Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime review: Fancy on a budget

Telephony

The dialer and the phonebook share a single app although there are two shortcuts, bringing you straight to the tab you need - recent with dialer on the first and the contact list on the second. There's a Yellow pages tab, but that's only useful in China.

Call recording is available - the files can be saved either on your device or on your MiCloud. The dialer can recognize automatically business numbers, as well as scam contacts thanks to the Xiaomi's Caller ID database.

Dialer • Contacts • viewing a contact

Loudspeaker

The Redmi 4 Prime's loudspeaker managed an Average score in our three-pronged test. It's the same result that the Redmi 3 and 3S got, though far from the glory days of the Redmi 2.

Other apps

The Xiaomi Redmi 4 comes bundled with the MIUI 8 excellent file managing app called Explorer, which lets you browse the files in its internal storage and groups them by type.

Explorer

The MIUI v8 also offers a Security app. It can scan your phone for malware, manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, clean some RAM; it can also manage the permissions of your installed apps.

The Security app has a new feature now - it allows you to define the battery behavior of selected apps and apply restrictions only to the apps you choose.

Security app • Data management • Battery management

The Mi Remote uses the IR blaster to control anything from TVs (including the Mi TV, of course) to digital cameras. The setup process is relatively straightforward, and a handy option shares the remotes you've set up with others on the same Wi-Fi network. You'd have to go through the setup only once per home assuming everybody else uses a Xiaomi phone as well.

Setting up the Mi Remote app

The custom and now flat Calendar looks good, syncs with your accounts including Google, and offers Day, Week, and Month views, but no Year - boo.

Calendar

There is also the standard sound recorder, flashlight, clock, and weather apps, among others, that are a given in any self-respecting Android package nowadays.

Voice recorder • Alarms • Clock • Weather

We liked the Compass app. It has very nice and clean interface, shows the magnetic directions and doubles as a level meter. If you lift the phone up, then you'll get a nice augmented reality view with real-time East/West/North/South overlay.

Compass • level