Redmi 5A vs Bharat 5; Which one is the Best Budget Smartphone?

This week Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has launched its most affordable smartphone the Redmi 5A in India. In reply, local handset manufacturer Micromax has launched it is Bharat 5 Smartphone in the same budget segment. We put these smartphones against each other to see which the best device in the affordable budget segment.

Design and Display

Regarding design, the Xiaomi Redmi 5A offers a plastic unibody design and curves which gives a premium metallic feel to it while Micromax’s latest Bharat 5 comes with an all-plastic back with big bezels resembling its predecessors the Bharat 3 and 4. Overall the design elements are similar, but the Redmi 5A scores an upper hand with its design language. Also, the Redmi 5A has more colour options of Champagne Gold, Rose Gold, Platinum Silver while the Bharat 5 offers only Black and Gold colour options.

The Bharat 5 features a 5.5 inch  HD (720 x 1280 pixels) IPS LCD with 2.5D curved tempered glass on the top while the Redmi 5A sports a similar 5.0 inch (720 x 1280 pixels)  IPS LCD with 2.5D curved tempered glass protection. Bharat 5 display is a bit bigger.

Performance

Here the Redmi 5A steals the show with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC coupled with 2/3 GB LPDDR3 RAM while the Bharat 5 is powered by an entry-level Quad-core MediaTek 1.3 GHz processor paired with 1GB RAM which leaves a lot to be desired. The Snapdragon 425 is much more efficient and robust than the MediaTek chipset. Both devices include expandable memory options with micro SD.

Camera

The Redmi 5A sports a 13 MP rear camera sensor with f/2.2 aperture, PDAF and LED flash while offering a 5 MP camera sensor with f/2.0 aperture at the front. The Bharat 5 comes with a very basic setup of 5 MP rear and 5 MP front camera sensor with LED flash. Micromax needs to improve its camera quality on the Bharat 5 to keep up.

Software

Regarding Software both the device doesn’t have much difference and both runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat with custom UI on top of it. But the Xiaomi’s custom UI MIUI9 gains the upper hand here which offers much more features and flexibility compared to Micromax’s custom UI. Also, there are some words that the Redmi 5A will be receiving the latest Android 8.0 Oreo update while there is no word about Bharat 5 yet.

Battery

The Bharat 5 offers a bigger 5,000 mAh battery which claims two days of battery life and 3 weeks of standby time with no fast charging support taking almost 3 hours to charge completely while the  Redmi 5A is backed by a 3000 mAh battery with 5V/1A charging, which claims eight days of standby time, and 7 hours of video playback. Here the Bharat 5 has outdone itself against the Redmi 5A.

Price

The Redmi 5A is priced at Rs. 5,999 for the 2GB RAM + 16GB storage variant and Rs. 6,999 for the 3 GB RAM + 32GB ,storage variant while the Bharat 5 costs Rs 5,555 for its only variant.

Launch Offers

Xiaomi is giving Rs 1,000 discount on the 2 GB RAM + 16 GB storage variant variants, bringing the price down to Rs. 4,999. Additionally, the same variant with a Reliance Jio plan will cost Rs 3,999. Reliance Jio has introduced a unique “ALL UNLIMITED” monthly plan of Rs 199 for Redmi 5A users that provides free voice, unlimited data (1 GB daily), unlimited SMS and Jio apps for 28 days.

For the Bharat 5, Micromax has partnered with Vodafone to offer 10 GB of data free each month for five months, to new and existing Vodafone subscribers, as long as they have at least a 1GB pack.

Availability

The Redmi 5A will be available via Flipkart and Mi.com, and Mi Home Stores from December 7 at 12 pm before it goes on sale on Xiaomi’s offline retail partners across the country while the Bharat 5 is available at offline retail stores across the country.

Verdict

The Bharat 5 only scores marginally in the battery department however the Xiaomi 5A outperforms in every aspect and overall the Redmi 5A is the smartphone you should buy in this segment. Not only the Bharat 5, the Redmi 5A scores above every other smartphone in this segment including the Nokia 2. This smartphone is likely to remain an undisputed king in this segment for some time.