Xiaomi had recently announced the Y1 and Y1 Lite in India which mainly focusses on selfies. Its probably their contribution for the selfie lovers where Oppo and Vivo were already dominating. The Y1 is more superior than the Y1 Lite and competes with Xiaomi's own Redmi 4 basically making Xiaomi dominate in the budget category. Both the Y1 and Redmi 4's 3GB RAM and 32GB storage variant are available for Rs. 8999 while the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variants are available for Rs. 10999. However, do remember that there is a base model with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage of Redmi 4 available for Rs. 6999.
Design and Build:
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| Xiaomi Redmi 4 |
The Redmi 4 has been in the market for quite some time and has been one of the driving factors for Xiaomi's growth along with the Note series. It comes with a 5 inch 720p (1280×720) IPS LCD display with 2.5D curved glass and capacitive buttons to the bottom. It is made of aluminium with polycarbonate to the top and bottom and it does offer a premium feel. The fingerprint sensor is located at the rear and its an active sensor.
The IR blaster is present at the top along with the 3.5mm headphone jack and the speaker lies to the bottom. The device comes with a hybrid SIM slot where you can insert either 2 SIMs or 1 SIM and an Sdcard.
The device weighs 150g and has a thickness of 8.65mm. It is available in gold and black color.
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| Xiaomi Redmi Y1 |
Now, coming to the Y1, it comes with a 5.5 inch 720p (1280×720) IPS LCD display and 2.5D curved glass. The placement of the capacitive buttons, headphone jack, IR blaster, speakers and fingerprint sensor remain the same as that of the Redmi 4. The only difference between them physically is the larger screen on the Y1. The extra 0.5 inch and the same resolution means lesser pixels per inch. Although, that doesn't matter to a greater extent yet by chance if you were planning to use a VR then pixelation will ruin the experience however it also applies to the Redmi 4 due to the 720p display.
Also one major point to be noted is that the Y1 is made out of polycarbonate and not metal like the Redmi 4. The device comes with a dedicated slot for Sdcard along with 2 SIMs.
The device weighs 153g and has a thickness of 7.7 mm due to the lower battery capacity than the Redmi 4. The Y1 is available in gold and dark grey colors.
Overall, for better single handed usage and metallic build, the Redmi 4 wins over the Y1 however for bigger screen the Y1 is the way to go.
Performance:
This is the one parameter where Xiaomi has decided to keep it the same. Both the devices are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 SOC. This SOC comes with 8 Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.4ghz and the GPU used is Adreno 505. As said earlier that the RAM and storage options remain the same except the Redmi 4's 2GB variant, the performance aspects will also be the same. The 435 SOC is capable in handling basic tasks well and can also do some gaming since the GPU is driving only a 720p display.
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| Multi-window on MiUi 9 |
Another major point to be noted is the software where both the Redmi 4 and the Redmi Y1 come with MiUi 9. The MiUi 9 comes with all the Nougat features like multi-window, double tap on recent tasks button to switch between apps and so on along with MiUi's own dual apps feature and a new image editor which come in handy.
Camera:
The Redmi 4 comes with a 13MP f/2.0 rear camera and 5MP front facing camera. The device being a budget contender, the camera performance is average and nothing exceptional or worth talking about. The shots from it are decent and not worse too.
Coming to the Redmi Y1, the rear camera is slightly different from that of the 4 since it comes with a 13MP sensor of f/2.2 aperture. The f/2.2 makes it more smaller thereby letting in lesser light which hampers the low light photography to some extent when compared with the Redmi 4. Although, the main selling point of the Y1 is the 16MP front facing camera along with a dedicated flash.
The 16MP f/2.0 sensor performs quite well with detailed captures and it does come with 76.4° field of view thereby allowing in for more people in the selfies. The Y1 performs way better than most other devices in this segment for selfies and this can be confirmed practically.
Both the device's camera are capable of shooting 1080p at 30FPS
Overall, in the camera department, the Y1 takes a lead due to its front facing camera while the rear camera performance is acceptable on both.
Battery:
Xiaomi has always been generous in terms of battery capacity and same is the case with the Redmi 4. However, the Y1 has been deprived of the 4100/ 4000mAh capacity and rather Xiaomi decided to settle in for 3000 / 3080 mAh. In simple terms the Redmi 4 comes with 4100/4000 mAh capacity and the Y1 comes with 3080/3000 mAh capacity.
Its clear that the loss of 1000 mAh capacity will lead to much lesser battery life than the Redmi 4. Hence, the Redmi 4 is the ideal choice for better battery life leading to higher SOT's (Screen on time) than the Y1 based on your usage.
Summing up the comparison, to make it simpler for you to choose either the Redmi Y1 or the 4 consider the following:
- Better Build : Redmi 4
- Better Rear camera : almost same
- Better front facing camera : Redmi Y1
- Better Performance. : Both
- Better Battery life : Redmi 4
Overall best value for money :
Considering all the parameters, the Redmi 4 wins since the only parameter that it falls behind is in the front facing camera.
Xiaomi has recently announced a permanent Rs. 1000 cut on the pricing of the Redmi Note 4. The 3GB RAM and 32GB storage variant will now be available for Rs. 9999 and the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant will be available for 11999. The Note 4 is far superior to the Redmi 4 and the Y1 since it comes with a Snapdragon 625 SOC which is highly efficient and powerful. Also the battery capacity is of 4000mAh although the camera performance is almost the same. The only department where the Y1 leads is in the selfie camera. Hence, decide your priorities and get the best one for you.
Specifications:
| SPECS | REDMI 4 | REDMI Y1 |
|---|---|---|
| Screen size | 5 inch | 5.5 inch |
| Resolution | 1280X720 | 1280X720 |
| SOC | Snapdragon 435 | Snapdragon 435 |
| RAM | 2/3/4 GB | 3/4 GB |
| Storage | 16/32/64 GB | 32/64 GB |
| Rear Camera | 13MP f/2.0 | 13MP f/2.2 |
| Front Camera | 5MP f/2.2 | 16MP f/2.0 |
| Battery | 4100/4000 mAh | 3080/3000 mAh |
| Bluetooth | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| Wifi | 802.11 b/g/n (2.4gHz) | 802.11 b/g/n (2.4gHz) |
| Sensors | Accelerometer Proximity Ambient light Gyroscope Infrared |
Accelerometer Proximity Ambient light Gyroscope Infrared |