Xiaomi Redmi A2 review – Compromises in the cheap phone

The Xiaomi Redmi A2 comes with a simple plastic casing that imitates a leather texture on the back. You do not have to fear fingerprints or grease smudges due to the matte surface. The phone is available in light blue, light green or black.

Thanks to rounded edges, the Redmi A2 fits well in the hand and has an average weight of 192 grams. The phone is sturdily built and cannot be twisted. Creaks are also not audible when pressure is applied to the chassis.

The Redmi A2 is currently only available with 32 GB of storage and just under 2 GB of RAM. Officially, Xiaomi charges 110 Euros for it but even offers the device for considerably less than 100 Euros on its website. We find it annoying that the Redmi A2 comes with a microUSB port instead of the widely used USB-C.

NFC is unfortunately not available but the microSD reader is independent so that it can be used in addition to two inserted SIM cards. In our tests with the reference microSD card Angelbird V60, the reader is not overly fast, but not slower than other phones in the price range. For less than 100 Euros (~$100), you have to accept that the Redmi A2 only offers Wi-Fi 4, which is clearly reflected in the transfer rates that are only around 50 Mbps.

Thus, the Wi-Fi module is fast enough for Internet browsing, but you have to wait longer for larger downloads. The Xiaomi Redmi A2 is a 4G phone that only has the most necessary frequencies, so you will have to check whether you can connect to the LTE network on further trips abroad. During our test, we repeatedly take random samples of the reception quality: You usually have a connection in the 4G network in urban environments, but it is much shakier than in high-end phones and also briefly drops out twice in the test.

At least Xiaomi pre-installs the latest Android 13 Go on its very affordable phone. The manufacturer also includes a few advertising apps, which is particularly worrying in view of the tight memory. In return, Xiaomi promises regular security updates for 2 years, which is a good promise for such a cheap phone.

At the time of testing, the patches are from May 2023 and thus are still fairly up-to-date. Annoying: Since the phone is not Widevine-L1 certified, videos from the major streaming platforms can only be viewed in SD. The Helio G36 , which is used as SoC in the Redmi A2, can actually also utilize 90 Hz screens but Xiaomi only installs a display with a maximum frame rate of 60 Hz.

Together with the quite low performance of the SoC and the quite lame memory, you have to be prepared for stutters and waiting times even during normal navigation through the system. A fingerprint sensor for unlocking the phone is not available, nor is face recognition. The rear-facing main camera has a resolution of just 8 megapixels, and the second lens is only used for blur effects.

However, decent pictures can still be taken in good light. It becomes visible that details are lost and contrast is partly lacking in the enlarged picture. Videos can be recorded in 1080p with 30 fps at most and also look a bit lacking in details.

The autofocus in particular has problems providing sharp pictures. In very low brightness, light sources are over-radiated, while there is hardly any drawing in dark areas. The camera reproduces colors a bit too dark in studio lighting, but the overall result is decent.

A 5-megapixel selfie camera is found on the front and takes quite decent pictures in good light. However, you should not enlarge it too much or hope for detailed reproduction of dark areas. The 6.

52-inch IPS screen has a 720p resolution, which is appropriate for the price range. In terms of brightness, the Redmi A2 performs moderately and achieves an average of 379 cd/m². A low black value also ensures acceptable contrasts.

Fortunately, there is only a slight blue cast with the factory settings. Thus, colors are reproduced quite naturally, apart from some blue tones. The screen manages without PWM flickering even at low brightness, so it is also recommended for sensitive users.

With the Helio G36 Xiaomi opts for a fairly new, but not very powerful SoC. The actual power can still keep up with somewhat more expensive phones, but it is problematic that many benchmarks do not want to start or are not even available for the phone in the Google Play Store. Thus, it is quite possible that some demanding apps do not run on the phone.

In everyday use, you also have to deal with stutters and long loading times, which is also due to the lame eMMC flash, but it is probably unavoidable in this price range. At least you do not have to deal with high temperatures: Even after a long and very high load, we measured a maximum of 39. 5 °C on the case.

Since the 3DMark Wild Life stress test does not start, we use GFXBench to see whether the SoC’s performance remains the same after a long load. In fact, this is not the case; the performance fluctuates strongly and is a good 20% below the initial value after 30 runs of the benchmark. The small speaker on the upper edge is a bit unusual but by no means placed wrong.

It sounds very treble-heavy and does not provide much pleasure when listening to music. We like the sound better, which is cleanly transmitted to external speakers or headphones via the 3. 5 mm port or Bluetooth.

The most necessary codecs are available for wireless sound transmission, and you can even transmit hi-fi sound with LDAC and aptX HD. You can charge the Xiaomi Redmi A2 with a maximum of 10 watts. That means you have to be patient for up to 3 hours until 100% appears on the display again in view of the large 5,000 mAh battery.

Our WLAN test empties the full battery in just under 15 hours. That is a good rate, so you should easily get through the day if you are not constantly gaming. The Xiaomi Redmi A2 is a phone that is easy on the wallet, but you also need good nerves: The system is quite slow, and more complex apps often do not run at all.

You cannot stream videos in HD, the Wi-Fi connection is not the fastest, and the old microUSB port is already very annoying. Nevertheless, there are also positive points, especially in view of the very low price: The chassis is well-made and stable, the manufacturer promises regular updates for two years, and the phone hardly heats up even under long load. If you do not have a large budget or are simply looking for a cheap second phone, you can take a look at the Redmi A2: It can do everything you need on a daily basis.

However, you should not expect a smooth or even fast system. If you can invest a few more Euros, you might want to consider the Motorola Moto E32s since it has a 90 Hz screen and a much faster WLAN module. If you are looking for an inexpensive 5G phone, you should look at the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G .

Directly from the manufacturer the Redmi A2 is available in all three color variants for just under 80 Euros (~$80) at the time of testing, and our rental provider notebooksbilliger. de also charges the same price. In the US, users can order the device via Amazon for around $80 .

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