3S Prime Review

FEATURE

• The Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime has been priced at Rs. 8,999
• The highlight of the Redmi 3S Prime is its build quality
• The Redmi 3S Prime packs 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage

Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime smartphone was launched in August 2016. The phone comes with a 5.00-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 720 pixels by 1280 pixels. Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime price in India starts from Rs. 8,999. The Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime is powered by 1.1GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor and it comes with 3GB of RAM. The phone packs 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 128GB via a microSD card. As far as the cameras are concerned, the Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime packs a 13-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 5-megapixel front shooter for selfies.

The Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime runs Android 6.0.1 and is powered by a 4100mAh non removable battery. It measures 139.30 x 69.60 x 8.50 (height x width x thickness) and weigh 144.00 grams.The Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime is a dual SIM (GSM and GSM) smartphone that accepts Micro-SIM and Nano-SIM. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, Infrared, USB OTG, FM, 3G and 4G (with support for Band 40 used by some LTE networks in India). Sensors on the phone include Compass Magnetometer, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer, Ambient light sensor and Gyroscope.

About Xiaomi:

Xiaomi is a privately owned company that designs, develops, and sells smartphones, an Android-based OS, and other consumer electronics. Xiaomi also makes fitness trackers, TVs, air purifiers, and tablets. It has a skin for its Android phones and tablets – MIUI. The company largely sells its phones via flash sales in India.

Design:

If you are familiar with the Redmi Note 3, then you will notice a striking similarity in the design. The Redmi 3S Prime is more or less a compact version of the Redmi Note 3, and that’s a good thing. It has the same metal body with a matte finish and is curved all around. Definitely an excellent update over the Redmi 2 series, but come to think of it Xiaomi has played safe with overall design language.

At the front, a glass panel covers the entire face of the smartphone including the display, capacitive Android navigation buttons, the proximity and light sensors and the front facing camera. There is a clean slit for the earpiece which sits above the display. A raised chrome lining surrounds the front which should help in reducing damage when the smartphone is kept facing down.Going around the smartphone, the volume and power button are placed on the right, while the hybrid SIM card tray is on the left. At the bottom is the microUSB port (no Type-C yet) and microphone while on the top is the audio jack, an infrared blaster and the secondary microphone.The only significant difference between this and the Redmi Note 3 is the placement of the primary camera at the back. It is placed on the top left corner along with the LED flash (the camera on the Redmi Note 3 is more centrally placed), while the fingerprint scanner sits in the center, with the loudspeaker below.It is quite an ergonomic handset as the curved edges offer a nice grip and feel to the smartphone. It doesn’t feel very heavy either, even after packing a gigantic 4,100mAH. In all fairness, there are hardly any smartphones in the market today that offer such an impressive build quality.

Display:

While the smartphone is compact, it has grown a bit when compared to its predecessors. The display measures at 5-inches and utilises an IPS LCD panel with a 1280×720 HD resolution; this means a pixel density of 294 PPI. The resolution might not sound that impressive, but the PPI is high enough to qualify as a Retina display. Sharpness and colors are appealing, and even viewing angles are quite good.The display impressed us with its brightness as well. Sunlight readability was a lot better than many a smartphone selling at a similar or slightly higher price. The overall tone of the display is slightly towards the cooler side, but that can be adjusted as you get an option to turn on the ‘Reading Mode’ which basically adds a warm filter over the display. One can also fine tune it by adjusting in the ‘Colours & Saturation’ options, where the white balance as well as colour saturation can be adjusted.

Camera: 

Xiaomi Redmi 3S is equipped with a 13 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front camera, these specs are pretty nice for the price. The rear camera comes with LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, 5P lens, HDR mode that combines 3 pictures to make aperfect one and phase detection autofocus that is claimed to take only 0.1s to focus on your subject. The rear camera quality is good, it is at par with our expectations. The front camera is also as good as any of its competitors in this price segment. Overall, the phone has some brilliant specs other than camera that will surely make it the budget killer. But the camera is also not far behind, camera performance is almost same what we found in the Redmi Note 3, and leaving aside the low light lag, you can call it the best camera in its price segment. 

Performance:

Xiaomi scored several firsts in the Indian market: the company was the first to launch a phone with a Snapdragon 650 SoC in the Redmi Note 3, and the Mi 5 was the first to offer the Snapdragon 820 in the country. The Redmi 3S marks the debut of the Snapdragon 430, which brings a lot of new features previously limited to the mid-tier segment down to the budget category.We've seen companies get away with not including basic sensors on their phones, but that isn't the case on the Redmi 3S. The phone has an ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, gyroscope, digital compass, accelerometer, and even an IR blaster that lets you control your TV, air conditioner, or AV unit (more on that later).For its asking price of ₹8,999, you get a lot of phone. The Redmi 3S Prime has 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 32GB eMMC 5.1 flash storage, a hybrid microSD slot, Bluetooth v4.1, GPS, 13MP camera, 5MP front camera, and a massive 4100mAh battery. Wi-Fi connectivity is limited to 2.4GHz, and the Indian SKU only has the three LTE bands that are currently used by carriers in the country: band 3 (1800MHz), band 5 (850MHz), and band 40 (2300MHz). The three bands ensure that the phone works on all 4G providers in India, but you won't be able to use the phone in another region. The Redmi 3S has VoLTE as well, which works just fine on Jio.Even though the Redmi 3S is a handset aimed at the budget segment, you won't face any lags or slowdowns in everyday usage. The phone is remarkably adept at switching between various apps, but that comes at a cost. The phone's memory management is very aggressive, and background apps are routinely killed to conserve battery life. Even in situations where you have more than 1GB of RAM available, services running in the background are often disabled. 

The fingerprint sensor is quick to recognize your fingerprint, and it works even when there's moisture on the finger. Call quality is great, but the loudspeaker's location isn't ideal for carrying out hands-free calls. The speaker itself is loud, but place it on a surface and all incoming notifications and calls will be severely muffled. I missed several calls over the course of the month as a result.

Battery:

The 4100mAh battery on the Redmi 3S is nothing short of incredulous. The combination of a 720p display, aggressive memory management, energy-efficient Snapdragon 430, and a massive battery has allowed Xiaomi to deliver a handset that offers two days of battery life without any hassles.The phone blows every other handset I've used out of the water when it comes to battery life. I regularly saw close to six hours of screen-on time spread over two days of heavy usage, and there were days where I got nine hours of screen on time. During the launch of the phone, Xiaomi global VP Hugo Barra talked about how testers from the Mi community were able to get 15 hours of screen-on time from the handset on a full charge. I was skeptical at first, but after using the phone for three weeks, I am ready to change my stance. The Redmi 3S sets the benchmark for battery life in this segment.

The Snapdragon 430 supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0, but Xiaomi hasn't implemented it on the phone. You do get fast charging at 5V/2A through the supplied charger, which takes over two hours to fully charge the phone.

Pros:

Good

Good design

Easy to operate with one hand

Impressive battery life

Quick fingerprint recognition

Bad:

Hybrid SIM slot

Gets a bit warm with camera use

verdict:

Xiaomi makes some good phones. More importantly, it makes good phones that are also aggressively priced. The combination is quite a steal, I tell you. But not always. Rival companies are catching up really fast. The Mi 5 is perhaps the company's biggest lost opportunity in India. The Mi 5 although an excellent all-rounder, hasn't been a hit like its previous flagship phone, the Mi 4. This is because the OnePlus 3 trumped it big time. The Redmi Note 3 was a glimmer of hope then, but even that phone is facing some stiff competition from the likes of the LeEco Le 2. Interestingly for prospective customers, the Redmi 3S Prime also poses a new dilemma. Should they get the Redmi Note 3 at Rs 9,999 and sacrifice the 32GB storage option? I had say in case of the Redmi 3S Prime, the 5-inch HD display feels underwhelming, and this is especially true when you watch videos on the phone. I feel a user can just spend Rs 1000 extra, and get the Redmi Note 3, which has a much better display. Frankly it all depends on how flexible your budget is, because both the Redmi 3S Prime and Redmi Note 3 are solid options. The Redmi 3S Prime therefore is a very important phone for the company. This is because it follows the Redmi 2 Prime, a massively popular smartphone in India. Honestly, when company vice president for global, Hugo Barra told me (not long ago) that the Redmi 3 (the original Redmi 2 Prime successor) may not come to India at all, I was a little disappointed. The Redmi 2 Prime was special; it was in fact a benchmark defining phone in its product category for a really long time. To not have its successor come to India was just sad, for me, and for everyone who had patiently been looking forward to it.