In a year that many gadgets are becoming pricier, Xiaomi has once again pulled a stunner for its users by launching yet another affordable 5G Smartphone. Its latest Redmi 13C 5G is available at just Rs 10,999 starting price with 4GB RAM and a 128 GB storage, and it now has beaten my Rs 79,900 Apple iPhone 14 Plus in 5G speed test in certain areas. It also falls among a handful of Android phones in this segment to pack up to 256 GB built-in storage which, I assure you, can turn out to be a lifesaver in the long run.
However, besides 5G connectivity and more storage, it is otherwise a bare-bones phone – the Redmi 13C 5G. It houses a 50MP primary camera, something that is laughable on paper only. This is tall 6.74-inch HD+ (1,600 x 720 pixels) screen although it adopts last year’s waterdrop style notch.
Furthermore, there is a charge protocol that supports fast charging at a rate of 18W, but the package only comes with a 10W accompanying charger.
Well, is it worth giving a thought about the Redmi 13C 5G, in case not fast internet is what you are interested in? Here’s the review Redmi 13C 5G after using it.
Read the Full Specification of Redmi Note 14 series
Table of Contents
- Verdict
- Design and display
- Cameras
- Performance and software
- Battery and charging speeds
- Final verdict
Verdict
On that basis, Xiaomi’s Redmi 13C 5G must be acknowledged for making 5G mainstream. It is also quite reasonable for those who care about battery and performance much. With that being said, depending of the models and the focus that you decide to buy, you may want to tone down your expectations especially with regards to the cameras and the OS experience. Of course, the primary contender for the Redmi 13C 5G is its twin brother Redmi 12 5G which will cost only a little more and come with a superior chip. Buy redmi mobiles online on suprememobiles.in
Design and display
Redmi 13C is between the Redmi 12 5G and Redmi 13C, having a flat-edge frame with humongous cutouts at the rear of the camera. The front also appears different with features such as a waterdrop style notch and thicker bezels which must be a thing of the past by 2024. Fortunately, there is a sufficient amount of the hard plastic to make the frame, and the rear resembles a glossy glass.
For this review, I got my hands on the green colour. Redmi 13C 5G is in two colours black and silver.
I do not like the thin shiny lines at its back and desired a plainer design. However, when I sought the opinion of some few people in order to cross check the design, I received mixed responses. So, I assume that some of you might have a taste for more flamboyant of a design. But everyone nodded at the thickness of the Redmi 13C 5G. Its 6.74 inches are far larger than the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s displays. One of the issues might be regarding the maintenance where the box does not incorporate a protective case.
As for the camera, there’s no Infrared transmitter either, which was one of the main features people appreciated in Redmi devices. Other standard ports and buttons have not changed; there is a 3.5mm headphone jack available on the Redmi 13C 5G. There is also a set of a physical fingerprint scanner located on the side power button. A lot of the time, the scanner works well, but at other times it does not perform as expected. A major let down it was in my remarks most of the time.
After using the Redmi 13C 5G is unlocked, watching videos and all other content on such tall screen is a completely different experience, positively though. For basic functionality of just reading WhatsApp messages or news and scrolling through social media the 6.74-inches can be a pleasure. Watch quality may also vary depending on the type of the user.
Mind you, first-time smartphone consumers may consider the Redmi 13C 5G’s HD+ screen with a 90Hz refresh rate good enough for them. Nonetheless for those who are upgrading from previous generation devices — and I expect a good many to fall into this camp — a full HD display may have been considered at Xiaomi.
For the LCD display test, I watched videos on YouTube and some TV shows on Netflix. A video looked perfect smooth and clear when watching a video on YouTube in high-definition, whereas Netflix needs upgrading. Of course, the shadows and the black spots are not as dark as you would receive on an AMOLED screen. The entire watching experience is also bogging standard since the Redmi 13C 5G lacks stereo buckets.
Cameras
The camera system suffers the brunt of Xiaomi’s focus with the Redmi 13C 5G staying on performance and high internet speeds. It can be noted that the main camera configuration missed an ultra-wide camera, which already starts smartphones of this utmost. Misplaced on the rear panel are 50MP primary lens and a 2MP depth sensor. The front has 5MP AI selfie camera.
In particular, by default, the Redmi 13C 5G sets the priority mode of high saturation so that most of the photographs and videos are displayed in an orangish warm tone. Many also are blurred, and many more of them have a poor image quality with a lot of noise. Well, there is a workaround to make images look crisper, if you turn on night mode with brightness, but then it’s not very stable. The camera at nighttime is even worst in that the colours become even more diminished, more noise is observed on the image. The selfie camera also fails to capture skin tone whether it is bright or low light environments.
To get fair comparison I compared it’s shooting to a iPhone 14 Plus to get better understanding of the camera performance. a emerges that the Redmi 13C 5G by default has a short focal length, thus image focus on the subject is closer, and less of the background is in the shot.
Performance and software
There is a MediaTek Dimension 6100+ chipset on the Redmi 13C 5G. The lowest configuration is for 4GB RAM with 128GB storage, The model which I have tested is the 8GB RAM with 256GB storage (priced at Rs 14,499). It is customized for affordable smartphones and the latest variant of Xiaomi comes with USF 2.1 storage technology, which matches the maximum supported storage type by the MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ SoC.
the Dimensity 6100+ is also a fairly stable chipset as you will see from the screenshot above. The top variant of Redmi 13C 5G which comes with 256 GB storage and 8 GB RAM got 698 and 1903 in the single-core and multi-core test of Geek bench 6. This is fives better than scores gotten by Redmi 12C that uses the MediaTek G85 chip. In terms of AnTuTu scores, they are quite reasonable here as well, but the flagship of this year, the Realme 11X 5G, scored higher in the same checks.
One major concentration in Xiaomi’s Redmi 13C 5G is to bring 5G connectivity to as many people as possible. I tried out 5G speeds using an Airtel 5G Plus connection and will just say that the experience was great. In most places, including home and office, I was getting internet speeds of at least 200Mpbs which is still much better than using home Wi-Fi connection. Note speeds, however, will vary according to the coverage. At some points, even with a Redmi 13C 5G and a Jio 5G SIM, it could perform better than an iPhone 14 Plus.
Finally, the MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ SoC brings significant performance with only a slight increase in the number of transistors. That is why there are some stutters and lags observable, most obviously when switching between the applications and using Google Assistant. But that will not greatly affect your daily work. The Redmi 13C boots on Android 13 with MIUI 14 skin, and it will probably be a while before it gets the update to Android 14. As usual, having a lot of preloaded apps on the smartphone compromises the software experience a little.
Battery and charging speeds
Also, like the Redmi 12 5G, it comes with a large Non-removable Li-Po 5000 Mah battery to support up to 18W fast charging. Whether it is a battery stress test with the help of PCMark app or daily use, the battery backup for every charge is excellent. As we just found out, gaming with these settings – 5G SIM, high refresh rate enabled, 80% brightness – drains the battery; however, with a full charge, the Redmi 13C 5G a full day.
But when using the bundled 10W charger, the Redmi 13C 5G was able to get to 20 percent charge after 30 minutes. Because of this, it using the bundled charger, the battery takes over two hours to get to a full charge.
Final verdict
It lies somewhere in the middle between a budget mobile phone and a decent mobile phone that costs less than 15000 rupees. Some of these compromises have been made to keep the pricing reasonable and that does not necessarily have to be a bad thing, particularly with so many young customers in India who would love to have their first feel of 5G internet speeds in fact, as long as Indian telcos do not want to start differentiating between prepaid or postpaid and those who will be going for 5G and 4G, at least for now, the above mentioned
even if I think of sub-par camera performance and slow charge rate, Redmi 13C 5G will be capable enough for the call messaging app usage & basic internet speed for...What’s app Uber etc. As such on paper – the Redmi 13C 5G should be a good decision by Xiaomi; they could have pulled it off better though.
Redmi 13C 5G is going to be a very wise decision to go for it or not the answer in not this straightforward. You could save a few more dollars and opt for the Redmi 12 5G, which begins at Rs 10,000, much closer to nearly all of the three models, and certainly gives a far better all-round performance and ships with a bundled 22.5W charging adapter. The Realme 11X 5G is also good enough, to some extent, which may be relatively on the higher side. That being said, if your budget is somewhat limited, the Redmi 13C won’t necessarily disappoint.
It is built very well and is a nice and robust design The rear half of the circuit board section has a sort of a glossy sort of finish. You could cut some more extra bucks and opt for the Redmi 12 5G down to Rs 10,000 for almost all three flavours, which give much more performance and a 22.5W charging plug in the box. The Realme 11X 5G is also good enough, but it might cost more slightly. If you are working on a tight budget though, the Redmi 13C will not disappoint you in any way.
Good sturdiness and the back plate as well offers a glossy surface similar to glass boarding has a glossy type of feel. You could save some extra dimes and go for the Redmi 12 5G which costs around Rs 1,000 for almost every single colour option and brings way better performance while also having a 22.5W charging adapter provided in the pack. The other phone that will give you a good result is the Realme 11X 5G, but it could be more expensive. Still, limited by the budget though, Redmi 13C will not let you down.
Reasons to buy and where
It seems well constructed and the back panel is given a fancy glass like touch on the budget phone now with 5G. However, the Redmi 13C 5G was actually able to achieve 790Mbps. Huge figures of hours of power source utility per charge of the battery. The camera is reasonably good but so is the light sensitivity as far as its general characteristics the A540 lacks nothing. The box comes with the charger of 10W, and the charge time can take 2 hours of use. There is not very much on which part of the UI, some of the apps that are installed in the Redmi 13C includes preinstalled apps. You could do away with a few extra bucks and get the Redmi 12 5G for India where for nearly Rs 10,000, you have a model in place of all three which gives superior result and comes with the 22.5W charging adapter in the box. The model we have is the Realme 11X 5G, and that one can be even more expensive than it. Again, if there are constrains in the budget then there is no drawback when one can make use of the Redmi 13C.
This content was last updated on 28 December 2024.
