mean time continuing to improve mine & actually changing my opinion regarding R4 Prime’s to a bit disappointing. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/846b9c6a7a2518cedbe9d1e344b8bc702fdf3715d4978704674b70abc77ab84b.png
I always get similar results to GSMArena’s, and the only difference is video playback. I think their unit might be defective/different ROM
Even if the Redmi 4 had equal or slightly better battery life than the 3 series, I would still buy one of the Redmi 3 series because of the weight difference. The 4 is also a few mm longer/taller. I don’t need thin phones but I like them to be as compact as possible. In my view, there is little gained by reducing bezel sizes if newer phones are consistently heavier than their predecessors. The 4 at 158 grams is, to my mind, way too heavy for a 5 inch phone, considering that the Mi 5 is only 129 grams, nearly 30 grams lighter.
Assuming you take my battery results at face value, would you trade a slightly larger/heavier phone for almost 40% more battery life compared to the Redmi 3?
Well, yest 40% would be a significant improvement on battery life, but I think the 3 series beats most other 5 inch phones so I would still prefer the greater compactness of a 3 series phone to the Redmi 4.
Don’t forget the SD625 is a huge improvement over the SD616/SD430
Good battery, potent camera. This phone is a winner.
Nice review by the way Mr. Cheng.
Thanks
Can you sell me this phone
no
poor guy , he just wanted a good deal on the phone !
NO. But seriously shipping costs if not within driving distance of myself kills any deal.
And..No… he was clearly looking for a cheap deal. Shipping costs are part of the total price you know, right? 😉
Yeah lol. Kinda hard when I’ll be losing money if I sell the Redmi 4 Prime at cost
i would love to get it … but the camera is putting me off
is the Redmi Note 4 a BETTER performer in front and back camera department ?
what about low-light performance on Note 4 camera ?
Ikr, I just bought a Redmi 4 prime and compared it with Redmi 3. Its better in bright and sunlight, sure, but when in low light the resolved details are pretty disappointing and HDR shot takes as much as time as redmi 3 HDR shot. I just realized that Redmi 4 Prime has f2.2 while Redmi 3 had a f2.0 aperture. Video quality is overall improved though. Front have exactly the same quality but colour still as muted as Redmi 3.
My guess is that Redmi Note 4 will have exactly the same quality as Redmi Note 3 Pro. Which is worse than Redmi 3.
Smh.
from what i have read in the reviews , RN4 is much better than any redmi or redmi note devices in low-light.
not sure on the selfie cam. muted colors SUCK tbh , since selfies are supposed to be bright and full of energy !
i have 2 questions tho. first , what’s the advantage of a HDR shot ? what does it offer over a normal snap ?
secondly , been hearing about this aperture thing for a while now… how does f/2.0 have better low light perf compared to f/2.2 ? how crucial is the aperture in deciding OVERALL cam quality , to be precise ?
Basically below. But you’ll need a steady hand else the image will have clipping.
F2.0 vs F2.2 is the amount of light perceived by the sensor(larger the aperture the better the low light shot) and how pronounced the bokeh/dof effect on macro shot(not the blurred part, but the detail on non blurred part). But it’ll also introduced a lot of noise in low light if not managed correctly.
wait … HDR offers below a normal snap ? i dont get it .. plz elaborate
but i get thew aperture part tho… smaller aperture GUARANTEES more light intake , so more details on the NON blurred part in bokeh/macro shots. however , if something goes wrong then too much noise in the pics… or something like that
Note 4’s camera is clearly better than this
Will have a same quality as Mi Max as its exactly the same sensor & f 2.0. The camera is far cry from anything incredible, in good lighting conditions it even manages to impress, in in doors they are geting it usable with new firmwares but don’t expect much more than that especially at night (same goes for video) and they still didn’t menage to match flash to sync as it should.
A HDR is High Dynamic Range so it have better range of tones & looks better. F2.0 lens apparatus is better as it can provide more light, as smaller the better. Don’t be fooled with Xiaomi HDR mode its software calculated one the real one needs 3 pics capture process them and then blend in to the final result, that’s the real HDR. If any of you with newer Xiaomi on Snapdragon SoC really want to improve on photo quality you need to enable hal (in build.prop) required for camera 2 api that is implemented in software and use some app that supports it my recommendation still goes for Open Camera.
You can’t use HDR on photos with bad lighting because it would multiple noise & artifacts and result would be horrible.
soo.. HDR is good only when there’s good lighting ?
1. which phone has the REAL hdr , with the 3 pic capture process ?
2. how do i enable hal in build.prop , WITHOUT rooting the phone ?
3. Open Camera improves cam performance ?
P.S : also , what do you recommend ? RN4 or Redmi Prime ?
Yes, need to have good conditions to produce even better dynamic contrast and better looking photos.
-Any phone can do hdr now in native camera app.
-No you cant
-Nothing, but you’ll get more control through manual options. Miui camera app have less control and annoying touch to focus.
-Get Redmi Pro, or forget about Redmi lineup entirely. Redmi Note 4 was an unnecessary successor to Note 3.
if the Pro fits my budget , i’ll get it for sure
but i’ll have to see how the $-prices translate into my local currency once xiaomi enters the local market
hmm… whats the best use of HDR ? i mean what sort of scene or pics does one usually prefer to shoot with HDR ?
we all know necessity is the mother of invention , so HDR must have been invented to cater to some special demand , right ?
1. Lot of apps on the play store support it. Including Open Camera which is by my opinion the one of the best & certainly best Open Source one. Still it requires Camera 2 api & HAL 3 infrastructure.
2. You can’t. You need the root access so that you culd write to the build.prop following line:
persist.camera.HAL3.enabled=1
Save, match permissions & reboot (works on Redmi Note 3 Pro & newer with out of doubt).
3. It’s one of the better ones. Without root you can try Focal that is based on Snapdragon camera ment for original camera API.
Hyper photo realism. Adds details & contras that whosent there with normal shots. On better (pricier) phones it’s set up to be used in auto (on/off) mode but this future (auto HDR) is slowly becoming a standard.
The best use of hdr I’ve found is when shooting a landscape with the sunset. Normally the great light coming from the sun would generate basically a black pic with a great light if you focus on the sun, or if you focus on the environment you get the scenario but with a sun pale and indistinguishable. Hdr balance the lighting and allows the environment to stand out in terms of color while also keeping the light from the sun visible and with its definition
It’s definitely much better.
great explanation Matt , THANKS A BUNCH !
thanks. learned a bit about cam management today !
so from you point of view, what’s recommended atm ? RN4 or Redmi 4 prime ?
Well I got a Mi Max (3/32) & would still recommend it against any of those all do camera is nothing special but it is a huge phablet & probably not everyone’s taste other than that; RN3 Pro Prime as the price competitor & lots of on going free development (Xda). R4 Prime is nice but not with current reseller prices and I don’t really like MTK’s X20 SoC so I won’t recommend any of those.
I’ve just asked airyl the same thing under a similar thread, so I’m going to ask your opinion too: have you taken a look at leeco cool1 dual? While the resellers’ rom it shipped originally was crappy, with the original rom (or the modded one by grossoshop) it looks to me like a great performer, probably the phone with the best camera performance/price ratio right now from what I’ve seen. Perhaps I’d really like to see a review, the phone had a bit of a buzz around lately because prices stabilized from resellers…
BTW, great review as always!
RN3 had a bad cam , no ?
and since RN4 has the x20 , its a no go too ?
I’m here to try and help you everytime I can, man 😁
Well with Snapdragon you get more 3rd party development & also more Xiaomi development. All budget ones with snapdragon use same Samsung 16MP ISO cell sensors but it has a particularly low dot size (1.0ux) so it’s far from a good night shoter f apparatus varies between 2~2.2 & it’s also far from a best ones & beside Xiaomi is still far from good optimising software for any of the sensors that they use. I had a Samsung phone with 8MP ISO cell 1.25ux sensors so I have a pretty much good clue what sensor is capable of achieving.
Simple if you want a outstanding low lite camera capabilities look the other side from any Chinese phone and prepare some serious money for that. I prefer; usability, endurance, longevity and long term support with a good price, smartphone camera is far from a priority for me & I always say if you want a really decent camera buy a maxi idiot one (dslr with fixed objective) that will satisfy all your photography needs for let’s say 10 years (at least).
Just to keep it clear Mi Max is still far from flawless device (if that even exists anymore this day’s) but rather a durable (& fixable regarding software problems) one.
alright
Reviews I have seen say remi note 2 camera is better than redmi note 3 which is better than redmi note 4
Excellent review as always. I’ve been using a Redmi 4 prime for the last two days and your assessment is spot on. Great little phone, with a couple drawbacks. Can you confirm that it does indeed have Gorilla Glass? Thanks
I’m actually not sure anymore.
You tipe like maniac.
How do you know
Because I seen it right now. 😂😂😂
LOL
Just watched a techyard piece on YouTube. Don’t know if it’s Gorilla glass, but it’s definitely scratch resistant.
That random candy at the end though.
Orange starburst
Great, thorough review, but not sure about your battery life tests. According to GSMArena’s battery life list the overall endurance, on their scale, is better for most of the Redmi 3 series than for the Redmi 4. I would also prefer one of the 3 series just because of the weight difference – 144 grams for the 3 series vs 158 for the newer 4. I just can’t see any justification for a compact phone to weigh more than 140 grams. Otherwise, it is not compact by my criteria.
Believe only in actual SOT average use times all those synthetic tests actually are inaccurate. Still I am not impressed with the achieved battery states the Mi Max archives similar results with only 750mAh bigger battery carrying 60% large display aria & having more potent 28nm planar SoC so I think software is far from polished but the same goes & for Max.
I always get similar results to GSMArena’s, and the only difference is video playback. I think their unit might be defective/different ROM
Even if the Redmi 4 had equal or slightly better battery life than the 3 series, I would still buy one of the Redmi 3 series because of the weight difference. The 4 is also a few mm longer/taller. I don’t need thin phones but I like them to be as compact as possible. In my view, there is little gained by reducing bezel sizes if newer phones are consistently heavier than their predecessors. The 4 at 158 grams is, to my mind, way too heavy for a 5 inch phone, considering that the Mi 5 is only 129 grams, nearly 30 grams lighter.
Assuming you take my battery results at face value, would you trade a slightly larger/heavier phone for almost 40% more battery life compared to the Redmi 3?
Well, yest 40% would be a significant improvement on battery life, but I think the 3 series beats most other 5 inch phones so I would still prefer the greater compactness of a 3 series phone to the Redmi 4.
Don’t forget the SD625 is a huge improvement over the SD616/SD430
I partially don’t agree. When synthetic tests are conducted properly, e.g. video playback or web browsing, they can be informative. If you play back the same video file at the same brightness without letting the screen go off, that’s as standard a test as you can get. Web browsing is a little more tricky. Same browser, same webpage (can’t be updated obviously), same brightness and reload time. You can control for background processes and location (for reception as well) of course.
SOT is IMO less controlled environment as there are so many more factors. Location (meaning reception strength), how sunny it is (screen brightness), app usage (you can’t replicate it 100% every time), and app installs (background drain). However, SOT as a general number is a very useful indicator.
But I partially agree with you, synthetic tests are not useful ALONE, but combined with SOT it gives you a clearer picture of what to expect.
Well GSMarena battery duration test is useful and informative as you can see what you can expect in the end as you can tune usage scenario parameters (browsing, video playback and telephony) to more realistic ones (as you intend to use phone) but nothing more than that.
Actuality I used term average SOT. In the mean time continuing to improve mine & actually changing my opinion regarding R4 Prime’s to a bit disappointing.
Can you sell me this phone
no
poor guy , he just wanted a good deal on the phone !
NO. But seriously shipping costs if not within driving distance of myself kills any deal.
And..No… he was clearly looking for a cheap deal. Shipping costs are part of the total price you know, right? 😉
Yeah lol. Kinda hard when I’ll be losing money if I sell the Redmi 4 Prime at cost
Thanks for your awesome unbiased review.
I really wanna buy this phone but not knowing if/when the global rom is going to be made available is deal beaker…
does anyone have a clue? 🙂
can I just install google services on the Chinese ROM?
Google Play was already installed
You can install Google services on the Chinese rom if you don’t wish to use the reseller rom (comes with Google installed,but doesn’t support OTA update)
Thanks for your awesome unbiased review.
I really wanna buy this phone but not knowing if/when the global rom is going to be made available is deal beaker…
does anyone have a clue? 🙂
can I just install google services on the Chinese ROM?
Google Play was already installed
You can install Google services on the Chinese rom if you don’t wish to use the reseller rom (comes with Google installed,but doesn’t support OTA update)
Thanks for the review. did redmi 4 prime really support Qualcomm QC 3.0 quickcharge?
Yup straight from the Qualcomm page
Thanks for the review. did redmi 4 prime really support Qualcomm QC 3.0 quickcharge?
Yup straight from the Qualcomm page
Any idea on when would an international version be available? I’ve been waiting for that phone for months, but LTE bands from the Chinese version won’t work in my country. The moment they release an international version I’m definitely buying two of them.
Not sure, sorry
Any idea on when would an international version be available? I’ve been waiting for that phone for months, but LTE bands from the Chinese version won’t work in my country. The moment they release an international version I’m definitely buying two of them.
Not sure, sorry
After a first bad disappointment try with the website (I bough a sport camera that never arrive and the website took months to give my money back besides they did it on rates not the whole amount at once) so several months later due friends I was convince to give a second try so again I choose my item and pay with my debit card the “Grand total” Price I had to pay including shipping and everything was suppose to be 106$ so I agree, the next day I check on my bank account and the website took more money (116$ to be precise) I run to their costumer “service” and open a ticket for the issue, they respond within 24 hours yes but only once per day no matter what, so the person told me they cannot take more money that the amount given (which I don’t believe after this) and I should talk to the bank, so I decide to cancel my purchase and swear that I wont buy here anything EVER, they say OK we will make a total refund. a few days later I check my bank account and indeed they refund me but the amount given on the “grand total” the 106$ not the 116$ they took without my permission which was the only reason for me to cancel the order (I honestly don’t mind the 10$ difference but the unclear issues the lie and their customer service, I hope they enjoy my non agreed 10$ “gift”)
People my advice to avoid you a headache, having to change your card for security and more problems think about it REALLY GOOD if you dare to buy in GEARBEST cause the “TOTAL” amounts may not match with what they charge you besides many other issues in the process.
PS: the positive comments here about that website if you use your common sense you will see those are generated by a system those are not real persons.
Update from 7th of December 2016: The last email I´ve got from their customer service said that they WONT refund me the extra money. so yeah basically I lost money and they wont me to be happy about it. so guys one more time STAY AWAY from this website avoid lose money and avoid a big headache.
After a first bad disappointment try with the website (I bough a sport camera that never arrive and the website took months to give my money back besides they did it on rates not the whole amount at once) so several months later due friends I was convince to give a second try so again I choose my item and pay with my debit card the “Grand total” Price I had to pay including shipping and everything was suppose to be 106$ so I agree, the next day I check on my bank account and the website took more money (116$ to be precise) I run to their costumer “service” and open a ticket for the issue, they respond within 24 hours yes but only once per day no matter what, so the person told me they cannot take more money that the amount given (which I don’t believe after this) and I should talk to the bank, so I decide to cancel my purchase and swear that I wont buy here anything EVER, they say OK we will make a total refund. a few days later I check my bank account and indeed they refund me but the amount given on the “grand total” the 106$ not the 116$ they took without my permission which was the only reason for me to cancel the order (I honestly don’t mind the 10$ difference but the unclear issues the lie and their customer service, I hope they enjoy my non agreed 10$ “gift”)
People my advice to avoid you a headache, having to change your card for security and more problems think about it REALLY GOOD if you dare to buy in GEARBEST cause the “TOTAL” amounts may not match with what they charge you besides many other issues in the process.
PS: the positive comments here about that website if you use your common sense you will see those are generated by a system those are not real persons.
Update from 7th of December 2016: The last email I´ve got from their customer service said that they WONT refund me the extra money. so yeah basically I lost money and they wont me to be happy about it. so guys one more time STAY AWAY from this website avoid lose money and avoid a big headache.
Plz, which one is the best Redmi 4 prime or Redmi note 3? i’m confused..
The Note 3 is faster, but the Prime has better battery life
Plz, which one is the best Redmi 4 prime or Redmi note 3? i’m confused..
The Note 3 is faster, but the Prime has better battery life
Is this phone better than the redmi 3s?
100%
Is this phone better than the redmi 3s?
100%
720p screen is just not acceptable at this time and age. Xiaomi did the right thing to put a Full HD 1080p screen on this thing. If you want a 720p device, there’s no need to look for a smartphone. I know a lot of phones are still at 720p but that should and must change quick. If chinese brands can make a smartphone with 1080p screen and sell it for less than $200, there’s absolutely no reason for 720p phones to exist.
Well, there kind of is. Less pixels = more battery life and faster UI rendering. Dropping to 720p would further extend battery life. On small(er) phones pixel count becomes less important and noticeable.
Ever used an Xperia X Compact? They are blistering fast due to their 4.6″ small screen and 720p. I’d even go as far as saying that for daily use it feels much faster than my S7.
I think the option to change resolutions (like samsung offers in the S7) would be a better option so a user could switch to 720p for ultra battery usage.
720p screen is just not acceptable at this time and age. Xiaomi did the right thing to put a Full HD 1080p screen on this thing. If you want a 720p device, there’s no need to look for a smartphone. I know a lot of phones are still at 720p but that should and must change quick. If chinese brands can make a smartphone with 1080p screen and sell it for less than $200, there’s absolutely no reason for 720p phones to exist.
Well, there kind of is. Less pixels = more battery life and faster UI rendering. Dropping to 720p would further extend battery life. On small(er) phones pixel count becomes less important and noticeable.
Ever used an Xperia X Compact? They are blistering fast due to their 4.6″ small screen and 720p. I’d even go as far as saying that for daily use it feels much faster than my S7.
I think the option to change resolutions (like samsung offers in the S7) would be a better option so a user could switch to 720p for ultra battery usage.
How good is LTE connectivity on Fido? According to the specs, it supports only Band 7 (2600mhz) which is only offered by Fido in urban areas. Did you get LTE throughout Toronto inside and outside buildings? When it switched to 3G was it fast? The glass is not gorilla Glass. Did it scratch easily?
How good is LTE connectivity on Fido? According to the specs, it supports only Band 7 (2600mhz) which is only offered by Fido in urban areas. Did you get LTE throughout Toronto inside and outside buildings? When it switched to 3G was it fast? The glass is not gorilla Glass. Did it scratch easily?
I bought this phone to use as my secondary phone. The battery life is extremely impressive. I once vouched for OnePlus One for its long battery life (when it was still on KitKat), which i later regret upgrading to Lollipop (battery life became worse). But Redmi 4 Prime’s big battery kills it! Usually 8.5 hours SOT with 25% battery left – rarely use mobile data on this phone, usually on wifi and stream videos a lot. Still if i turn on mobile data it’s still going to be very impressive battery life. Of course, i don’t just love its battery, there are many aspects that are attractive. No regret buying it.
I bought this phone to use as my secondary phone. The battery life is extremely impressive. I once vouched for OnePlus One for its long battery life (when it was still on KitKat), which i later regret upgrading to Lollipop (battery life became worse). But Redmi 4 Prime’s big battery kills it! Usually 8.5 hours SOT with 25% battery left – rarely use mobile data on this phone, usually on wifi and stream videos a lot. Still if i turn on mobile data it’s still going to be very impressive battery life. Of course, i don’t just love its battery, there are many aspects that are attractive. No regret buying it.
I’m planning to buy a new phone for better selfie quality, better gaming (vainglory and mobile legends) btw i dont mind about the game graphics. Also i need longer life battery because im a heavy user.
Which one will u recommend for me to buy: redmi 4, redmi 4 prime, or redmi 4x?
Im very confused because they are very similar..
Thank you for your reviews and reply 🙂
I’m planning to buy a new phone for better selfie quality, better gaming (vainglory and mobile legends) btw i dont mind about the game graphics. Also i need longer life battery because im a heavy user.
Which one will u recommend for me to buy: redmi 4, redmi 4 prime, or redmi 4x?
Im very confused because they are very similar..
Thank you for your reviews and reply 🙂