The Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime: An Affordable Phone with a Monster Battery

Xiaomi has been consistently shipping smartphones that boast of great specs and are loaded with features at affordable prices. It seems the company has succeeded in keeping this impressive streak alive with the launch of the Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime. The launch took place earlier this month at an event held in Delhi.

The Redmi 3S Prime was made available for purchase on Xiaomi’s India website and Flipkart on August 9. And as expected, the e-commerce sites are already out of stock. The Redmi 3S Prime models, which carry the “Made in India” tag, were assembled at a facility in Andhra Pradesh as part of the Make in India program. Now, let’s get to the fun bit – the specifications!

Specifications – Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime

The Redmi 3S Prime comes with a 5-inch HD screen with a display resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. The phone is equipped with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB of internal storage capacity, which is expandable up to 128 GB. It has a 13 megapixel primary camera with face detection, autofocus, and LED flash. The secondary camera is a 5 megapixel shooter. The phone has a fingerprint scanner, which is reportedly pretty fast and accurate.

The Redmi 3S Prime is a dual-SIM phone and has a hybrid SIM card slot. A micro-SIM can be used in conjunction with either a nano-SIM or a micro-SD card. The phone also has support for 4G and VoLTE. The top of the phone has an IR blaster, a secondary noise-cancellation microphone, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. There are volume rockers and power buttons on the right. The bottom has the primary microphone and a micro-USB port for charging and data syncing.

More from iSpyPrice: Order your Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime mobile now

The phone has a full metal unibody design and weighs 144 grams. It is available in three colors – silver, dark grey, and gold. Its dimensions are 139.3 x 69.6 x 8.5 mm. As for the internals, the device is powered by a 64-bit Snapdragon 430 processor and Adreno 505 GPU. It runs MIUI 7.5, which is based on Android Marshmallow.

The sensors in the device include electronic compass, light sensor, gravity sensor, gyroscope, infrared sensor, and proximity sensor. The most impressive feature of the phone is the 4,100 mAh battery, which supposedly lasts up to two days even with data or Wi-Fi on. The battery supports fast charge and is not removable.

In terms of design features, the Redmi 3S Prime is very similar to the Redmi Note 3, except the latter has a bigger 5.5-inch screen with a sharper FHD display. The Redmi Note 3 is powered by a superior Snapdragon 650 chipset and Adreno 510 GPU. Also, it has a 16 megapixel primary camera. However, the Redmi 3S Prime has a slightly slimmer profile and weighs 20 grams less compared to the Redmi Note 3. Further, it has a higher battery capacity in spite of being smaller in size.

More from iSpyPrice: Check out the detailed specs on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 mobile

The Redmi 3S Prime does have its cons, though. The HD display is not the sharpest and has a pixel density of just 294 ppi. The camera apparently does not do very well in low light conditions. Also, if one were to nitpick, the capacitive buttons at the bottom of the front panel are not backlit. However, the phone is priced at just Rs. 8,999, which is a steal given the incredible battery life, good build quality, and the fast fingerprint scanner, which adds to the convenience factor.

Xiaomi has also released another variant called the Xiaomi Redmi 3S, which is similar to the Redmi 3S Prime in a lot of ways, except it does not have a fingerprint scanner. The Redmi 3S, priced at Rs. 6,999, is equipped with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage. For Xiaomi fans who have a lower budget this phone just might be the best bet.