Xiaomi Redmi A1+ Review: Budget phone with fingerprint sensor

November 09, 2022, 08:13 AM
by Md. Mehedi Hasan

UNB News
Publish- November 09, 2022, 08:13 AM
Md. Mehedi Hasan
Update- November 09, 2022, 08:52 AM

Xiaomi Redmi A1+

The Chinese electronics company Xiaomi’s subsidiary company Redmi was first introduced in July 2013 as a low-cost smartphone line. In 2019 it was separated into a sub-brand of Xiaomi to produce entry-level to mid-range Smartphones and gadgets. A1+ debuts in September 2022 under Redmi's entry-level lineup 'A' series. Let’s take a look at the specs, advantages, and limitations of Redmi A1+.

Key Features of Xiaomi Redmi A1+

Design and Features

The Xiaomi Redmi A1+ has preserved the dimensions of 164.9 x 76.8 x 9.1 mm or 6.49 x 3.02 x 0.36 in. It weighs 192 g. and has two SIM cards. It has a loudspeaker and a 3.5mm jack. The WLAN communications such as Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, hotspots, and so on are also there. It supports Bluetooth 5.0, and NFC. It has GPS, as well as A-GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, and BDS.

The phone bears a fingerprint scanner at the upper mid portion of the backside. It is probably the first smartphone in the international market to offer a fingerprint sensor. The rear side of the phone is made of premium-category plastic. It has a leather texture that gives an utmost elegant look. The back side also rooms a dual camera with a flashlight at the left upper corner of the phone.

There are three color options available for the Redmi A1, including light green, dark black, and light blue. For the purpose of this review, we used the option with the light green color, and we found that the natural hue pairs well with the simple design of the smartphone.

Display

The 6.52-inch IPS screen on the front of the device offers a typical 60 Hz refresh rate and an HD+ resolution of 1600 x 720 pixels. The display has a 120 Hz touch-sampling rate, a 400-nit screen brightness, and glass that resists scratches to safeguard the screen. Additionally, the front of the device sports a notch that houses a 5 MP selfie camera. On the phone, there is no fingerprint reader.

If you want to use it to view SD video, the display is fairly good. The display has a ceiling that it reaches rather early, and there isn't much more you can do with it after that. The outcomes were in line with what one would expect from a budget smartphone when we viewed videos on YouTube, Netflix, and Hotstar. Not really unique, but excellent for the cost.

In addition, the display is capable of reaching a maximum brightness of 400 nits and a refresh rate of 60 Hz. Although the sensation of scrolling is satisfactory, the haptic stimulation has been turned up to a significant degree. It's possible that you'll need to spend some time configuring the phone in order to fix that issue.

Camera

The cameras on the Redmi A1 Plus are similarly more focused on getting the job done than on wowing users with their quality or capabilities. When the lighting conditions are favorable, the 8-megapixel primary sensor on the rear of the device produces shots of satisfactory quality. It even does a respectable job with portrait photos (aided by the secondary 0.3-megapixel snapper on the back).

If you do not go into this situation expecting top-of-the-line colors and detail, you will not be disappointed. Instead, you will end up with snapshots that are excellent enough to post on social media and send in emails and texts.

Videos are, at most, suitable for sharing on social media, although there is a useful time-lapse mode available. When there is not enough light, either still or moving images will have worse quality.

Even while the color reproduction of the 5-megapixel front-facing camera is not quite up to grade, if you take your selfies in well-lit environments, you will have photos that are worthy of being shared.

This is not a camera for serious photographers; rather, it is a point-and-shoot model in the traditional sense. If you take enough precautions, you should be able to get passable results. Perhaps even the odd one out that stands out.

Performance and Hardware

The Redmi A1 Plus is driven by a chipset identified as a MediaTek MT6761 Helio A22. The performance of this processor is satisfactory when it comes to carrying out fundamental activities like navigating the internet, making video calls, utilizing navigation, and many other activities. 32 gigabytes (GB) of storage space is provided, and 3 GB of RAM.

The Redmi A1 Plus utilizes Android 12 GO, which is an operating system developed by Google specifically for use in low-cost smartphones. On top of this operating system, you won't find much evidence of MIUI at all. The user interface is rather uncluttered, and with the exception of Facebook Lite, the phone does not have any bloatware applications.

We put the smartphone's graphics processing unit, or GPU, to the test by playing some light games like Subway Surfers, Candy Crush, and Clash Royale. The handset features a PowerVR GE8320 GPU.

As soon as we were satisfied with the smartphone's overall performance, we fired up Garena Free Fire Max and got to playing. Even though there were some delays, the phone performed a good job of providing a gaming experience that was excellent.

Battery and Charging

The Redmi A1 Plus features a battery pack with a capacity of 5,000 mAh. As it is combined with the phone's basic hardware and operating system, results in extremely long battery life.

The smartphone's battery was easily able to last for two days with moderate use, which included sending and receiving messages on WhatsApp, browsing the web, listening to music, taking pictures, and watching nearly two hours of content each day. If you use the battery backup system more sparingly, you should have no problem reaching three days.

The smartphone can be fully charged using the 10W charger in less than three hours.

Price of Redmi A1+ in Bangladesh

The Xiaomi Redmi A1 Plus is not yet available officially in Bangladesh. In the Indian market, the phone costs INR 7,499 or BDT 9253. The conversion rate here is 1 INR = 1.23 BDT. However, the official price of Redmi A1+ in Bangladesh may vary due to tax and other issues.

Conclusion

In this phone, the manufacturer has included all of the necessary features that consumers anticipate seeing on an affordable smartphone without sacrificing the device's overall performance. A few features like the chin and bezel width and the VGA camera on the rear could be improved for a better experience.

On the whole, the Redmi A1+ phone provides a standard experience under the budget range. Those who are upgrading from a feature phone may consider Xiaomi Redmi A1+.