We unbox the Redmi 5 Plus!
With 18:9 equipped smartphones becoming more and more common nowadays, it was inevitable that the king of bang-for-the-buck smartphones would want to get in the action. Xiaomi’s Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus are killer deals, sporting Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processors, 18:9 displays and low prices. Gearbest recently sent over a Redmi 5 Plus over for us to review, and today we’ll be unboxing it for you guys.
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
Packaging and contents
The Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus that came to our HQ looks to be the Chinese version of the phone, since most of the characters on the packaging are Chinese. Once you open the box, you’ll see the phone, a freebie soft silicone case, USB cable and a charger.
As is Xiaomi’s custom, the company did not include a pair of headphones in the box, though you’ll probably buy your own for use with it anyway.
Initial Impressions: Good build quality plus fairly powerful processor
Xiaomi has earned its fair share of fans for outing competitively priced smartphones that are pretty well built and assembled. The Redmi 5 Plus is no exception to this – the new phone feels as solid as any other brand at higher price points. The phone has a metal rear, though the top and bottom parts are plastic, more than likely for the device’s antennae.
The phone uses a single rear camera instead of a dual-camera setup that most brands favor nowadays, specifically a 12-megapixel rear sensor with a dual-tone LED flash. The rear-mounted fingerprint scanner sits right below it.
The front of the Redmi 5 Plus is undoubtedly more interesting than the rear, thanks to the phone’s 6-inch, 18:9 display. The display is full HD+, with a resolution of 2160 x 1080, giving you more real estate on the top and bottom.
There’s a very thin black bezel surrounding the display, aside from the white bezel that borders the front panel so it’s not a true borderless phone but honestly it’s not too bad. Navigation is done via the software Android navigation keys at the bottom of the display. The selfie camera up top is a 5-megapixel deal.
Inside the device is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor. While Snapdragon 625 is a little old now, it’s still a very capable chipset, thanks to its power efficient nature and excellent GPU. The Redmi 5 Plus comes in a variety of configurations, with our unit being a 3GB/32GB variant. It also important to note that our unit came without Google Services or Google Play, which we’ll have to figure out how to put in as we move forward with the review. The device comes with Xiaomi’s MIUI 9.
If there’s one thing we really, really like about the Redmi 5 Plus, it’s its battery life: coming in at 4,000mAh, the phone has enough juice to last you more than a day with really heavy use. The phone utilizes Qualcomm’s QuickCharge tech, and the included charger outputs at 5V/2A for faster charging.
That’s it for our unboxing of the Redmi 5 Plus. We’ll be sorting out our issues with Google Play and start the review process, though take note that GearBest is advertising that the phones they sell from their website already has Google Play installed when it ships out. The phone starts at $218 (around Php 10.8K) in their website, with shipping costs being relatively low for what you’re paying for.
