Smaller price smarter mobileOne of the first things you notice when you hold the Xiaomi Redmi 4A in your hands is that despite looking a lot like metal, the body is actually polycarbonate. The rear panel has separate segments at the top and bottom that mimic the antenna bands seen on metal-bodied Redmi models.
The new smartphone closely follows the design language of previous Redmi phones, and buyers in this price segment won’t be disappointed. With a relatively small 5-inch screen, the Redmi 4A is compact and therefore easy to use with just one hand. The volume rocker and power button are easily accessible on the right side, while the hybrid SIM slot is on the left. The charging port is on the bottom, and there’s a 3.5mm audio jack and infrared emitter on the top.
From the rear, this phone looks strikingly similar to the Redmi 3S. The Mi branding and the speaker grille at the back, are identical to those on the Redmi 3S. There is no fingerprint reader on the Redmi 4A, which isn’t a surprise considering its price tag.
The phone has slightly curved edges, though we would prefer the overall shape of the Redmi 3S, which is more rounded and fits better in a palm, in our experience. On the Redmi 4A, the sides meet the edges with only a slight curve. However, the rear panel of this phone has a matte finish and offers a slightly better grip.
At roughly 132 grams, the Redmi 4A is lighter than the Redmi 3S which weighs 144 grams. Xiaomi announced at the India launch that the Redmi 4A is the lightest Redmi ever. Notably, both models are 8.5mm thick. The Redmi 4A has been launched in three colours - Dark Grey, Gold, and Rose Gold. We received a Dark Grey unit for review.
The Xiaomi Redmi 4A comes with a charger, Micro-USB cable, warranty card, user guide, and SIM eject tool. As with other Xiaomi products, the Redmi 4A’s retail box doesn’t include a headset, which might be disappointing for some users. The retail box flaunts a Made in India tag. At its launch event, Xiaomi stated that 95 percent of its phones are now manufactured in India.
Xiaomi Redmi 4A specifications and software
The Redmi 4A features a 5-inch HD ( 720x1280-pixel) display and boasts of a 296ppi pixel density. The company claims that the screen can reproduce 72 percent of the NTSC colour gamut. The display is vivid, and colour reproduction is adequate. We had no problems using the phone under direct sunlight. Text and images appear sharp while videos look good. The Redmi 4A offers a Reading mode which makes colours easier on the eyes, and also allows colour temperature adjustment through the Settings app.
The smartphone is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 425 processor clocked at 1.4GHz, with integrated Adreno 308 graphics. It has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage which can be expanded using a microSD card ( up to 128GB) . The handset packs a non-removable 3120mAh battery, which the company claims can deliver seven days of standby time. Apart from 4G with VoLTE, the Redmi 4A supports Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi 801.11 b/g/n, GPS/AGPS, and GLONASS.