Redmi 6a How to Use
After the recent release of the Redmi 6 series smartphones, we wrote news about them more than once and compared with smartphones of the previous line. It is time for a full review of Redmi 6A, which will help to understand all the intricacies of the new items.
UNPACKING AND DELIVERY SET
The smartphone comes in an orange box. The manufacturer again decided to change the color scheme. Previously, the box was white, in the fifth series it turned red. Now we have a new color again.
On the back wall of the box you can find various information about the smartphone (in English): model, color, memory size, some technical specifications, IMEI (2), model serial number and more. If the version of the smartphone is global and purchased, then there is a sticker in which the characteristics of the smartphone in Russian are duplicated.
Inside the box, besides the smartphone, You can find: a small manual, warranty card, power supply 5V-1A, microUSB cable and a clip to remove the trays. Standard equipment for smartphones line with the prefix “A” (the most budget smartphones).
The sticker on the back of the smartphone itself duplicates information about IMEI and serial number, and also shows the installation procedure for SIM-cards and memory cards.
A film is also glued to the front panel of the device. It is transportation, not protective. Using a smartphone without removing it is problematic, since the company logo, model name, screen, processor and battery specifications are applied on the film.
So, first of all, we get rid of the stickers so that nothing would interfere, and it was possible to evaluate the quality of the installed display.
SCREEN
The smartphone has a 5.45-inch IPS screen with an aspect ratio of 18: 9 and a resolution of HD 1440 x 720 pixels. The pixel density is 295 ppi, the contrast ratio is 1000: 1.
In general, the screen leaves only positive emotions. Resolution HD, in no way spoils the picture. It is difficult to make out individual pixels, unless you set yourself such a goal and examine the screen point-blank. The brightness is not bad, there is enough stock to comfortably use the smartphone in direct sunlight. Color reproduction and contrast are at a good level. It is possible to adjust them in the screen settings. You can select the desired temperature from the proposed: cold, warm, natural and set the contrast to: auto, high or standard.
Like IPS screens, viewing angles are large. When looking at the screen at large angles, there is practically no color distortion. The display supports 10 simultaneous touches.
What manufacturer’s screen did we get in a particular instance? It’s no secret that Xiaomi can install completely different components in the same device. We liked the quality of this display, who is the manufacturer?
How to clarify information about the installed components and test almost the entire filling of the smartphone before purchase, we wrote earlier. You can familiarize yourself with this information at the links below:
What display is installed on Xiaomi?Checking Xiaomi in the engineering menu. APPEARANCE AND LOCATION OF CONTROLS
The dimensions of the device are quite compact, for a device with a diagonal of 5.45 inches: 147.5 x 71.5 x 8.3 mm. For example, the dimensions of a smartphone with a similar screen diagonal, only in another 16: 9 form factor (Redmi Note 3 Pro): 150 x 76 x 8.65 mm. Due to a more elongated display with an aspect ratio of 18: 9, as well as thinner frames in the lower and upper parts of the front panel, Redmi 6A is smaller in height and width. We will not compare the thickness, it most often depends on the capacity of the installed battery, and in Redmi Note 3 Pro, it is more (4000 mAh).
In general, the smartphone is quite good in the hand, it is convenient for them to use with one hand. It does not feel like a “shovel.” A device with such dimensions can be safely recommended for women and children (and other people with small hands), there will be no discomfort when working with it.
In the upper part of the front panel there are: a speaker, a camera, proximity and lighting sensors, as well as an event indicator that signals the presence of messages, notifications, missed calls, etc., depending on the settings. The indicator is one-color. white.
There are no sub-screen buttons at the bottom, but this is already the standard for full-screen smartphones. The device is controlled using on-screen buttons or gestures. When activating gestures, it is possible to hide the navigation keys at the bottom of the screen, thereby increasing the useful area of the display.
How to activate gesture control on Xiaomi?
The back cover is completely made of plastic. Everything is implemented so that the impression of the presence of inserts in the upper and lower parts of the smartphone, as is often the case with devices with a back panel made of metal, is created. But there is no need for this, the cover is monolithic and non-removable. In the upper part there is a peephole of a single camera and an LED flash (solid). Below you can see the perforation, under which the main speaker is hidden. Well, of course, the company logo was not complete. In the usual place there is no fingerprint scanner, but it is not in other places. The fact is that there is no fingerprint sensor in this smartphone.
On the right side, you can find only the power button and the “rocker” volume control.
The left side can please with two trays , in one of which you can install a NANO-format SIM card and a MicroSD memory card up to 256 GB, a second SIM card, also NANO-format, is installed in the second tray. Thus, 2 SIM cards and a memory card can be used simultaneously. A very convenient solution that migrated here with Redmi 5A.
A dual-tray smartphone is only available in the Global version. The Chinese version has one combination tray. Be careful when buying!
At the top, there was only a 3.5 mm audio jack for connecting headphones or a headset and an additional microphone that performs noise reduction. There was no place for an infrared port in this smartphone, but it’s a pity. You can forget about controlling equipment from a smartphone.
The lower edge is made without any perforations, there is only a small hole for the main microphone and a MicroUSB connector for connecting to a computer and charging. By the way, it has OTG features. This means that you can connect a USB flash drive, mouse and other devices to the smartphone.
The user can choose from five colors of the case: black (as we have in the review), gray, pink gold, gold and blue.
CPU AND GRAPHIC ACCELERATOR
Xiaomi has moved away from the familiar practices of recent years and installed a Mediatek processor in Redmi 6A. The processor model is Helio A22 or MT6765. This is a quad-core (4 x Cortex-A53) 64-bit solution based on a 12-nanometer process technology. The frequency of the cores is up to 2.0 GHz. As a graphics accelerator is used. PowerVR GE8320.
“On paper” everything looks pretty good, but we will discuss the situation in real life later in the section “Performance Testing”.
RAM AND PERMANENT MEMORY
The manufacturer offers three options (all of them use LPDDR3 memory) for the choice of the user, namely:
During testing, the youngest version was used. 2/16 GB.
We have already expressed our opinion on the appropriateness of acquiring a 2/32 GB version in comparing Redmi 5A and Redmi 6A. Repeat, we will not, but if briefly, then this version is superfluous and does not justify its value. If anyone is interested in why, read the link below.
Redmi 5A or Redmi 6A? What to choose?. SOUND
It is good that the manufacturer did not begin to remove the 3.5 mm audio jack, succumbing to the current fashion trends. This is rather a plus, given the class of the device. Buying a budget smartphone, the user, most likely, aims to save. Without the presence of an audio jack for connecting wired headphones, you will have to buy Bluetooth headphones (unless, of course, they are already there), but this event cannot be called a budget one. Wireless headphones cost much more than wired headphones, especially high-quality ones.
The sound and volume of the main speaker (naturally mono), of quite acceptable quality, not outstanding, namely good. The sound of more expensive devices, of course, is far, but do not forget about the cost of Redmi 6A. The sound in the headphones is also good, all frequencies are clearly distinguishable, the volume is high.
The speaker is loud, the interlocutor is audible well, even in a noisy room. Microphones also cope with their task at the proper level, the person “on the other end of the wire” hears you clearly, without noise and wheezing.
COMMUNICATION
There were no problems with the quality of communication over the entire testing period. Both SIM-cards confidently caught the networks of different mobile operators. The same can be said about mobile Internet, 3G works everywhere and switches automatically to 4G in those places where there is coverage. Problems with 4G Internet should not arise, since all the necessary frequencies are supported, with the exception of Band 20, which is not the most important, and it is not needed in all regions.
The installed Wi-Fi module works according to the 802.11 a / b / g / n 2.4 GHz standard. Detection and connection to networks within range occurs without problems, the reception and transmission speeds are good.
The Bluetooth module has version 4.2. Performance was tested on a Creative SB Roar wireless speaker and fitness bracelet MiBand 2. Connecting a smartphone with devices went without difficulty. Spontaneous shutdowns were not noticed. The range was about 15 meters.
Navigation in the smartphone has the ability to work with satellites: GPS, GLONASS and Beidou. Connecting to satellites is fast, reception quality is good.
For some unknown reason, the manufacturer got rid of the infrared port, which, in fact, costs a penny. Most likely, the funding was not enough to install the USB Type-C connector, although, in fairness, it is worth noting that the cost of the connectors is the same. The novelty is still installed MicroUSB. When will it end? Well, and as usual (a budget device is not supposed to be ranked). of course, there is no NFC module.
CAMERA
The main camera has a resolution of 13 megapixels with an aperture of f / 2.2. There is a single-tone LED flash. is recorded with a maximum resolution of FullHD, 30 FPS.
5 megapixel front camera, f / 2.2 aperture. No flash. It also supports recording in FullHD.
The camera interface is standard for the MIUI shell. There are many preset shooting modes. There is a manual mode in which you can set: white balance, sharpness (manual focus), shutter speed and ISO value. There is a panoramic mode.
In general, the cameras are of medium quality, but in their price segment, the photos are good, especially in low light. But under poor shooting conditions, the quality of photos deteriorates noticeably, noise appears. This applies to both the front and the main camera. Most average users will be satisfied with the quality of cameras.
How to improve the quality of shooting on any smartphone?. SOFTWARE
Out of the box, the smartphone receives Android 8.1.0 and a stable global version of MIUI 9.6.5.0. There is no doubt that Redmi 6A will eventually receive MIUI 10, and possibly Android 9.
Once again, we recall that we are now discussing the Global version of the smartphone, and accordingly, the firmware. Buying the Chinese version, you run the risk of getting a device with firmware assembled “on the knee”, the so-called “Vietnamese” among the people. It is hard to say how stable the smartphone with such software will be. And given the new Xiaomi policy regarding unlocking the bootloader, you can stay with a curve and “buggy” firmware for a very long time.
Xiaomi extends the waiting time to unlock the bootloader
The MIUI shell interface, we will not discuss in this review. Here and so, everything is clear, especially for those who at least once used a smartphone from Xiaomi.
Let’s say one thing. The shell, even on such a hardware, behaves excellently. There are no delays in the operation of the interface, applications open quickly, there are no unreasonable “jams”.
AUTONOMY
Since this is a full review of the smartphone, we will carefully consider the issue of autonomy. Let’s check the charging speed, as well as the battery capacity. Consider the issue of “survivability” of a smartphone during normal use, when watching a, we will conduct various battery tests and much more, which will allow us to understand how much battery power will suffice in various use cases.
After unpacking the smartphone and its initial configuration, the battery charge was about 30 percent. Our task was to land the battery as much as possible in order to subsequently charge it up to 100 percent, while measuring the battery capacity and charging time. After conducting part of the tests, the result was achieved.
The first charge took 3 hours 12 minutes, the battery “absorbed” 2680 mAh. And where are the promised 3000 mAh? Do not forget that this is the first charge in the “life” of the smartphone, perhaps this is the reason. the battery has not yet reached full capacity. Okay, we’ll find out later on during the next charge.
The smartphone was removed from charging at about 21 hours. No manipulations with him were carried out until the next morning. For 12 hours in standby mode, the smartphone consumed only 1 percent of the charge, that is, in the morning the battery charge was 99 percent. A good result, however, the SIM card was not installed in the smartphone, it was just connected to a Wi-Fi network.
After conducting several tests, as a result of which the charge dropped to 96 percent, a battery test was started in the program PCmark. Work 2.0 battery life. Testing was carried out at 100 percent brightness of the screen with the Wi-Fi module turned on. The full test took more than four and a half hours, while the battery was discharged to 19 percent. After testing, the program issued the following data.
Well, a pretty good result for a 3000 mAh battery.
In order to start recharging the smartphone, we needed to completely discharge it again. It was decided to check how much battery the battery consumes when watching a. For the test, we used a file with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, 2.5 GB in MKV format and it was played from the internal memory of the smartphone. After transferring the file to the smartphone’s memory, by the way, we used a USB flash drive with a MicroUSB connector (we conclude that OTG works), we tried to start playing the. The picture appeared, but there was no sound. The stock player is not omnipotent, the MKV format was not too tough for him due to the lack of the necessary codecs. The problem was solved by installing a third-party player MX player and codecs to him.
Measurements showed that when watching a at maximum brightness and volume of 50 percent, the battery lost, on average, 2 percent in 10 minutes. Having resorted to simple arithmetic calculations, we get the result. 18 percent per hour (2×6 = 18) or five and a half hours of screen operation (100: 18 = 5.55). The result is very similar to what the program gave us PCmark, after testing the battery. So far, everything is pretty stable.
In such a simple way, we again managed to discharge the smartphone to 1 percent and safely send it to recharge. Now in the process of charging, we will take intermediate results (with an interval of 15 minutes). This will make it possible to understand how uniformly the process of recharging the charge is going on, throughout the entire cycle. If there are no significant changes in the charging speed, then it will be possible to confidently show that the battery and charger are of high quality. Also, during the second charge, we will measure how much mAh the battery will take, because we did not really like the data obtained during the first attempt. We also test the battery with the program. Antutu battery test.
So, after 3 hours 9 minutes, the smartphone was fully charged, “absorbing” 2692 mAh. A little more mAh than during the first charge, but still the result is far from the claimed 3000.
Of course, everything can be attributed to the measurement error by the device, but earlier, this was not noticed behind it. Perhaps, over time, the battery capacity will “swing”, but so far we have what it is.
How does Quick Charge technology affect charging speed?
The battery charge rate at different stages is as follows:
