Today we're gonna talk about a smartphone that's been garnering a lot of attention within the mid range thanks to its great price to spec relationship. Specifically, we're gonna take on the pros and cons of the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro, also known as the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite for global markets.
This phone has arrived with us courtesy of GearBest which currently sells both models (the 6 pro and A2 Lite) at very competitive price points. See price for the Redmi 6 Pro and Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
Recapping the main specs
We'll start off with a brief recap of the main features of the terminal. In this regard we've got a 5.84 inch display with a 2280 by 1080 pixel resolution, a visual ratio of 19:9 and a great screen to front ratio of roughly 80% screen with the signature notch introduced by Apple on the iPhone X late last year.
On the back end of the phone we can see a dual camera with 12 and 5 megapixel sensors and a 2.2 aperture as well as the almighty fingerprint sensor. On the front we've got a 5 megapixel shooter and, although there's no dual camera Xiaomi still offers us a portrait mode that does a pretty good job at reducing the depth of field.
Internally we've got an octa core Snapdragon 625 CPU running at 2.0 GHz and -for this particular version- we've got 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of upgradable storage. Though there's also a version that hosts 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of base storage.
Finally, it's important to take note that although both the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro and the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite boast the same specs, the Mi A2 Lite features a pure version of Android Oreo as its operating system while the Redmi 6 Pro comes with the MIUI interface, an interface that brings along a lot of interesting features that we'll talk about later on.
Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro (Pros & Cons)
A stunning display
Starting off with the pros of the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro we've got a very good display. Sure enough, it can't be compared to the displays on high-end phones such as the Galaxy S9 or the iPhone X but it's a great quality display for the price point. As mentioned previously, the display boasts a resolution of 2280 by 1080 pixels with a 19:9s aspect ratio and it's a great display to watch movies and edit images.
It's also worth noting that it has a good visibility in exteriors and due to the phone being almost entirely a screen it's very easy to handle.
Finally, this is the first phone by Xiaomi to introduce the infamous notch but don't worry if you're not a fan since Xiaomi also allows us to remove it easily from the screen settings.
Great overall performance
When it comes to day to day performance, the Redmi 6 Pro has us pretty happy. Thanks to its powerfull octa core processor as well as its 4 GB of RAM in this version, the phone boasts a quick performance on all sorts of tasks.
In our time reviewing the phone we've seen the ease at which we may use multiple apps at a time without the phone's overall performance suffering or lagging and launching new apps is also a pretty quick endeavor.
Graphically the phone is also pretty good and we've been able to play graphically demanding games without the phone breaking a sweat.
Dual cameras
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| Picture taken by the Redmi 6 Pro in portrait mode |
If there's something we've seen over the past 12 months in Chinese phones are dual cameras. Most phones launched these days come with a dual camera, however, in most cases it's mostly a decorative feature as the bokeh effect leaves much to be desired with a very artificial look to them.
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| Picture taken by another "dual camera phone" |
Fortunately for us on the Mi A2 Lite as well as its Chinese counterpart the Redmi 6 Pro, the effect is very well done and the phone is capable of properly identifying the perimeter of the subject in order to deliver a very natural depth of field effect. Here are some camera samples.
The front shooter does a pretty good job as well and with solid lighting conditions its also capable of offering a pretty decent bokeh effect though nothing comparable to the rear end shooter.
Unlocking options
When it comes down to unlocking options we've got the aforementioned fingerprint scanner but we've also got a great facial unlocking feature that works at practically the same speed and in different lighting scenarios. Trying it out in an array of different scenarios we've managed to test out how quickly it unlocks the phone.
As for the fingerprint sensor, it works very well and what we've liked the most about it is its speed when it comes to including a new fingerprint as it takes way less time than other phones we've reviewed over the past year.
A great remote control
Another feature we've really liked in regards to the Redmi 6 Pro is the remote control feature which works for a wide variety of devices and brands. Air conditioner, televisions, fans, DVD players, set-top boxes and a whole lot more can be controlled through this nifty feature, here are a few case samples.
Awesome battery life
The battery life on the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro is most impressive and quite frankly very surprising when you consider that it "only" packs a 4000 mAh battery under its belt. However, this battery despite having a very demanding display, can withstand a day's worth of intensive usage or a couple of days under moderate usage.
Another feature we've really liked that comes included within the Miui interface is the battery usage function. A feature that tells us which features are sucking up the most battery as well as how much time we can add to the current battery life by disabling them automatically within the feature.
Speaker quality Sound
The sound quality on the 6 Pro has also been quite a surprise with a quality that easily surpasses that of the iPhone 6S for example and it really does deliver sound as if it was a speaker instead of a smartphone, something quite rare within the price range.
Second space for a seccond session
Finally, the last pro we would like to point out at this time is a feature called second space that also comes embedded within the MIUI settings. Basically, this feature allows us to have multiple sessions within a single device with each session being accessible through its own pattern or individual fingerprint effectively having two phones in one.
Cons of the Redmi 6 Pro
No USB Type C connection
Moving onto the cons of the Redmi 6 Pro we've got the lack of a USB Type C port. Specifically, the phone packs a standard microUSB port instead of the more advanced and convenient USB Type C. That said, there's also something to be said about the phone using a cable which you probably already have lying around the house.
No front facing flash
Another con of the Redmi 6 Pro worth pointing out is something that we would've liked a lot but that's also absent which is a front-facing flash. In this regard, though we've previously talked up the virtues of the rear end shooter and we appreciate that the front-facing camera is also capable of giving us the bokeh effect we would've liked the phone to also feature a nice front facing flash for those situations where we don't have good lighting conditions.
Lots of bloatware
The only significant difference between the Redmi 6 Pro and the A2 Lite is the operating system with the latter one arriving with Google's Android Oreo and the former with MIUI. While we like many features included within the MIUI interface, the device also packs a lot of bloatware which essentially is a lot of programs that come pre-installed. In most cases, we can simply uninstall them but in other cases, you can't and this can be a bit annoying at times.
Fortunately, storage is not really an issue as we can upgrade to an additional 256 GB but it would be nice to not have any bloatware on the device.
Non-removable battery
The final con we'd like to address is quite standard within mid range phones. Of course we're talking about the non-removable battery. Since the phone packs a unibody design, we can't really swap out the battery when we're running low on juice but as we mentioned, this has become pretty much standard by now.
Wrapping things up: Do the pros outweigh the Cons?
In the end, after reviewing the main pros and cons of the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro or the Xiaomi Mi A2 lite, we've gotta say that we're pretty happy with the phone overall.
The display is stunning for the price point, the design is very slick, the battery gives us enough juice to go at it for a full day and the dual camera does a really great job at correctly detecting the perimeter and delivering a solid "bokeh effect". All in all, a great device that offers some serious bang for your buck.
The display is stunning for the price point, the design is very slick, the battery gives us enough juice to go at it for a full day and the dual camera does a really great job at correctly detecting the perimeter and delivering a solid "bokeh effect". All in all, a great device that offers some serious bang for your buck.