Having presented 6 fifth-generation devices Redmi in a few months, the company Xiaomi made a lot of confusion in the ranks of potential buyers. Users do not always understand how the models relate to each other and how – with the previous generation, which still remains on store shelves. Let's try to figure out who is who in the family Redmi 5.
Redmi 5A
- Positioning: the initial apparatus of the series. Overview.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 425.
- Screen: 5 ″ 720 × 1280 (HD), 16: 9, 296 ppi.
- Memory: 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal.
- Official price in China: 599 yuan (approximately $ 94 or 5,322 rubles).
- Price on AliExpress: from $ 86. Hereinafter, all prices on AliExpress are indicative (perhaps at the time of reading the article, the offer will be cheaper, and perhaps only more expensive).
- Official price in the Russian Federation: 5,992 rubles (Tmall), 7,990 rubles (federal retail and mi-shop excluding discounts for club members).
- Predecessor: Redmi 4A.
According to the company, this is the king of the budget family. A little boastful, but not devoid of common sense. The smartphone is currently one of the cheapest devices with characteristics of this level:
- good build;
- Qualcomm processor;
- 2/16 GB of memory on board;
- 5 ″ HD screen;
- separate slots for SIM cards and memory cards;
- good camera for the budget segment;
- a battery that confidently provides a day of work (under normal, non-gaming load);
- powerful and comfortable shell.
It is also the smallest device in the range. If 70 mm width is the limit for you, then you will have to choose this particular device (if you stay with Xiaomi, of course).
All the advantages for this device can be crossed out by the price. In my opinion, 7,990 rubles is too expensive. For this money, you can find a lot of competitors who will be able to offer some features that the device lacks, for example, NFC.
But if you buy it at Tmall, the device is definitely worth the money.
The predecessor – Redmi 4A – also had a Pro modification with 32 GB of internal memory. But there this option was justified by the fact that the slots were combined and with two SIM-cards there was no room for a memory card. In Redmi 5A, the situation has changed and the need to modify the device with an increased memory capacity is much lower.
Redmi Note 5A
- Positioning: budget phablet.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 425.
- Screen: 5.5 ″ 720 × 1280 (HD), 16: 9, 267 ppi.
- Memory: 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal.
- Official price in China: 649 yuan (approximately $ 102 or 5,767 rubles).
- Price on AliExpress: from $ 87.
- Official price in the Russian Federation: 9,990 rubles.
- Predecessor: no.
The smartphone is very similar in characteristics to Redmi 5A, but offers a 5.5 ″ HD screen. Thus, this is the entrance ticket to the world Xiaomi for those who prefer larger screens.
The main problem when considering this device for purchase is that in Russia there is no such excellent offer for it as for Redmi 5A, and the gap in price from the compact device becomes too large. And the situation is further aggravated by the promotions on Redmi Note 4. The 'old man' can be purchased at Tmall for 9,793 rubles, and in fact it completely breaks the Note 5A in almost all parameters: processor, memory size, screen, battery.
If you buy a device on AliExpress, then the price already justifies the characteristics of the device, and the questions “Who cares about this?” does not remain.
Redmi Note 5A Prime
- Positioning: improved budget phablet. Overview.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 435.
- Screen: 5.5 ″ 720 × 1280 (HD), 16: 9, 267 ppi.
- Memory: 3 GB RAM, 32 GB internal.
- Official price in China: 799 yuan (approximately $ 126 or 7,099 rubles).
- Price on AliExpress: from $ 117.
- Official price in Russia: 13,990 rubles (11,790 for shares). A 4/64 GB version is available for 15,990 rubles (13,990 for shares).
- Predecessor: no.
The most incomprehensible device in the line. The amount of memory has been increased relative to the standard one, and even the platform is different – Snapdragon 435. But the price negates all the advantages. For that kind of money, this device has practically no chances before Redmi Note 4.
Redmi 5
- Positioning: standard apparatus of the series. Announcement.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 450.
- Screen: 5.7 ″ 720 × 1440 (HD +), 18: 9, 282 ppi.
- Memory: 2/3 GB RAM, 16/32 GB internal.
- Official price in China: 799/899 yuan (approximately $ 126/142 or 7 098/7 987 rubles) depending on the amount of memory.
- Price on AliExpress: from $ 119/144.
- Official price in Russia: no (you can find gray phones at a price of 9,000 rubles for the basic version).
- Predecessor: Redmi 4x.
If the devices considered so far can be considered new only conditionally, because in all their appearance they painfully resemble 'old' ones, then Redmi 5 can already be considered a full-fledged representative of the new generation. There is a new fancy 2: 1 (18: 9) screen and a new Snapdragon 450 chip (which 'on paper' is completely indistinguishable from the 625). The screen, by the way, turned out to be very ambiguous: there was not just stretching 5 ″ in length, but first stretching to 5.2 ″ while maintaining the aspect ratio of 16: 9, and then stretching. As a result, the device is no longer as compact as Redmi 5A, and the reduced pixel density starts to be evident in small fonts.
The main question is what will be the official price in Russia. Moreover, there are already Honor 9 Lite and Huawei P Smart on the shelves, offering not only better screens (FHD +), but also NFC support.
Redmi 5 Plus (Redmi Note 5)
- Positioning: the main phablet of the series. Announcement.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 625.
- Screen: 5.99 ″ 1080 × 2160 (FHD +), 18: 9, 403 ppi.
- Memory: 3/4 GB RAM, 32/64 GB internal.
- Official price in China: 999/1 299 yuan (approximately $ 157/205 or 8 875/11 540 rubles) depending on the amount of memory.
- Price on AliExpress: from $ 146/170.
- Official price in Russia: no (you can find gray phones at a price of 12,000 rubles for the basic version).
- Predecessor: Redmi Note 4.
The device is a good old Redmi Note 4 with a screen stretched to fashionable proportions 2: 1 (18: 9). And, as is customary for such proportions, the buttons became on-screen.
Buying this smartphone or giving preference to the 'old man' Note 4 is a matter of taste. True, if you need a device officially imported into the Russian Federation, you will have to wait, Redmi 5 Plus has not yet been presented in our retail.
Redmi Note 5 Pro
- Positioning: flagship of the line. Announcement.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 636.
- Screen: 5.99 ″ 1080 × 2160 (FHD +), 18: 9, 403 ppi.
- Memory: 4/6 GB RAM, 64 GB internal.
- Official price in India: 13,999 / 16,999 rupees (approximately $ 216/263 or 12,219 / 14,837 rubles) depending on memory size.
- Official price in Russia: no.
- Predecessor: Redmi Note 3 Pro.
With all the advantages of the fourth generation flagship Redmi Note 4, the question remained: how did it happen that its performance is lower than that of the third generation flagship? But now the question is cleared, there is a Pro version again. If you don't want to overpay for a higher-end phablet (Mi Note 3) and don't need NFC, then Redmi Note 5 Pro looks like the best choice.
True, as always, the issue of the official price in the Russian Federation is acute. Even in this generation, the line Xiaomi managed to surprise both in a good sense (Redmi 5A) and in a bad way (Redmi Note 5A Prime).
Comparison with the previous generation
Are there any devices in the previous generation that are better than the new one? Yes but not all.
- Redmi 5A – 4A loses nothing, wins in separate slots, the price is the same or lower.
- Redmi Note 5A – good for the 'Chinese' price, but not the official one.
- Redmi Note 5A Prime is more than a strange device.
- Redmi 5 – not the most successful update Redmi 4x. The chip is better, but there are questions to the screen.
- Redmi 5 Plus (Note 5) – just an elongated Note 4, a matter of taste.
- Redmi Note 5 Pro – the flagship of the line, which has no analogue.
But in the last generation there was another device, whose 'heir' we did not see – this is Redmi 4 Prime. Compact, powerful (for this level, of course, no one expected a flagship chip here), with a large battery.