Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: Specifications, Pros, Cons & Price

Xiaomi launched its series of phablets with the first gadget Xiaomi Redmi Note 3G/4G. The 4G (single SIM) variant was launched at a price of Rs. 9,999. While the 3G(dual SIM) variant was launched little cheaper at Rs. 8,999. The phablet has been liked by many users across the world. Initially, the Note could only be bought with registration only. They bid goodbye to the registration process later on so that one could directly purchase a Note right at that time. Recently, the price of Note 4G was slashed down by Rs. 2,000.

A year after the first Note, Xiaomi launched the second gadget in the Note series some days ago. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 was launched in three variants. Let's see what upgrades you will be getting with the phone and my take on the Xiaomi’s phablet.


Body

The phone will weigh 160 grams, which makes it 15 grams lighter that the previous one. The dimensions are 152 x 76 x 8.3 mm. So it will be thinner than it's predecessor as well.

The phone is dual SIM enabled. I'm really glad that they decided to do away with the single SIM. The Note 4G is single SIM and it's pretty hard to manage with one when you have to move around a lot.

There is a 3.5mm headphone jack on the head edge, charging/micro USB port on the lower edge. On the lower back panel is the loudspeaker.

The phone will be available in 5 colors - White, Blue, Yellow, Pink and Mint Green.

Display

Keeping the screen size intact with 5.5 inch before, there has been an increase in the pixel density of the device from 267ppi (720 x 1280 pixels) to 401ppi(1080 x 1920 pixels). This set will unfortunately not have a Gorilla Glass protection. Previously, Note 2 was rumored to have MIUI 6. But now they have confirmed that it will be launched with MIUI 7.

Performance

Note 2 comes in Android OS 5.0 Lollipop. Note 4G was launched with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, which could be further upgraded to Android 4.4 Kitkat. Still, Android 5.1 Lollipop would have been neat. With a GPU of PowerVR G6200, it will have a octa-core MediaTek (MT6795) chipset on board.

The clock speed comes in two variant depending upon the internal storage you choose. If you want to opt for 16 GB internal slot, you get a clock speed of 2 GHz or for 32GB internal slot you get a clock speed of 2.2GHz. The external card slot can be expanded up to 32GB with the help of micro SD card.

Sadly, the external storage has been kept exclusively for the Chinese models. The platform has completely got a makeover for the better!

Camera

There hasn't been much of change it this department, which is okay because Note 4G camera is AWESOME (my personal opinion). It has the awesome 13MP rear camera(with LED Flash) and 5MP wide angle camera for wide-angle selfies or groupfies. The rear camera delivers pictures at 4128 x 3096 pixels. Other camera features are phase detection, auto focus, touch focus, face detection, smile detection, panorama, HDR and video recording at 1080p@30fps. The secondary camera records video at 720p.

Connectivity

As mentioned earlier, the phone will be a dual SIM (2G/3G/4G) phone. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth, A-GPS, Infrared port, FM Radio and microUSB.

There are sensors - Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity and Compass.

Battery

Note 2 will be powered with a Li-Po user replaceable battery with a capacity of 3060mAh. It will power up the phone for a stand-by of 144 hours, talk time of 11 hours and Music Play of 46 hours. It will have Quick Charge 2.0 which charges up the phone up to 60% in half-an-hour.

This is pretty weird because the battery capacity has been brought down by 40mAh. It's not much of an issue, but with an upgrade in the screen resolution, processor and clock speed they should hve kept it atleast constant if not increased it.

Pricing

The pricing of this phone is 110 EUR i.e., $122 USD, while the price in India is Rs. 8,999.

Pros

  • Good chipset
  • Android Lollipop 5.0
  • 401 PPI 1080p screen
  • Lighter and thinner body
  • MIUI 7
  • Good battery
  • Dual 4G
  • Better price

Cons

  • No 4K video recording
  • No Gorilla Glass protection
  • Slightly reduced battery capacity
  • External storage exclusively made for Chinese models
  • Could be Android Lollipop 5.1

My impressions on Xiaomi Redmi Note 2

I have been using the Note 4G for half a year now and I'm really happy with it. So I'm expecting something similar from Note 2 as well. I'm glad they decided to make the phone dual SIM. That's a plus point. But they shouldn't have done away with the memory card. It might be little tough to get sales because of this. I wish they would have kept the external slot as it is and added to the internal storage which is only 8 GB. The rest of the features are simply fantastic.

Another thing that I’ve noticed is the Note 4G vanishing from the online stores for almost a month now. It seems more like a part of the marketing strategy.

What do you think? Do let me know you thoughts on Redmi Note 2.

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