New Delhi. May 05 : Xiaomi is the No 1 smartphone brand in India for seven consecutive quarters now. And one big reason why it has been so successful is due the quality of its mainstream phones. Redmi Note phones are wildly successful. Phones like Redmi 5 and Redmi 6A are best-sellers. But the Redmi Y series, aimed at those who want killer camera and superlative selfies, hasn’t seen the same degree of success. With the Redmi Y3, which is a sort of re-invention of the Y series, Xiaomi hopes to change it. And as I set out to review the Redmi Y3, I increasingly got the feeling that Xiaomi achieves its aim.
Xiaomi introduced the Redmi Y series around two years ago with the launch of the Redmi Y1. Following the Redmi Y1 was the Redmi Y2, which launched last year, and now arrives the all-new Redmi Y3. Similar to the previous generation Redmi Y series phones the new Redmi Y3 is also a selfie-focused smartphone. With the Redmi Y3 Xiaomi brings a 32-megapixel selfie camera to a phone priced under Rs 10,000.
Until now we have seen only expensive phones like the Vivo V15 series, the Honor View 20, and the Huawei P30 Pro come with 32-megapixel selfie camera. Does this mean the affordable Redmi Y3 can click as good selfies as the other expensive 32-megapixel selfie camera phones? Let’s find out.
Redmi Y3 camera
It is usually extremely difficult to get a phone with good selfie camera under Rs 10,000. After using this phone I believe that with the Redmi Y3 Xiaomi solves this problem. The Redmi Y3 brings the 32-megapixel selfie camera to the budget segment and as Xiaomi claims I too believe that the new Y series phone indeed captures great selfies.
Similar to other 32-megapixel camera phones in the market, the Redmi Y3 also uses Pixel binning technique to shoot pictures using the 32-megapixel sensor. This means the Redmi Y3 clicks 32-megapixel shots only in PRO mode or 32MP mode – available in the camera app. In the regular mode, the Redmi Y3’s camera sensor combines four pixels together and creates 8-megapixel images. And that is alright.
In my opinion, the Redmi Y3 does a good job with selfies in both PRO mode and default photo mode. I believe for day-to-day usage the default photo mode is enough to capture a good selfie. Most selfies captured with the Redmi Y3 in good light look great and have lots of details, accurate colours, and no added layer of beautification unlike most selfie centric phones. However, under the blazing sun the selfies appeared slightly washed out. In low-light conditions the front torch helped click well-lit, clear, and detailed selfies.
Overall, I didn’t find much visual difference between selfies clicked in default and PRO mode. In my opinion, the 32MP mode just had slightly better details – it captured the face marks, the eyelashes a little better than the default mode. So, in other words if you want to print out the photo, the selfie clicked in 32MP mode will bring out better end results. For Facebook and WhatsApp use, the regular mode is good enough.
