Xiaomi launches Xiaomi Redmi 3S+, their sasta Android with a fingerprint scanner and 13MP camera

Xiaomi seems to be on a launching spree in the country and recently launched Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ in the Indian market. The phone is the first Xiaomi phone to be launched offline and comes with decent sp

Xiaomi seems to be on a launching spree in the country and recently launched Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ in the Indian market. The phone is the first Xiaomi phone to be launched offline and comes with decent specifications. while Xiaomi stuck to having flash sales across e-commerce sites, the Chinese brand did lose out on a whole lot of sales as a large percent of Indian smartphone buyers are not online but still prefer to buy their devices from brick and mortar stores. Xiaomi did manage to become an extremely popular brand in the country in the short time in which it launched phones and that was largely because of their high end specifications and budget prices. But with the launch of Xiaomi Redmi 3S+, Xiaomi has moved slightly away from their tried and tested formula.

Perhaps, the brand feels that by moving to the brick and mortar stores, they will be able to tap even the rural segment where smartphones are a huge rage. Also, Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ is a low-end phone and falls almost under the entry level category. Xiaomi’s popularity have made them a household name in the country and perhaps in launching Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ offline, the brand now feels secure in their space. it also hints at the changing structure of brands and how they are looking at making India a stronger base. The demand for Xiaomi phones has always been high even in the past with the devices getting sold out within seconds of being listed on the site. But then, will Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ be able to replicate the success of other Xiaomi smartphones considering it is not an online device but rather a completely offline phone?

Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ Design: The Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ comes in a pretty neat layout. The phone is just a slight upgrade to Xiaomi Redmi 3S and in terms of design is just like the predecessor Redmi 3S Prime. The Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ is available in 2 colours, silver and gold and in terms of looks, it is definitely one of the better looking devices in the market. The phone has a clean look and the placement of different sensors and the camera is also complimentary to the device. Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ is similar to the Xiaomi Redmi 3S and Redmi 3S Prime and hence, the form factor is also similar with the phone not being too bulky or heavy. The phone, seems to be an India-specific device for now and Xiaomi restricting sales to just offline stores. Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ looks good but it is not the looks that will help Xiaomi in the long run. It will be the features and specifications. Xiaomi in the past has offered some good specifications even in their budget phones and that is one of the key reasons why the phones are so popular.

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Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ Specifications: Coming to the specifications of Xiaomi Redmi 3S+, the phone as all Xiaomi devices, runs Android. The phone runs Android Marshmallow though it is still unclear whether it will support Android Nougat, the newly unveiled Android version. Considering the phone is just a slightly different (read offline) version of Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime, features and specifications are the same too, except for extremely minor changes here and there. On the display front, Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ comes with a 5-inch HD display. The display resolution is 720 x 1280 pixels and the density is 294 ppi. The display is a IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen. Under the hood of Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ runs a Qualcomm MSM8937 Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor and the GPU is an Adreno 505. Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ is a dual-SIM device and the second SIM card slot also doubles up as the memory card slot.

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The phone comes with a 13MP rear end camera and a 5 MP front end camera. The camera supports PDAF and comes with a single LED flash. The different modes supported by Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ are: Geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR, panorama. Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ comes with 32Gb internal memory but unlike the Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime, where the phone sports a 3GB RAM, Xiaomi has downgraded the RAM of Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ and the phone instead comes with only 2GB RAM. Considering the phone is a budget device in the nearly entry-level segment, there’s not much to complain about. The phone comes with a 4100 mAh battery and looks like it will be competing against Asus ZenFone Max which is also a budget phone with one whopper battery. As said above,  Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ comes with a fingerprint sensor. The phone is a 4G compliant device.  Xiaomi Redmi 3S+ is priced at Rs 9499 in India.