Xiaomi Redmi Y2 First Impressions: Promising upgrade to the Redmi Y1

Xiaomi Redmi Y2 will be available in 3GB+32GB and 4GB+64GB variant at Rs. 9,999 and at Rs. 12,999 respectively.

|
Xiaomi Redmi Y2 Unboxing and First Impressions

Xiaomi has added yet another budget smartphone to its wide portfolio in the Indian market. The new smartphone- Redmi Y2 is the successor of the popular Redmi Y1 and will be available in two variants- 3GB+32GB and 4GB+64GB at Rs.9,999 and Rs. 12,999 respectively. Xiaomi Redmi Y2 will be available at Amazon.in and Xiaomi's official website Mi.in by June 12, 2018.

 
Xiaomi Redmi Y2 First Impressions: Promising upgrade to the Redmi Y1

The Redmi Y2 is a selfie-centric budget smartphone and sports a16MP front-facing camera that uses Artificial Intelligence to improve your selfie experience. The smartphone alsofeatures a 12MP+5MP dual-lens rear camera setup that can create hardware driven bokeh effect.

The Redmi Y2 also follows the latest market trends and boasts an 18:9 aspect ratio screen. At a starting price of Rs. 9,999, the Redmi Y2 will compete with the recently launched Honor 7A and 7C budget smartphones and even Xiaomi's very own Redmi Note 5.

Let's have a look at the features and initial performance on the Xiaomi Redmi Y2 smartphone in our first impressions.

Design: Inspired from Redmi Note 5 Pro

Design: Inspired from Redmi Note 5 Pro

Redmi Y2 looks a lot like the mid-ranger Redmi Note 5 Pro; however it's made out of plastic and feels somewhat less premium. The smartphone features a massive 5.99-inch display, a reason it is not a perfect fit for one-hand use. Thankfully, the budget smartphone has rounded corners and curved edges which ease up the handling to some extent.

The rear side features a circular fingerprint scanner, a vertically aligned dual-lens camera setup at the top left corner and Mi branding at the bottom. There are some interesting antenna lines on top and bottom of the smartphone. The power button and volume rockers are placed on the right side and the hybrid SIM card tray is positioned at left side. The bottom holds the micro USB 2.0 charging port and speaker grills. The 3.5mm headphone jack sits at top along with the MIC and an IR blaster. The front of the smartphone is mostly covered by the 5.99-inch screen but there are thick bezels on top and bottom of the handset.

Xiaomi Redmi Y2 will be available in three colors- Gold, Dark Grey, and Rose Gold.

Display: Big 5.99-inch HD+ Display
 

Display: Big 5.99-inch HD+ Display

Redmi Y2 features a big 5.99-inch HD+ screen. The MIUI 9.5 allows you to calibrate the display properties and you can choose between Automatic contrast, Increased contrast and Standard contrast settings as per your requirement. You can also tweak the color tones as per your graphical preferences. The display comes in 18:9 aspect ratio format and offers a good real-estate to consume multimedia content. However; it's not very crisp as the big form factor with 720p resolution only results in a pixel density of 269ppi. Nevertheless, the screen is bright and with good contrast ratio, it will please consumers who love playing games and watching movies on their smartphones.

16MP AI (Artificial Intelligence) Selfie camera

16MP AI (Artificial Intelligence) Selfie camera

There's no stopping to the selfie craze and smartphone manufacturers are the one who are making the most out of it by offering selfie-centered handsets. As informed by Xiaomi, the company conducted some surveys in the Indian market and the results were pretty interesting. As per company's R&D, male smartphone users in India are clicking more selfies than ever and their number even surpasses the female smartphone users.

Redmi Y2 can be a good affordable option for selfie lovers. It is a successor to the selfie-centric Redmi Y1 and features a 16MP front-facing camera which now uses Artificial Intelligence to improve the selfie camera's performance. The 16MP front sensor works on f/2.0 and captures impressive shots in daylight. As Xiaomi states, the camera works on "Super Pixel" technology that combines four pixels into one large 2.0-micron pixel size. The process is said to reduce noise while taking selfies in low-light.

As far as performance is concerned in our initial tests, the images captured by 16MP selfie camera show good detailing and camera captures fairly natural skin color tones with default settings. The software-driven portrait effect by 16MP selfie camera also looks comparatively natural and better than the depth of field effect achieved by Honor's budget smartphones selling at the same price-point.

There are lots of features thrown in to let you experiment with the selfies you capture. In addition to the Beauty mode, Xiaomi has also added an advanced mode that can change your skin tone, enlarges your eyes, tweak your skin texture, etc. You can also enable HDR mode while clicking selfies; however, portrait mode will not work in that situation.

Overall, the 16MP selfie camera on Redmi Y2 is a good performer and will please selfie lovers in India. We will spend some more time with the camera to give you a final verdict.

Dual-lens Rear camera

Dual-lens Rear camera

As far as rear camera is concerned; Redmi Y2 sports a 12MP+5MP dual-lens camera setup. The camera is a decent performer in daylight and images are good enough to post on social networking sites. Xiaomi also claims that Redmi Y2's rear camera will offer better low-light results as the camera works on large 1.25 micron pixels.

The camera app is quite easy to use and you can change the different modes by just swiping right or left. The dual-lens rear camera can also create hardware driven bokeh effect. Besides, you also get a handful of filters to change the color tones of the images you capture. We will spend some more time with the new budget handset to evaluate its true camera potential.

Hardware and Software

Hardware and Software

Xiaomi is offering the tried and tested Snapdragon 625 CPU, which also powers the Redmi Note 5. The CPU is paired with two RAM configurations- 3GB and 4GB to handle multitasking. You also get Adreno 506 GPU alongside for graphics related tasks. As expected, the performance is smooth and mostly lag-free. The apps load instantly and you can stream videos on YouTube, play light games, edit pictures and browse internet simultaneously without any performance slowdowns. Redmi Y2 will not disappoint consumers who mostly use their smartphones for day-to-day tasks.

The Redmi Y2 runs on MIUI 9.5 based on Android Oreo. Like previous Xiaomi devices, the software performance is smooth and MIUI offers plenty of features and customizations. The MIUI 9.5 comes with Smart Photo editing app and AI-basef face unlock.

Xiaomi has also added gesture support this time that allows you to navigate throughout the UI of the phone with just swipes and gestures to offer extra screen real-estate. Xiaomi's rich theme store is also provided to let you change the look and feel of your handset. Besides, you also get Microsoft productivity apps preinstalled on Redmi Y2.

Battery and Connectivity

Battery and Connectivity

Xiaomi Redmi Y2 is powered by a humble 3,080mAh battery unit. The battery lasting capacity seemed good on this budget handset as it managed to last a full day with moderate usage. As far as connectivity is concerned, Redmi Y2 has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, microUSB 2.0 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Redmi Y2 comes with a dedicated microSD card slot.

Verdict

Verdict

Xiaomi Redmi Y2 seems like a promising budget Android smartphone. The handset offers a capable selfie camera, is powered by the tried and tested Snapdragon 625 CPU and runs the latest MIUI based on Android Oreo. It is priced aggressively and will give a tough fight to other smartphones selling in the same and even at slightly higher price-point.

Stay tuned for a comprehensive review of Xiaomi Redmi Y2 on Gizbot.com.

Best Mobiles in India

Best Phones

Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Yes No
Settings X
X