Redmi 8A Review | The Best Budget Smartphone Under 15,000 in Nepal

If you're looking for the best smartphone under 15,000 in Nepal, you can't go around at least including Xiaomi's Redmi devices in the selection. They simply offer a lot for this tight budget. The Redmi 6A and Redmi 7A already offered a very good price-performance ratio. And the latest budget phone from Redmi i.e. Redmi 8A is one of the phones in this price range. The price of Redmi 8A in Nepal is Rs. 11,999 for the base variant (2/32GB) and Redmi 8A 3/32GB variant cost Rs. 12,99 in Nepal. So, let’s talk more about this phone in this review.

Unboxing Experience

The Redmi 8A unsurprisingly comes with fairly basic packaging in terms of contents, but the box itself looks no worse than Xiaomi's more expensive offerings. The contents of the package are also not too far off from what you normally find in a Xiaomi box. That does have more to do with Xiaomi packages usually not being particularly lavish, to begin with.

The phone comes with a standard 10W charger with no fast charging support, although the phone itself supports up to 18W with aftermarket chargers. You also get a USB-C cable for charging.

Design & Build Quality

For the category it falls in, the Redmi 8A’s display is better than I expected. The smartphone features a 6.22-inch HD+ display with a resolution of 720 x 1,250 pixels and a 19:9 aspect ratio. The display also has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection.

The phone’s display has decent viewing angles and shows good color and contrast. The text sharpness is also good. Sunlight legibility is quite nice. Auto brightness is effective and you wouldn’t find yourself squinting at the screen with the changing ambient light.

The back of the phone has these textured stripes on it, and a glassy ridge that runs along the center, which has the camera setup and the LED flash on top of it, the Redmi logo right below, and a ‘Design by Xiaomi’ tag at the end of the strip. 

The phone also feels quite sturdy and you wouldn’t feel the need to get a case for the phone. Although, I would suggest you get a screen guard for the phone, which doesn’t come bundled in the box. While its display is protected by Gorilla Glass 5, in the long run, coins and keys can leave some bad scratches behind.

Software & Performance

The Redmi 8A runs on MIUI 11 on top of Android 9. In terms of software experience, this is pretty much the same MIUI experience that you find on any other Xiaomi phone. The Redmi 8A has a Snapdragon 439 chipset, which has an octa-core CPU with eight Cortex-A53 cores, four of which run at 1.95Ghz and four at 1.45GHz. The GPU is the Adreno 505 clocked at 650MHz. 

Also Read: MI Phone Price in Nepal

While the Redmi 8A does not offer you a completely lag-free experience, for daily use including answering calls, watching videos on YouTube, and switching between Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, the smartphone will not disappoint you.

Can we Play PUBG in Redmi 8A?

I tried running some classic matches on the phone, and while the Redmi 8A manages to deliver playable frame rates, it is by no means a fantastic gaming experience. There are noticeable frame drops and you can’t switch over to HD graphics, either. If you stick to simpler 2D games your experience should be fine.

Camera

The Redmi 8A has a single 12MP f1.8 camera on the back with dual-pixel PDAF and flash, and a single 8MP f2.0 camera on the front. Both cameras are capable of 1080p30 video. The Redmi 8A uses a 12MP IMX363 camera sensor.

The camera quality on the Redmi 8A is underwhelming. The biggest issue with the camera is the dynamic range, which is quite poor, resulting in overly contrasty images with blown-out highlights and crushed shadows. The detail and color rendition are mostly fine, and the noise levels are low, even in low light conditions.

Low-light shots aren’t terrible, but again, you can spot blown-out highlights in the reflections. The phone applies heavy noise reduction, which adds a pervasive softness to the shots. Also, we can’t expect too much from a phone in this price range.

Some Camera Samples:

Battery

Redmi 8A is powered by a 5000mAh battery. The Redmi 8A also beats the other comparison devices easily. Two workdays of continuous use shouldn't be a problem. Those who use their smartphone less could eventually even do without a wall socket for a week thanks to the low standby consumption.

According to Xiaomi, the smartphone supports fast-charging up to 18 watts. But you have to buy a separate charger for this because the power adapter included in the box only delivers 10 watts and therefore takes a good 3 hours until the smartphone is recharged.

Xiaomi Redmi 8A specs

• Body: Plastic body, Gorilla Glass 5 display
• Display: 6.22-inch, 1520x720 resolution, 270PPI IPS LCD
• Rear camera: 12MP f1.8, dual-pixel PDAF, LED flash, 1080p30 video
• Front camera: 8MP f2.0 camera, 1080p30 video
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 439, octa-core CPU (4x 1.95GHz Cortex-A53 + 4x 1.45GHz Cortex-A53), Adreno 505 GPU (650MHz)
• Memory: 2/3GB RAM, 32GB storage, microSD support
• Connectivity: Dual SIM, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi 802.11n, USB-C 2.0, A-GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou
• Power: 5000mAh battery, 18W fast charging support, 10W charger supplied
• Misc: Face unlock, wireless FM radio

Should You Buy Redmi 8A?

If you have a tight budget and you are looking for a budget smartphone with a decent camera and overall performance, a long-lasting battery the Redmi 8A should fit your needs perfectly. This phone is suitable for someone who spends a bit more time on multiple social media apps and the like. As it stands, the Redmi 8A is still a fantastic piece of kit for the price. As of now, The price of Redmi 8A in Nepal is Rs. 11,999 for the base variant (2/32GB) and Redmi 8A 3/32GB variant cost Rs. 12,99 in Nepal.

Also Read: Redmi Note 8 Pro Price in Nepal