Xaiomi Redmi Y2 released with AI-powered Selfie camera | Redmi Y2 review | Best budget selfie phone?

New Xiaomi Redmi Y2

Xiaomi yet again launches a budget phone which can be said an upgrade version of Redmi Y1. Earlier today Xiaomi India Head Manu Kumar Jain unveils the new Xiaomi Redmi Y2. Just like the Redmi Y1, the Redmi Y2 is also a phone that is chiefly targeted towards the youth looking for a big screen and what is supposedly the best selfie experience, on a budget.

The phone is made fully of plastic and weighing just around 170 gram makes it very easy to use and carry around. It is a Hundred and Fifty dollars ($150/Rs10000) targeted phone. The new Xiaomi phone, however, features an 18:9 ratio 5.99-inch nearly a bezel-less display with a magnificent 16MP front-facing AI camera. It also comes with the facial recognition feature. The phone will be running on the Snapdragon 625 processor, which company claimed that would deliver 37 % better performance than the Redmi Y1.

The focus of the Y2 is, of course, the front camera, but that doesn’t mean the rear camera is compromised. It offers a similar dual camera as the more expensive Redmi Note 5 Pro with a 12+5 megapixel setup. The secondary sensor is for depth sensing. The 12-megapixel sensor has an aperture of f/2.2 with fairly standard 1.25um pixel pitch. What’s new is a gyroscope-powered EIS. The few photos I shot seemed good enough with the quality I have come to expect from Xiaomi phones.

But like I said, the focus is selfies, so the front camera has received more love from Xiaomi. You get a 16-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture. Interestingly, the 16-megapixel front camera relies on the pixel-binning technology that combines the megapixels into larger pixels to allow for more light absorption.  The feature is seen mostly on the high-end phone, more recently in the Huawei P20 Pro and it’s heartening to see a phone priced under Rs 10,000 come with the feature. Does that make a difference in your selfies? I didn’t notice a visible difference, but it surely manages the background light quite well. The dynamic range is much improved, but I presume under low light, it will create much less noise.

Here's a closer look at the Xiaomi Redmi Y2.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Processor: The Redmi Y2 is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor clubbed with Adreno 506 GPU.

RAM: The Redmi Y2 will be available in two RAM versions: 3GB and 4GB.

Internal storage: While the 3GB RAM version will ship with 32GB storage, the 4GB RAM version will come with 64GB storage. All versions of the Redmi Y2 will support expandable storage of up to 256GB via a dedicated micro-SD card slot.

Screen: The Redmi Y2 comes with a 5.99-inch 'full-screen' HD+ display with a 1440x720p resolution and 269ppi pixel density.

Rear camera: The Redmi Y2 comes with a dual rear camera system. The dual camera module on the back comes with one 12-megapixel sensor (f/2.2) and another 5-megapixel sensor. The dual camera setup is further assisted by PDAF and LED flash. And, it comes with lots and lots of artificial intelligence.

Front camera: On the front, the Redmi Y2 comes with a 16-megapixel camera with 'soft' LED flash that also enables face to unlock.

Software: The Redmi Y2 runs Android Oreo-based MIUI 9.

Battery: The Redmi Y2 is backed by a 3,080mAh battery, and charges over standard micro-USB.