Xiaomi Redmi Y1, Y1 Lite go on sale at Amazon, Mi Store: Know prices, specs

Xiaomi Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite went on sale at noon on Wednesday, Novemer 15, on the Amazon India and Mi store platforms. The Redmi Y1, with 32 GB storage and 3 GB RAM, is priced at Rs 8,999, while its premium variant with 64 GB storage and 4 GB RAM costs Rs 10,999. The Redmi Y1 Lite is priced at Rs 6,999.

Business Standard reviewed the Redmi Y1 to test its selfie camera capabilities, besides the overall smartphone performance. Here are our observations:

Camera
The Redmi Y1 sports a 16-megapixel front camera, coupled with an LED flash. The images captured using the selfie shooter come out clean, but show heavy post-processing. The soft flashlight assists in taking low-light shots but limits the use only to selfies. The overall picture quality is nothing exceptionally good but praiseworthy for its price segment.

The 13MP rear camera takes better photographs than the higher resolution front-facing selfie camera. It performs well in bright lighting but shakes in low-light conditions.

Performance
This selfie-centric smartphone is no powerhouse. Running on Qualcomm’s entry-level Snapdragon 435 SoC, it does well in daily tasks like checking emails, browsing the web, calling and messaging, with no signs of a lag. The performance takes a toll, however, during processor-intensive tasks like broadcasting live video on social media channels for extended hours, or playing games while keeping screen recorder active in the background.

The dual-SIM smartphone offers VoLTE capabilities on both SIMs, with good network reception and a satisfactory call quality. Also, there is a dedicated memory card slot that comes in handy for additional storage.

The smartphone runs Android Nougat 7.1.1 out of the box, covered under MIUI 8.5. The recently announced MIUI 9 Global ROM is scheduled to come sometime this month.

Xiaomi Redmi Y1: Budget selfie-centric phone with satisfactory performance

In its first shot at the selfie-centric smartphone segment, Chinese smatphone manufacturer Xiaomi has come up with not one but two budget devices -- the Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite. While the Lite variant costs Rs 6,999, the Redmi Y1 is priced at Rs 8,999 for the base model (32GB storage and 3GB RAM) and Rs 10,999 for the premium variant with 64GB storage and 4 GB RAM.

Business Standard reviewed the Redmi Y1 to test its selfie camera capabilities, besides the overall smartphone performance. Here are our observations:

Camera
The Redmi Y1 sports a 16-megapixel front camera, coupled with an LED flash. The images captured using the selfie shooter come out clean, but show heavy post-processing. The soft flashlight assists in taking low-light shots but limits the use only to selfies. The overall picture quality is nothing exceptionally good but praiseworthy for its price segment.

The 13MP rear camera takes better photographs than the higher resolution front-facing selfie camera. It performs well in bright lighting but shakes in low-light conditions.

Performance
This selfie-centric smartphone is no powerhouse. Running on Qualcomm’s entry-level Snapdragon 435 SoC, it does well in daily tasks like checking emails, browsing the web, calling and messaging, with no signs of a lag. The performance takes a toll, however, during processor-intensive tasks like broadcasting live video on social media channels for extended hours, or playing games while keeping screen recorder active in the background.

The dual-SIM smartphone offers VoLTE capabilities on both SIMs, with good network reception and a satisfactory call quality. Also, there is a dedicated memory card slot that comes in handy for additional storage.

The smartphone runs Android Nougat 7.1.1 out of the box, covered under MIUI 8.5. The recently announced MIUI 9 Global ROM is scheduled to come sometime this month.

Xiaomi launches Redmi Y-series selfie smartphones, ropes in Katrina Kaif

China-based electronics maker Xiaomi on Thursday introduced the Redmi Y-series with the launch of the Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite in India. The company has roped in Bollywood celebrity Katrina Kaif to endorse the selfie-centric smartphone series. The budget smartphones will go on sale starting November 8 on Amazon India and Mi online store.

The Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite look almost identical but are different in terms of specifications and camera set-ups.

The key differentiator for the Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite is the selfie camera, which is also the key feature of the new series. The Redmi Y1 sports a 16-megapixel front camera assisted with LED flash, while the Redmi Y1 Lite sports a 5 MP selfie camera without LED flash.

Another difference lies in the strength of the processor, internal storage and RAM. The Redmi Y1 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 system on chip (SoC), coupled with two storage and RAM options – 32GB/3GB and 64GB/4GB. The Redmi Y1 Lite is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC coupled with 2GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage.

Both the smartphones sport 5.5-inch HD screens covered with Gorilla Glass for protection against accidental scratches. There is a 13 MP camera assisted with phase detection autofocus (PDAF) technology and LED flash in both the devices. The smartphones can house dual SIM cards and there is a dedicated microSD card slot to expand the storage. Both the devices run on 3,080 mAh battery.

As for the pricing, the Redmi Y1 is priced at Rs 8,999 for the base model and Rs 10,999 for the higher model. The Redmi Y1 Lite is priced at Rs 6,999.