Xiaomi Redmi 5 Unboxing – the £100 phone from China!

Here at KitGuru a lot of the tech we review is often quite expensive. It's interesting to look at, but for most people a £1500 laptop just isn't affordable. For that reason, we decided to spend £92 on the Xiaomi Redmi 5 to see what a modern smartphone can offer for less than £100. With a full review coming soon, for now we have prepared a small unboxing for you.

Since Xiaomi does not yet operate in the UK – but hopefully it will do eventually – we bought our Redmi 5 from Aliexpress. The 2GB/16GB model came in at $126.99, and by the time we paid customs fees as well, the total cost in GBP came to just £104.

The phone itself seems pretty decent based on our first impressions. The large, 5.7in screen sports a trendy 18:9 aspect ratio, giving the phone slim bezels and a very modern design. At a glance, you'd have no idea this phone was so cheap. The display's resolution is only 1440×720, however, which works out to 282 PPI.

Turning to the back of the phone, the main rear panel is made of aluminium – another impressive feature considering the price. The sides are made from plastic, but the solid metal panel does feel good in the hand and also adds some rigidity. Here we also find a fingerprint scanner as well as a fairly generous 12MP camera.

Under the hood, the internal components aren't top-class but, for the money, it looks like the Redmi 5 should get the job done. We have a Snapdragon 450 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage and a 3300mAh battery. We will obviously go through performance in detail in our full review, so stay tuned for that.

Full specification is as follows:

• CPU: Snapdragon 450
• RAM/ROM: 2GB/16GB
• Dimensions: 151.8mm x 72.8 x 7.7 mm.
• Weight: 157 g
• Display: 5.7in, 1440×720 HD+, 450 nits brightness
• Battery: 3300mAh
• Camera: 12MP rear f/2.2, 5MP front
• Connectivity: Supports 802.11 b/g/n protocols, Bluetooth 4.2
• SIM: 3-choose-2 hybrid SIM tray, supports Nano-SIM + micro-SIM or Micro-SIM + micro SD card

KitGuru says: From our first look at the Xiaomi Redmi 5, it looks a pretty impressive phone for the money – budget devices have certainly come a long way. What is the most money you would spend on a phone? Let us know in the comments.

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