Xiaomi Redmi S2 in for review

Xiaomi quickly emerged to Top 5 manufacturer in the world thanks to affordable but reliable smartphones. The latest addition to the portfolio that matches the description is the Xiaomi Redmi S2, announced last month in China.

It is also bound to arrive on the Indian market under the Redmi Y2 moniker as a cheaper variant of the dual-cam Redmi Note 5 Pro. We just received the device, and we want to share our initial thoughts before doing the complete review.

The Xiaomi Redmi S2 quickly gets attention with its height when you take it out of the box. The phone is the tallest Redmi device ever launched. It stands on the back row of the Xiaomi family picture right next to phablets Mi Max and Mi Max 2 and the gamer phone Black Shark.

The screen, however, is nothing out of the ordinary - a 5.99” IPS LCD panel with HD+ resolution and 18:9 ratio. That way you have a bit more room when browsing social media or websites. Playing videos on YouTube is capped at 720p, so you can’t see 4K videos in their full glory. At least the app supports pinch-to-zoom, so you have no black bars on the sides.

Xiaomi advertises the dual camera as AI-oriented. The 12 MP + 5 MP setup learns throughout time how you take Portrait pictures and improves gradually. Since the software needs time, we will skip on a final saying if it works or not.

When Portrait Mode is turned on, the background blur is applied in real time and works well in the right environment.

Normal Mode • Portrait Mode • HDR

The 16 MP selfie camera comes with dedicated LED flash and is also AI-branded. We snapped some selfies so you can see the difference between Portrait Mode, normal mode, and HDR. Our examples are without Beauty filters, but if you want to edit your looks in real time, you can adjust the eye size, the skin tone and smoothness and the overall shape of the face.

The Xiaomi Redmi S2, or as it will be called in India - Redmi Y2, costs only CNY999, which is no more than €130/$160. For a phone in this price range, it sure looks impressive. We need to complete our tests and go through the review process for a final verdict that will tell you if the phone is worth it, so stick around.