Redmi 8A review: Unique design with great battery and good cameras

Xiaomi's entry-level smartphones that are part of the Redmi A series are very popular in the Indian market. They are cheap. And they are good. The Redmi 5A is one of the best selling smartphones in Xiaomi India's history. The Redmi 6A and the Redmi 7A were equally popular. The latest addition to the series aka the Redmi 8A is expected to gain the same amount of popularity in the country. The Redmi 8A launched in India last month and this is the full review of the smartphone.

The Redmi 8A is undoubtedly one of the best Redmi A series phones launched by Xiaomi so far. Most Redmi A series phones launched in the past were boring and bland looking. There was no oomph in the design of these phones. The Redmi 8A, thankfully, is different. With the Redmi 8A, the company brings to the phone what it calls "Aura Wave Grip" design with a textured back, bigger screen and battery, better cameras, and more RAM and storage. Compared to the predecessor -- the Redmi 7A -- the Redmi 8A is a well upgraded in almost all aspects.

I spent around one week with the Redmi 8A Sunset Red (that is the colour) and found the smartphone to be great a value for money. In a way, it is the best phone under Rs 7,000.

Redmi 8A design and display

The Redmi 7A was a boring smartphone as far as the design is concerned. The same can't be said about the Redmi 8A. Xiaomi's latest entry-level smartphone aka the Redmi 8A looks different, and gorgeous. The Redmi 8A comes with Aura Wave Grip design, something we haven't seen in any of the Xiaomi phones before. The Aura Wave design offers good grip that ensures the phone doesn't slip out of hands all too often. It also has a texture that makes it look distinct.

The grip design adds to the overall aesthetics of the smartphone. This design not only makes the Redmi 8A look appealing and unique but also solves a major issue - that is the issue of oily smudges and fingerprints that are visible on the plastic bodies of budget phones minutes after you start using them. Due to the textured back, these smudges don't appear on the Redmi 8A and most of the time the phone looks clean and pristine.

The Redmi 8A comes in three colours -- Midnight Black, Ocean Blue and Sunset Red -- in India. In this review, you see the Redmi 8A in Sunset Red. At the price of Rs 6,499, the Redmi 8A is undoubtedly one of the best-looking smartphones available in the country right now. I like the blend of red and orange of the Sunset Red Redmi 8A.

On the front, the Redmi 8A includes a dot-drop notch that makes the bezels look slimmer compared to the predecessors. Compared to the Redmi 7A, the new Redmi phone comes with a bigger 6.22-inch screen. The phone includes Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the front. Now, that's good to see on a phone that's so affordably priced.

The screen of the Redmi 8A gets fairly bright in most lighting conditions. It is bright enough for users to read texts indoors or in low light, but in direct sunlight it does look dim. Then that's a problem with screens on budget phones. The viewing angles are also fairly okay but it could have been better. The Redmi 8A includes face unlock support that unlocks the phone pretty fast. There's no fingerprint sensor.

Redmi 8A cameras

One doesn't expect an under Rs 7,000 to click Google Pixel like pictures and Redmi 8A clearly doesn't. But for its price the Redmi 8A captures decent photographs. The Redmi 8A comes with a single camera on the front as well as on the back panel. On the rear, the Redmi 8A uses the same camera as the Poco F1. In other words, the smartphone includes a 12MP Sony IMX363 image sensor on the back. On the front for selfies, the Redmi 8A comes with an 8MP image sensor.

The Poco F1 clicks decent pictures and so does the Redmi 8A. I used the Redmi 8A camera in all lighting conditions. I clicked pictures in daylight as well as in low-light. The pictures clicked with Redmi 8A in good lighting show good amount of details but colours look washed out. Check out the pictures above and you'll see my orange t-shirt looks pink in the picture. The dynamic range in the pictures clicked with the Redmi 8A isn't great. At the price the Redmi 8A comes for I like the kind of pictures the smartphone clicks. In low-light, the smartphone struggles to click good photos.

The Redmi 8A captures decent portrait shots with good amount of details and background properly blurred out. The camera of the Redmi 8A comes with lots of AI features as well. I often clicked pictures with HDR mode on but in that mode, the Redmi 8A takes some time to process the images. The Redmi 8A also clicks decent selfies if not great. The selfies also miss out on the colours and often look washed out. The details look good in the selfies. The portrait mode brings good result with the background properly blurred out and edges fairly distinct.

Redmi 8A performance

The Redmi 8A is powered by the same processor that runs inside the Redmi 7A. It is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 processor. In my one week with the Redmi 8A, I found the phone to be fairly good as far as the overall performance is concerned. The Redmi 8A is capable of handling basic games like Temple Run and Subway surfer very well. I must mention that the phone doesn't feel very smooth and lag-free but it isn't very slow either.

I used the Redmi 8A as my primary phone for a week. In other words, I used the Redmi 8A to make calls, send messages on WhatsApp, browser the internet as well as social media applications like Facebook and Twitter, play games and so on. The Redmi 8A doesn't offer blazing-fast performance and takes time to open apps or switch between applications but the smartphone, I believe, still gets the work done. Well, not that one will expect an OnePlus 7T Pro or an iPhone 11 Pro like performance from an under Rs 7,000 smartphone. I believe the Redmi 8A serves the purpose. I'm using the 2GB RAM and 32GB storage model of the smartphone. The top-end model of the Redmi 8a packs 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage.

Similar to other Redmi phones this one too runs MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie. The MIUI 10 brings several features like Dark mode to the Redmi 8A. You can head to the Settings menu change the theme to Dark from Light. With MIUI comes Ads as well. Xiaomi is supposed to minimalise Ads with the upcoming MIUI 11 that is going to launch in India on October 16. For now, there are no reports whether the Redmi 8A will get upgraded to the MIUI 11 or not. Most likely it will consider it is a part of the company's latest smartphone series.

Redmi 8A battery

The Redmi 8A easily lasts for almost 1.5 days in a single charge. I used the smartphone to browse social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, send messages on WhatsApp, make calls, watch YouTube videos and more. I also played basic games like Subway surfer and Temple run. The Redmi 8A comes with a massive 5000mAh battery. This is the first Redmi A series smartphone to come with such a big battery. To recollect the predecessor device aka the Redmi 7A includes a 4000mAh battery similar to the Redmi Note 7 series.

In addition to the big 5000mAh battery, the Redmi 8 also includes USB Type C and fast charging support. This is for the first time that a Redmi A series phone includes USB Type C port and not micro USB. Another good bit about the battery department of the Redmi 8A is the 18W fast charging support. It should be noted that users will need to buy the 18W fast charger separately from Mi.com for faster-charging speed. I used the 18W fast charger from Xiaomi to charge the Redmi 8A and it took around 1.5 hours to fully charge.

Should you buy the Redmi 8A?

Yes, you should.

At the price of Rs 6,499 the Redmi 8A offers very good value. The Redmi 8A is not only beautiful but also offers good value for the money it comes for. The Redmi 8A brings the all-new Aura Wave Grip design that includes a textured pattern on the back. Besides the design, the Redmi 8A also offers great battery life and good cameras. The phone also offers decent performance and handles basic day-to-day task well. Overall at the price, it comes for the Redmi 8A is a safe buy. The Redmi 8A is selling in flash sales on various e-commerce sites in India.