Design of Xiaomi Redmi 6A
The first thing you will notice is the screen. This time Xiaomi has made the 18:9 screen a part of the entry-level budget device. The front panel of the phone looks plain and simple. The edges of the screen are slightly curved, which looks good. The display is not completely bezel-less. There is still a lot of bezel on the top, bottom and sides. But the overall look is quite sleek. The body of the Redmi 6A is made of plastic. There is nothing surprising in it. Redmi 6A will be available in black, blue, gold and rose gold colors. The black unit we got for review looks good. But during use, fingerprints definitely appeared on its back.
The camera is slightly raised on the back panel. The weight of Xiaomi Redmi 6A is 145 grams. The power and volume up and down buttons are on the right side, fingers reach the buttons easily. There is a 3.5 mm headphone jack on the top of the phone and a micro-USB port at the bottom. The speaker is at the bottom of the back. This means that the ringtone or alert sound will not be clearly heard if it is kept on the bed or any other surface. You will not find a fingerprint sensor on the back panel of this phone. However, in smartphones of other companies in this budget, you have been given a fingerprint sensor for security. There are two separate trays on the left side. One is for a single nano SIM card and the other has a slot for a nano-SIM and a separate microSD card.
Xiaomi Redmi 6A Specifications and Software
Xiaomi has used MediaTek brand’s new Helio A22 processor in this phone instead of Qualcomm 400 series chipset. This is the first chipset of MediaTek’s new Helio A series. It is made from 12nm process. That means better battery life is expected. It is possible to use 4G data from any SIM in Redmi 6A. But only one SIM will support VoLTE HD at a time, no matter which slot it is in. There are two variants of Redmi 6A based on storage – 16 GB and 32 GB. Both variants come with 2 GB RAM. Our review unit had 16 GB storage. We have 16 GB RAM variant available for review. We found that only 10 GB was available for use in the phone after pre-installed apps. The phone has support for microSD card up to 256 GB. The 18:9 screen is 5.45 inches. Its resolution is 720×1440 pixels. A 3,000mAh battery is provided for power backup.
In the phone, you will already get UC Browser, Chrome and Xiaomi’s default browser, Facebook, Amazon, PhonePe, Netflix, Opera and other third party apps. The phone has a Facemoji keyboard which is equipped with emojis, stickers, GIFs, themes and other things. Apart from this, you will get Microsoft apps in the phone. Mi Music and Mi Video are full of promotional content. There is also spam in the gallery app, after playing the recorded video, we saw a screen that suggests Hungama videos. You will see ads on the full screen in the theme app, storage cleaner function in the settings app and security app. We were a little disappointed after seeing so many ads. It would be wrong to say that the MIUI interface is not good. It will have features like UI customization options, clone apps, display color tone adjustment, gestures etc.
Xiaomi Redmi 6A performance, battery life and camera
This budget smartphone from Xiaomi will not disappoint you in use. The phone slows down a bit when switching from one app to another and after closing the app. You can use messages and other apps after one or two seconds of loading. Sometimes one or two apps took a little time to start. If you want, you can hide the onscreen Android navigation buttons and use gestures instead. But according to us, these are very slow. The keyboard also bothered sometimes. But Google’s Gboard is pre-installed. Just 2 GB RAM is not enough for Android.
The screen size is quite good for watching videos and playing games. We did not face any problem in the viewing angle of Xiaomi Redmi 6A. The sound of the speaker on the back panel is not very good. Redmi 6A has scored 61,053 in AnTuTu, 765 in Geekbench single-core and 2,306 in multi-core test. It has scored 20fps in GFXBench T-Rex test, although 3D games do not run well on the phone. It has scored 5,451 in 3D Mark Ice Storm Extreme test and 453 in SingleShot test.
A 3,000mAh battery has been provided for power backup. Redmi 6A lasted for 13 hours and 22 minutes. The credit for this goes to the processor and MIUI optimization. In normal use, its battery will last you the whole day. If you do not use the phone too much, then the battery will last for about one and a half days. On the other hand, it takes about 3 hours for the battery to fully charge from zero. For connectivity, there is WiFi 802.11 b / g / n, Bluetooth version 4.2 and GPS. Redmi 6A runs on MIUI 9.6 which is based on Android 8.1 Oreo. Our review unit had received the security patch of August 2018. Currently, no information is available about the Android 9.0 Pie update. In use, Redmi 6A did not disappoint most of the time. At times, lag was felt. But there is nothing to worry about. It takes about 3 hours for the phone to fully charge from 0.
The camera quality of low-cost phones is not that great. If you want to capture great photos, then this phone is not the best for you. This phone is perfect for those who just want to click the actual picture and share it on social media and messaging apps. There is a 13-megapixel camera on the rear. It is equipped with f / 2.2 aperture and PDAF. Our sample shots came out fine. The details were satisfactory and the focus was also sharp. There were some shots in which it was clearly visible that the focus was not locked on the perfect spot. Small bright objects or some parts of the frame came out awkward. Generally the colors came out bright and vibrant.
At night, we had to be very careful to stay steady and avoid shaking the phone while clicking photos. Photos came out well when there was a source of light nearby. In low light areas, the photos came out completely black. We found that no matter what the situation, the Redmi 6A takes about a second or two to save photos. You will be able to record videos up to 1080p resolution. But they are shaky and a little jerky. Photos taken in bright sunlight came out unnatural and overly sharp. The performance of the 5-megapixel front camera is satisfactory. Photos are of entry-level quality. The camera app has features like time lapse and panorama mode.
Our verdict
Overall, the Redmi 6A is a great update to the Redmi 5A. The Redmi 6A has a bigger screen and a better processor. The price of Rs 5,999 is also tempting, especially considering the weakening rupee. But the Redmi 5A’s price of Rs 4,999 was more tempting. This is also the “introductory” price of the Redmi 6A. We don’t know how long this price will remain. The Redmi 6A will get you 2 GB RAM and 16 GB storage instead of the 3 GB RAM and 32 GB variant. If you are willing to spend a little more money, you will get the Redmi 6’s 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage variant with a better processor and fingerprint sensor. As far as challenges are concerned, the Redmi 6A is much better than other phones of its price range, be it the Coolpad Mega 5A or the more expensive Honor 7S. We would say that even if this phone costs Rs 1,000 more, it is still a better option.