Xiaomi, which has had a great run in the Indian smartphone market with the well-received Redmi Note 3 and Mi Max, is keeping up the pace with a new smartphone priced below Rs. 10,000. The Xiaomi Redmi 3S and Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime are the company’s latest attempts to strengthen its position in the segment.
Xiaomi Redmi 3s/3s Prime are being sold exclusively at flipkart via flash sales the next sale is on 17th August, 2016.

Xiaomi Redmi 3S / Redmi 3S Prime Specifications-

5-inch 720p IPS display
Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 with Adreno 505 GPU
2GB RAM + 16GB internal storage / 3GB RAM + 32GB internal storage (Redmi 3S Prime), expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD
MIUI 7 based on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
Hybrid Dual SIM (micro + nano / microSD)
13MP rear camera with PDAF, LED Flash, f/2.0 aperture, 1080p video recording
5MP front-facing camera, f/2.2 aperture, 1080p video recording
Dimensions: 139.3 x 69.6 x 8.5mm; Weight: 144g
Fingerprint sensor (Redmi 3S Prime), Infrared blaster
4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS + GLONASS
4100mAh battery

The Pros

1. Battery

This phone is all about the 4,100 mAh battery that refuses to die. Xiaomi is not the first company to introduce a big battery smartphone at a budget. Lenovo Vibe P1m which was launched last year, had a 3,900 mAh at a price of Rs.7,999/-.

In Xiaomi’s case, the battery lives up to the claims. You can easily go the whole day without charging this phone and will still have some battery left at the end of the day even on heavy usage.

2. Performance

The Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime is the first phone in India that runs on the octa-core Snapdragon 430 SoC from Qualcomm. This is one of the first in its series to get the Adreno 505 GPU, which is faster than the older Adreno 405 GPU on SoCs like the Snapdragon 616. That said, it doesn’t seem to make a very big difference. Games like Injustice: Gods Among Us and Asphalt 8 showed slight frame skips but the overall performance was great when you consider the price tag.
The best part is the it’s quite heat efficient as well, with temperature after 15 minutes of gaming reaching 39.5 degrees celsius. On recording FHD video, the maximum this phone’s capable of, for 10 minutes, the temperature goes up to 35.9 degrees celsius. The temperature never goes above 40 degrees, which is good.

Other than that the 3GB RAM variant has more than enough power to handle your daily needs. Multi-tasking is not a problem on this phone, you can run multiple apps and games side by side without any crashes or lags at all.

3. Camera

Topping off the overall value proposition is the 13MP rear camera on the Redmi 3s, with an f/2.0 aperture lens. Here again, like the Redmi Note 3, images shot are good under bright conditions, but show noise in poorly lit situations, indoor and night shots, thanks to higher than ideal ISO values. This, though is acceptable in this price range.

The still photography performance is above average I would say but the video experience like all other budget phones isn’t upto the mark.

The Cons

1. Xiaomi Redmi 3s/ 3s Prime don’t come with any kind of protection like Corning Gorilla glass or Aashi Dragontrail Glass over the screen to save it from shattering or scratching.

2. The camera performance isn’t good in low light conditions and the video recording as mentioned is not upto the mark.

Final Verdict

The Xiaomi Redmi 3s / 3s Prime are both great phones and offer a great value for money factor. It will give you everything you need in a price you are not expecting. If you aren’t a power user and just want your day to day tasks with no hiccups then the Redmi 3s is the phone for you which will easily get you through the day with a great balance between performance and battery life.