Looking for a cheap, but powerful smartphone? Look no further than the Xiaomi Redmi 10C! At 135 USD, this smartphone offers the best value for your money, and I highly recommend it.
Today I’m going to be reviewing the Xiaomi Redmi 10C, which is currently the best budget smartphone on the market. This device is a fantastic option for those who want good value for their money, with a solid performance and long battery life. In this review, I will be looking at the device’s design, features, and performance, as well as highlighting its strengths and weaknesses.
Design
As an entry-level phone, the Redmi 10C has a plastic body that’s 8.3 mm thick and weighs 190 grams. It features a 6.71-inch IPS display with HD+ resolution, a waterdrop-style notch that houses a 5 MP front-facing camera, and scratch-resistant protection. The phone also comes with stereo speakers that provide excellent volume.
While the Redmi 10C has a decent design, it’s not the most attractive camera layout. The position of the fingerprint scanner is a bit uncomfortable and will be hard to reach if you have small hands. It gets the job done regardless and you’ll have no problems unlocking the device, as long as you can reach it. The rear has a textured design, more of a slanted striped pattern. I’m glad it’s not a glossy finish.
From the retail box, you’ll notice there’s no protective casing, which is usually present on Redmi devices. There’s also no pre-installed screen protector. The signature IR blaster is absent here and that might be a bummer depending on whether or not you use this feature. It also lacks stereo speakers and a secondary microphone, but I really won’t expect that at this price point, so no issues there.
Performance
When I look at the Redmi 10C, I see a device that is easily good value for money, packing the same processing power as the more expensive Redmi Note 11 by virtue of the 6nm Snapdragon 680 processor, decent cameras made possible by GCAM, and more interestingly, it comes at a very affordable price point. Its major selling point is the Snapdragon 680 processor, which powers it, the same processor that powers the more expensive Redmi Note 11.
It surprisingly even has slightly higher benchmark scores on Geekbench. The Redmi 10C retails for just under $150 for the base version with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and you can pick up the 128GB version for 87,000 Naira. Quite affordable if you ask me. It is actually difficult to find a device at this price point with this much value in specifications.
MIUI 13 & Expandable Storage
MIUI 13 is pretty much the same as what you find on the Redmi Note 11, with the exception of second space. Like the Note 11, you don’t get the full features like split-screen multi-tasking or the app sidebar. However, you can expect ads and bloatware apps, so you will need to uninstall a couple of preinstalled apps during setup.
Connectivity
In terms of connectivity, the Redmi 10C has 4G, NFC, a headphone jack, dual-band WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, FM radio, dual SIM support, and GPS. On the back, there’s a dual-camera system led by a Samsung S5KJN1 50 MP f/1.8 sensor along with a 2 MP portrait lens. You can record super-stable 1080p videos at 60 fps and slow-motion shots at 120 fps.
The Redmi 10C is a dual sim device with support for expandable storage. It comes in two memory options, 64 or 128GB, and you can expand it with an SD card. The device comes pre-loaded with MIUI 13 and Android 11, and while we’re not sure how soon we’ll see an Android 12 update, we’re hoping it’ll come.
Memory Extension Feature
You get the memory extension feature which adds 1GB of virtual RAM to the default 4GB RAM on the device, totaling 5GB. While virtual RAM is only functional as long as there is enough internal storage space free, it’s still a feature that many will appreciate.
720p IPS LCD Display
The Redmi 10C features a 720p IPS LCD display, which is not the brightest, so you want to be wary of that if you need to use it outdoors. However, given the price of this device, this is expected. It is a 6.71-inch display with a water drop notch style. If you like large mobile screens on a budget, this one definitely fits the job description.
Good Battery Life
The device has really good battery life. While a 5000 milliampere hour battery may seem standard, on a device with a 720p display and of decent brightness levels such as the Redmi 10C, it seems pretty well-optimized to meet or exceed your expectations.
Cameras
Another area where Xiaomi cut corners on this device is the cameras. It has a 5MP selfie camera, which is surprising since it’s been a while since we’ve seen a device with such low camera quality.
The rear cameras aren’t the best either, with only two camera sensors which only one is useful. It is a dual combination of a 50MP main sensor and a depth sensor. The rear cameras will give you decent photos in the right lighting conditions.
Photos look decent for its price, and you should be satisfied with the results here. You can switch to 50MP mode to take higher resolution photos which should be larger in size.
