Xiaomi tweaks new Redmi 2 for intense battle against Android One rivals (REVIEW)

US$100 phones used to be awful. They were made by companies you’d never heard of, the interface looked like it was designed by a raccoon with a paw full of crayons it just found in a trashcan, and there was always the sneaking worry that the thing would explode in your pocket and blow your family jewels to smithereens. Xiaomi changed that in mid-2013 with the first Redmi phone.

Now, nearly two years and two iterations later, we have the Redmi 2, which replaces the Redmi 1S. It’s a bit more powerful and a lot more colorful than previous versions of Xiaomi’s cheapest model. It’s still the same low price – about US$110 in every nation where it’s sold.

When we reviewed the first Redmi in September 2013, we were impressed by how much punch it packed for so few bucks. But the Redmi 2 will find it harder to impress now because rival phone makers have also figured out how to make a decent budget phone. Google has got in on the act too. Late last year Google came out with Android One, an initiative to work with phone brands in emerging markets to ensure that the version of Android stuck into cheap phones is as uncluttered and up-to-date as possible, giving consumers something that they rarely get with cheap phones – major OS updates.

So now the Redmi 2 has strong challengers such as India’s Micromax Canvas A1 or Indonesia’s Evercoss One X. Outside of China, these are massive and important areas for any phone company where the shift to smartphones is only just under way. They’re also Xiaomi’s second and third most populous markets.

The Redmi 2 is now available in India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, with inevitable roll-outs coming soon to Xiaomi’s other markets across the continent.

This is a very price-sensitive segment, so here are a couple of rivals at a very similar price point:

Hardware

Not much has changed in the Redmi hardware since it first launched in 2013. The addition of 4G comes at the right time for emerging nations across Asia. The screen is still a 4.7-inch 720p HD affair, but it looks better on the Redmi 2 than it did in the 2013 model.

The most visible change is that the newest Redmi 2 is more colorful, with a choice of white or one of three pastel colors for the rear – green, yellow, or pink. However, markets outside of mainland China only get white for some bizarre and unfathomable reasons, so you get no choice of hue.