Last year, Xiaomi partnered with Google over Android One. The result of that collaboration was the Mi A1 dubbed one of the best budget smartphones of 2018. This year, Xiaomi has joined forces with Google again — and this time, we have not just one, but two budget smartphones: the Mi A2 and the Mi A2 Lite. The Redmi Note 7 was released in China on January 10th — and, for the first time ever, Redmi entered the market without Xiaomi preceding its name. It was only last week that the company’s CEO Lei Jun announced that Redmi’s maiden voyage as an independent brand. The Redmi Note 7 is the fledgling’s brand first model separate from the Xiaomi’s Mi lineup.
Buy Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 (4+64GB) at $249.99
Buy Xiaomi MI A2 (4+64GB) at $169.99
Xiaomi Mi A2 4G Phablet Global Version
The Xiaomi Mi A2 is fuelled by Snapdragon 660 chip which clocked at 2.2GHz with an Adreno 512 GPU. The chipset is paired with a 6+64GB of memory combination. This a very nice combination for this price. The device sports an amazing 5.99-inch (18:9) FHD+ screen with a resolution of 2160 x 1080. From all this, we can say that it is basically the same as the Xiaomi Mi 6X with a different OS.
In the photography dept, It sports a dual rear camera of 12MP (f/1.8 Aperture) + 20MP (f/1.8 Aperture) with autofocus phase detection. On the front side of the device, we have a 20MP (f/1.8 Aperture) lens so you can capture a beautiful selfie. The smartphone also supports 4K shooting videos at the rate of 30fps. It uses a Sony IMX486 CMOS sensors in the rear cameras and the Sony IMX376 in front camera for better pictures. Nice camera Combo.
Talking about the user interface, the Xiaomi Mi A2 runs on Android 8.0 out of the box and provides a pure stock Android experience. It also packed with AI features by which you will get some awesome image results. It supports all the basic sensors like Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, proximity, compass. Under the hood is a 3010mAh battery capacity with fast charging support.
Buy Xiaomi MI A2 (4+64GB) at $169.99
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
The Xiaomi Note 7 is quite different from its predecessors — even when it comes to design. The new model sports a waterdrop notch instead of the standard wide on previous Note models. The new phone’s display is quite similar to the ones we’ve seen on Oppo, Honor, Vivo and the likes. Instead of metal, the Redmi Note 7 sports a glass body with a 2.5D curved back and is available in three gradient colors: Twilight Gold, Fantasy Blue and Bright Black colors in China. The Note 7 comes with a reasonably sized 6.3 inch FHD display with 2340 x 1080 resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 409 pixels per inch. You get a rather standard setup with an IR blaster, a fingerprint scanner on the back, a USB-C connector and a headphone jack — the Note 7 keeps things classic in this regard.
The Note 7 runs on the popular Snapdragon 660, the processor we’ve seen on quite a few models this year including the Mi 6X, the Mi A2 and quite a few others. The phone starts with the basic model with 3GB of RAM paired with 32GB of storage. There are two more options to consider: 4GB RAM + 64GB of storage and 6GB RAM + 64GB of storage. With that, there is also the option of expanding the phone’s memory with external storage on an SD card — up to 256GB supported. There is a 4000mAh battery onboard and fast charging support (Quick Charge 4). With regular charging, according to Redmi, you will be able to get the Note 7 from zero to a full charge in 1 hour and 43 minutes. Charging the phone with a fast charger will enable 9V/2A charging option. Note that the Note 7 only comes with the standard 5V/2A charger in the box
The Redmi Note 7 packs a 4,000mAh battery which is mostly standard in all Xiaomi Redmi phones now, but with Quick Charge 4 support. Xiaomi claims that it will top up the phone from 0 to 100 in 1 hour 43 minutes.
To note here, Xiaomi will only provide a regular 5V/2A charger in the box, but you can purchase a QC 4.0 fast-charging block in for just RMB 10. This will enable 9V/2A charging option.
So far, the Note 7 look like your standard mid range smartphone. But Xiaomi — no, Redmi — have once again attempted to push the boundaries of value for money with a 48-megapixel camera on the back. The second rear sensor is 5MP with f/1.8 aperture. The cam comes with standard and auto HDR, double flash, electronic image stabilization, PDAF, etc.The Note 7 is by far not the first phone to come with a 48MP rear sensor — the Huawei Nova 4 and the View 20 both come with the same setup — but these are much more expensive smartphones. On the front, you get a 13MP selfie shooter with AI Portrait Mode, background blur, Smart Beauty Mode, front HDR and more. It is currently available on Gearbest for $249.99.
