Redmi Note 5 Pro vs Mi A1

Launched on Valentine’s Day, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro has been hogging attention of the consumers and the media alike. Xiaomi has given all of the features that people expect from a new Redmi Note device every year — a new Qualcomm midrange chipset, more than adequate RAM as well as storage, and a pair of improved cameras. Starting at a price of Rs 13,999, the Note 5 Pro can be termed as one of the most value-for-money budget smartphones that one can buy in India currently.

However, at exactly Rs 13,999, Xiaomi also sells another of its highly-appreciated budget mid-range smartphones — the Mi A1. Launched last September, the Mi A1 was a drastic departure from Xiaomi’s traditional offerings — a nearly stock Android One OS and a pair of dual rear cameras. Currently one of our favourites, the Mi A1 is one of the first few smartphones to taste Android 8.0 Oreo.

Build, Design:

The Redmi Note 5 Pro is a smartphone from 2018, which means you get a big 18:9 5.99-inch display. With narrow bezels up front, the Note 5 Pro definitely attracts attention. The display is protected by an undisclosed variant of Gorilla Glass. The rear is reminiscent of the Apple iPhone X with its vertically stacked dual camera module, which according to us isn’t a bad deal if one of your primary intentions to buy a midrange smartphone is flaunting. The rear panel has plastic ends on the top and bottom for housing the antenna, which negates the requirement for putting thick visible antenna lines. However, the presence of a micro USB port doesn’t sound right.

The Mi A1 looks a tad dated with its 16:9 display. The thick bezels around the display aren’t a pleasant sight, especially in the lighter colour variants. However, the display is a big 5.5-inch IPS LCD panel with backlit capacitive touch navigation buttons at the bottom. The dual camera setup is laid out horizontally, similar to the iPhone 7 Plus. Since there are no plastic caps on this one, there are iPhone-inspired antenna lines, which don’t look that bad.  Unlike the Note 5 Pro, there’s a USB Type-C port, which makes it convenient to plug in chargers which having to look out for the correct alignment.