Xiaomi has been releasing phone after phones for the past few months, there is no clear message what the company is really sending out to the mobile world as the Redmi 6 got released just 6 months from the release of the Redmi 5. One thing is clear is that the Redmi Series if going back to smaller screen. Redmi 4 sported a 5 Inch display while Redmi 5 sported a 5.7 inch, and I said in my review that Xiaomi has probably dropped Redmi Note 5 in favor of Redmi 5, and it really happened as the Redmi 5 in China is the Redmi Note 5 in India.


Now the Redmi 6 shinked back to 5.45 Inch but the size of the phone is a lot smaller than the Redmi 5, thanks to the bezeless technology that the Mi MIX has started, phones screen are now bigger without compromising on the size of the phone itself. There are 2 version of this phone as released, the Redmi 6 and the Redmi 6A, everything is quite identical except for the hardware specs as well as performance itself.

Whats in the Box:


Typical Red box for the Redmi 6






We got the 3GB/32GB Variant here




Redmi 6, Manual, Micro USB Cable, 5V 1A Charger, Sim Ejector Pin



Redmi 6 Specs Sheet

• 5.45-inch IPS LCD display @ 1440 x 720 pixels, 295ppi, 18:9 Ratio
  
• 72.7% Screen to Body Ratio
  
• 2.0GHz Mediatek Helio P22 Octa-core CPU Cortex A-53 (MT6762)
  
• PowerVR GE8320 GPU
  
• 3GB / 4GB RAM
  
• 32GB / 64GB Internal storage
  
• Expandable via microSD, up to 256GB (uses SIM 2 slot)
  
• 12MP 1.25μm Rear Camera, f/2.2 Aperture, PDAF autofocus, LED flash, face recognition, AI
  
• 5MP 1.12μm Secondary Rear Camera, f2.2 Aperture
  
• 5MP front-facing camera, 1080p, AI, HDR, Face Unlock
  
• Dual-SIM (Sim 1 Nano + Sim 2 Nano/SD Card)
  
• 4G LTE, 4G+
  
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  
• Bluetooth 4.2
  
• GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
  
• Fingerprint scanner
  
• Micro USB Port
  
• 3000 mAh battery
  
• Android 7.1.2 on MIUI 9.1
  
• 147.5mm x 71.5mm x 8.3mm
  
• 146 grams
  
• Available in Silver, Gold, Blue, Rose Gold
  
  

Video Unboxing:



Design

The Redmi 6 is definitely a downgrade from the Redmi 5 in every aspect, while the price is just a 100 RMB difference, you will see the screen has become smaller, the processor is no longer a Snapdragon, the back cover went from metal to plastic. The only up side is that the camera became Dual Camera and the SoC is a 12nm architecture and probably nothing more beyond that. The design has picked up more from the Redmi 5A rather than the Redmi 5 for the record, as the loudspeaker crawled all the way back to the back case.










The front sporting a 5.45 Inch screen with a 5MP Selfie Camera


Dual Camera at the back with LED Flash together with the Fingerprint Scanner


Micro USB Charging Port and the Mic In


Sim Card Tray at the left side


3.5mm audio jack with noise cancellation mic


Volume rocker and the power button on the right


No notch for this series


Plastic Battery Cover


Loudspeaker at the back, which gets weak once lying flat on the table




Advertising Shot well done.

Mediatek Helio P22

Mediatek is back in business, its been a while since Redmi Note 4 that we seen the last of the MTK SoC inside a Redmi Series phone, MTK is better known for its affordability rather than for its performance. But this time they came back with a 12nm architecture chip and its said to be more efficient than ever. We were surprise with the performance as we did several test on it especially on multitasking and it went pretty well without any problem. AnTuTu gave it a pretty good score at 75606 points which was a bump up from the SD 450 on the Redmi 5. We tried to run PUBG but only the low setting was present as this unit isnt really build for gaming purpose so to speak. Playing graphic intense games did clamped down on the unit's performance, but playing light games definitely is no problem.




Connectivity

The Redmi 6 supports 12 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. 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 as it is pretty much accurate in pointing our current location.

Detailed Network Band

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
  
• FLV
  
• PCM
  
• XVID
  
• AAC
  
• MP3
  
• AMR
  
• FLAC
  
  
  

Supports H.263, H.264 AVC Baseline Profile (BP), H.264 AVC Main Profile (MP), MPEG-4 SP and other video formats supporting PCM, AAC/AAC+, MP3, AMR-NB and WB, Opus, PCM /WAVE, Vorbis and other audio formats

We played some music and ran some movies on this unit, the screen display is good, we just missed the bigger one from the Redmi 5, the loudpeaker is average and not as loud as that of the Redmi 5.


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 Sony IMX 486 which is a surprise and the front lens is a Samsung S5k5e8. When you say its a Sony Camera Sensor, definitely we expect a little more from this camera to take better photos.

The camera takes good photos in daylight and in low light areas it is not good as I had a hard time taking in good ones on dark areas.








Actual Photos:











































































































Battery Performance

We were able to achieve a good battery rating for this unit since, we lasted a day on normal usage without hitting the charging port or power bank. PC Mark Battery Stress Test gave it a rating of 11 Hours and 29 Minutes. We charged the phone from 0% to 100% using a QC 3.0 Charger supplied from the Mi 8, it took us 3 crazy hours just to get the job done!






Other Benchmarks











Conclusion


It has come to this point that we need to give an overall evaluation on the phone, we love the way that Xiaomi define budget, but sometimes we get lost along the way especially now that Xiaomi is releasing unit after unit and the consumer market is quite confused on which unit to choose from. To be honest I would like to categorize this unit under the Redmi A series rather than the Redmi Series as it is buid to be affordable. Especially the plastic back makes it not worthy to be categorized in the Redmi Series since this series has metal battery covers while the A Series sports a plastic battery cover. Performance wise its pretty good as the MTK Helio P22 gets you covered with what you need to accomplish throughout the day. The camera is a bit of a disappointment as the Redmi 6A shoots better photos than this one based on my side by side comparison. If you are going for a good SoC with a smaller screen size on a budget, this one is definitely for you.





3GB/32GB retails for 799 RMB.


Redmi 6