Redmi A1 Review: A New Android Go Entrant!

Xiaomi has released a new Android Go smartphone in its budget series called Redmi A1 with a big display and a new design. The smartphone comes in three amazing colors and is available at just Rs 6,499 on Amazon and Xiaomi online stores. Let’s see how the phone performs in real life and if it’s worth buying in our full Redmi A1 review with pros and cons.

Redmi A1 Review

Box Contents

The Redmi A1 (not to be confused with Mi A1) comes with neat packaging. Here’s what you get inside the box:

• Redmi A1
• 10W Charging Adapter
• Micro-USB cable
• Quick Start Guide

Redmi A1: Design and Build

Redmi A1 comes with a polycarbonate unibody design that feels solid in the hands. The leather pattern finish on the back provides a better grip during one-hand usage. The smartphone comes with a power button and volume rocker on the right side. The left side equips the SIM tray slot which also features a dedicated microSD card slot.

 

You get a micro USB port on the bottom edge, followed by the primary microphone and a 3.5mm audio jack. The loudspeaker is provided on the top which is better than the rear placement which often muffles the loudspeaker.

Overall, the build quality and design of the smartphone are better than you can expect from a smartphone at this price range.

Redmi A1: Display

Redmi A1’s 6.52 inches display is bright and sufficient for all the media consumption you need from a budget smartphone. It is an HD+ (1600×720) panel and it comes with 400 nits peak brightness. In our testing, the peak brightness turned out 250 lux which is good enough for a budget smartphone.

The display got a dewdrop notch design which looks a bit outdated but it doesn’t feel much when watching videos. The outdoor visibility is also decent but the content washes out under direct sunlight. All-inclusive, the brightness is decent for indoor usage but you need to crank it to maximum when stepping outside.

Redmi A1: Performance

The Redmi A1 comes with a MediaTek Helio A22 processor which is a common chipset among budget smartphones. You can even find this processor on smartphones at a much higher price compared to Redmi A1.

The processor is very capable of giving you a decent performance but the amount of RAM doesn’t allow it to do much here. It comes with 2GB RAM and 32GB internal memory which you can expand using the dedicated micro SD card.

The limited RAM here makes the smartphone very laggy and the apps take too long to load. Switching between different opened apps is also not great here. In my testing, it could not even manage to keep 3 apps open in the background.

Coming to the gaming part, I ran the Call of Duty Mobile at available low graphics and medium fps settings. The smartphone takes a long time to load the game but once loaded there is no issue in the gameplay. There’s no heating issue here. Even after playing games for an hour, the back panel barely got warm.

Redmi A1: Software / Android 12 Go

This is one part where I can praise Redmi for doing their best job. The Redmi A1 runs Android 12 Go Edition out of the box and comes with a vanilla interface. The OS got no bloatware whatsoever and whatever unnecessary apps you see in the app drawer can be uninstalled from the settings.

Despite being a Go edition smartphone, you can install all the apps on the smartphone including the regular version of Instagram, Facebook, and more.

The software complements the low-end hardware and aids plausible performance. It works seamlessly and stays solid unless you want to switch apps on it.

Redmi A1: Camera

The Redmi A1 comes with a dual camera setup at the back which includes an 8MP main sensor paired with a depth sensor. The smartphone comes with a 5MP shooter as a selfie camera with a dew drop notch design.

The camera performance I should say is just decent in well-lit conditions but as soon as you step inside the quality immediately degrades. It starts to lack detail and even the color accuracy drops drastically. The selfie shooter also captures sub-par quality pictures which you may not want to share on your social media pages.

Overall, they’re just an average pair of cameras. They’ll get the basic job done but don’t expect them to shoot Instagram-ready photos.

Redmi A1: Battery

Redmi A1 comes with a whopping 5000 mAh battery which will give you more than one day of usage with extensive usage. In my testing starting from 70 percent,  I barely did gaming on this smartphone and it still had enough battery at the end of the day.

The smartphone comes with a 10W charger in the box with a USB Type A to micro USB cable. The charger takes more than 2.5 hours to charge the phone from 0 to 100 percent.

Redmi A1: Pros and Cons

Pros

• Big display
• Solid build
• Leather finish
• Android Go
• Big battery

Cons

• Mediocre camera
• Sub-par multitasking
• Thick bezels

Redmi A1 Review: Final Verdict

Redmi A1 is a decent smartphone for students or elders who are getting their first experience on “any” smartphone altogether. It will be good for them to watch movies, play games, and install some educational apps. If you want a secondary Android smartphone just for calls, only then I can recommend you this smartphone.

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