Redmi 1S First Impression
If you have not heard about it, there is a new competitor in the Singapore mobile phone market that is giving other mobile phone manufacturers a run for their money. This competitor is Xiaomi, it was founded in China and has expanded their business to Singapore, Malaysia and India as of today.
Xiaomi specialises in delivering products that offer more bang for your bucks. The Xiaomi Redmi 1S, which is retailing at SGD$169 offers a set of similar hardware specifications to the Motorola Moto G, which is retailing at SGD$318. I have made an online order for the Redmi 1S from the official local Xiaomi website earlier during July and here are my thoughts of the budget phone.
Size comparison between Redmi 1S, iPhone 4 and iNO One.
Fingerprint resistant back cover of Redmi 1S.
The back cover of the phone has a matt finishing that makes it fingerprint resistant but makes a creaking sound when pressure is applied onto it. The size of the phone makes it hard to operate the phone with only one hand, probably not the best choice if you plan on typing text messages with only one hand.
The back facing speaker is a hassle when you lay the phone flat down on an uneven surface such as your bed or play games that require you to hold the phone horizontally. The speaker tend to be covered up, making it sound muffled.
Stretching the Redmi soft case with a micro USB cable.
The soft case I bought for the phone seems to fit too snugly, after I fitted the case on it I tend to trip the power button accidentally. My solution was to stretch the "buttons" on the case itself with a micro USB cable to solve my power button problem.
The MIUI(MI User Interface) OS that is installed on the phone is user friendly and very similar to the iOS interface, for those who prefer using the stock Android interface can download Nova Launcher from the Play Store to replace the default MiHome Launcher. You will need to go to "General Settings", "Display", then "Default Launcher" to change the launcher after you have installed Nova Launcher.
For those of you who plan to install a lot of games and applications or take tons of pictures and videos with your phone, the 8GB internal storage of the Redmi 1S is probably not enough, out of the box the phone has only around 4GB of storage space available. The storage capacity can be expanded with a micro SD card. However, this does not solve the storage space problem as the games, applications, pictures and videos taken by the MIUI camera application are stored to the internal storage by default.
The solution to the problem is to install the XExtStorage application on your phone, what this application does essentially is change the primary storage location from the device's internal storage to the micro SD card you have inserted to the device. However, you will need to root your device before you can install the XExtStorage application.
Q: How do I root my Redmi 1S?
A: [works with 34/35] How to get native Root for Redmi 1S and how to UnRoot again - Redmi 1/1S - MIUI Official Community
Q: How do I install this XExtStorage you speak of? I cannot find it in Google Play Store.
A: Redmi 1S: Save your Internal Storage using XExtStorage - Redmi 1/1S - MIUI Official Community
Q: What kind of micro SD card should I get?
A: As long as it is not a counterfeit card it will probably work fine.
Comparison of Different Storage Type
Redmi 1S Internal Storage
Kingston Class 4 32GB Micro SD Card
Samsung EVO Class 10 32GB Micro SD Card
Q: Why does file transfer fail so frequently when I try to copy files from my PC to the Redmi 1S and vice versa?
A: The driver for the phone is probably not installed properly on your PC. Plug in your phone to the PC, navigate to "CD Drive (X) XIAOMI" and use the "Setup.exe" executable to install the Xiaomi desktop client. The driver will be installed together with the client.
Q: The desktop client is in Chinese and I do not use it at all, I only need the driver for the phone!
A: You can install the client then uninstall afterwards, the driver will remain installed on your PC even after you uninstall the client. If you are technical enough, you can choose to download and install the driver files using Device Manager. Once it is installed, it should show up as "Xiaomi Composite MDB Interface" in Device Manager.
Q: I don't use Mi Cloud at all, can I get rid of it?
A: If you are rooted, you can install ROM Toolbox Lite from the Play Store and freeze "Mi Cloud framework" and "Sync with Mi Cloud" using the app's built in App Manager.
