Friends+Design
- Xiaomi has gone big on the design front this time - the Redmi K20 has a glass back with one of the most evocative gradient patterns you'll come across on any phone today - it's both premium to feel, and stunning to look at
- The gradient effect that kicks in under the right lighting condition is quite mesmerising
- The front is modern and sharp too, with a 'full screen' notch-less display (the selfie camera is a 'popup' one)
- Decent in-screen fingerprint sensor - reasonably quick and reliable
- Face unlock mechanism is a little clunky - you have to first wake the screen and swipe up for the camera module to engage (this might get sorted via a software update though)
Display
- Excellent 6.39" AMOLED display - high brightness, HDR10, and notch-free
Software
- MIUI is one of the most refined and fluid Android UIs around
- The K20 also adds the POCO Launcher on top of MIUI - which brings the Dark Mode and App drawer to the K20
- One issue with MIUI in recent times is the ads in the interface - those are still there (though a little less intrusive) - and while there are ways to disable them, it's a technical solution that a lot of prospective buyers will not even be aware of
Performance
- Excellent, butter smooth performance backed by the new, powerful Snapdragon 730 (very similar in overall performance to last year's flagship Snapdragon 845, and a step above the Snapdragon 710) - everything from daily use to games is butter smooth, as expected
Camera
- Great all-round camera experience on all three rear snappers, photo and video
- Decent selfies too from the pop-up front camera
- Overall, this is now the best camera phone in the under Rs 25k price bracket - the overall quality and versatility you get are a notch above what the competition offers
- The pop-up selfie camera mechanism is a bit on the slow side
Audio
- Has a 3.5mm jack, that a lot of flagships these days tend to skimp on
- Loud (single) downward firing speaker
Battery
- Great battery life, with a 4000mAh battery and a very power efficient chip - you can get up to 2 days of use, from this beast
- Fast charging support - the supplied 18W charger fills 45% of a depleted battery in 30 mins - a full charge takes about 100 mins
Verdict
- The K20 is an excellent 'close to Flagship level' device from Xiaomi that seems set to disrupt the mid-range market in India - along with the new Realme X, it offers an excellent high-end, modern experience, at a relatively low price - all ingredients of a likely blockbuster hit
