Posted by  |
Design
Plus
- Looks stunning, with an all-glass design - Xiaomi has gone the extra mile here and really knocked it out of the park in terms of an exquisite design
- Excellent, flagship-worthy, premium build quality
- Great hand feel
- The front and the back are fitted with Corning's Gorilla Glass 5 with an additional 0.8mm-thick layer for extra durability
- The LED notification light sits comfortably on the chin - it can only be seen when it lights up, it's really subtle
- Splash resistant body
- The capacitive fingerprint sensor is easy to reach with your index finger and it also has a different texture, so it's hard to miss - plus it's quick
- Apart from the quick fingerprint sensor, the phone also has decently quick AI face recognition (under good light)
Minus
At 186g, it's a bit on the bulky side
Display
- Big, sharp 6.3inch LCD screen with a small, unobtrusive notch
- Good overall display quality, with especially good brightness levels
- You also get software tweaks to adjust the contrast and colour temperature, which is nice
Software
Plus
- Xiaomi's custom skin overlay, MIUI, has come a long way and the latest version takes a more simplistic and clean approach
- There is also an option to chose between the standard navigation buttons and navigation gestures
Minus
There continue to be pesky ads in the MUIU interface these days, and these do somewhat diminish the experience of using an otherwise excellent smartphone (there are ways to disable these through settings, but not a lot of people who buy the phone are going to be technically aware enough to know how to do that)
Performance
- The excellent Snapdragon 660 SoC makes sure that the device runs smooth without thermal throttling or performance drops even with complex games
- Unlike the Redmi Note 7 Pro, the Redmi Note 7S also doesn't have any heating issues
 |
Camera
- Uses a similar high-res rear camera setup (48MP + 5MP) as the Redmi Note 7 Pro - though the sensor is different, and not quite as amazing
- In daylight, the performance is good, as expected - there's plenty of detail, contrast is good, and colors are punchy
- Decent Night mode - improves the colours and details a bit - though it's not as good as the excellent Night mode on the Redmi Note 7 Pro
- Portraits with the dual rear cameras are also good - the detail is nice while the edge detection is good - indoor portraits are good too
- With the front camera, the selfies turn out to be quite nice as well - there's enough detail from the 13MP snapper and its focus sweet spot is almost a full arm's length so you don't need to get really close to the phone to get the sharpest possible result - the portrait mode also seems to do quite well despite the hardware limitations of the front camera (no secondary unit for depth sensing)
- Overall, the cameras on the Redmi Note 7S are very good for the price bracket, and a step up over the Redmi Note 7, though not quite as amazing as Redmi Note 7 Pro
Audio
Despite having just a single bottom-firing loudspeaker, the handset impresses with a loud sound - and it sounds clean at high volumes as well
Connectivity
- Gets the modern USB Type-C port - a rarity in this price bracket
- Like other Redmi phones, the Note 7S also packs a handy IR blaster, which can be used for remote controlling home appliances via the Mi Remote app
Battery
Plus
Very good battery life - the 4000 mAh battery paired with the fairly efficient Snapdragon 660 SoC means you will comfortably get over a day of use - it's not as amazing as the Note 7 Pro though, which does significantly better, thanks likely to an even more efficient processor
Minus
While the smartphone supports Quick Charge 4.0, the included adapter maxes out at 5V/2A, and though it has a decent charging speed (about 57% in 1 hour), you will have to look for a QC 3 or QC 4-capable brick to enjoy true 'fast charging'
Conclusion
The Redmi Note 7S is another great device from the Xiaomi camp, and gives a great overall bang for the buck - the only significant compromise you are making over the Redmi Note 7 Pro is in terms of the camera - if that's not super important to you, you can go for the Note 7S and save some money
Emoticon