redmi 8a design
At first glance, the Redmi 8A is hard to believe that it is such an affordable smartphone. Xiaomi has put a lot of work into designing this device and the Redmi 8A price in India is also less than Rs 7,000. The front of the Redmi 8A has a large 6.22-inch screen with Waterdrop Notch, remember that Xiaomi had given a 5.45-inch screen on the Redmi 7A.
The earpiece has found a place on the frame of the device, the bezels will be seen on all sides of the Redmi 8A. There is a border at the bottom of the Redmi 8A and you will find the Redmi logo on it. The sides of the Xiaomi Redmi 8A are curved, so the phone is comfortable to hold in the hand.
The power and volume buttons are located on the right side of the phone while the SIM tray is located on the left side of the phone. The top and bottom of the phone is flat, only at the top you will find the secondary microphone. The Xiaomi Redmi 8A has a USB Type-C port, which is great to have a Type-C port in this price segment.
The 3.5mm headphone jack, main microphone, and speaker are located at the bottom of the phone. Redmi 8A’s rear panel has a single camera with LED flash. There is no fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone.
Redmi 8A Specifications and Software
Xiaomi has provided an HD+ display with a resolution of 720×1440 pixels in Redmi 8A. Corning Gorilla Glass 5 has been used for screen protection. Like Redmi 7A, Redmi 8A also has a Snapdragon 439 processor. There are two variants of Xiaomi Redmi 8A, a 2GB RAM and 32GB storage variant, which costs Rs 6,499.
The price of the 3GB RAM and 32GB storage variant of Redmi 8A is Rs 6,999. We have the base variant of the Redmi 8A for review. Xiaomi is gradually increasing the battery capacity of its series phones. Recall that a 3,000 mAh battery was given to power the Redmi 6A (Review) and now the Xiaomi Redmi 8A has been launched with a 5,000 mAh battery.
FYI let us tell you that the Redmi 8A smartphone comes with 18W fast charging support but Xiaomi has provided a 10W charger in the retail box. The Redmi 8A has two nano-SIM slots and also a dedicated microSD card slot. Both SIM cards support 4G and VoLTE, along with Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and four satellite navigation systems in the phone.
The Redmi 8A comes with wireless FM functionality, which means you don’t need to use headphones to listen to FM. Talking about the software, Xiaomi Redmi 8A runs on MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie. Our review unit runs on the August security patch. The interface is similar to what we have seen on other Xiaomi phones.
Xiaomi Redmi 8A does not have an app drawer and all app icons are placed on the home screen, the phone comes with a lot of bloatware pre-installed including Mi Community, Paytm, Mi Credit, Mi Store, Amazon, Facebook, WPS Office, Dailyhunt, Gaana and Opera Mini included. Games like Ludo Master, Block Puzzle Guardian, Pop Shooter Blast, and Dust Settle will be pre-installed on Redmi 8A. Apart from this, there is also an app store called GetApps.
Like other Xiaomi smartphones, you will still get the same spam notifications on the Redmi 8A. We saw ads while installing new apps, and also found that even standard apps like Mi Music and Mi Video kept sending spam notifications. On the other hand, a feature like dual apps will also be available on MIUI.
With the help of this feature, you can create two apps from compatible apps. With the help of Google’s Digital Wellbeing feature, you can monitor how time passes on your smartphone. You can also use gesture navigation instead of the traditional three-button navigation. App lock is built into the phone, you can lock apps with the help of a password or facial recognition.
The phone also comes with a Game Speed Booster app which is claimed to optimize performance. You can also disable auto brightness and notification shade swipe gestures during gameplay.
Redmi 8A performance and battery life
The Redmi 8A packs decent hardware that provides a decent experience. There were very few occasions when the phone slowed down while using it, but heavy apps took a while to load. We got the 2 GB RAM variant for review and it was unable to run various apps in the background. There is no fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone, but the face unlock feature unlocks the phone quickly.
The viewing angles of the Redmi 8A are good, and the sound from the speaker is also loud. However, when I used the screen in bright sunlight, I felt like it could have been a bit better. We already have an idea of how the Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 processor works as we used it during the Redmi 7A (Review), so the Redmi 8A is not much different.
To spice up Redmi 8A, it has been given a large 5000 mAh battery. We tried using an active WhatsApp account, we took some camera samples, we used Google Maps to navigate for two hours, we ran some benchmarks and even after all this the phone battery lasted a whole day and at the end of the day the phone had 50 percent battery. Even then it stayed.
In our HD video loop test, the Xiaomi Redmi 8A lasted for 16 hours and 31 minutes. The 10W charger included with the phone charges the phone up to 25 percent in 30 minutes and 46 percent in an hour. The phone took 2 hours and 30 minutes to fully charge. Let us know that the Redmi 8A smartphone supports 18W fast charging and Xiaomi is selling the 18W charger for Rs 449.
redmi 8a camera
The single camera on the rear of the Xiaomi Redmi 8A is equipped with the Sony IMX363 sensor. A 12-megapixel camera sensor will be available on the rear panel of the phone, its aperture is F/1.8 and it comes with a 1.4-micron pixel size and dual-pixel autofocus. There is an 8-megapixel selfie camera on the front panel of Redmi 8A, its aperture is F/2.0 and it comes with 1.12-micron pixels.
Xiaomi has used the same camera application as always. In addition to photo and video modes, you’ll get shooting modes like Portrait, Pro, and Short Video. The phone also has HDR and AI scene detection. We found that the Redmi 8A focused quickly during the day, but slowed down slightly in low light.
Images captured with the Redmi 8A in the right light were decent, with sample shots lacking detail when zoomed in. During close-up shots, we found that the camera creates a good natural depth of field. The AI in the camera app works fast too, details are captured correctly in pictures taken from the phone in this price segment.
Portrait shots taken with the Redmi 8A had average edge detection, but the background looked slightly overexposed in some of our samples. Details were lacking in low light, Redmi 8A handles noise in low light but sharpness was lacking in images. Details were captured well in selfies taken during the day, and you can apply beautifying filters before taking the photo.
Photo quality isn’t particularly good in low light, as grains are visible when zoomed in. The main camera is capable of recording videos at 1080p resolution, but the phone lacks stabilization.
our verdict
Xiaomi Redmi 8A was launched in the Indian market shortly after Redmi 7A (Review). The Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 processor is the same in both phones, but the hardware has been improved. The Xiaomi Redmi 8A has a bigger screen and better cameras. Apart from this, Xiaomi has provided a USB Type-C port and a large 5000 mAh battery in Redmi 8A.
To recall, Xiaomi released the Redmi Note 7S (Review) shortly after the Redmi Note 7 (Review) and now the same has been done with the Redmi 8A. The Redmi 8A is priced slightly higher than the Redmi 7A launch price, so if you’re looking for a budget smartphone or a secondary device at a lower price, the Redmi 8A could be a good option for less than Rs. 7,000.<!–
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