Xiaomi is easily most popular phone brand in India. It has reigned supreme for many quarters, according to IDC, and it’s all thanks to the many offerings in different price brackets, including the Redmi Y and A series in the sub-Rs 10,000 bracket, Redmi Note series in the sub-Rs 15,000 price bracket, and the flagship-grade Poco F1 in a sub-Rs 20,000 price segment.

The Redmi Go comes packed in a familiar red cardboard box that we have seen from Xiaomi in the past. It comes with the Redmi Go branding in bold letters on the front and not a whole lot inside. Here’s everything you’ll find inside the box:

  • Redmi Go handset
  • microUSB charging cable
  • 5W charging adapter
  • SIM ejector tool
  • User manuals

Before we delve into my first impressions of the Redmi Go, let’s take a quick peek at the specs sheet:

Redmi Go: Design &  Build

While Xiaomi may have switched to a newer and trendy “Aura design language” with the mid-range Redmi Note 7 Pro, the Redmi Go will instantly remind you of the older budget phones from the company. The brushed metallic polycarbonate build of the Redmi Go feels similar to what we’ve seen on Xiaomi budget phones like the Redmi 6A and others.

Redmi Go: Display

Redmi Go also has a pretty compact design, thanks to the small 5-inch HD display on the front. Xiaomi neither opted for a trendy 18:9 screen nor a notched one, probably to keep costs low. Also, someone purchasing their first smartphone (coming from a feature phone) wouldn’t really care for a taller display. Most such users should be happy with what they get for their money.

The HD display (1280 x 720 pixels) on the Redmi Go is decent for the price and features huge bezels on the top and bottom, with capacitive buttons on the bottom. The screen ordinarily gets bright, but appeared dim under the direct sunlight outdoors. We’ll thoroughly test the same over the coming days.

Redmi Go is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 425 SoC, clocked at 1.4GHz and is coupled with 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage. Xiaomi has launched only the lower-end variant of the smartphone in India, leaving out the 16GB variant. I have not toyed around with the Redmi Go enough to pass a final judgment but the 1GB RAM is possibly going to prove to be a bottleneck in the long run, especially if you load up heavier apps on it.

Software

Redmi Go, if you’re unaware, comes with Android 8.1 Oreo (Go Edition) out-of-the-box. This is a special version of your favorite mobile OS, designed to run smoothly on entry-level smartphones with 1GB RAM and less.

Note: It’s unfortunate to see Redmi Go running Android 8.1 Oreo. I find no reason why Xiaomi didn’t go with Android Pie when it’s been out for more than 6 months and there already are phones running the same out there.

With a sub-Rs 5000 smartphone from Xiaomi, all we can expect are two cameras. Redmi Go delivers the same with an 8MP (f/2.0) rear camera, with a single LED flash, and 5MP (f/2.2) selfie camera on board. Xiaomi has bundled a myriad of camera features with the smartphone, including real-time filters, Auto HDR, the ability to adjust the scene type or manual controls.

Redmi Go: Connectivity & Battery

Redmi Go comes with all the connectivity features you expect from a smartphone these days. It has 2 separate SIM trays, with one of them accepting just a single nano-SIM card, while the other one supports a nano-SIM card, as well as microSD card (up to 128GB storage).

The device supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, which means you’ll only be able to connect to 2.4GHz networks and not high-speed 5GHz ones. It includes Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, AGPS, GLONASS, and Beidou support as well.

Battery

Xiaomi has packed the Redmi Go with a modest 3,000Ah battery pack that should be more than enough to get you through the day. I believe average use (calling, WhatsApp, and content consumption on YouTube on an HD display) will give you a great usage time, but we’ll have to spend more time with the device to confirm the same.

Redmi Go is Xiaomi’s cheapest Android smartphone to date and it’s a huge deal because the Chinese giant will now attract feature phone users who are looking for a modern and feature-packed phone but without burning a hole in their pocket. Is it underwhelming, as some readers say on social media, or not, we will find out in our complete in-depth review.