Xiaomi recently introduced a new budget-centric smartphone in India, known as Redmi 7. The smartphone comes with a price of Rs 7,999 for the 2GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage, while the 3GB RAM and 32GB variant is priced at Rs 8,999.
With this, the company is once again eager to dominate the budget segment in India and is all set to challenge other brands with its new design language coupled with some interesting specifications. However, can be it as successful as other Redmi phones at this price range? Let’s take a closer look.
What we like about Redmi 7!
The first thing you will like about this device is the new design language. Gone are those days when Xiaomi’s phones were not good looking. With the Redmi 7, Xiaomi has finally adopted the new design trend: glossy and gradient finish. However, it is not something new, we have seen in it multiple smartphones including Realme C2, Infinix Smart 3 Plus and more. However, the gradient finish on this device certainly looks good and you will especially like the Blue colour option, which has a mixture of dark and light blue.
The display on the Redmi 7 is decent as well. The phone is equipped with a 6.26-inch HD+ display, which is an upgrade from 5.45-inch screen present in Redmi 6. The display offers some good colour options and the viewing angles are decent in nature. The large screen is beneficial for those who want to stream content on their smartphone. However, we did not notice that the phone’s screen was highly reflective in nature and it was difficult to see it under direct sunlight.
Another interesting thing about this device is the performance, the smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 Processor and has you an option between 2GB + 32GB and 3GB + 32GB variant. We got the latter for review and results were fairly good in our opinion. The phone was able to handle most of the daily tasks with flying colours and it delivers better performance as compared to its predecessor, the Redmi 6.
The gaming performance is quite decent as well. The phone is able to handle most of the casual games like a boss, while high-end games like PUBG Mobile ran just fine and one cannot expect to it deliver some stunning results. Strangely, the Asphalt 9: Legends was incompatible with this device.
Moving on, the camera performance of the Redmi 7 is quite satisfactory in nature. The phone captured some sharp images in broad daylight and the colours were quite close to the source. The phone was fast in locking focus on the subject, while AI Scene Detection did a good job in enhancing the results. The Redmi 7 was able to handle a complex lighting situation effective as the light and shadows were balanced correctly.
Lastly, the battery on the Redmi 7 does a great job in our testing. The 4000mAh battery easily lasted one full day under normal usage, which included using social media apps, streaming videos, 1 hour of gaming and occasionally checking emails. Under power usage, we got a comfortable 5 to 6 hours of battery backup.
What we don’t like about Redmi 7!
Although the design is quite decent in the Redmi 7, it seriously attracts smudges. We also noticed that the phone attracted tiny dust particles, which made it a tedious job to clean after regular interval of time. We also noticed that the phone was quite prone to scratches, so a protective is a must with this smartphone.
Moving on, the low-light performance of the Redmi 7 was quite average in our opinion. Although the phone captured some bright photos in low-light conditions, the colours were a bit washed out in nature. Furthermore, noises and grains were quite visible in the image and we also noticed that the camera shutter was a bit slow, which resulted in some blurry photos. The selfie performance is quite average in our opinion and the AI Beauty mode was quite aggressive in nature, which sometimes spoils the selfie experience.
Another major problem with the MIUI 10 is the pesky ads and it is also quite prominent in Redmi 7. One can see advertisements in most of the Mi apps like Mi Browser, Mi Videos and even in Mi Security. The latter App prompts every time you download an application from the Google Play Store and it just flashed ads in the name of scanning that particular application. Furthermore, the bloatware is still present on this device, which sometimes spoils the whole user experience.