42 JANUARY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE383
HOWGOODCANa£99 phone be? Obviously
there arelimits,but Xiaomihas form for
crafting aqualityproduct forrelatively
little cash: just look at the PocophoneF1
(Shopper373).
The Redmi7Aisaneven cheaper
proposition, butit’s also ashowcaseofhow
farbudget smartphones have come over the
years. Thisisahandset that’s every bitas
handsome as theiPhone 5c wasbackinthe
day, and while you’d be unlikely to mistakeit
forone of the latest flagships,the gap
between top-end and budgetmodels has
narrowed considerably in terms of looks.
AFFORDABLEHOUSING
Like mostrecent phones, thewhole thing is
dominatedbyalargescreen –inthiscase,a
5.45in IPSpanel. Thebezelsare there, but not
obnoxiously; there’s no physicalhome button
andjust the standardvolumerocker and
power switch on the right-hand side.
The back casing is asmooth,rounded
polycarbonateaffair, and comes in black,
blue or gold. It feels very nice in the hand:
solidand withenoughgripnot to worry
aboutdroppage.Build quality is excellent,
too, with no flexatall in thebody.You get
thefeelingthat it wouldlastafew tumbles,
if you’reabutterfingered type.
Youcan forgetabout niceties such as
wirelesschargingand waterproofing, although
both are reasonable omissionsatthisprice.
What is disappointing is the lack of a
fingerprint reader; the Vodafone SmartX9
(Shopper377)proved this is an attainable
feature even below £100.
Still, the Redmi 7A earns points in other
areas. It hasa3.5mm headphonejack,and it
also lets youexpandthe
storagebyanextra 256GB
viamicroSD if you like.
The displayisanother
area where Xiaomi sensibly
cutscostswithout taking
away from theoverall
quality of the device.It’s
only a720p panel, but it’s a
good one consideringthe
lowcostofentry.
Although slightly
reflective,the screen has
solidviewing angles, and
reachesarespectable peak
brightness of 419cd/m2.
Colour accuracyisalso
decent,covering 87% of the
XIAOMI Redmi7A
★★★★★
£99•From http://www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
Forits tiny price,it’s hard to find ways in
which the Redmi 7A disappoints
ANDROID 9.0 SMARTPHONE
sRGBgamut on its
standard colour profile.
Theonly slight
letdown is apretty low
contrastofjust 525:1,
which leadstoimages
and iconsthat aren’t
quite as sharpasthey
could be,but overall it’s
hardtocomplain about
ascreenthisgoodona
£99 handset.
RUNOFPLAY
Likewise for
performance:the
Redmi 7A was never
going to be an absolute
powerhouse, but itsQualcomm Snapdragon
439processor makesitfeelnimbleenough,
andsurprisingly snappy in day-to-dayuse.
In Geekbench4,itscored 864inthe
single-core test and3,109 in themulticore test,
putting itself even withthe Nokia 4.2. That’sto
be expected whenthe two phones sharethe
same processor,but the Redmi 7A is £50
cheaper,sothat’sawinfor Xiaomi. Its
single-core powerisalso slightlyahead of the
SmartX9, although Vodafone’s device
counters with superior multitasking.
TheRedmi7Aisbetter forgaming. In the
GFXBench Manhattan benchmark, it scored
25fpsinthe onscreen test
and10fps in the 1080p
offscreen test, so whileit
will struggle with more
intensive3Dgames,itwill
cope visibly better than the
Smart X9,which scored
9fps in both tests.
On batterylifeit’s
slightly above average, too.
13h24m in our video test
represents enough stamina
to getyou throughaday of
regular use,and only the
vast 5,000mAh batteryon
the£180MotoG7Power
(Shopper376)really pulls
clear.The Smart X9 and
Nokia4.2, meanwhile,
both randry before
the Redmi7Adid.
Onthe backofthe
Redmi 7A, you’ll find a
single 13-megapixel
camerawithan
apertureoff/2.2.
While somebudget
cameras put in a
second lensfor the
price, it’s almost
always adepthsensor,
whichdoesn’t add a
greatdeal; we’d rather
there was afocus on
gettingone lensright.
That’sexactly what
Xiaomihas done here: thecamera’s results
might notbespectacular, but theyare
respectable enough. Even on amoody
grey day, outdoor shots aredetailed and
colourful, and even low-light performance
is surprisingly competent.Again,it’snot
exactly cutting edge, but shots capture
plenty of detail forthe most part, only going
blurry in the darkestareas.
SEEING RED
For£99,the Redmi7Anever seriously puts a
foot wrong. It looks nice,feels well built and
takesareasonable picture: qualitiesthat are
by no meanseasy to findatsuchalowprice.
The Smart X9 is agood alternative,especially
if youwantafingerprint reader,but otherwise
the Redmi7Aisabrilliantbudget phone.
AlanMartin
Battery life
0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100
See page 84 forperformancedetails
PROCESSOROcta-core2GHzQualcomm Snapdragon 439•
SCREEN SIZE5.45in•SCREEN RESOLUTION1,440x720•
REAR CAMERA13 megapixels•STORAGE16GB•
WIRELESSDATA4G•NFCNo•DIMENSIONS
146x70x9.6mm•WEIGHT165g•OPERATING SYSTEM
Android 9.0•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILS
http://www.mi.com•PART CODEMZB7813EU
SPECIFICATIONS
13h24m
For£99, the Redmi 7A neverseriously puts afoot wrong.
It looks nice, feels well built and takes areasonable picture
