I am one of the people who got the Redmi 1s in the flipkart sales. I am sure that many indians would want to buy this phone because, just like me, many people will feel this phone is the best bang for the bucks(value for money) since the hardware in the phone is really good.
Here are the positives:
Surely best hardware specs for the price.
MIUI software is one of the best - gives loads of customizations.
Competitive price.
Great display, (thanks to good PPI) and good battery backup.
BUT, here are some things you better know:
The software that runs the hardware hangs frequently. I own a MI3 & Redmi: both have this issue. Expect at least 3 times system restart per day.(I have not installed a single game, yet both phones hang frequently & restart by themselves while doing normal activities like messaging, calling, browsing, etc)
MIUI is made for, by and is from Chinese. So almost all the extra themes that you get WILL have some chinese left-overs in the theme. E.g. date display, unlock screen, battery%, etc will have chinese characters instead of English. I am feel that Xiaomi still has a long way to go if they truly want to expand their clientele to India(or for that matter, any non-mandrin location)
The phone does not have a back light for the menu buttons! What kind of a screwed up design is that? Even basic model phones in a 3000 range come with backlit menu keys. This is really disappointing. I feel it is a pseudo-design made purposely to differentiate Redmi from MI3! Bad planning, Xiaomi!
SAR value is the highest for all Xiaomi phones compared to all other phones in the market right now. Well, I am just informing you of what I have done research: this didn’t however twart me from booking my phones!
Final call? Well, if you are looking for a phone with awesome specs and don’t mind the occasional(to be read as 3 times a day) hanging, the stink of some Chinese characters in your Screen & the SAR value, Redmi is one hell of a phone, go for it!
P.S. Note that Flipkart has disabled reviews for this phone! Hmm, I really wonder why would they do that! That is why I was forced to give my review here.
Cheers!