Redmi 4A first impressions: 13 MP camera, reading mode, and more in Xiaomi's cheapest phone in India

Xiaomi has launched a new smartphone - Redmi 4A, in India. The handset is a cheaper variant of the Redmi 4. The company has a history of launching competitively-priced smartphones with good specifications. However, the Redmi 4A lacks some 'essential' features such as a fingerprint sensor and a Full HD display.

We spent some time with the Redmi 4A, and here are our first impressions.

Design

Xiaomi Redmi 4A has a plastic body with a matte-finished back panel. The volume rocker and power buttons are located on the right side, while the SIM slot is on the left. The front has three capacitive (non-backlit) keys below the display, as well as an earpiece and a 5MP camera above it. An LED indicator is there too. At the back, there's a 13MP primary camera with LED flash.

All-in-all, we found the design of the Xiaomi Redmi 4A to be likeable. However, even for a 5-inch smartphone, it's quite a handful to use comfortably.

Display

The Redmi 4A has a 5-inch HD display of 720x1280 pixel resolution. During the limited time we had with it, we found the display to be good. It's bright and vibrant, but there's a little bit of pixelation due to the low-resolution. The phone also has a reading mode, which reduces eye-strain in low-light conditions. However, we'll only be able to talk about it more once we review the smartphone.

Hardware

Powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset paired with 2GB of RAM, the Redmi 4A has 16GB of internal storage. The device also supports microSD cards of up to 128GB in size. In our limited usage, we found the Redmi 4A to be overall smooth. From random app switching to web browsing, the phone handles everything fine.

That said, we'll reserve our final word till we review the device thoroughly.

Software

Xiaomi Redmi 4A runs Android Marshmallow out-of-the-box, topped with the company's MIUI 8 skin. The interface is pretty clean and user friendly, but there's no app drawer.

Camera

For imaging duties, the Redmi 4A has a 13MP rear camera (with LED flash) and a 5MP selfie snapper. Our sample shots with the cameras turned out to quite good. Images taken in well-lit conditions are good, but the same can't be said about low-light shots.

What we think

At a price of Rs 5,999, the Xiaomi Redmi 4A appears to be a good budget smartphone. But to know whether it's really value-for-money, you'll have to wait for our full review.