Xiaomi is one name that has changed the whole definition of Indian smartphone market. When companies like Samsung, Sony and Motorola were ruling the smartphone market, the Chinese manufacturer brought its handsets via e-retailers and offered amazing smartphones at affordable prices. The company got a very good response from the Indian consumers with record number of booking in almost no time.
After a long halt, Xiaomi is back with the successor of one of their most successful smartphone Redmi Note 2. The Redmi Note 3 is now officially launched in India and the price is starting at INR 9,999, you can book yours on Mi India website and also on Amazon India. The booking starts at 2 PM IST on 9th March.
In this review, we’ll start with the unboxing and take a quick look at different aspects including software and performance of the Redmi Note 3.
Redmi Note 3 India Specifications
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Redmi Note 3 India Coverage
Redmi Note 3 FAQ, Pros, Cons, User Queries and Answers
Redmi Note 3 Unboxing, Gaming and Quick Review
Redmi Note 3 Camera Review, Low Light Performance
Redmi Note 3 India Unboxing
The Redmi Note 3 that we have received is the Chinese unit so you can expect it to differ from the Indian package. The box is compact, much like the ones we see with Apple phones. The 3 different colour variants of the Redmi Note with the Mi logo are printed on the top of the white box. The sides have just the Redmi Note 3 written on them and rest of the manufacturing and device info is at the bottom.
As we opened the box, the first thing that we could see was the handset measuring slightly smaller than the size of the box. There are just two compartments; the upper compartment has the handset. The lower compartment has the rest of the contents in it.
Redmi Note 3 India Box Contents
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 comes with the USB 2.0, 2-Pin charger, documentation and a SIM ejection tool.
Redmi Note 3 India Review, Gaming, Pros and Cons [Video]
Physical Overview
The Redmi Note 3 follows a very common design language that we have seen in recent Meizu devices. It has rounded corners and edges which make it sit perfectly in hand. For the first time, Xiaomi has used metal in a Redmi phone. The back is made of metal which looks good and feels durable. Despite of the big screen size, you will not feel any discomfort holding the device or using it for gaming or clicking pictures.
The front has the speaker on the top, front camera and sensors on its right.
Moving downwards, you will find the touch capacitive navigation buttons which are backlit.
The volume rocker and lock/power keys are on the right side.
Dual-SIM tray is placed on the left side.
3.5 m audio jack is located on the top with an IR blaster and a dedicated mic. At the bottom, there is a micro USB port and a microphone.
This phone has got a beautiful back, which has two circular rings with shiny chrome finish. The camera module is at the top, followed dual-LED flash and fingerprint sensor just below it.
Moving downwards, you’ll find the Mi branding and the loudspeaker grill.
Redmi Note 3 India Photo Gallery
User Interface
The Redmi Note 3 runs on Android 5.1.1 with the essence of MIUI 7.0 on top. The UI looks very colourful and has a lot of animations, which actually look good and do not lag at any point. The UI is very good-looking and smooth; the optimization has been done nicely. The latest version of MIUI also brings some battery improvements, better response time. It also offers various modes like Lite mode (makes the UI lighter for better processing) and Child mode (to keep it safe from the children). The notification panel, settings menu, app launchers, icons and some other areas are tweaked and a lot of added options are available on this UI.
Gaming Performance
Redmi Note 3 is a stunner when it comes to gaming, and I have no doubt that it is one of the best devices in its range for gaming so far. I intentionally installed Nova 3, Asphalt 8 and Dead Trigger to test the gaming capabilities to the very last extent. My experience with Nova 3 was the best till date with a phone under this price range, I played the game for almost half an hour and I did not notice any issue except the tiniest of glitches during gameplay. Moving to Asphalt 8, I ran the game at medium definition for about 20 minutes, and the gaming experience was smooth as silk, the game was running without a hiccup and no abnormal heating was noted.
Note: – The gaming tests were done under an atmospheric temperature of 30 degree Celsius.
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The best thing about the Redmi Note 3 is the heat control, it seems like Qualcomm has done a great work to restrict heating on this chipset and the maximum temperature I noticed was 34 degree Celsius after one hour of continuous gaming.
Redmi Note 3 Gaming Performance [Video]
Redmi Note 3 India Performance and Benchmark Scores
The device performs impressive in day to day usage. I used it for browsing the web, playing games, shooting videos and clicking pictures, but there was no sign of any discomfort for the device at any point of time. It was handling almost every task with an ease and the 3 GB RAM is good enough to handle multitasking with an ease.
The benchmark scores of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 are:
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Conclusion
I spent my whole day with the Redmi Note 3 and I was sure about few things about the device. First is the design and build, which looks good and feels even better to use. The fingerprint sensor is an added advantage and it is one of the snappiest in the budget segment. The MIUI has got some nifty improvement and it feels a lot better than before. Gaming on this device was a treat, and you will never regret spending your cash on this handset once you experience the gaming on it. I am not a big Xiaomi fan but I would recommend this phone to those who want to make the most out of their money and love gaming on their phones.
