The Chinese retailer Xiaomi, always known for its online sales, has made its offline presence in India with its Redmi 3S Plus.
Also known as Xiaomi Redmi 3S+, following an earlier online release, the smartphone made its way to retailers between late September and early October. This budget handset will be available with over 7,500 major retailers in the industry. According to Xiaomi India, this will help in strengthening the company’s offline presence in the country to a great extent. The Redmi smartphone supports 4G VoLTE and is very similar to two other counterparts – the Redmi 3S Prime and the Redmi 3S with more inclination towards the former.
Colors, Number of SIMs, Dimensions and Weight
The device is available in the three standard gold, silver and gray colors. Stated as a hybrid dual SIM device (one nano SIM and one micro SIM), one of the slots can alternatively be used to insert a memory card like most other handsets from the manufacturer. The 3S Plus is of just the right size and weight for easy hold and use with its dimensions of 139.3 x 69.6 x 8.5 with a weight of 144g. Like higher priced offerings by the manufacturer, the budget handset has a sleek metal unibody and a fingerprint sensor. This gives you the advantage of availing both classy looks and sturdiness with the same smartphone.
Screen Size and Display, Pixel Resolution and Density
The Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ has a 5-inch screen with IPS LCD display. The HD screen has a resolution of 720 x 1280 and a pixel density of approximately 294ppi. Although the screen size is not really ideal for watching your favorite movie, reading a book online or playing a game; the IPS technology renders wide viewing angles to do some justice to these activities. Moreover, images and videos in the handset are displayed with sufficient crispness and clarity thanks to a decent pixel resolution and density for a screen of this size. This is given the fact that the screen-to-body ratio is 70.92%. A drawback is that the device does not have any protection for its screen.
Primary and Secondary Cameras
The shutterbugs in the manufacturer’s Redmi offering do deliver some satisfactory results. On the rear, the Plus smartphone houses a 13MP snapper with an f/2.0 aperture 5-physical lens, an LED flash and phase detection autofocus functionality. Continuous shooting, ISO control, exposure compensation, high dynamic range (HDR) and 0.1 second phase focusing speed are some other key highlights. At the front, the 3S+ comes with a 5MP shooter that makes use of an f/2.2 aperture lens. With respectable pixel ratings, the results are also definitely not a letdown. Noteworthy highlights of this snapper include face recognition, full HD video recording, and 36 intelligent self-portrait selfie styles.
Under the Hood Setup
The key differentiating factor between the Redmi 3S Plus and the Redmi 3S Prime is in the RAM integrated in both the handsets. While the Prime device supports 3GB RAM, the Plus offers a slightly lesser value at 2GB. The storage offered internally is 32GB that can be enhanced by a further 128GB with the help of a memory card. On the processors front, the device uses a 64-bit octa core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with a clocking frequency of 1.4GHz and an Adreno 505 graphics processor.
The 3S+ is preloaded with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and is interlaced with the manufacturer’s very own MIUI 7 skin like most other Xiaomi smartphones.
Battery and Battery Life
The Xiaomi Redmi 3S Plus houses a Li-polymer 4,100 mAh non-removable battery. Though exact details of the standby time and talk time are not known at present, it is expected to provide considerably long results that could on an average mean a day or two of uninterrupted use of the handset.
Sensors and Connectivity Options
With the Redmi 3S+, you can rest assured that there is no dearth of options for both sensors and connectivity modes. In the sensors department, the device is integrated with a rear fingerprint scanner, a compass, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and a light sensor. For connectivity options, the smartphone relies on Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS with Glonass and A-GPS, EDGE and microUSB 2.0 options. Although 4G LTE enabled, the handset is also compatible with 2G and 3G GSM networks.