Review of the Xiaomi Redmi 6A smartphone: the flagship among state employees

Quite by accident, I published the review on September 5th. And then it suddenly turns out that on September 6th there is a good sale on Tmall for Xiaomi in general and the Redmi 6A model in particular.

• Xiaomi Redmi 6A 16 GB — RUB 5,992.
• Xiaomi Redmi 6A 32 GB — 6962 rub.
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1 64 GB — RUB 20,871.
• Xiaomi Redmi S2 32 GB — RUB 10,234.
• Xiaomi Redmi S2 64 GB — RUB 12,593.
• …etc….

Main characteristics of Xiaomi Redmi 6A

So that's what you are, the reindeer king of budget smartphones. Slightly slow, with a dim screen, without NFC and even without a fingerprint scanner.

Strange things are happening in the world. Anyone who follows my work knows that I am grumpy, but not too picky. Including the speed of the devices.

And Xiaomi Redmi 6A shows quite good results in synthetic tests. And toys fit perfectly on it, including very heavy ones. But at the same time, the feeling of some general sluggishness of the device did not leave me until the very end of testing.

But even despite this, the Redmi 6A is good, good. Although not without some features that it is better to know about before purchasing.

Price

When sales started, there was a nice promotion on Tmall and I bought Redmi 6A 2+32 GB for only 7,000 rubles. And the younger version could have been purchased for 6000... Now everything is a little more boring.

The best price for “white” devices is on mi.com. — 2+16 GB — 6965 rub. — 2+32 GB — 7980 rub.

Tmall boasts that they are exclusive, although this is no longer the case. — 2+16 GB — 7490 rub. — 2+32 GB — 8490 rub.

DNS (for Moscow, prices are slightly different in the regions). — 2+16 GB — 7499 rub. — 2+32 GB — 8999 rub.

In small stores specializing in gray technology, 2+16 GB costs from 7,400 rubles, 2+32 GB - from 8,200 rubles.

On Aliexpress, the younger version can be purchased at a price of 6,500 rubles.

(All prices are as of September 5, 2020).

conclusions

Despite the rather loyal attitude towards the Redmi 5A, the Redmi 6 series of smartphones received quite a lot of negative reviews, not least because of its unexpected decision to use processors from Mediatek in these devices. In comparison with the Meizu M5s, it’s difficult to say that the Xiaomi Redmi 6A received a fairly serious update, the first one is faster, it has a metal body and a brighter display, and if the smartphone is better in some way than its “old” competitor, it’s the camera and battery life. So, the main advantages and disadvantages of Xiaomi Redmi 6A:

Advantages:

• the case corresponds to modern trends (18:9, thin) and is well assembled;
• camera with fast focus and background blur (front);
• gaming performance (no excessive heating or throttling);
• presence of face unlock;
• loud, good external speaker;
• autonomy;
• system update (latest version of Android and MIUI 10 installed);

Flaws:

• thoughtfulness of the shell;
• problems with the proximity sensor;
• placing an external speaker on the rear panel;

Appearance

Neat, compact. Plastic, of course. The assembly is excellent.

Several colors. Golden, gray, black. The one I have is called blue in some places, blue in others. In fact, there is something in between light blue and gray. Nice calm color.

The plastic is matte, very practical, and doesn’t get dirty easily. Taking into account the good oleophobic coating of the screen, the smartphone is extremely neat.

There is a light indicator that can signal new notifications. True white and rather dull. In bright light, you may not notice it.

Boring details

Everything above the screen is standard. Front camera, speaker, sensors, LED.

There is nothing under the screen. Like all “long” smartphones, Android buttons are drawn on the screen.

Rear The camera and flash were shoved into the very corner to make it easier to accidentally cover the lens with your finger. The camera block protrudes noticeably. A millimeter, no less.

Below is a speaker. One, but very loud.

Top edge. 3.5mm audio output and noise canceling microphone.

Bottom. Micro-USB and main microphone.

Right side. Standard buttons. Volume rocker and switch on.

Left side. Two (!) trays. The first is for one Nano-SIM and a Micro-SD memory card. The second is for another Nano-SIM.

Equipment and appearance

The Redmi 6 box is made in the same style as the packaging of other smartphones in this series. The bright red cover bears the manufacturer's logo and the name of the device. At the bottom there is a sticker with brief technical specifications and barcodes.

The kit includes only the phone itself, charger and connecting cable. The manufacturer decided to save on everything, so users will have to buy not only a protective case, but also films for the screen.

You really can’t do without additional protection, since the case is completely plastic. This circumstance has both positive and negative sides. On the one hand, the body turned out to be quite light and pleasant to the touch, and on the other hand, the metal, of course, resists damage and deformation much better.

The main part of the front surface is occupied by the screen. It is protected by completely flat glass, on which it will be convenient to glue a protective film. The thickness of the side frames is 3 mm, the distance at the top and bottom is larger - about 1 cm each.

On the back side there is a dual camera unit located in the upper left corner. In the center we see a fingerprint scanner, the operation of which did not cause any complaints on our part. It provides almost one hundred percent recognition and very fast unlocking of the smartphone.

On the left side of the Redmi 6 there are two SIM card trays: one of them is combined with a memory card, the other is separate. We have never seen such a design in any smartphone before. It should be appreciated by those users who often have to change one of the SIM cards.

The power button and volume rocker are traditionally located on the right side. The keys sit tightly, do not wobble or rattle. The bottom edge contains a microUSB connector for charging and data exchange, as well as a conversational microphone. At the top there is a hole for connecting headphones.

Overall, the design and build of the Redmi 6 leaves a good impression. It will appeal to all fans of compact devices who have not come to terms with the megalomania of recent years. At the same time, the smartphone screen has a completely “adult” size, perfect for surfing the Internet and watching videos.

Communication with the outside world

Everything is minimal here.

Screen

Very pleasing to the eye, very neat screen. Good colors, excellent oleophobic coating. Even the resolution, in my opinion, is quite sufficient.

One “but”. The screen is dim. Insufficient maximum brightness. As a result, in the bright sun you feel like a blind owl and go looking for saving shade.

I'm exaggerating a little about the owl, perhaps. But the problem is strange and quite unpleasant. That is, due to the fact that the screen is good, you can see something even on the street. But... But what the hell, eh, Xiaomi? By the way, I had never noticed anything like this with them before.

And - okay - for St. Petersburg the problem of sunny days is a small problem. What if the potential buyer lives somewhere in Tashkent?

Face unlock

This option is available on the official website and due to the lack of a fingerprint scanner, there is no other way to quickly unlock your smartphone (there are only inconvenient pattern keys, PIN codes or passwords). But even here there was a trick from Xiaomi. Immediately after activating MIUI 10, I went to the settings, looked for where I could add my Face and did not find such an item. I was upset and while I was testing other features I forgot about it, but I didn’t lose interest, especially since there is an option in the menu that, when turned on, the screen lights up as soon as you pick up the smartphone (which means there must be Face ID too, I thought).

It turned out that in order for this item to appear in the settings, you need to select the “Singapore” region, and then reboot your smartphone to be safe. After the reboot, the “Add a face” sub-item will appear in the “Lock and Protection” menu.

Unlocking works fine in good lighting and before dusk (sometimes it asks you to widen your eyes). In complete darkness, this function refused to work for me in 99% of cases. It is especially convenient to use the combination of lifting from the table with unlocking the screen and subsequent unlocking using Face ID.

Battery

The battery capacity is average these days - 3000 mAh. The battery test results were 160% of my standard standard. The result, in modern times, is not outstanding, but more than good. For me personally, the device was enough for a day with a large reserve.

Xiaomi Redmi 6A as a photo and video camera

In my opinion, for a smartphone of such a modest price, the camera is simply magical. Especially in good lighting. And even at night on the street it is quite possible to achieve good quality shots, especially if you don’t skimp on film.

Full size photos

A couple of video examples

FHD, 30 fps

The front camera is also good. But be careful. The enhancer is enabled by default. I don't argue, it improves well. I'm in awe of my eyes. But still. By European standards, the physiognomy is somewhat... specific. Plus, it seems that even if you turn the improver to zero, it will still continue to improve. Not so obvious, but it will still continue.

Full size photos

Examples of photos on Redmi Note 9 Pro

Note: all pictures are clickable.

Daytime photos

The smartphone copes excellently with daytime shots in conditions of excellent natural light. The only thing we can complain about is a noticeable drop in sharpness in the background. Otherwise, the pictures turn out wonderful - with high detail and high-quality color rendition.

I will also note that on particularly distant objects it can become worse not only with sharpness, but also with color rendition. Colors become a little duller. This, however, is not very critical.

The drop in detail and accompanying defects are especially noticeable on trees.

If you shoot during the day in the shade, the quality of shooting decreases minimally. I will note the preservation of color rendition almost throughout the entire frame, high detail of nearby objects and the complete absence of serious defects.

Taking pictures of high-rise buildings on a smartphone is a real pleasure. I note that the pictures on the device’s screen look much more impressive than on the monitor. Therefore, if you prefer to look at photos on a smartphone, Redmi Note 9 Pro will please you as much as possible. Let me emphasize that this does not mean that the photos look bad on large screens. You can open the source of any image yourself and see for yourself.

The wide-angle camera takes good pictures. The center of the frame can be called excellent, but the corners are clearly stretched out. This happens on all ultra-wide cameras, but in the case of the Redmi Note 9 Pro camera, the effect is clearly noticeable.

The photo above clearly shows how wonderfully the camera reproduces colors.

The smartphone handles complex daytime shots well. The camera does not reach the “excellent” level due to not the highest level of detail.

Evening photos

Have you ever taken pictures with old Soviet cameras? If so, the photo above will definitely remind you of one of those cameras. But no, there is no “Soviet” filter in this photo. It’s just that the smartphone camera takes pictures like this in low light conditions. It turns out quite well, although defects, including noise in the sky, are starting to show through.

You can shoot the sunset with your smartphone. Even in suboptimal conditions, the pictures can turn out great.

Night photos

When shooting with a smartphone at night, be sure to focus on any illuminated object. In this case, the photos will turn out to be highly detailed and pleasing to the eye.

Pay attention to chromatic aberrations at the edges of objects in the frame. After sunset, when the camera no longer has enough light, they appear instantly. And they cannot be avoided.

Another example of a good photo taken almost at night. The main thing is to focus on artificially illuminated objects.

If we talk about shooting “at night”, then here the Redmi smartphone, like any other without an advanced night mode, begins to have problems. Frank noise throughout the frame, artifacts and other defects. Even if there is a bright object in the center.

Portrait photography

The smartphone supports advanced portrait shooting mode. The device processor takes part in image processing, which monitors the quality of blur. In general, this is the best blur. The shot above is done almost perfectly. The only puncture was the hair on the top of the girl’s head, which could not be properly processed. On the other hand, the frame is complex, but the background is well blurred.

A similar example. Shows that portrait mode only has problems with separating very small objects from the background. In this case it is hair.

But when the background is “simpler,” portrait photographs turn out much better. There is practically nothing to complain about in the photo above. Note that this photo was taken when the lighting was not ideal - the sun was hidden behind the clouds.

Shooting with the front camera

The photos taken with the front camera of the smartphone are excellent. The example above shows how the front-facing portrait mode works. The subject is completely and seamlessly separated from the background.

Pictures taken with the front camera are highly detailed and have very fair color reproduction. The latter is even surprising, since Xiaomi often artificially embellishes photos taken with the front camera.

Daytime video shooting

It’s rare that mid-budget Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones are distinguished by their ability to shoot high-quality video. Redmi Note 9 Pro is almost an exception. The videos for it cannot be called terrible, but there are plenty of complaints about them. The video shakes, autofocus constantly strives to switch, even when the smartphone barely moves, because of this, glare regularly occurs, the microphone records all sounds in a row. In general, a complete set of standard jambs. At the same time, they are not as pronounced as on cheaper smartphones from Chinese brands.

Night video shooting

In the evening, all the problems listed above intensify the effect. In addition, detail decreases throughout the entire frame. This is not surprising - this is exactly what was expected from a smartphone. As a result, you can only shoot a more or less high-quality video on the Redmi Note 9 Pro using a stabilizer. Therefore, if you plan to shoot video on your smartphone, you should definitely think about stabilization right away. Otherwise the result will be disastrous.

Xiaomi Redmi 6A as a GPS navigator

Smooth, neat tracks. Satellites are caught quickly. All three major navigation systems are supported. Not a bad battery. It's great as a car navigator. As a pedestrian - alas and ah. For a pedestrian tourist, screen brightness is so important. Look for something brighter.

Test tracks

Xiaomi Redmi 6A as a toy

Let's not be picky. For a smartphone less than ten thousand, everything is very good. It’s clear that it’s not at maximum graphics, but it’s good.

Cameras

There is one main 13 MP camera and it has phase detection autofocus (PDAF), ƒ/2.2 aperture, HDR. Shooting video with a maximum resolution of Full HD – 30 fps.

All photos taken on Xiaomi Redmi 6A are available in original sizes in Google Photos >>>, but here are pictures taken on Meizu M5s

Daytime images are quite clear and have good color rendition and detail. The presence of PDAF has a positive effect on the focusing speed of the main camera sensor; you still need to try to get a blurry photo.

Unfortunately, portrait mode is not supported by the main camera, but it can create a blur circle (that’s what this function is called in the camera application). Examples of pictures taken indoors during the day:

Photos indoors, under artificial light:

Compared to its one-year-old competitor, night shots are pleasing with faster focusing, which means sharper shots, while the Meizu M5S has big problems with this.

5 MP front camera, which can blur the background when taking selfies (portrait mode), Beauti mode, HDR.