Xiaomi has been reacting ever since it became the market leader in India two quarters back. Competition is on the rise with rivals like Asus and Oppo offering budget devices with excellent specs on paper to take on Xiaomi.
XIAOMI REDMI Y2 (REDMI S2) SPECIFICATIONS
| Performance |
Octa core |
| Display |
5.99″ (15.21 cm) |
| Storage |
32 GB |
| Camera |
12 MP |
| Battery |
3080 mAh |
| Ram |
3 GB |
| Fingerprint Sensor Position |
Rear |
| Other Sensors |
Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer, Compass, Gyroscope |
| Fingerprint Sensor |
Yes |
| Operating System |
Android v8.1 (Oreo) |
| Sim Slots |
Dual SIM, GSM+GSM |
| Model |
Redmi S2 |
| Custom Ui |
MIUI |
| Brand |
Xiaomi |
| Sim Size |
SIM1: Nano SIM2: Nano |
| Network |
4G: Available (supports Indian bands) 3G: Available, 2G: Available |
| Fingerprint Sensor |
Yes |
| Loudspeaker |
Yes |
| Audio Jack |
3.5 mm |
| Chipset |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 MSM8953 |
| Graphics |
Adreno 506 |
| Processor |
Octa core, 2 GHz, Cortex A53 |
| Architecture |
64 bit |
| Ram |
3 GB |
| Thickness |
8.1 mm |
| Width |
77.2 mm |
| Weight |
170 grams |
| Height |
160.7 mm |
| Colours |
Elegant Gold, Rose Gold, Dark Grey |
| Display Type |
IPS LCD |
| Aspect Ratio |
18:9 |
| Screen To Body Ratio |
74.64 % |
| Pixel Density |
269 ppi |
| Screen Size |
5.99 inches (15.21 cm) |
| Screen Resolution |
720 x 1440 pixels |
| Touch Screen |
Yes Capacitive Touchscreen, Multi-touch |
| Internal Memory |
32 GB |
| Expandable Memory |
Yes Up to 256 GB |
| Settings |
Exposure compensation, ISO control |
| Camera Features |
Digital Zoom, Auto Flash, Face detection, Touch to focus |
| Image Resolution |
4000 x 3000 Pixels |
| Autofocus |
Yes Phase Detection autofocus |
| Shooting Modes |
Continuos Shooting, High Dynamic Range mode (HDR) |
| Resolution |
16 MP Front Camera |
| Physical Aperture |
F2.0 |
| Flash |
Yes LED Flash |
| Video Recording |
1920×1080 @ 30 fps, 1280×720 @ 30 fps |
| User Replaceable |
No |
| Type |
Li-ion |
| Capacity |
3080 mAh |
| Wifi |
Yes Wi-Fi 802.11, b/g/n |
| Wifi Features |
Wi-Fi Direct, Mobile Hotspot |
| Bluetooth |
Yes v4.2 |
| Volte |
Yes |
| Usb Connectivity |
Mass storage device, USB charging, microUSB 2.0 |
| Nfc |
No |
| Network Support |
4G (supports Indian bands), 3G, 2G |
| Gps |
Yes with A-GPS, Glonass |
| Sim 1 |
4G Bands:TD-LTE 2300(band 40) / 2500(band 41) FD-LTE 2100(band 1) / 1800(band 3) / 850(band 5)3G Bands: UMTS 1900 / 2100 / 850 / 900 MHz2G Bands: GSM 1800 / 1900 / 850 / 900 MHz GPRS:Available EDGE:Available |
| Sim Size |
SIM1: Nano, SIM2: Nano |
| Sim 2 |
4G Bands: TD-LTE 2300(band 40) / 2500(band 41) FD-LTE 2100(band 1) / 1800(band 3) / 850(band 5)3G Bands: UMTS 1900 / 2100 / 850 / 900 MHz 2G Bands: GSM 1800 / 1900 / 850 / 900 MHz GPRS:Available EDGE:Available |
It’s clear that the aggressive streak shown by rivals doesn’t seem to have affected the Chinese smartphone company. It’s doing what it does best: launch devices that come with reasonably good features but more importantly at attractive price points. The latest addition to Xiaomi’s arsenal is the selfie-centric smartphone, the Redmi Y2. The selfie craze refuses to die down and Xiaomi is looking to capitalise on it with the Redmi Y2. We played with the Xiaomi Redmi Y2 for a few days and here is what we felt about the smartphone:
Design
When you look at Xiaomi Redmi Y2, you will find that the handset has elements of both the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro with the back housing a dual rear camera setup and a fingerprint sensor, while the antennas that are running along the top and bottom edges of the device are similar to what we saw in the Xiaomi Mi A1. Having said that, there are improvements in both these design aspects. For instance, the dual rear camera setup is slightly less protruding and the antennas have been revamped from a patch to two separate lines.
Xiaomi Redmi Y2 comes with a familiar design and frankly looks like any other Xiaomi device we have seen in the recent past. There is no problem with that as the device still looks neat and premium and you certainly can’t complain about this at the price point. The Xiaomi Redmi Y2 comes in three colour options Dark Grey, Rose Gold and Gold. Our review unit was the Gold variant.
Display
The front of the Redmi Y2 is as usual dominated by the display along with the selfie camera, earpiece and the usual array of sensors on the top edge. The Redmi Y2 offers a large HD+ display of 5.9-inch with 1440×720 pixels resolution — same as the Redmi 5 (starting price Rs 7,999).
The display comes with features such as Reading mode, which reduces the blue light emissions; Schedule that lets you customize the period of this reading mode; Contrast and colour selection and text size options. While there weren’t issues with the colour reproduction at tricky viewing angles, it is obviously not as good as a full HD+ display resolution. Xiaomi itself is offering full HD+ at a starting price of Rs 9,999 with the Redmi Note 5. The sunlight legibility is not one of the strongest suits of the device and we also felt the display looks slightly dimmer, when viewed from a certain angle.
Performance
The Xiaomi Redmi Y2 is powered by a 2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC and Adreno 506 GPU — same as the Xiaomi Mi A1 (Rs 13,999) and Redmi Note 5 (starting price Rs 9,999). There are two storage options that you may choose from — 3GB+32GB and 4GB+64GB.
The Redmi Y2 runs runs Xiaomi’s MIUI 9 skin based on Android 8.1 Oreo out-of-the-box making it the first Xiaomi device in the country to run on Oreo with an OTA. All the recent Xiaomi devices came with Nougat-based MIUI whereas the competition handsets run on the latest operating systems.
Camera
Being a selfie centric smartphone, camera is one of the main features that Xiaomi is boasting about the Redmi Y2. It comes equipped with an Artificial Intelligence-based selfie camera of 16-megapixel, with an f/2.0 aperture and sensor HDR. For beautification, the camera has AI Beauty 4.0.
Battery
The 3080mAh battery on the Redmi Y2 — same as the Xiaomi Mi A1 — is said to last a day. In our experience, the battery of the smartphone lasted easily about a day with moderate usage. This involves routine tasks, as well as GPS tracking, watching Netflix content and more. For a heavy-duty user, it may not last that long.
Verdict
There is no doubt that Xiaomi Redmi Y2 is a reasonably good phone for the price. It offers a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, Android Oreo based operating system, 16MP AI-based selfie camera — all at a starting point of Rs 9,999. The camera, which is said to be the key highlight of the device, leaves a lot to be desired. For anyone who is buying Xiaomi for the first time, the Redmi Y2 will certainly check the right boxes. But for a repeat Xiaomi buyer, you may feel that these features are being pulled in from other Xiaomi handsets. Xiaomi seems to be following the mantra “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” which is working pretty well for the company.
