The wait is finally over, Xiaomi has finally decided to release the Redmi Note 5, wait!!! I heard its called the Redmi 5 Plus? No kidding?? There was a name change? Well yes folks, the 2 new Redmi Note sized phones are named Redmi 5 for the 5.7" and Redmi 5 Plus for the 5.99". What will happen to the successor of the Redmi 4X which is supposed to be a 5" Redmi 5? No one knows, but as of the moment, Xiaomi has decided to drop the Note name on their 5.7" sized budget phones. It has been quite a year and 3 months in the waiting for all of us Redmi fans from all over the world, and now we are going to unbox the bigger sibling among the two, the Redmi 5 Plus.
Official Video:
Redmi 5 Plus Specs Sheet
- 5.99-inch Full HD+ display @ 2160 x 1080 pixels, 403ppi, 84% NTSC Color Gamut, 450 NIT Brightness
- 2.0GHz Snapdragon 625 Octa-core CPU Qualcomm MSM8953 Cortex A-53
- Adreno 506 GPU
- 3GB / 4GB RAM
- 32GB / 64GB Internal storage
- Expandable via microSD, up to 128GB (uses SIM 2 slot)
- 12MP 1.25μm Rear Camera, f/2.2 Aperture, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash, face recognition
- 5MP front-facing camera, with soft flash, 1080p, Smart Beauty 3.0
- Dual-SIM (Nano + Nano)
- 4G LTE, 4G+
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 4.2, Bluetooth HID
- GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
- Fingerprint scanner
- Micro USB Port
- 4000 mAh battery
- Android 7.1 on MIUI 9.0.3
- 158.5mm x 75.45mm x 8.05mm
- 180grams
- Available in Black, Gold, Light Blue, Rose Gold
What's in the Box
Unboxing Video
Design
The Redmi 5 Plus has revamped its design in front, tho it has inherited resemblance from the Redmi Note 4X, the front was definitely the game changer. Phones are now starting to go bezeless, thanks to Philippe Starck and his team who invented the concept phone Mi MIX, and now everyone wants to follow, even Iphone X (please dont deny this Apple, Xiaomi went ahead first this time). It was abou time that even a budget phone at the level of Redmi can enjoy almost bezeless goodness at a budget price. The side bezel is pretty thin, but the top and bottom probably still have room for improvement, especially the bottom wherein it can still fit in the capacitive buttons that we loved in Redmi Note series.
The top edge of the Redmi 5 Plus has resemblance of that from the Redmi Note 5A but of course this one looks a lot more sturdier. The curved edge looks very sexy and it runs seamlessly as it connects to the body of the phone. The metal back battery cover is pretty much the same brushed aluminum material being used in Redmi Note 4X, it is easy to grip on it and does not feel slippery.
Design of Xiaomi will always be simple yet elegant, we have the IR Blaster, voice cancellation mic and 3.5mm audio jack on top ( glad they did not follow Mi 6 and took away the life of the audiophiles.)
On the right sports the volume rocker and the power button. On the left lies the sim card tray which you can use dual sim or single sim with micro sd expansion up to 128GB. Sim 1 is nano sim size and sim 2 is also nano sim size.
Down there we can see the micro usb charging slot (why Xiaomi why cant you integrate USB C?) and the loudspeaker (remember just one side is the loudspeaker, the other side is Mic).
Up front we have the 5MP selfie camera together with the front camera flash and the white notification LED. There is no longer capacitive touch buttons at the bottom, everything is on the screen just like the Mi MIX 2.
At the back sports the Mi Logo, Finger print scanner, the 12MP Camera with its dual tone LED flash. The camera is embossed and you should take note of it not to let it lie flat on the table, otherwise the camera lens will be the first to get scratched.
Snapdragon 625
We were able to fully test the power of this unit to the extent, running games and multitask, in my opinion this unit did a pretty good job in multitasking, as well as playing some basic games, we even did play NBA2k18 and the graphics rendered was quite good on a big screen. I was expecting that this unit might get a little laggy when it comes to graphics hungry games like this one, but I was able to finish the game seamlessly and I dont have any complaint at all about the gameplay. Surfing, Chatting, Calls and Navigating were all done at the same time and it was quite stable not seeing the unit clamp down due to too many task being done at the same time. There might be question like why didnt Xiaomi consider embedding a Snapdragon 835 instead on this phone since there were so many units having SD 625 from Xiaomi, we never know but it seems that they have overstocked on that specific processor and their production revolves around that chip.
AnTuTu gave a score of 63,711 points to the Redmi 5 Plus 4GB RAM 64GB Variant, which is quite at par with the Redmi Note 4X of the same variant. Again like I always say, benchmarks should not be the determining factor in purchasing the phone, it's the actual experience and performance that matters most.
For more specs of the Snapdragon 625, check it out here: qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/625
MIUI 9
For the first time, this is the very first Xiaomi device that ships with MIUI 9 out of the box, we were all anticipating back then that the MI MIX 2 would probably get that distinction as the first to get MIUI 9, but instead it was awared to Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus. It comes with MIUI 9.0.3 and the experience running a lightning fast MIUI 9 on the Redmi 5 Plus was a delight.
Connectivity
The Redmi 5 Plus supports 10 different LTE bands, it's easy to switch to LTE network inside the settings but once your do the second sim will be running on GSM connectivity only. You can freely choose which sim you want to use your LTE data, since this is a Dual LTE, Dual standby smartphone. We have experienced no problem surfing using LTE or 3G in our home country in the Philippines as well as dual standby mode is working seamlessly. Wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac is also smooth and it also supports Wi-Fi Direct. Wireless screen mirroring is also available via the Miracast protocol, tethering data is also working perfectly. Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, and GLONASS are all present and working pretty good. We also have a smooth navigation using Google Maps while cruisin in the city using the Redmi 5 Plus.
Here are the supported bandwidth by the Redmi 5 Plus based from the official website
2G:GSM 2/3/5/8
2G:CDMA 1X BC0
3G:CDMA 2000 BC0
3G:WCDMA 1/2/5/8
3G:TDS-CDMA 34/39
4G:TDD-LTE 34/38/39/40/41
4G:FDD-LTE 1/3/5/7/8
Audio and Video
- MP4
- M4V
- MKV
- XVID
- WAV
- AAC
- MP3
- AMR
- FLAC
- APE
Supports H.265 / HEVC (Main profile), H.264 (Baseline / Main / High profile) and MPEG4 (Simple profile / ASP) video formats such as PCM, AAC / AAC + / eAAC +, MP3, AMR - NB and WB , APE, WAV and other audio formats
We watched some movies and was happy with the experience and outcome of the big screen, the sounds using Mi Pistons In Ear Pro was good at the same time the movie rendered was good as well. The big screen was definitely a big plus while watching good fils. There was no visible problem occured during watching movies or streaming music from Spotify.
Camera
One of the main highlight for every smartphone release is its camera, people will ask whats the improvement on the camera. Everyone loves to take photos, especially selfies. The camera sensors is the Chinese OV brand and they have been suppling a lot to the budgeted lines in Xiaomi. The quality on this cam is great but of course you cannot expect too much from this unit.
The camera takes good photos in daylight and in low light areas it has improved from Redmi Note 4X, its best performance is outdoors, taking crisp and great photos. Still there is room for improvement for pictures taken in dim areas, but of course it's a Redmi Series, we cant argue to much due to its market segmentation being in the midrange series.
The manual mode from the camera, is quite disappointing, it only sported the White Balance and ISO controls. The Foucs and Exposure Time is nowhere to be found.
The camera sensors are confirmed to be made by Omnivision as per CIT Engineering Mode.
Photo Gallery (Unedited Photos)
Selfie Camera
Battery Performance
We were able to achieve a good battery rating for this unit since its a Snapdragon (Qualcomm is known for their battery efficiency), we lasted a day on normal usage without hitting the charging port or power bank. PC Mark Battery Stress Test app crashed 2 times when conducting the battery test, but based on my calculation, from a full charge we started at 9PM it ran until 9AM then it crashed at 24% remaining. Giving it a result of 12 hours and you still have 24% left on the tank, so based on analysis, it should be around 14 hours SOT. The phone can take in 2.1 Ampere of charging speed based on our analyzer using the stock charger.
Other Benchmarks
Conclusion
After playing around with the Redmi 5 Plus, its comes down to my final verdict, was it a worthy upgrade from Redmi Note 4X? In most aspects, I will give you a yes, in terms of display and design it was clearly the runaway winner. But in terms of processor and camera, I can tell you that you can keep Redmi Note 4 series if you are doing the follwing activites on it: Texting, Chatting and Voice call are regular task that any SD 625 will have a breeze finishing that task. The best part of this phone is that you enjoy screen size like the Mi MIX 2 without the price of the premium phone.
The Redmi 5 Plus seems to make the Iphone 8 look so jurassic... Like its such a thing in the past already.
Prices
3GB RAM 32GB ROM 999 RMB
4GB RAM 64GB ROM 1299 RMB
Redmi 5 Plus
