What the “Entry-Level Smartphone King” has for me as a task-doer and content creator?
Let me tell you a story.
I had the best smartphone in the world. It cost me around Php2,500 pesos, small enough to fit my pocket and is pretty much the basic smartphone for my needs.
It’s the kind of phone that even crooks will return to me after they steal it. Why so? Long story short, its glass is broken (but it works well), and it’s outdated too. The value to fix the phone costs more than its value.
So that’s how I had the best smartphone in the world. I had.
One day, the stress of not getting a phone good enough to assist me in my day-to-day tasks is getting more and more tiresome that I finally decided to — at my dismay — get a new smartphone.
It’s been two years since I got the my|phone my28; and a year after I got my hands on a Microsoft Lumia Windows phone (Lumia 532 Dual SIM), which has the best sound recording quality that I have experienced for a smartphone. Now, I have set these phones aside to acquire a new smartphone: The Redmi 5A.
Do take note that my initial budget for a smartphone is set around Php3,000 (because I’m a cheapskate, yes) and I gradually set it up at Php4,000 after asking my colleagues what phone I should buy.
The Redmi 5A is set at Php4,890 at the Mi store inside SM Megamall, and it’s on Android Nougat with MIUI in it. It’s been more than a week since, and I’m happy to share my experience with it so far:
The Upsides
I can now do Facebook live broadcasts the way my colleagues can do it — and with the split screen mode, I can do a live broadcast while looking at the photo gallery to look at the schedule of the day. This is something I did at Day 2 of Anime and Cosplay Expo. The embedded video down below is an example.
Aside from Facebook, I can now use common apps such as Viber and Gmail to communicate. Before, I have to either uninstall them or disable them because they take up too much space in the long run.
As for the camera, basing from the Facebook Live I did, it works well enough for my expectations. Phones with quality — QUALITY — cameras cost more than 5,000 pesos.
Last but not the least, I am really urged to buy a new phone with LTE capability in it, and I’m happy that the RedMi 5A has an LTE-capable SIM slot, albeit having only one.
The Downsides
The downside of the phone is how it records audio for podcasting, but it can somehow be sorted out using applications available on the Play Store.
Another downside is the storage — I have a class 6 microSD card with me and it seems that it can’t handle the flow that I’ll have to chkdsk it.
In addition, I have around 80+ applications in it and it makes the phone tell me that I don’t have enough internal storage, so it’s not recommended for multi-taskers who want many apps and not be bugged by notifications.
You can already read my satisfaction over the RedMi 5A, so if you’re a budding content creator and you want to catch up from the rest, this one’s for you.
Truth be told, I don’t believe that getting a phone like this is an investment, but once you have the opportunity of buying one, make sure it’s really beneficial for you. Hope this post helps!