Xiaomi Redmi 8 Review

• Overview
• Design and Build Quality
• Display
• Performance
• Software and User Interface
• Camera
• Battery Life
• Connectivity and Networking
• Additional Features
• Comparison with Other Related Phones
• Pros and Cons
• Conclusion

Overview

The Xiaomi Redmi 8 is a budget-friendly smartphone that offers impressive features at an affordable price. With its Snapdragon 439 chipset and 4GB of RAM, it provides smooth performance for everyday tasks. The 6.21-inch HD+ display is vibrant and immersive, perfect for watching videos or browsing the web. The Redmi 8 also boasts a massive 5000mAh battery, ensuring long-lasting usage without worrying about running out of power. The dual-camera setup captures decent photos, and the 8MP front camera takes sharp selfies. With its attractive design and attractive price point, the Xiaomi Redmi 8 is an excellent choice for budget-conscious consumers.

Design and Build Quality

The Xiaomi Redmi 8 is designed with aesthetics and ergonomics in mind, offering a sleek and premium look and feel. The phone features a plastic body with a glossy finish on the back panel, giving it a modern and stylish appearance. The device has a waterdrop notch display, which maximizes the screen-to-body ratio and provides an immersive viewing experience. The Redmi 8 has a sturdy build quality, with durable materials used in its construction. The phone feels solid and robust in hand, and the fit and finish are impressive. The buttons and controls are well-placed and offer a satisfying click. The bezels around the display are slim, adding to the overall modern look of the device. The frame of the Redmi 8 is made of metal, which adds to its durability. The back panel has a textured finish, providing a good grip and reducing the chance of accidental slips. The phone is lightweight and compact, making it easy to hold and use with one hand. Overall, the design and build of the Xiaomi Redmi 8 are well-executed, combining aesthetics, functionality, and durability.

Display

The Xiaomi Redmi 8 features a 6.22-inch display with a resolution of 1520 x 720 pixels. The screen size is ideal for comfortable viewing and provides a good balance between usability and portability. The display utilizes LCD technology, which offers decent color accuracy and vibrancy. The brightness levels are adequate for indoor use, but outdoor visibility can be a bit challenging under direct sunlight. The touch responsiveness is smooth and precise, allowing for seamless navigation and usage of the device. In terms of protection, the Redmi 8 comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5, which provides durability and resistance against scratches. The pixel density is decent, but not as high as some other devices in this price range. The refresh rate is standard, offering smooth scrolling and transitions. The Redmi 8 does not support HDR or wide color gamut, so the display may not deliver the same level of vibrant and high-contrast visuals as premium smartphones. However, the viewing angles are good, ensuring that the content remains visible even when viewed from different angles. The Redmi 8 also includes features such as an anti-reflective coating, notch design, and slim bezels, which enhance the overall visual experience. Additionally, it offers options for an always-on display and a blue light filter for added convenience and eye comfort. The adaptive brightness feature automatically adjusts the screen brightness based on ambient lighting conditions. Overall, the display of the Xiaomi Redmi 8 is satisfactory for everyday usage, providing a decent viewing experience with its size, clarity, and touch responsiveness.

Performance

The Xiaomi Redmi 8 offers a decent performance with its Snapdragon 439 chipset and Adreno 505 GPU. The chipset ensures smooth multitasking and app loading speeds, while the GPU delivers satisfactory gaming capabilities. Although it may struggle with more demanding games, the Redmi 8 provides a decent gaming experience for casual gamers.

In terms of benchmarks, the Redmi 8 performs reasonably well. In CPU benchmarks, it achieves respectable scores, showcasing its processor performance and efficiency. The GPU benchmarks also demonstrate the device's graphics scores and efficiency.

One of the highlights of the Redmi 8 is its system optimization and thermal management. The device maintains a smooth user experience with lag-free performance, even during extended usage. This is particularly important for users who engage in heavy multitasking or play graphics-intensive games.

In various benchmark tests, the Redmi 8 has shown promising performance metrics. Although specific benchmark scores were not provided, the Redmi 8's synthetic benchmarks and gaming benchmarks indicate its capability to handle everyday tasks with ease.

Overall, the Redmi 8 offers a satisfactory performance for its price range. It delivers smooth multitasking, decent gaming capabilities, and a smooth user experience. With its optimized system and thermal management, the Redmi 8 ensures a lag-free performance, making it suitable for users looking for a budget-friendly device without compromising on performance.

Software and User Interface

The Xiaomi Redmi 8 runs on the Android 9.0 operating system with MIUI 10. This combination provides a smooth and user-friendly interface for the device. The MIUI 10 comes with various customization options, allowing users to personalize their phone according to their preferences. Users can change themes, customize app icons, and even modify the layout of the home screen.

The Redmi 8 also comes with a few pre-installed apps, which can be useful for some users but may be considered as bloatware by others. However, the good thing is that MIUI allows users to uninstall or disable most of these pre-installed apps if they are not required. This helps in keeping the device clutter-free and ensures that users have more storage space available for their own apps and files.

The overall user-friendliness of the Redmi 8's software is commendable. The interface is clean and intuitive, making it easy for even first-time smartphone users to navigate through the device. The settings menu is well-organized, allowing users to quickly find and modify various system settings.

One aspect to note is that the Redmi 8 comes with MIUI 10 and not the latest version of MIUI. While this may not be a deal-breaker for most users, it is worth considering for those who prefer to have the latest software updates and features.

In summary, the software experience on the Xiaomi Redmi 8 is satisfactory. The combination of Android 9.0 with MIUI 10 offers a user-friendly interface with customization options, although some users may find the pre-installed apps to be bloatware. However, the overall performance and usability of the software make it a suitable choice for budget-conscious users.

Camera

The Xiaomi Redmi 8 comes with a dual-camera setup, featuring a 12MP primary lens and a 2MP depth sensor. The primary camera captures photos with good detail and natural colors, making it suitable for daylight photography. The camera also produces sharp images with a decent dynamic range, allowing for well-exposed shots in various lighting conditions. However, the low-light performance of the Redmi 8's camera is not as impressive, as it struggles to capture clear and noise-free images in darker environments. To compensate for this, the Redmi 8 offers a dedicated night mode, which enhances low-light sensitivity and reduces noise for better night photography. The camera also includes features like portrait mode, HDR, and panorama mode, which allow users to experiment with different shooting styles and capture a variety of scenes. In terms of video recording, the Redmi 8 supports 1080p video recording with electronic image stabilization (EIS), providing smooth and steady footage. However, it does not support 4K video recording. The camera also offers slow-motion and time-lapse video modes, allowing users to add creative effects to their videos. Overall, while the Redmi 8's camera performs well in daylight and offers some useful features, its low-light performance could be improved for better night photography.

Battery Life

The Xiaomi Redmi 8 comes with a massive 5000mAh battery, which ensures impressive battery life. With this large capacity, users can expect a full day of heavy usage or even longer with moderate usage. The device also supports fast charging, allowing for quick top-ups when needed. However, it does not support wireless charging. The battery optimization features and power efficiency of the Redmi 8 contribute to its long-lasting battery performance. Users can also take advantage of the battery saver mode to extend battery life further. Overall, the Redmi 8's battery capacity, combined with efficient optimization features, provides a reliable and long-lasting battery experience, making it a suitable choice for users who prioritize battery endurance.

Connectivity and Networking

The Xiaomi Redmi 8 offers a variety of connectivity options to meet your needs. It supports 4G LTE network compatibility, allowing for fast data speeds and reliable connectivity. The device also has dual SIM slots, allowing you to use two SIM cards simultaneously.

In terms of wireless connectivity, the Redmi 8 supports Wi-Fi standards, including 802.11 b/g/n, ensuring a stable and fast internet connection when connected to a Wi-Fi network. Bluetooth is also available on the device, with the specific Bluetooth version not specified in the review.

However, it is worth noting that the Redmi 8 does not support 5G connectivity, which may be a drawback for those looking for the latest and fastest network speeds. Additionally, NFC support is not mentioned, so it is unclear if the device has this feature for contactless payments or other NFC-related functionalities.

For charging and data transfer, the Redmi 8 uses a microUSB port, which means it does not offer USB-C connectivity. Wireless charging is not mentioned in the review, so it is safe to assume that the device does not support this feature.

Other connectivity features mentioned in the review include GPS for navigation and location services, as well as the ability to set up a mobile hotspot to share your internet connection with other devices.

In summary, the Xiaomi Redmi 8 provides a range of connectivity options, including 4G LTE, dual SIM support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. However, it lacks 5G and NFC support, and does not offer USB-C or wireless charging capabilities.

Additional Features

Comparison with Other Related Phones

When comparing the Xiaomi Redmi 8 with related gadgets in the market, it's important to consider its features, specifications, performance, and pricing. Let's take a look at how it stacks up against some of its competitors.

In terms of pricing, the Redmi 8 falls into the budget-friendly category, offering excellent value for money. It competes with devices like the Realme C3 and the Samsung Galaxy M10s, both of which also target the budget segment. While all three devices offer similar specifications and features, the Redmi 8 stands out with its larger battery capacity and expandable storage options.

Speaking of specifications, the Redmi 8 comes with a Snapdragon 439 chipset, 3GB/4GB of RAM, and 32GB/64GB of internal storage. In comparison, the Realme C3 boasts a MediaTek Helio G70 chipset, 3GB/4GB of RAM, and 32GB/64GB of internal storage, while the Samsung Galaxy M10s features an Exynos 7884B chipset, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. While the Redmi 8 and Realme C3 offer similar performance, the Galaxy M10s lags behind slightly.

In terms of camera capabilities, the Redmi 8 sports a 12MP primary camera and an 8MP front-facing camera. The Realme C3 also has a 12MP primary camera and a 5MP front camera, while the Galaxy M10s offers a 13MP + 5MP dual-camera setup and a 5MP front camera. While all three devices capture decent photos, the Galaxy M10s has a slight edge with its dual-camera system.

In the competitive landscape, the Redmi 8 holds a significant market share due to its affordable pricing and decent performance. It differentiates itself with its larger battery capacity and expandable storage options. The Realme C3, on the other hand, focuses on providing a smooth gaming experience with its Helio G70 chipset. The Samsung Galaxy M10s targets users who prioritize camera capabilities.

Overall, the Xiaomi Redmi 8 stands out as a reliable and affordable option in the budget segment. Its competitive pricing, decent performance, and attractive features make it a value-for-money choice for consumers looking for a budget smartphone.

Pros and Cons

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Xiaomi Redmi 8 is an impressive budget smartphone that offers excellent value for money. With its affordable price tag, decent performance, good battery life, and attractive design, it ticks many boxes for budget-conscious consumers. While the camera performance is decent, especially in well-lit conditions, it may struggle in low-light situations. The device also lacks some high-end features like NFC support. However, considering its overall package and the affordable price, the Xiaomi Redmi 8 is a solid choice for those looking for a budget smartphone that delivers on essential features.