Actually not everyone can afford everything one wants, everyone has a wish of having the fastest, the best among all, and so a certain segment or category of users may still need to be filled in, and brands now a days a getting good in keeping most things balanced with good value in terms of usability equipping with modern stuffs, while cost is really affordable.
We will look at the Redmi 13C, an updated low cost, affordable, yet updates in both software and hardware can still be squeezed in together to keep the mass low cost phone goes on to modernize user that does need such phone. Do take note that the Redmi 13C carries the same hardware as the POCO C65, which you can use this review as a reference point as well largely due to the similarities.
Design
All about back to the basics with a modern twist to it, the Redmi 13C is the replacement of the last year’s Redmi 12C, that is pretty much keeping the common smartphone looks with an almost complete flat back and front, despite all of these, the back and sides of the phone while still made with plastic, it looks pleasing in the eye with smooth texture, rounded edges an no fingerprint smudges as well. Compared to the Redmi 12C, this one is refined nicely, thickness at 8.1mm while the weight is just compact and light at 192 grams, making it easy to held on and scroll over contents. The overall looks to it at least is somewhat refreshing within the budget segment device, as it follows some of the design aesthetics of the higher end Redmi series devices.
The Redmi 13C is offered in four colors, Midnight Black, Navy Blue, Glacier White and Clover Green with each color offering the same type of texture and design to it.
Comparing to the previous Redmi 12C, the Redmi 13C gets an upgrade from the micro USB to USB C port, which is the only device within the same series finally move on to a modern charging and data port, giving better convenience and mass compatibility to the consumer who wish to get one. Other than that, all your usual stuffs still remained, a single speaker setup, a microphone, an audio jack, power button with fingerprint scanner and the Dual SIM slots tray.
Display & Audio
The Redmi 13C came in with a 720P IPS LCD screen at 90Hz, which in my honest opinion fits the bill and still be able to perform pretty well in terms of color reproduction and clarity, with some occasional boosted up contrast when viewing contents such as video. Its smooth at most times with very minor stutters if you are scrolling too fast, and despite all of these, the Redmi 13C can boost up the brightness up to a good 500nits, rendering it pretty much suitable in most bright and dark areas with minimal compromises. No HDR10 or some super enhance visual stuff, but you do have low blue light protection and widevine L1 support for DRM streaming apps, ensuring HD and above video contents can be played and certified along with proper screen protection with Corning Gorilla Glass.
The phone has a single speaker setup located below, beside the USB C port which is able to produce and provide decently loud audio with no muffling. Should you need better sound tweaking, there is equalizer and pre-set options under the sound settings but since you only have a single speakers and wanted a better experience out of it, you still can pair it with your TWS or 3.5mm headphones, or a USB C headphone should you wanted to pair with your own DAC.
Camera
Now lets get on to the camera, the Redmi 13C can perform admirably well with it’s triple camera sensors, the main one being a 50MP shooter, along with a 2MP macro lens and a auxiliary lens. Compared to the previous one, the only difference that it has the macro lens, which is pretty useful for those who wanted to take a few close up detailed shots.
Day Time Photos
Evening Time Photos
To keep the story summarized here, the Redmi 13C camera performance is just slightly better than the 12C, this is also due to the fact that this phone is given an update towards the camera’s software AI post processing along with a new camera color filter mode that allows you to have different kind of film filters that might suits the user. Your day time shots are as good and sharp, zooming in too will get you visible details and still delivers some clarity to it. Aliasing seems pretty ok for the most part while some softness may exhibit in certain images, including those taken in the evening for even slightly darker surrounding. Overall I would give it a pass for those seeking for a fast snap and upload kind of phone but not those seeking for very detailed and accurate photo taking phone with editing options after download, the most you can do to have a slightly higher detailed images is to switch the modes over to 50MP shooting.
The rest are pretty much the same for the selfie camera with it’s 8MP front sensor and for the rear video camera recording, the most you can get is 1080P at 30FPS max as per attached. Do take note for all camera modes, there is no wide angle options.
Performance, Experience, Benchmarks
Powered by the dated by still relevant MediaTek Helio G85 SOC with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, the Redmi 13C can still perform quite ok when it comes to day to day multitasking in general, opening a couple of apps, play some of your lightweight games such as Mobile Legends or Candy Crush, heck even COD Mobile can be played comfortably well on low settings exhibiting very minimal framerate drops, even with a couple of enemies on screen with good touch responsiveness. Well if you need more storage, there is an option for you to expand up to 2TB with a microSD card.
To my experience the phone can last me the whole day without issues and that is with some battery power left in the phone by the end of the day. From navigation apps such as Waze to social media, some work emails, messages, browsing and calls, it just works as it is, but just dont open too many apps at the same time, otherwise you may experience minor stutters and overall, as long you know what you are doing with it, hey I think this is a fun phone to carry around. Recharging back with the supplied 10W adaptor with the 5000MAh battery will take you around less than 2 hours to be up and running, and you still can extend your battery by additional couple of hours by enabling power saver mode.
Android 13 with MIUI 14 is around as to bring in better security patches support as well as core features of both MIUI and Android 13 modernizing the needs of new apps requirements, latest security patches, themes and so on. Since this is running on the slightly budgeted internals, certain features are removed such as sidebar support and floating window in order to keep things light and smooth. Bloatware apps are still there but it’s kinda minimal and can be easily uninstalled.
Lastly here’s comes the benchmark, but it is just slightly to no difference compared to Redmi 12C, and that is kind of expected as well, so that remains a fact but to me, it is still a reliable phone within the category though.
Who is this for ?
It is easy to assume that something is intended for a specific category as the primary target. Student, gig economy drivers, quick social media photo snapper, a person who requires a second phone, someone who requires it for basic but smart communications such as WhatsApp, or a phone that separates a private use phone and a SME business phone, or a phone for ECommerce use, are just a few scenarios in which we can imagine how the Redmi 13C can be used or utilized in our daily lives.
Verdict & Conclusion
The Redmi 13C sets the realm of the affordable smartphone to a level that does not cheap out on certain things, the adequate degree of some durability on the glass, flat modern design and an updated camera software to it that fits one would need in the current media, entertainment and communication essentials in today fast growing for digitalization demands. While this phone may not have the best of the processor within the segment, it is still performing on par with the price you are about to pay, all just for RM499 for a decently at least a modern smartphone that focus on the needs with an all day battery life.