Xiaomi’s Redmi series was supposed to be cheap and easily available when it started and has done pretty well in India in the form of Redmi 1s and Redmi 2. For the price it comes for, it is easily one of the top and best ones out there. After making some launches on its successors, Xiaomi has finally launched the Redmi 3s which is essentially a Redmi 3 with a fingerprint scanner, in India much to the delight of the fans and buyers who were waiting for it. Let’s quickly look at what the phone has to offer:
The Redmi 3s comes with a 5″ HD IPS display packing 1280*720 resolution at 294 PPI. It features a metal body design, a smaller form-factor with a 5″ screen, and MIUI which is colorful and vibrant, which should make for a decent enough experience. The phone weighs a healthy 144 grams for its size and this is acceptable for a massive 4100mAh battery it packs in. The overall design has also changed from the Redmi 3 with the looks now resembling more towards the Redmi Note 3.
Also under the hood comes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC clocked at 1.4 GHz with an Adreno 505 GPU. It also packs 2/3GB RAM with 16/32GB internal memory that can be bumped up to 256 GB via a hybrid Dual-SIM tray that can take 2 4G LTE SIMs or one SIM + microSD card. The phone runs on MIUI 7 built off Android Marshmallow.
It comes with a 13MP primary camera with PDAF, LED flash, and f/2.0 aperture whereas the front camera is a 5MP one with an f/2.2 aperture. The Redmi 3s comes with most of the popular sensors apart from the rear fingerprint scanner, like accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass. Note that the 2GB RAM variant with 16GB storage DOES NOT come with a fingerprint scanner.
Connectivity options include: 4G LTE with VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.1, GPS, GLONASS, Infrared port, and USB OTG is supported. The phone also supports fast battery charging. Comes in Gold, Dark Grey, and Silver colors for both variants.
Pricing & Variants –
The Redmi 3s 2GB RAM variant without fingerprint scanner is priced at 6,999 INR whereas Redmi 3s Prime, the higher variant with 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, and a Fingerprint sensor is priced at 8,999 INR. When you look at the competition, the Coolpad Note 3 Lite is a strong competitor and for a lesser price too. The Lenovo K5 and K5 Plus are also a contender among the others. This does is a slightly pricey phone but if one is looking at an elongated battery life it could excite them. The Redmi 3S Prime will go on sale on Flipkart soon and also on mi.com from August 9th whereas Redmi 3s will go on sale from August 16th.
