With inexpensive smartphones, it’s always the same story: it’s a choice not with the heart, but with the mind. You look at a suitable option for the price and buy it, not really hoping for speed and other signs of a chic life like a high-quality camera or NFC. An inexpensive Redmi 9A appeared on sale, I took it for a test from our friends from Biggeek.ru and share my impressions.

Display

If in more expensive smartphones we get screens without cutouts, then in younger models there is no particular choice. Here, both the notch and the frames are wide, and the factory color calibration is strange, the display is noticeably blue. Therefore, immediately go to the settings and change the parameters.

Among other important points, I note the presence of a sensor for automatically adjusting the brightness of the backlight and an oleophobic coating of average quality. The display is flat, without beautiful curves on the sides – well, okay, this can be forgiven for a budget entity. I would like a larger margin of brightness, it’s just very average here, even in cloudy weather on the street, the data on the screen can be seen so-so.

Otherwise, the IPS screen is normal for a budget device: there are no problems with sensitivity, the display is large and well suited for watching videos or reading.

Frame

The smartphone is assembled normally: it does not creak even when checking for twisting. I got the Redmi 9A in neutral black. There are also options in blue and green.

The case made of matte black plastic is not so easily scratched, but greasy prints and stains from touch are clearly visible against a dark background.

The smartphone itself is large and clearly fits the definition of a “shovel”. It is a pity that the era of small models is gone, I would like to return small state employees. But, apparently, the era is finally gone.

Camera

One thing can be said about such a camera: it exists, it works and even somehow takes pictures. I doubt that someone will be able to shoot a masterpiece on her, but she can capture a price tag in a store or a document. Detailing when zooming in on pictures is quite low, but the phone is also a budget phone, inexpensive, what requirements for a photo part can be.

A couple of photos outside on a cloudy day in good light:

And here are a couple of shots indoors with artificial light:

This is how the front camera shoots:

Performance

The smartphone does not have enough stars from the sky, the menu works without frightening jerks, but there is no particular agility either. The phone is just slow and very phlegmatic, doing operations slowly. It runs on the latest version of MIUI 12, which is well-optimized for such modest phone performance. I thought everything would be even worse, but in principle you can adapt to the slow reactions of the device.

For tests, we got a variant with 2 GB of RAM, a very small amount, but such phones continue to be released despite all the criticism.

You can play something simple, in Google Play you can find solitaire or chess, which are not particularly demanding on system resources. If you dream of playing shooters, then increase the budget for the purchase.

Add-ons

The phone is ultra-budget, so no frills. There is no fingerprint scanner. NFC is not. There is no notification indicator.

There is an FM radio, in case someone else is listening to it. You can put two SIM-cards, and there is a separate slot for a memory card, it’s even surprising that they retained such a pleasant opportunity. There is also a 3.5 mm headphone jack familiar to inexpensive phones, but there is no headset included.

The only speaker is located on the bottom end, it is easy to cover it with your palm if you hold the phone in landscape orientation in front of you. It is average in volume, not the most sonorous, groans at the maximum, but the call melody is heard most often normally.

autonomy

The filling in the phone is not so hot, but the battery is 5000 mAh, which is great, you can squeeze out up to three days of work on a single charge. There is no fast charging, so get ready for the process to drag on for several hours and it is better to leave the phone at the outlet overnight.

It’s a pity that they stuck micro-USB into the smartphone, a more modern USB Type-C is really asking. And last year’s Redmi 8A was Type-C! Strange policy.

Set

The box included a 10W charger, a micro-USB cable, and a paperclip to remove the SIM card.

Price

The Redmi 9A smartphone was announced at the end of June at a price of about 75 € for the Malaysian market. A few weeks later, the price for global markets appeared – already 119 €.

If you go to AliExpress, then you can find a phone there for $100, taking into account free shipping, the offer is normal.

There were no official prices for Redmi 9A in Russia at the time of writing the article; on Yandex.Market, I met the only offer for 10,000 rubles.

Considering that the old Redmi 8A costs 8,500 rubles, there is not much point in overpaying for a new product. Get at least a USB Type-C port there.

Update from August 6, 2020: official sales of Redmi 9a have begun in Russia at a price of 7990 rubles.

Conclusion

Such a phone will suit those who want a smartphone with the largest possible screen and a capacious battery for minimal money. At least, this is how Redmi 9A looked when it was shown at the presentation and announced a modest price.

In my opinion, it is better to add money and buy a more powerful smartphone, but there are situations when the budget is limited, there is no way to increase it, and then you have to buy Redmi 9A.

Specifications

• Screen: 6.53 inches, IPS, 720 × 1600 pixels, Gorilla Glass 5, 19:9;
• Processor: MediaTek Helio G25;
• OS: Android 10, MIUI 12;
• Memory: 2/32 GB, microSD slot;
• Camera: front 5 MP, main 13 MP;
• Communications: 4G/LTE, dual SIM, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11n, micro-USB;
• Battery: 5000 mAh;
• Dimensions: 164.9 x 77 x 9 mm;
• Weight: 196 g.

For the provided Redmi 9A smartphone, I thank the friendliest gadget store Biggeek.ru .