Xiaomi has just announced a new smartphone in India, and along with it, a new lineup of devices. The Xiaomi Redmi Y1 is the phone in question, and it is the first smartphone in the ‘Redmi Y’ lineup of devices. The Xiaomi Redmi Y1 is an entry-level smartphone, it is quite affordable, and it sports a set of capacitive keys below its display, while its bezels aren’t exactly the thinnest out there, but you cannot really expect it to be bezel-less at this price point. The Xiaomi Redmi Y1 is made out of metal, and it sports a rear-facing fingerprint scanner, while its back side is slightly curved for a better grip.
The Xiaomi Redmi Y1 features a 5.5-inch 720p (1280 x 720) display with a 2.5D curved glass on top of it. The device also comes with Corning’s Gorilla Glass protection, and it is fueled by one of Qualcomm’s entry-level SoCs, the Snapdragon 435 64-bit octa-core SoC which is clocked at 1.4GHz. This chipset comes with the Adreno 505 GPU, and the device offers two SIM card slots. The Redmi Y1 comes in both 3GB and 4GB RAM variants, and those two variants of the device ship with 32GB and 64GB of expandable storage (expandable up to 128GB). Android 7.1.1 Nougat comes pre-installed on the Redmi Y1, and on top of it, Xiaomi has installed its MIUI 8 skin (upgradable to MIUI 9). On the back of the Redmi Y1, you’ll be able to find a 13-megapixel snapper (f/2.2 aperture, PDAF), while a 16-megapixel shooter (OmniVision’s sensor, f/2.0 aperture, 76.4-degree wide-angle lens) is included on the front side of the device.
At the very top of the Redmi Y1, you’ll notice an IR blaster, while this phone offers support for 4G LTE with VoLTE, and it comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n. Bluetooth 4.2 is also included in the Redmi Y1 package, while the phone ships with a 3,080mAh non-removable battery. The Xiaomi Redmi Y1 comes in two color variants, Dark Gray and Gold, while its 3GB and 4GB RAM variants are priced at Rs. 8,999 ($139) and Rs. 10,999 ($170) in India, respectively. The Redmi Y1 will be available via Mi.com and Amazon India starting on November 8, and it’s also worth noting that Amazon India will be an exclusive online retailer that will carry this smartphone in the country (not counting Xiaomi’s official store, of course). Chances are that the phone will be available via offline channels as well, but nothing of the sort was confirmed just yet.
