We take the Redmi 5 Plus for a spin!
With 18:9 aspect ratio phones being all the rage nowadays, we were not surprised in the least when Chinese brand Xiaomi announced their own take on the new technology. And while the Redmi 5 Plus appears to be a reworked Redmi Note 4X with an 18:9 display, the phone is still one of the best options you can get today if you’re looking for a fairly powerful phone that won’t ravage your wallet.
Big thanks to GearBest for providing our review unit. If you want one yourself, you can buy it here.
Let’s take a look at the specs of the phone before we begin:
Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus specs
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor
- 3GB/4GB RAM
- 5.99-inch Full HD+ IPS display
- 32GB/64GB expandable storage, via microSD (up to 128GB)
- 12-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash
- 5-megapixel front camera with LED Flash
- Dual-SIM
- 4G LTE
- WiFi, Bluetooth
- GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, Fingerprint scanner
- Android Nougat with MIUI 9
- 4000mAh battery
Design: Looks a lot like the Redmi Note 4X, with a taller display
Xiaomi’s design for the Redmi 5 Plus looks eerily familiar to their earlier Redmi Note 4X, down to the placement of the rear camera, LED flash and fingerprint scanner. That’s not a dig on the appearance of the Redmi 5 Plus though, as the phone looks pretty good especially considering the device’s price point and innards.
The 12-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash graces the metal back of the phone, with the fingerprint scanner right below it. The top and bottom strips of the rear of the phone is made from plastic, probably to give the phone better reception from its numerous antennae.
The power button and volume rocker are located on the right side of the phone, with the 3.5mm jack located on the top of the phone. The USB charging port is on the bottom, with the two speaker grilles flanking it.
Overall the phone looks good but we would have preferred Xiaomi to change up the look of the phone a little bit more. The phone does feel extremely solid, with the quality of the assembly apparent as soon as you hold it in your hands.
Display: Excellent display for the price
The big change with the Redmi 5 Plus is the display. Instead of a 5.5-inch panel, you’re now getting a 5.99-inch full HD+ IPS display with an aspect ratio of 18:9. It’s not a bezeless-panel, in fact there’s a small sliver of black bezel on the sides aside from the thin side bezels that make up the chassis of the phone in front.
Despite that, you’re getting a lot of screen for the money, which makes scrolling through apps like Facebook and Instagram a breeze.
As for actual display quality, the Redmi 5 Plus’ 5.99-inch full HD+ display looks great in person. It has good color reproduction and accuracy as well as wide viewing angles. You will get black bars on the side when watching YouTube and other content simply because they were made in the 16:9 aspect ratio.
Hardware: Snapdragon 625 is still fairly powerful
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 chipset will officially be two years old next month, but despite that it’s still a relatively powerful and power efficient processor, and has been the SoC of choice of Xiaomi for many devices. At this point in time we’re already quite familiar with the capabilities of the SD 625: you can expect relatively smooth gaming in graphically intense games without having to chuck your settings to low. Two versions of the phone is available to buy, with GearBest sending the 3GB/32GB version our way for review.
On to the other stuff: the Redmi 5 Plus’ fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate, unlocking the phone in less than a second. Audio from the speakers are pretty good, with good definition even at full volume. No problems with data connectivity as well (Smart LTE) and calls made to, and from the phone were loud and clear.
Software: MIUI 9 has a lot of tricks, getting Google Play to run took a while
GearBest is advertising the Redmi 5 Plus as having Google Play services installed when it’s shipped to you, though our review unit did not have it installed when it arrived. Might have been a slight oversight, and it took us a bit to find a way to bodge on Google Play Services on the device so we could use it as our daily driver.
Thankfully this little guide had an APK that allowed us to install Google Play on the device, though there are a few niggles that are left (can’t add second Google account, etc.).
As for MIUI 9, there’s a lot of features and added software in our review device when it arrived to us. One nice feature is the ability to have a second space on the phone that’s independent from the primary account. You can register one of your fingers to trigger that space (your pinky finger, for example) if you’re so inclined to hide stuff from prying eyes.
Camera: Perfectly capable considering the price
The Redmi 5 Plus uses a 12-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.2 aperture lens, along with PDAF. Photos taken with good lighting were pretty good, exhibiting good color reproduction and detail.
Things go south a little bit when taking photos in dim lighting. That f/2.2 aperture lens doesn’t let in a lot of light compared to say, an f/2.0 or even an f/1.8 lens so expect to have a little bit of blurring and noise in shots with low light.
Despite all of that, the camera is perfectly OK for most users especially when you consider the price.
Battery: Two days on a single charge baby!
With a 4000mAh battery and a relatively power efficient processor (despite its age) we knew that the Redmi 5 Plus would go the distance in our PCMark battery benchmark test. What we didn’t expect was its overall score – at 12 hours and 24 minutes, its one of the highest scoring phones in our test for this year.
With regular use, that translates to around two days worth of battery life on a single charge, something that’s no longer common in phones.
Even better, the phone comes with a 5V/2A fast charger (and is compatible with Qualcomm QuickCharge 2.0 chargers) for fast top up.
Verdict: Easily one of the best value 18:9 phones available if you can find it
Xiaomi has this reputation of offering excellent value phones that don’t cost an arm and a leg to acquire. The Redmi 5 Plus is one such device, offering a relatively powerful chipset, excellent display and astounding battery endurance for not much money. While it stumbles a bit in the imaging category, that trade off is worth it considering what you’re getting.
The biggest problem now is availability – without an official presence, you’ll have to rely on grey market or parallel imports to buy one here in the Philippines, or buy through online stores like GearBest who has the phone in stock for $222, with minimal shipping costs to the Philippines.
