Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5 brings flagship quality to the mid-range
By Chong Jinn Xiung April 30, 2018
- Adds dual camera supported by AI technology
- Sports latest energy efficient Qualcomm processor
Xiaomi’s Redmi series of affordable phones have been known to offer value for money and the latest model the Redmi Note 5 aims to do the same and then some.
Starting with the Redmi Note 5, this is one of the first models to ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 635 chipset, making it step above other mid-range phones. It is said to offer respectable performance for its price range and offers better battery life.
The company has announced two variants of the device with a 3GB RAM and 32GB storage and another 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage.Fortunately, users have the option to expand with a microSD card.
With the Redmi Note 5 you get a massive 5.99-inch FullView display with a 18:9 aspect ratio that is housed in a body that is typically reserved for 5.5-inch phones.. The 2.5D front glass panel has gentle rounded edges and is made of durable glass so Xiaomi claims.
Speaking of battery life, the Redmi Note 5 has a 4,000mAh battery that offers plenty of juice to get you through the busy work day. In fact, Xiaomi is bold enough to claim that it can last up to two days.
Normally great optics are reserved for high end flagship phones but Xiaomi aims to change this with the Redmi Note 5’s dual camera system that consists of a 12-Megapixel (f/1.9) sensor and 5-Megapixel secondary camera.
It has a dual pixel autofocus feature that is said to offer even faster autofocus speed (up to 30x faster) compared to regular Phase Detect AutoFocus (PDAF). With it the camera can obtain focus on objects in an instant even in low light.
Also to note is that the pixel size of the main 12-Megapixel shooter is at 1.4μm (micron pixel), meaning to say it is better able to absorb more light and offers better performance in low light conditions.
Xiaomi adds that the Redmi Note 5’s camera offers a Portrait Mode that uses AI-based computing engine for more accurate edge detection to produce more convincing ‘bokeh’ effects.
Adding to that the phone also features Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS) to stabilise videos.
Not forgetting selfie fans, it has a 13-Megapixel front camera that is supported by Its Beautify 4.0 AI algorithm to accurately identify facial features and improve the quality of the selfie.
Adding to that Xiaomi said it is doubling its efforts in opening more Mi Stores in Malaysia. It currently has four in Malaysia and plans add six more stores in Penang, Johor Bahru, Malacca, Kota Kinabalu, Alor Setar and Klang by May 2018.
“The objective is to open more Mi Stores across Malaysia so as to make it easier to serve our fans as well as enable them to experience our ecosystem of products,” said the head of Xiaomi South Pacific region Steven Shi.
Shi adds that Xiaomi plans to open a store in all major cities across Malaysia but declined to give an exact number of Mi Stores it plans to open by year end.
“Malaysia remains to be an important market to us and we hope to bring more exciting products to Malaysia in Q3 2018,” he added.
According to Xiaomi the Redmi Note 5 will cost US$255 (RM999) for the 4GB RAM + 64GB variant and US$204 (RM799) for the 3GB + 32GB variant. It will be avail starting April 25 with pre-orders on Lazada expected to start and it will be available at its Mi Stores on May 5.
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