Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G review – quad core for under Rs. 10K

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G a budget friendly 4G smartphone is now available in India for Rs. 9,999. This is a single SIM handset powered by snapdragon quad core processor. It is running MiUi based on Android 4.4.2 over a 5.5 inch screen with HD resolution.

Box Pack
All of the Xiaomi handsets come with the same box packing style. Inside you will find the Note 4G handset, 3100 mAh battery, data cable, user guide, warranty statement and travel charger. Earphone is not included. SAR Value as mentioned on the box : 0.46 W/kg (Max).

Design, display and OS
The handset looks exactly similar to the Redmi Note 3G variant. The Note 3G is dual SIM whereas the 4G is with a single SIM slot. Build quality is very good, plastic body with glossy finish back panel. Weight with battery is 186 grams and dimensions are 78.79 x 153.73 x 9.15 (mm).

Power and volume rocker are placed on the right side, micro USB port at the bottom and 3.5mm audio jack on the top. This is a single SIM handset (normal / regular SIM slot with 4G LTE support) and there is a micro SD card slot too.

The touch screen is 5.5 inches supporting 1280 x 720 pixels resolution. Colour reproduction is very good and touch is smooth / responsive. Screen is scratch resistant. There is LED notification (you can select the LED colour) and the Note 4G comes loaded with gyro, magnetic, step counter, light, accelerometer and proximity sensors. Step counter does work probably might work with some fitness applications.

The Note 4G is running MiUi based on Android 4.4.2.

Memory and Storage
This handset comes with 2GB RAM and 8GB storage. On the first boot you will get about 1.3GB free RAM and about 4.5GB is the space available for apps. You cannot install apps on the external storage. OTG is supported.

Performance
The handset houses the qualcomm snapdragon MSM8928 quad core cortex A7 chipset clocked a 1.6GHz coupled with Adreno 305 GPU. The hardware is powerful and the performance is lag free. However I did encounter low benchmark scores initially and there was a lot of lag when playing high end games.

The reason was that the handset by default is set to balanced setting mode, when I switched to performance mode I got higher benchmark scores and the game play was smoother at highest visual mode.

Benchmark with balanced mode

Benchmark with performance mode

Gaming
I installed Asphalt 8 and MC5, both of these games got installed on internal storage. At first the Asphalt 8 was not at all playable (there was a lot of lag) in high, medium and low graphics options. The game was playable in very low visual quality mode. MC5 was also playable but you would feel it lagging.

I selected performance mode and tried playing the game again. It worked, Asphalt 8 was playable in the highest visual quality mode and MC5 play was also better than before.

Camera
There is 13MP AF camera with flash on the rear and 5MP on the front. is If you remember my Redmi 1S review with reference to the camera lags, well I faced the same on the Note 4G. The camera will work without any issues as long as the battery temperature is below 35 degrees. But it doesn’t take much time for the temperature to raise to above 35 degrees and that is when the camera starts to lag heavily. It will take it own time focusing the subject and what ever you see on the screen (the lags) the same will be recorded.

Camera quality is good, but as mentioned there is some issue with the camera part. I even downloaded the Google camera and was facing the same issue on that app too. Check the sample video (1080p) and images below. I have uploaded two videos that I shot using the handset to give you an idea of what happens at different battery temperature.

Xiaomi will be rolling out updates to fix this camera issue.

Others
No other issues found. Heat up is normal, did not find the temperature going above 45 degree. Call quality, sound is good. No issues with 3G ( I don’t have any 4G services in my area), Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth.

Battery
There is a 3100 mAh removable battery that gives a usage time of about 5 to 6 hours with moderate to heavy usage.

As mentioned above performance improves considerably when using the performance mode and it does not have any noticeable impact on the battery performance.

Verdict
Everything was nice until the handsets started lagging when playing games and when using the camera application. By switching power settings from balanced to performance the gaming issue can be resolved. There is still issue with the camera, I believe a software issue and probably Xiaomi will roll out updates to fix it. (I am not sure if I got a defective unit, I would want to check with other users who bought this handset and see if they are facing the same issues that I did in this review).

Between Redmi Note 3G and the Note 4G, if I ignore the 4G part, the Redmi Note 3G seems a better option.

You can buy the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G from Flipkart or from Airtel gallery for Rs. 9,999.

Note 4G Image Gallery

Rear camera sample images