As far as Android Go devices go, the Redmi Go is perfectly packed with features. With a lower price, it might just be able to convince feature phone users to up
While all the major smartphone makers are highly bullish about the Indian market, India is still predominantly a feature phone market. Just a week back, Counterpoint Research claimed 66 percent of the Indian phone market is owned by feature phone manufacturers, while smartphones make up 44 percent of the market. For a brand to grow, it will have to target the feature phone market and convert feature phone users into smartphones users. However, because of the high cost of entry into smartphones, most feature phone users refrain from upgrading, especially considering that entry-level phones have not been able to deliver stable and reliable performance. Last year, though, Google attempted to make the transition a lot smoother with Android’s Go Edition, a lightweight OS designed specifically for entry-level smartphones with minimal hardware. This led to a new crop of smartphones that run on entry-level hardware and Android Oreo (Go Edition) and the Xiaomi Redmi Go is part of that bandwagon which aims to entice feature phone users to spend a little more and get a smartphone instead.
There are multiple obvious advantages of upgrading to a smartphone, but the primary reason most feature phone users have held back is the cost of entry. The Redmi Go should be good news for those users since it is one of the cheapest Android Go phones to buy. The Redmi Go is priced at Rs 4,499 and that is perhaps the primary reason to buy the phone. We used the phone for a while after the launch and here’s what we thought of it —
The Redmi Go doesn’t have the design chops the new Redmi phones now come with. There’s no gradient colours, no edge-to-edge display or dual cameras. Instead, you get a barebones candybar design that looks retro at best. Honestly, you can’t really expect anything more in this price and Xiaomi had to take steps to keep the costs of manufacturing low. Nevertheless, the Redmi Go has capacitive navigation buttons, no fingerprint sensor, a single speaker at the bottom along with a headphone jack and a dual-microphone array for noise cancellation while calling.
