With the release of a flurry of smartphones, Xiaomi is really taking the midrange market by storm. This time they’ve released the Redmi Y1, the first phone in a new selfie centric lineup. Priced at about Rs. 17,500, the Xiaomi Redmi Y1 is placed snuggly in the entry level midrange segment.

Lightweight Metal with noticeable bezels

Being an entry level midrange device, the Redmi Y1 is encased in a plastic unibody instead of a metal one. Overall the phone is pretty light, weighing in at 153g and 7.7mm in thickness. However, it’s not the most design oriented phone. The front is as bland as ever, with big bezels and a 5.5-inch screen. There is a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to protect the front. Above the screen is the prized 16MP selfie camera with a dedicated diffused flash.

On the backside we have the main 13MP camera and LED flash. Below the camera towards the center of the phone is the pretty responsive fingerprint scanner; a feature appreciated at this price range.

No surprises, mediocre screen

The display of the Redmi Y1 is a 5.5-inch 720p IPS LCD one. That means pixel density maxes out at a less than desirable 267ppi. With such a big screen, one would have hoped for a relatively better resolution since 300ppi is now considered a minimum threshold for pixel density. Still, being an IPS LCD display, viewing angles of the Redmi Y1 are decent for its price point.

A selfie lover’s best friend

It’s not like it wasn’t obvious already, but the Xiaomi Redmi Y1 is the perfect phone for all you selfie lovers. With a 16MP front facing camera, details in your selfies will be more than adequate. And with the beautification mode on by default, the Redmi Y1 will do more than you’d want to make your portraits social media worthy. Besides its large resolution, the Redmi Y1’s front facing camera has a f/2.0 aperture and auto-focus. It also has the ability to record in 1080p, something that most mid-tier midrange phones don’t even have.

Coming to the main camera on the Redmi Y1, we have a 13MP sensor with f/2.2 aperture and phase detection auto focus. HDR and panorama are present as well.

Specs can’t get any more midrange than this

Snapdragon has become a name almost synonymous with processors now since they’ve got every smartphone niche covered. Similarly, the Redmi Y1 is packing the Snapdragon 435, which is much more appreciated than the 430. The 435 comprises of 8 cores running at 1.4GHz each. GPU on board is the Adreno 505, most games should run fine but heavier titles will take its toll on the chip.

The Redmi Y1 comes in 2 versions with varying RAM and storage options. One comes with 32G of internal memory and 3GB of RAM and the other, for a bit more cash, comes with 64GB of memory and 4GB of RAM. Both versions have the option to increase memory with an external memory card slot. Android 7.1 Nougat comes pre-installed with Xiaomi’s MIUI9 on top. The battery in the Redmi Y1 is non-removable 3080mAh cell, so 2 days of usage should be an easy accomplishment.

Redmi Y1 Pros

• It’s got an affordable price tag
• Great 16MP selfie camera
• Big battery for price range

Redmi Y1 Cons

• Low resolution screen