A Feature-Packed Budget Smartphone That Punches Above Its Price
Xiaomi knows a thing or two about offering value for money, and it’s not one to break tradition with its just-revealed Xiaomi 14R. This budget handset is arguably the perfect example of that working model, delivering a 120Hz screen and fast storage for just $155—features not always offered on more expensive smartphones. Xiaomi has just the perfect balance of price and innovation with their 14R as smartphone users demand even more performance, and quality display to enjoy on the screen. This review will get into its unique highlights, performance & value it offers!
Design and Build Quality: Sleek and Sturdy
The Xiaomi 14R is also not a compromise design even with its lower price tag. The Note 20 comes in an attractive and ultra-modern design with a matte-finish plastic back that feels ergonomically comfortable to hold while keeping smudges at bay. Oh, and you can nab it in Midnight Black, Ocean Blue, and Aurora Green at select carriers and stores.
The phone has a display of 6.5 inches which is common nowadays for all smartphones. While the back is indeed plastic, it feels robust. While you will not mistake the V17 Pro for a premium-grade device, it does appear well-built and sturdy. It is light at 175 grams and comfortable feel in hand, which allows one-handed use.
This is when the Xiaomi 14R having limited bezels for improved screen-to-body ratio helps out. Barring the rather subtle camera bump on the rear, it doesn’t stick out too much, keeping that slim profile. The device is relatively thin as well, just 8.5mm, which makes it fairly elegant for a phablet.
Display: Smooth 120Hz Refresh Rate
The Xiaomi 14R features a 6.5-inch IPS LCD screen that runs at a fast 120Hz refresh rate which is impressive. What that means is that in everyday use, from browsing through social media or to playing games, saw everything appear smoother and just more responsive. There is an instant difference between a 60Hz and a 120Hz display, something you hardly ever get in other smartphones at this price point.
The resolution is Full HD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), so its videos, images, and text look sharp and bright. Although it might not be able to match an OLED screen in terms of deep blacks, color reproduction, and the brightness levels are more than good enough to perform everyday tasks, inclusive of outdoor use. This screen is superb for binge-watchers and budget gamers.
The 14R display also features AdaptiveSync which automatically tunes refresh rates according to the content you’re looking at. This is to help save on battery life when there might not be a need for a high refresh rate, like while reading or static web browsing.
Performance: Efficient Processor and Fast Storage
The processor that powers the Xiaomi 14R is MediaTek Helio G85, which is a mid-range and does an impressive job for daily performance. Flagship tasks, social media apps, and video streaming: — photographer.charCodeAt(14); Under the cover, it is fueled by a 64-bit Athlon II P320 dual-core 2.10GHz processor, and at least comes with a pretty standard configuration, a handful of helpful apps and services from Lenovo, and 4GB of RAM — which will be ok if you don’t plan to open up dozens of app at once.
The affordable Xiaomi 14R stands out in terms of performance because it uses very fast storage. It has 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage, which is an improvement over the eMMC storage used in a lot of budget phones. Interestingly, UFS 2.1 storage offers considerably quicker read and write speeds for data, which helps speed up app launches, make file transfers speedy, and just generally tidy performance improvement. It also has a microSD card slot that can take up to 512GB of additional storage for people who need all the space they can get when it comes to media and apps.
Performance while gaming, Xiaomi Unveils A New Light And Slim Laptop 14R Thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate, it also offers a surprisingly smooth gaming performance in games like PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty: Mobile with the MediaTek Helio G85 SoC even though you will need to lower your graphics settings for better results.
Cameras: Decent for the Price
As far as cameras are concerned, the back of the Xiaomi 14R comes with a dual-camera setup — a combination of a 50MP primary camera and a 2MP depth sensor. Understandably, Xiaomi had to cut down costs if we look at the camera setup, it should be more than enough for everyday photographs.
The 50MP main sensor takes the most noise-free pictures in good lighting. Accurate colors, a decent dynamic range, and some struggles with dark scenes While the omission of a built-in night mode is certainly apparent, at this price point it’s tough to hold that against the 14R.
There is also a 2MP depth sensor for portrait shots and the background blur in bokeh mode, which can be quite good but not as sophisticated as more advanced rear cameras are capable of. Up front, there is a (punch-hole design) 8MP sensor that takes quite good selfies with AI-enhanced beauty modes. That’ll get you through video calls and just about anything else of a non-professional nature.
Battery Life: All-Day Performance
There is a 5000mAh battery in the Xiaomi 14R; which will effortlessly last most people for an entire day of light moderation. The battery life is good whether you are surfing the web, watching movies, or playing small games. The device averages a screen-on time of about 12-14 hours which is great for a phone in this price range.
The inclusion of 18W fast charging by Xiaomi is also a nice touch at this price segment. It does not charge as fast as flagships but goes from 0% to around 50 in less than an hour which is quite fine for most users.
Software: Simple and Functional
The Xiaomi 14R runs on MIUI 13, based on Android 12, meaning you’re getting a near-stock experience that offers some customization. Having spent years honing and refining the divisive MIUI, Xiaomi has an operating system that isn’t to everyone’s taste but offers plenty of scope for customization and additional features that no stock Android version delivers.
The only minor flaw, which is also very common with any other Chinese OEM software, are few pre-installed apps that may not sit well with everyone. But you can delete or disable most of these apps if you value a clean start. The software part is the best, with Xiaomi giving regular updates meaning you’ll have a mature phone for years to come.
Connectivity: 4G and Basic Features
As always, 4G LTE is an advantage because of the spice speed and it plenty well to most users who aren’t living in the place where 5G is at hand now but we expected that we see a little on the upcoming device with 5G connectivity support, as a newcomer in this market though it may become late. It also boasts dual SIM slots—a nice touch in a world where many of us work and use the same phone line sill.
The rest are pretty standard with USB-C and the 3.5mm headphone jack, as well as Bluetooth 5.0; and Wi-Fi 5. The device has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that is pretty snappy and reliable for unlocking the phone.
Verdict: An Outstanding Budget Phone
It starts at an insane $155 and brings a huge bang to the budget smartphone market, with Xiaomi also announcing its 14R. The high-spec device is pitted against much more expensive rivals when it comes to performance and day-to-day usage with quick storage, a 120Hz display, and all-day battery life It comes with its own sweet capacity — 5G-less and modest camera arrangement — but for users who want a very good smartphone on a budget, the Xiaomi 14R is one of the best steals.
