Its been a hot hot month as Xiaomi has been releasing phones after phones, after the successful release of the awesome Mi 6X, here comes another one, this time its the Redmi S2, dubbed as the perfect selfie phone. Now I have been wondering who is the Redmi S1, as far as I am concerned, there is Redmi Y1 but never heard of a S2. Xiaomi claims that the letter S in S2 means "Selfie". But anyway, the naming is not really that important now, whats important is that this one is pretty much a budget phone killer, you wanna know why? Just read on.
Tech Specs of Redmi S2:
- 5.99-inch IPS LCD display @ 720 x 1440 pixels, 269ppi, 70.8% NTSC Color Gamut, 1,450 (typ) NIT Brightness, 18:9 Full Screen
- 2.0GHz Snapdragon 625 Octa-core CPU Qualcomm MSM8953 Cortex-A53
- Adreno 506 GPU
- 3GB / 4GB RAM
- 32GB / 64GB Internal storage
- Expandable via microSD, up to 256GB
- 12MP 1.25μm Rear Camera, f/2.2 Aperture, PDAF, AI Beauty, HDR, AI Portrait Mode, 1080p, Sony Sensor
- 5MP secondary lens, Samsung Sensor
- 16MP front-facing camera,1.2μm, AI Smart Beauty with soft flash, AI Portrait Mode
- Dual-SIM (Nano + Nano)
- 4G LTE, 4G+
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, 2.4G 5G Wifi
- Bluetooth 4.2
- GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou Positioning
- Fingerprint scanner
- Micro USB Port
- 3080 mAh battery
- Android 8.1 on MIUI 9.5
- 160.73mm x 77.26mm x 8.1mm
- 170grams
- Available in Gray, Gold and Rose Gold
My Redmi S2 Models.
Video Unboxing:
Whats in the Box:
Typical Red box for a Redmi Series
Xiaomi has standardized the print of the screen covers out of the box
S2, Manual, Case, Sim Ejector, Charger and Micro USB Cable to round out the content of the Box
5V/2A
Design:
In terms of design for this phone, there is striking similarities with the Redmi Note 5 in terms of aethetics, the main difference is the materials used on this phone which is plastic as opposed to metal on the Redmi Note 5. We love the way they place the design of the contours of the phone, even that its just a entry level phone, Xiaomi did put in design efforts into this one. It has also inherited the in screen capacitive buttons from the Redmi Note 5 to maximize the 18:9 display, giving you as much display as possible. The placement of the dual camera has become a norm for Xiaomi after releasing several phones with this same design.
The Front is covered with a printed film, on top we can find the 16MP Front cam with soft flash
We got the Sim Card Tray on the left side, it supports 2 Nano sim and 1 Micro SD Card all together
On top we have the 3.5mm audio jack plus the IR and Noise Cancellation Mic
Volume Rocker and the Power button is on the right side
Mic in, Micro USB Port plus the Loudspeaker is on the bottom.
The back is pretty similar to the Redmi Note 5, only that this one is a plastic unibody
The dual camera is protuded but not as much as the Mi 6X
Side view of the protuded camera
2 Nano Sim Cards + Micro SD Card
Snapdragon 625
This overly used SoC has become a normal processor for Xiaomi already, and let me be honest, its becoming boring already. This probably leads us to the conclusion that Xiaomi has over stocked on this processor. It has been the popular processor since the release of the Redmi Note 4X since way back more than a year already. But since this is a entry level phone, its still good as they did not use a SD 4 series. We fully test the power of the Redmi S2 to the extent, running games and multitask, in my opinion this unit did a very good job in multitasking, as well as playing some decent games which was expected, we even did play PUBG and the graphics rendered was quite good on an all screen display phone. We just cant turn on the highest graphics on the PUBG, but we noticed it wasnt really sluggish as I thought it would be.
Surfing, Chatting, Calls and Navigating were all done at the same time and it was quite stable not seeing the unit lag down due to too many task being done at the same time. The Snapdragon 625 is still a performer even that its quite a old SoC at this point of time, but considering the price point of this phone, there is nothing really to complain about. AnTuTu gave the 3/32 variant a score of 75,648 points while the 4/64 variant got a 78,006 points.
New Theme deployed on this phone
PUBG Settings
Connectivity
The Redmi S2 supports 10 different LTE bands, it's easy to switch to LTE network inside the settings and whats good on this unit now is that you can also set 2nd Sim on LTE as well since it now deploys the Dual 4G technology on this unit but it should consume battery faster. 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 as we were able to cast it to the Mi TV 4, 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 S2.
Detailed Network Band Supported on Redmi S2:
GSM (Band B2/3/5/8)
CDMA (Band BC0)
CDMA EVDO (Band BC0)
WCDMA (B1/2/5/8)
TD-SCDMA (Band B34/39)
TDD-LTE (Band B34/B38/39/40/41(100MHz))
FDD-LTE (Band 1/3/5/7/8)
Audio and Video
- MP4
- M4V
- MKV
- XVID
- WAV
- AAC
- MP3
- AMR
- FLAC
- APE
support PCM, AAC / AAC+ / eAAC+, MP3, AMR-NB and WB , APE, WAV and other audio formats
We played some good music on this unit, but it wasnt really that impressive as we understand that its a budget series, the loudspeaker probably is roughly just 70% of the output of the Redmi Note 5. When the volume is weak, there are times we missed out on important details since we cant really hear it properly, except when you plug in an earphones. Video was great as we finished a movie on Blue Ray quality format this time.
Camera:
It was really a surprise that Xiaomi packed a Sony IMX 486 Camera Sensor into this one, proving that even its a budget series, they are really serious to blow you away with great photos. The secondary camera as well as the front camera are using Samsung sensors. AI is said to be deployed on this camera but its not controlable by the user, the beautify has 2 modes, beautify and beautify pro. Manual mode has only 2 function to control, the WB and ISO only. OIS is not available, but EIS is there for video stabilization.
I love the selfie camera to be honest, Im never a selfie person, but this camera lets me take extra photos of myself which I normally dont. Taking good photos under good lighting, the HDR mode in front was really a plus on this unit, the rear cam took good photos in well lit ambiance but under dim light, its not too impressive, but still can get the job done.
3/32GB Variant
4/64GB Variant
Actual Photos
Selfie Photos:
Im not really fond of selfie, but this cam I took the extra shots to show the beauty of the front camera. I should admit that this selfie camera is way better than the Redmi Note 5.
Normal
HDR ON
Portrait
Normal
HDR ON
Normal
Portrait
Normal
HDR ON
Portrait
Normal
HDR ON
Portrait
Battery Performance
We were able to achieve a not so bad battery rating for this unit since its a Snapdragon, SD are more known for its battery efficiency. But one downside on this unit is the 3080mAh. They could have packed in a 3500mAh to beef up the battery. PC Mark Battery Stress Test rated it at 12 hours 21 minutes SOT, which is quite impressive given that the battery size is quite small compared to other phones of the same screen size. Input is just 1.56A with a QC 3.0 charger, I was able to charge the battery from 18% to 100% in 1 hour and 55 Minutes based on proper monitoring.
Other Benchmarks:
Conclusion
Budget is king for the Redmi S2, after pricing it so low, it still packs in a 18:9 screen and a Sony IMX 486 Camera Sensor, what more can you probably ask for from this ultra budget phone? I would say this is pretty much a steal should you not afford the Redmi Note 5, but compared the Redmi Note 5A, this one is way way better. With the overly used SD 625 deployed here instead of a SD 450, its pretty much a steal for this price point. It can pretty much perform all the task the Redmi Note 4X can do, or even achieve more that it can especially on the camera department. For the budget conscious people, this smartphone fits just right in your pocket without burning the extra hard earned money.
3/32GB = 999 RMB
4/64GB = 1299 RMB
Redmi S2
