Entertainment
Redmi Y1: Pocket-friendly selfie smartphone from Xiaomi (Tech Review)
By Krishna SinhaChaudhury
New Delhi, Nov 14 (IANS) Chinese handset maker Xiaomi has climbed to second spot in the Indian smartphone market after coming here nearly four years ago. The company has now expanded its budget line-up with the selfie-centric “Redmi Y” series.
The new Redmi Y1 device comes in two variants — 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage at Rs 8,999 and 4GB RAM and 64GB internal memory variant at Rs 10,999.
At this price point for the 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM devices, Redmi Y1 essentially competes with “Canvas Infinity” from Micromax (which costs Rs 10,999) and Redmi Note 4 (Rs 9,999) — a hugely-popular Xiaomi device.
Does the device live up to its selfie hype? Let us find out.
Xiaomi’s maiden shot at catching up with the trend of selfie-focused smartphones does not go waste.
At first glance, the smatphone looks quite similar to the Redmi 4, but for a bigger-form factor that accommodates a 5.5-inch HD display with Corning Gorilla glass on the top.
Redmi Y1 features a 16MP front camera with selfie light that captured detailed selfies and had accurate colour reproduction. Additionally, there are “smart” and “pro” modes that help in further smoothening the portrait shots.
The front shooter has an aperture of f/2.0 and can record video at up to 1080p resolution.
The rear camera on the device is a 13MP sensor with phase detection auto focus (PDAF) and single-tone LED flash.
Similar to that of other Xiaomi devices, the camera app of Redmi Y1 houses modes such as “Panorama”, “Beautify” and “Manual”.
Images taken in day-light conditions had enough detail and good colour balance.
The device offers a metal unibody design with antenna bands running at the top and bottom on the rear side.
Interestingly, Redmi Y1 has a very light-form factor that makes handling it very easy. The fingerprint sensor at the back is quite handy and unlocks the phone fast.
The Snapdragon 435 processor does its job well in powering the device as well as keeping it cool while we played some power-intensive games such as “Prime Peaks”.
There was no noticeable stutter when we opened multiple tabs on the Chrome browser, streamed music and used social media apps.
Only the right bottom-firing speaker is functional which is capable enough to not let you miss calls.
The smartphone runs Android 7.1.2 Nougat operating system (OS) with its custom MIUI 8 on top.
Xiaomi’s latest MIUI 9 upgrade that includes India-specific features that started rolling out from November 3 is likely to be rolled out for Redmi Y1 soon as well.
What does not work?
Photography in low-light conditions was pretty challenging for Redmi Y1’s primary camera. We noticed grain in the images while zooming in.
Xiaomi’s trademark navigation keys are placed below the display but they don’t support back-lit feature like the Redmi Note 4.
Conclusion: Redmi Y1 is a good attempt by the Chinese handset maker in manufacturing a budget phone which is not just about selfies. A light-form factor, decent specs — apart from a good selfie camera — make it a strong contender against other Android budget phones.
(Krishna SinhaChaudhury can be contacted at [email protected])
–IANS
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International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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