Overview Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus - the best budget smartphone beginning of 2018

You may have noticed that last year in the design of mobile devices have seen a revolution. In place of the traditional format come cinematic 18: 9 to narrow limits and spectacular filleted corners of the display.

Almost all large and small companies have already released smartphones, designed for new patterns. I do not stay aside and Xiaomi. 5 Redmi and Redmi 5 Plus came a little later than its competitors, but the delay they went only benefit. Model turned out so well that almost immediately became one of the most popular in its price segment.

In this review, we have carefully studied the characteristics and properties of the Redmi 5 Plus smartphone to give you an answer to a simple question: Is it really that good or is it just the magic of the brand?

Specifications

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 used in the Redmi 5 Plus, - one of the most popular and beloved by users of chips. It contains a processor with eight cores Cortex-A53, which operate at a maximum clock frequency of 2 GHz, which is enough for most mobile applications.

The chip is based on 14-nanometer manufacturing process, which provides excellent energy efficiency using its devices. Taking this into account, as well as the fact that the Redmi 5 Plus used on battery 4000 mAh, it can be said that the owners of this smartphone will not have problems with autonomy.

No complaints, and the memory subsystem. Of course, 3 or 4 GB of RAM is difficult to surprise anyone, but it's enough for most users. The new version of MIUI has made a big step forward in terms of optimization of system resources, so everything runs smoothly and quickly.

Packaging and appearance

The phone comes in a standard for devices of this series a little red box. Packaging is simple, but looks bright and stylish.

Components Redmi Plus 5 includes a smart phone, a charger, a connecting cable and a silicone protective cover. For him, a special thank you to the manufacturer - additional protection from scratches never hurts. He, by the way, good quality, and sits on the phone like a glove.

Smartphone rear cover is made of a metallic alloy, except for the plastic inserts above and below. Their color is a little different from the color of the main part of the rear surface, that might not like. But this feature is often found in low-cost smartphones, including the company Xiaomi, so that it remains just accept.

The layout of the traditional controls: on the right side - power button and volume rocker, on the opposite side - the tray for two SIM cards, instead of the one from which the card can be inserted memory. On the bottom is a connector for connecting microUSB-cable, and the left and right of it - the hole in microphone and an external speaker.

But the most remarkable part of Redmi 5 Plus - screen. It has a resolution of 5.99 inches at a resolution of 2160 × 1080 pixels and aspect ratio 18: 9. Although the display occupies a large part of the front surface of the smart phone, it is not a frameless. Frames there are quite tangible: on the sides of about 3 mm, and the top and bottom of its thickness is greater than a centimeter. However, this not only does not spoil the appearance of the device, but also makes it much more convenient to use as it is not something to accidentally click on the screen.

For appearance Redmi 5 Plus you can safely put the highest mark - a device in any color looks great. The new widescreen design looks fresh and attractive, the build quality does not cause any complaints.

Display and Audio

Although Redmi 5 Plus is positioned as a rather budget system, you can view it in the same doubts. Bright smartphone quality display with a resolution of 2160 × 1080 pixels would look quite appropriate, and in far more expensive devices.

Large diagonal does not affect the usability - thanks to the elongated shape of the phone perfectly in the hand. Screen without errors displays all the colors, the picture looks contrast and saturation. For lovers of fine tuning to MIUI, you can change some parameters of the image.

Screen brightness varies widely, but in the sun it seemed to us the maximum value sufficient for comfortable work. But the night reading lovers can be completely quiet for your eyes. Minimum level of brightness in combination with a special reading mode allows you to turn the pages for hours.

As for the sound, the Redmi 5 Plus - one of the few smartphones that do not want to criticize about it. Yes, there are complaints about the quality of the external speaker, yes, audiophiles can bend the lips and talk about bass depth and clarity of the upper frequencies, but the competition in this price range sounded this gadget not bad. Until now, still falls short of the maestro, but irritation while listening to is no longer in.

Performance

Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus is built on the same platform as the recently visited us Mi A1So the test results are almost identical. Interestingly, even the fact that one of the devices running pure Android, and on the other installed MIUI, not too affected the results.

We can say with confidence that the owners of this smartphone will not experience any performance issues. Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor easily handles tasks such as surfing the web, working with images, watching movies, chatting messengers. We find it hard to imagine a situation in which the Redmi 5 Plus might stumble or stall.

3 or 4 GB RAM enough for smooth operation of an operational system and fast switching between the previously running applications. Built-in video card allows you to have fun not only simple kazualki or puzzles, but also quite adult 3D-projects. For example, all the favorite "tanks" at medium settings work without problems.

autonomy

The smartphone Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus installed battery capacity of 4000 mAh. Someone may say that it is not so much, and pulled out his "Chinese" with a battery of five or six thousand.

However, the problem is that is not always in the Chinese smartphone declared corresponds to the actual tank. Unless, of course, is not Xiaomi products, which does not fall to such tricks. So real 4000 mAh rather than drawn competitors.

In the test PC Mark Battery battery, which measures the time of the device during normal user tasks, Redmi 5 Plus lasted 12 hours and 40 minutes. This is a good result, saying that in real life you will recharge the device about a day.

Camera

Before we talk about the camera operation, you must once again look at the name of the smartphone. That's right, Redmi - a line of budget devices that are designed for a wide range of users. It would be foolish to demand from the smartphone of the same quality pictures, which give the average person or the flagship model.

Nevertheless, blame photos Redmi 5 Plus we do not. The main camera of the device does its work in the daytime. Quality night shots a little bit worse, but not enough to discourage experimentation. Sometimes, when the stars line up in the correct combination on the palate, and the photographer's hand can rely on something hard, you can get interesting pictures.

Do not forget that the Redmi 5 Plus is, like most of the smartphones of the company Xiaomi, instantly obzavolsya an army of users, who immediately began to look for ways to improve the gadget. active work on screwing the phone Camera2 API, porting of third-party cameras, and other improvements in the standard software so now underway. So there is hope that in the future the quality of images can be improved.

Software

Redmi smartphone 5 Plus running the latest version of MIUI 9, which is based on Android 7.1.2. We were sent to review the Chinese version system, in which there were only two languages ​​(Chinese and English), as well as a large number of specific software designed exclusively for local market.

But after a while came the global version of the firmware on which the phone was safely re-flash. It is already there are other languages, and Google Play Store so that you can set all your favorite applications and services without any problems.

Now Redmi 5 Plus should initially be sold with this firmware, so that most of our readers do not encounter similar problems. However, if you buy a smartphone in the Chinese online stores, pay attention to this aspect.

As for MIUI, then its latest version has become even more convenient and beautiful. The shell works quickly and smoothly, applications launch instantly, too does not drain your battery - it is a pleasure. MIUI fans will be satisfied, and the usual Android lovers will be able to set one of the alternative firmwares that are sure to appear soon.

results

At the end of the review we usually list the strengths and weaknesses of the device, so that readers can make a final conclusion about the advisability of purchase. In the case of Redmi 5 Plus make it a breeze - this model has no disadvantages.

Budget models Xiaomi Company has always enjoyed great popularity due to the excellent quality-price ratio. Consumers like that for a relatively small amount of money they receive reliable device with a good performance and beautiful operating system, which is maintained for several years old. All this fully applies to the new Redmi 5 Plus. In addition, it has a large screen and a spectacular modern design.

More for the money it is hard to imagine why we recommend Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus to buy. The main issue in this case - what color and how much memory? Recall that this smartphone is available in gold, pink-gold, blue and black colors, and the price starts from 10 478 rubles for a younger version and reaches 12 807 rubles for a model with greater capacity.

The author expresses his gratitude to the store GearBest for providing the test device.