Xiaomi Redmi 9A

Build Quality

The Xiaomi Redmi 9A, launched on July 7, 2020, is a budget-friendly device with dimensions of 164.9mm in height, 77.1mm in width, and 9mm in depth. It weighs 196 grams. The phone is constructed with a plastic body, common in this price segment, and comes in colors such as Carbon Gray (Midnight Black), Sky Blue (Sea Blue), and Ocean Green (Nature Green). It's a non-foldable phone, with a standard build that feels reasonably sturdy for its price. The device includes a microUSB 2.0 port with OTG support for charging and data transfer.

Screen Quality

The Redmi 9A features a 6.53-inch IPS LCD display with a 20:9 aspect ratio. The resolution is 720 x 1600 pixels, resulting in a pixel density of 269 ppi. The screen has a typical brightness of 400 nits and a contrast ratio of 1500:1. It features a water drop notch design and boasts TÜV Rheinland Eye Comfort Certification. While it doesn't have HDR support, it covers 70% of the NTSC color gamut. The screen is scratch-resistant, capacitive, and supports multi-touch. Its refresh rate isn't specified, suggesting it is the standard 60Hz.

Camera Performance

The Redmi 9A is equipped with a single 13MP rear camera with an f/2.2 aperture. It uses a CMOS sensor. On the front, there's a 5MP selfie camera, also with an f/2.2 aperture and 1.12µm pixel size. The camera offers features such as digital zoom, autofocus, touch focus, manual focus, continuous shooting, geotagging, panorama, HDR, face detection, and various shooting modes. It can record video at 1080p at both 30fps and 60fps. An LED flash is included for low-light scenarios.

Software Experience

The phone ships with Android 10 out of the box, upgradable to Android 11. It includes sensors such as an accelerometer and proximity sensor. The user interface is Xiaomi’s MIUI, which provides a variety of features and customizations.

Battery Performance

The Redmi 9A houses a substantial 5000 mAh Li-Ion battery. It supports 10W fast charging via the microUSB port. The battery is non-removable and should easily last a full day for most users given the less power-demanding processor and screen.

Hardware

The device is powered by the Mediatek MT6762G Helio G25 (12 nm) chipset, which has an octa-core CPU configuration with four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores at 1.5 GHz. Graphics are handled by the PowerVR GE8320 GPU. The model tested had 2GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC 5.1 storage. Other variations are available with up to 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Notably, this phone lacks an SD card slot. The device includes 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 with A2DP, EDR and LE support, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, and Beidou. It supports dual SIM functionality via two Nano SIM slots. The Antutu benchmark score for the device using v9 is 102,778.

Value for Money

The Xiaomi Redmi 9A is a very low-price segment smartphone. Prices vary depending on the configuration, ranging from approximately $52.63 for a 4GB/64GB variant, to $102.12 for a 3GB/32GB variant. This pricing makes it an attractive option for users looking for an affordable device with a large screen and battery. It provides a basic smartphone experience, suitable for everyday tasks. The lack of features like NFC or a higher-resolution display is expected at this price point.