Xiaomi Redmi 5 goes on first sale today; here's how to get your hands on one
BusinessToday.In Last Updated: March 20, 2018 | 10:16 IST 
Xiaomi Redmi 5 will go on sale in India for the first time since its launch last week. Xiaomi is promoting the latest Redmi as a compact power house. The predecessor of the smartphone, Redmi 4 was immensely popular in the budget segment.
Xiaomi smartphones, and now even TVs, are infamous regarding their shortage of stock. The sale today, should be no different. To improve your chances of getting your hands on one, keep your account logged in. Save the respective address before the sale begins and store the payment details for easy checkout.
The device will be available on its first sale today on Xiaomi's official website and Amazon India's website at 12pm. Considering Xiaomi's track record, the devices are expected to sell out within a matter of seconds, at least in the initial sales.
Amazon India is offering 90 per cent off on Kindle eBooks (upto Rs 400) on the purchase of Redmi 5. SBI credit card owners can avail a 5 per cent instant discount on the selling price. Reliance Jio is providing a cashback of Rs 2,200 and 100GB additional 4G data. Apart from the offer on Kindle eBooks, both the offers are available on Xiaomi's official website as well.
This year, Xiaomi has managed to give the budget smartphone, Redmi 5 a modern makeover while maintaining all the practicality of the older device. In terms of internals the processing power witnesses a minor bump with the help of the Snapdragon 450 and Adreno 506 GPU. The Snapdragon 450 uses 64-bit 14nm FinFET technology which allows the Xiaomi to keep the thickness of the Redmi 5 limited at 7.7mm.
The screen has been upsized to 5.7 inches. Xiaomi claims, the 18:9 aspect ratio of the screen allows it to fit inside a compact form factor despite the increase in size.
Redmi 5 comes with a HD+ screen (720x1440 pixels) housed in a metal body. According to Xiaomi, it comes with reinforced corners which disperses the impact from a drop and prevents the screen from shattering.
The rear panel of Redmi 5 houses the primary camera with the flash and a fingerprint sensor beneath it. In terms of optics, the primary camera has a 12-megapixel sensor with a pixel size of 1.25 microns. This is expected to allow better low light photography with the new Redmi 5.
Xiaomi has also put in a LED selfie light that with the Redmi 5's front camera. The secondary camera is a 5-megapixel shooter with face recognition and Smart Beauty 3.0 app. The 3300mAh battery of Redmi 5 is good for a day's usage with routine activities, Xiaomi claims.
The phone will be available in three variants. The 2GB/16GB variant will be priced at Rs 7,999, The 3GB/32GB variant at Rs 8,999 and the 4GB/64GB variant at Rs 10,999. All three variants will be available in Black, Gold, Lake Blue and Rose Gold.