Redmi Y1 Lite First Impressions: A decent deal for Selfie Lovers

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has finally announced its new smartphone for selfie lovers, yes you read it right, the company has launched Redmi Y1 Lite at Rs 6999. It will be available on Amazon and the sales will start from 12 Noon on November 8, 2017.

The new smartphone comes with octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, along with 2GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage which can be further expanded up to 128 GB via microSD card.

We were present at the launch event and tested the handset for a brief time to find out what Xiaomi has to offer this time. Here's what we think of Xiaomi's new device - The Redmi Y1 Lite.

Design and Display: Metal uni-body and 5.5-inch HD Display

The Redmi Y1 Lite is actually a cheaper version of Redmi Y1. Both the smartphones have the exact same design and offer .The smartphone comes with rounded corners which makes it comfortable to hold.

It has a metal uni-body and boasts a 5.5-inch HD Display.The new smartphone comes in two variants i.e Dark Gray and Gold.

At the right side of the smartphone, you will find the volume and power button, while the hybrid SIM slot is on the left side. The headphone jack is placed at the top and the micro USB port is at the bottom between the speaker grills.

The smartphone has 13-megapixel rear camera along with the LED flashlight. The front panel has a 5-megapixel secondary camera along with LED flashlight to brighten up the images in non-ideal light situations.

Overall, the smartphone has an ergonomic design and display is quite responsive, seems decent and colors also look quite vibrant.

Camera : 13MP rear camera and a 5MP selfie camera

The new smartphone has 13-megapixel rear camera along with LED flashlight to help you capture images in low-light conditions, while, the secondary 5-megapixel camera along with f/2.0 aperture. It also has Smart and Pro Beautify mode.

We tested both the cameras for a brief period and found that the shots showed good detailing on the 5.5-inch screen, however you should keep an eye out for the comprehensive review of the smartphone.

Processor and RAM: Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor

Redmi Y1 Lite is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, along with 2GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage. Which can be further expanded up to 128 GB via microSD card and just like Redmi Y1, there's a dedicated microSD card slot with Dual-SIM (nano+nano) capabilities, which seems good at this price point.

Qualcomm is not always the first choice for smartphone manufacturers when presenting a smartphone in the sub-10 k price segment. However, Xiaomi has offered a device with a Snapdragon 425 Soc clocked to 1.4Ghz which sounds promising.

Moreover we will give our final verdict after reviewing the handset.

Battery and Software: 3080mAh high-capacity battery

Redmi Y1 Lite offers 3080mAh battery unit, which the company claims is good enough to offer 35 hours of call time, and 11 days of standby time. We will evaluate such claims while reviewing the handset.

On the software front, Redmi Y1 Lite comes with the latest Android 7.1 Nougat. Interestingly, Nougat allows users to treat SD card memory also as system memory.

In our brief stint with the handset, it seemed quite responsive and we did not face any performance issues. Stay tuned for the complete performance test of Redmi Y1 Lite on Gizbot.com.

Conclusion

Redmi Y1 Lite seems like a decent budget smartphone with a graceful design as its highlight features. We didn't face any major issues with the smartphone in our brief usage. However, we will stress test the handset to find out its real potential in the coming week.