Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime First Impressions: New Wine In Old Bottle But A Recommendable Upgrade

Name: Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime First Impressions: New Wine In Old Bottle But A Recommendable Upgrade
Item: Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime First Impressions: New Wine In Old Bottle But A Recommendable Upgrade
Rating: 4.0
Author: Chakri Kudikala

By Chakri Kudikala

| Updated: Saturday, August 6, 2016, 16:12 [IST]

Xiaomi has been launching devices in India continuously this year. As popularly known, the Apple of China has regained the lost success with the launch of Redmi Note 3 in India and now, they are back with a couple of other budget smartphones - the Redmi 3S and the Redmi 3S Prime.

Rating:

4.0/5

The Chinese smartphone manufacturer company, today, successfully launched the successor to the Redmi 2 Prime, which was the best budget smartphone available when it was released last year. And, its successor, the Xiaomi Redmi 3S offers some great features at an affordable price tag.

Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime Launched in India at Rs. 8,999: 10 Things to Know Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime Launched in India at Rs. 8,999: 10 Things to Know

The Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime differs from Redmi 3S only in terms of RAM, internal storage and fingerprint scanner. It has got 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, while the Redmi 3S comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of on-board storage. The Redmi 3S is priced at Rs. 6,999, whereas the Redmi 3S Prime costs Rs. 8,999.

We, at GizBot, got our hands on the bigger sibling of the Redmi 3S, the Redmi 3S Prime and here is what we think of the smartphone after using it for a while. Take a look at our first thoughts about the handset below.

A Stripped Down Version of the Redmi Note 3

The Redmi 3S Prime, at first look, reminded us of the Redmi Note 3. It looks almost identical to the Redmi Note 3, except for the smaller 5-inch 720p display. The capacitive buttons are located in the bottom of the display and above the display there is a proximity sensor, speaker, and front facing camera.

Metal built and Weight

The Redmi 3S Prime comes with allmetal uni-body design, which is very rare in its price range. The Redmi 3S Prime weighs 144 grams and is very much comfortable for one-handed usage, thanks to the metal build with chamfared edges.

Fingerprint Scanner on a Budget

On the back, is a fingerprint sensor located below the antenna bands and the rear camera is on the top left along with a single-tone LED flash. There isn't much change in terms of design when compared to the Redmi Note 3.

Smaller Display

The Redmi 3S Prime comes with a 5-inch 720p display and it is pretty decent for a smartphone which costs under Rs. 10,000. Though the display is a fingerprint magnet, it won't affect the viewing angles. Alternatively, you can tweak the display by enabling modes such as Warm, Standard, and Cool.

Snapdragon 430 Does a Decent Job

The Redmi 3S and the 3S Prime are the first devices to launch with the Snapdragon 430. And, in our short time with the smartphone, the device doesn't exhibit any sort of lag of frame drops, which can make it a pretty dependable smartphone offering.

Bigger Battery

Both the Redmi 3S and the 3S Prime retains the same 4,100mAh battery from the Redmi Note 3. We did not see any huge battery drain in our entire usage as MIUI is optimized perfectly to save the battery life. Additionally, MIUI allows you to create battery profiles with which you can preserve your battery.

Heavily Skinned MiUi 7

The Redmi 3S Prime ships with MIUI 7 out-of-the-box. Xiaomi, at the launch event, said that the smartphone will receive the MIUI 8 when it releases to public.

Decent Camera with the iOS look-alike camera application

The Redmi 3S Prime comes with a 13MP rear camera, which looked pretty decent in the time we spent with the device. The front facing camera is of 5MP and gets the job done.

IR Blaster

All the Xiaomi devices released this year came with an IR Blaster and the Redmi 3S Prime is no exception. You can control TV, AC, etc with the help of IR Blaster. And, the MIUI comes with a preinstalled 'Remote' to handle the IR Blaster functionalities.

Final Thoughts

Priced at Rs. 8,999, the Redmi 3S Prime is a great device for the users who are looking for a smaller display. That said, there is some stiff competition from other manufacturers such as Lenovo and Micromax. However, we will be pushing the review in coming days on how the smartphone actually fares in day-to-day usage.

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