The Redmi 3 is a compelling budget device, offering impressive specs and build quality at a low price. To get one officially would probably take months but a couple of grey importers in Malaysia have started to selling the metal unibody smartphone. Like most imported handsets, the first wave of Redmi 3 stocks won’t be too friendly on your wallet.
Retailers Satu Gadget and DirectD have started selling the Redmi 3 at RM688 and RM699 respectively, which is pretty steep compared to its original asking price in China that goes for 699 CNY (RM452 with current exchange rate). In fact, you can get the bigger and better Redmi Note 3 from as low as RM699 for the low spec 2GB RAM + 16GB storage model. That gets a faster Helio X10 processor, full HD 5.5″ display and it even comes with a fingerprint scanner at the rear. The only feature disadvantage of the Redmi Note 3 is the lack of a microSD expansion slot.
To refresh your memory on the smaller Redmi 3, the budget unibody metal device gets a 5″ 720p display and it runs on an Octa-Core Snapdragon 616 processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. You can add a microSD card up to 128GB on its hybrid Dual-SIM slot and powering the device is a huge 4,100mAh battery that supports 5V/2A fast charging. In terms of imaging, it gets a 13MP f/2.0 rear camera and a front-facing 5MP f/2.2 unit for your selfie needs.
If Xiaomi sells this officially in our market, we reckon that it should go below RM600. Looking for a budget smartphone below RM600, you can check out this list from TheSkop.
Redmi 3 – Satu Gadget
Redmi 3 – DirectD
