Xiaomi Redmi 5 review

Battery life

• 3,300mAh battery easily lasts a day

The 3300mAh battery in the Redmi 5 lasted around 7 hours and 15 minutes on PC Mark battery test. While the PC Mark scores are impressive, the Redmi 5 easily survives a day without asking for a recharge. 

If you check your social media accounts often, watch tons of videos or play intensive games, the phone may require a juice-up before the day ends.

While some might complain about the 720p display, it plays a huge role in maximising the battery life on the phone. To be sure that the HD display helped, I tested the phone in three real life scenarios with full brightness -

• 24 minutes of internet browsing consumed 2% of battery.
• 22 minutes of video streaming consumed 3% of battery.
• 22 minutes of gaming consumed 2% of battery. (Played Badland)

Note that the unit I tested was new and battery life on phones tend to deplete over time.

Since, there's no fast charging support on the phone, the 5V/2A charger takes close to 2 hours 10 minutes to charge from 0 to 100%. 

It has multiple battery saving modes to boost the battery life and it is actually very effective. It boosts the battery life when required and also improves standby time.

Camera

• 12MP primary camera
• Good performance in well-lit conditions

The Redmi 5 has a 12MP primary camera with f/2.2 aperture and a 5MP front camera. 

The hardware looks similar to the one on Redmi Note 5, and the results are also fairly similar. Since the Redmi 5 carries an affordable price tag, results were pretty convincing in well-lit conditions. Pictures look detailed and had enough sharpness, but the dynamic range isn’t up to the standards of the Redmi Note 5 as the Snapdragon 625 comes in to produce better results.

There only area where the camera struggles is under bright sunlight, where sometimes it produces uneven exposure. Also, you need to have a steady pair of hands to get a clear shot, especially when the HDR mode is on.

On the positive side, autofocus is quick and there isn't any visible shutter lag under most conditions.

I expected it to struggle under low light, and it turned out to be true. The camera reduces details in low light, and pictures have noise. Also, pictures lose sharpness and colours look faded under dim light.

Front camera is a 5MP shooter with LED flashlight. The day-light selfies look good, but they aren’t as sharp as they look on the phone’s display. 

Camera samples

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