Xiaomi Redmi Y3: Budget phone with impressive selfie camera, performance

The Redmi Y3, a selfie camera-centric smartphone from Chinese phone maker Xiaomi, is a successor to the Redmi Y2 (review), with more than just a few cosmetic upgrades. Its front camera has higher megapixels, and the phone boasts a new design, mid-tier processor, and decent battery capacity. The sum of its features and specifications makes the smartphone an all-rounder in its segment, at least on paper. Let us take a look at how it fares in real life:

Design and display
The Xiaomi Redmi Y3 takes design cues from the Redmi Note 7-series. It has a metallic chassis and glass on the front and back. The glass body makes it prone to fingerprints which dulls it reflective properties and requires regular cleaning to maintain the sheen. The phone’s front is covered with a 6.26-inch screen and has a dot shaped notch on top to house the front camera. Though bright and vivid, the screen is not the sharpest in the segment due to its HD+ resolution. It also lacks the Widevine L1 certification, required to stream high-definition content from over-the-top (OTT) platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Videos.

Camera
The phone’s 32-megapixel selfie shooter is its biggest strength. The sensor supports face recognition, auto HDR, beauty mode, portrait mode, screen flash and electronic image stabilisation (EIS).
Face recognition helps the camera identify human face in a frame and set the exposure accordingly. This feature aids the camera in bright outdoor conditions and lets you take a selfie without losing details. The beauty mode comes in handy as you can add a filter to remove skin blemishes; the photos look soft and enhanced. In the portrait mode, the camera adds an artificial blur in the background while keeping focus on the object. The EIS helps the phone take stable hand-held shots. Read Complete Article