Xiaomi announced the Redmi 5, the successor to last year’s Redmi 4, in December 2017. It isn’t a radical departure from its predecessor, but features a new edge-to-edge design and a number of under-the-hood improvements. Xiaomi initially offered the Redmi 5 in two configurations, one with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage and another with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, but on Thursday quietly began shipping a model with 4GB of RAM.
The new Redmi 5 variant, which has 32GB of storage, starts at 1,099 yen (~$174)—a tad pricier than the 2GB RAM and 3GB RAM models’ 799 yen (~$120) and 899 yen (~$135) asking prices, respectively. It comes in the same colors—black, gold, and light blue—and otherwise appears to be identical to its lower-specification counterparts.
To recap, the Redmi 5 has a 5.7-inch HD+ (1440×720) LCD display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, and a 3,300mAh battery that Xiaomi claims can last up to two days on a single charge. Under the hood, it packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 octa-core system-on-a-chip (SoC) featuring clusters of Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz, and an Adreno 506 GPU.
The phone’s cameras are nothing to scoff at. The rear 12MP sensor has a 1.25-micron pixel size and phase detection autofocus, and the front-facing 5MP sensor has an LED flash that brightens up low-light selfie sessions.
Other conveniences include a 3.5mm headphone jack, support for Bluetooth 4.2, a hybrid dual SIM/microSD slot, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, a microUSB port, and Xiaomi’s Android Nougat-based MIUI 9 skin.
The 4GB Xiaomi Redmi 5 is a bit of a tough sell considering the Redmi 5 Plus, which boasts a 5.99-inch Full HD+ display, a Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor, and a 4,000mAh battery, starts at 1,299 yen (~$196) with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. But for folks who aren’t willing to trade up to a larger phone, the new Redmi 5 model might be just the thing they’ve been waiting for.
Via: GizmoChina