Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime review: Fancy on a budget

Sharp 5-inch FullHD IPS display

The Redmi 4 Prime redefines what a budget display is these days. A 5-inch FullHD panel with a pixel density of 441ppi in a phone that goes for $130 in its home country? Sure, why not.

The maximum brightness is about average for the Redmi range - on par with the Redmi 3, lower than the Redmi 3 Pro, and higher than the 3S. The Sony Xperia E5 is capable of a few more nits, but overall the Redmi 4 Prime is plenty bright. Maximum brightness is slightly lower in Auto mode.

Blacks aren't spectacularly deep but are still reasonably well contained, making for a contrast ratio well exceeding 1000:1 - above 1100:1, actually. The excellent minimum brightness of 1.2nits ensures comfortable night scrolling sessions.

Colors are reasonably accurate in Standard/Standard mode (there are separate settings for 'saturation' and 'colors') with an average DeltaE of 4.6 - a step in the right direction from the Redmi 3S (5.5) and Redmi 3 Pro (6.4). Standard Warm takes average DeltaE to 4.4, and that's the most accurate mode overall. The default mode out of the box is Brilliant for saturation and Standard for colors - an average DeltaE is 5.0.

Sunlight legibility isn't great, but the Redmi 4 Prime is still capable of achieving decent contrast - for an LCD, that is.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  4.615
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  4.439
• OnePlus 3
  4.424
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  4.376
• HTC One A9
  4.274
• Samsung Galaxy Note7
  4.247
• Samsung Galaxy A3
  4.241
• Google Pixel XL
  4.164
• ZTE Axon 7
  4.154
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy Note5
  4.09
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  4.019
• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  3.983
• OnePlus X
  3.983
• Oppo R7s
  3.964
• Apple iPhone 7
  3.964
• Huawei P9 Plus
  3.956
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
  3.918
• Samsung Galaxy C5
  3.911
• Samsung Galaxy C7
  3.896
• Samsung Galaxy A5
  3.895
• Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
  3.879
• Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
  3.873
• Samsung Galaxy A8
  3.859
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
  3.817
• Motorola Moto X (2014)
  3.816
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.802
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  3.798
• LG V20 Max auto
  3.798
• Sony Xperia XZ
  3.795
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
  3.789
• Apple iPhone 6s
  3.783
• Meizu Pro 5
  3.781
• Microsoft Lumia 650
  3.772
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  3.756
• Oppo F1 Plus
  3.709
• Vivo X5Pro
  3.706
• Sony Xperia X Compact
  3.694
• Apple iPhone SE
  3.681
• Samsung Galaxy A7
  3.679
• Meizu PRO 6
  3.659
• BlackBerry Priv
  3.645
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3.588
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  3.53
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  3.523
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.523
• Acer Jade Primo
  3.521
• Microsoft Lumia 950
  3.512
• Oppo R7 Plus
  3.499
• nubia Z11
  3.466
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3.422
• Meizu MX5
  3.416
• LG V20
  3.402
• Oppo R7
  3.32
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  3.276
• Samsung Galaxy J2
  3.235
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  3.234
• Motorola Moto X Play
  3.222
• Huawei P9
  3.195
• Lenovo Vibe Shot
  3.113
• Motorola Moto X Force
  3.105
• LG Nexus 5X
  3.092
• Huawei Mate S
  3.073
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
  3.065
• Sony Xperia X
  2.989
• Huawei Mate 8
  2.949
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  2.913
• Sony Xperia XA Ultra
  2.906
• LG G5
  2.905
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  2.884
• Sony Xperia Z5
  2.876
• Microsoft Lumia 550
  2.851
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  2.803
• Sony Xperia Z5 compact
  2.784
• Meizu MX6
  2.751
• LG V10
  2.744
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2.735
• Sony Xperia M5
  2.69
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  2.679
• Huawei Mate 8
  2.672
• Vivo V3Max
  2.659
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2.641
• Sony Xperia XA
  2.609
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  2.582
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
  2.582
• Xiaomi Mi 4c
  2.574
• LeEco Le Max 2
  2.567
• Microsoft Lumia 640
  2.563
• Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
  2.563
• Lenovo Moto G4
  2.544
• Oppo F1
  2.528
• Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
  2.525
• Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
  2.506
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2.503
• Oppo F1s
  2.481
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  2.473
• Huawei G8
  2.471
• Huawei nova
  2.467
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  2.459
• Huawei Honor 7
  2.406
• Sony Xperia E5
  2.386
• ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
  2.382
• HTC 10
  2.378
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  2.378
• Huawei nova plus
  2.329
• HTC One E9+
  2.305
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  2.254
• Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
  2.253
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
  2.249
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  2.235
• Xiaomi Mi Note
  2.234
• Motorola Moto G (2014)
  2.233
• LG Nexus 5
  2.228
• Huawei P8
  2.196
• Huawei Honor 6
  2.169
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  2.166
• OnePlus Two
  2.165
• HTC One X
  2.158
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
  2.145
• LG Aka
  2.145
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2.134
• Xiaomi Redmi Note
  2.119
• Xiaomi Mi 4S
  2.095
• Acer Liquid X2
  2.084
• Huawei P8lite
  2.078
• Moto G 3rd gen max manual
  2.026
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  1.996
• Sony Xperia E4g
  1.972
• OnePlus One
  1.961
• Meizu m3 note
  1.923
• BlackBerry Leap
  1.892
• Meizu m2 note
  1.892
• ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
  1.759
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Asus Zenfone Selfie
  1.68
• Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
  1.675
• ZTE Nubia Z9
  1.659
• Jolla Jolla
  1.605
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• HTC Desire C
  1.3
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Sony Xperia E
  1.215

Connectivity

The Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime supports 7 LTE bands, much like previous Redmis, and which SIM gets to connect to a 4G network is selected in settings - the second one, if there is any, gets 3G or 2G connectivity. You can even have both registered on 3G networks, when 4G is not available.

The rest of the connectivity features include dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n support and Wi-Fi Direct. There is also support for Bluetooth 4.2, GPS with GLONASS and Beidou, plus an FM radio.

A microUSB 2.0 port handles charging and data connections. Media transfer mode is supported for accessing the phone's built-in memory over a USB connection. The microUSB port also supports USB On-the-go for connecting USB peripherals such as pen drives, keyboards or USB hard drives.

Wireless screen mirroring is available via the Miracast protocol.

The IR blaster is located on the top and coupled with the right software, it can be used to operate almost any remotely controlled home appliance, turning the Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime into a universal remote. Xiaomi provides its MiRemote app right out of the box.

Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime battery life

The Redmi 4 Prime draws power from a 4,100mAh battery - introduced with the original Redmi 3 in January this year, that's been the capacity of 4 other different Redmi Threes, and the 3 Redmi Fours announced so far (we bet there'll be more).

That's a whole lot of juice for a 5-incher, but this one here is the first of the small Redmis with a FullHD display as opposed to 720p. Then again, the Redmi 4 Prime's chipset should be the most efficient one to date, as it's built on a 14nm process. Let's see.

Starting off with talk time, the Redmi 4 Prime will happily last over 29 hours on a 3G call. More impressively, though, it can also do 20 full hours of web browsing over Wi-Fi with the display set to 200nits. Video playback endurance isn't as spectacular, but the phone still averaged about 10 hours on the task.

All that adds up to an endurance rating of 91 hours - not quite a match for the Redmi 3S we last reviewed but an excellent performance nonetheless.

The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.