Redmi K80 Impressions: This Phone Means Business

Xiaomi’s sub-brand, Redmi, recently underwent a rebranding with letters in all capital letters. The reason behind this was to expand the REDMI product lineup to compete with the brands dominating the e-commerce sector. Their K series will be the first product to emphasize this change. I was lucky enough to get my hands on their newly released Redmi K80 for a few days, and in this article, we’ll find out if this device is a promising debut or just the same old tricks in a new package.

Redmi K80: Specifications

Before we dive into the hands-on experience, I have mentioned the detailed specifications of Redmi K80 for you.

Redmi K80: box contents

In the box, you will get the device, a black silicone case, a SIM ejector tool, paperwork, a 90W charging brick, and a USB AC cable for charging.

Am I experiencing déjà vu?

At first glance, it is written on the phone Xiaomi 14 is very similar to Civi With its dual pattern glass back, rounded camera bump and flat aluminum edges. There is one in the lower half marble finish While the top is solid colored, strangely looking like land and sea coming together. Meanwhile, my coworkers and I agreed that the camera placement looked a lot like Naruto’s Sharingan.

As for placement, you’ll find power and volume buttons on the right, nothing on the top and left, and a USB-C port, dual SIM slots, and a single mic at the bottom. The edges are made of aluminum, and it also has an IP68 rating. K series rarely enjoyed Design attractions of more expensive devicesBut this time, it seems Redmi went back to the drawing board.

The feeling of holding the phone in hand Comfortable even with flat edgesThis is because it is just 8.1 mm thick and weighs only 206 grams. I usually carry two devices with me and it bothers me when one phone weighs too much. thankfully, weight is well maintainedNo major issue was left out to report.

So if the build and design got the premium treatment, the display must have suffered, right? No! K80 has excellent features 6.67-inch 2K LTPS OLED display, with 12-bit colors and a 120Hz refresh rate. Yes, they have increased the resolution to 2k which is 3200×1440 which provides 526 ppi density. This is a very high-resolution panel that we only get to see on flagship devices.

It looks beautiful whatever you decide to look at it. The flat panel protects from any accidental touches and the Gorilla Glass 7i does the same against scratches. i have No complaints about brightnessI wish I had more time to test it on sunny Delhi winter mornings. On paper, it goes up to 1800 nits with HBM mode and 3200 nits peak. It also has an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor unlike the usual optical sensor.

If the performance wasn’t enough to impress you then I’m sure the haptics will. I don’t know what kind of witchcraft has been done here, but every The feedback seems extremely gratifyingIt’s crisp where it needs to be, and soft in other places. You feel every click, similar to what I experienced with the OnePlus 12 and the more expensive Oppo FindRaid,

The sound is also quite good considering the price. this is a dual stereo speakers The setup does most of the work with bottom-firing speakers. The earpiece can only get so much louder, but it gets loud enough. It also comes with Dolby Atmos support.

There’s no one to slow it down

Xiaomi always offers great specifications in its K series smartphones. So it’s no surprise that the Redmi K80 features Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3Our variant has 512GB UFS 4.0 storage and 16GB LPDDR5X RAM. But the phone also comes in lower variants starting from 12+256. True to its name, the 8 Gen 3 gets as hot as a fire-breathing dragon. So to tame this beast, Redmi packed a Dual-loop 3D ice heat dissipation System.

Just look at the CPU throttling test where the Redmi K80 stayed cool as a cucumber and stayed in the green. the phone remained here and there 37 degrees throughout the benchmark And it only reached the 40s when I pushed it for a 60-minute throttling test. Now this is a benchmark that is difficult to reach. I ran all the other benchmark tests and you can take a look at the scores.

Additionally, I also tried my hand at some gaming in my limited time, starting with Genshin Impact. I was playing on the highest settings at 60 fps and the phone performed as expected. Call it a simple criminal because it showed no hiccups or stuttering During my entire 30 minutes of gameplay.

Then I stumbled upon the unoptimized mess that is Warzone Mobile. Despite several issues with the game, I managed to get 60FPS with peak graphic settings. Provides an almost console-like experience on the device. My short fun session with COD Mobile is finally coming to an end. I played it on Smooth+Ultra settings and of course on the phone handled it easily Sticking tight to that 120fps.

Apart from benchmarks and games, the general UX was also smooth. Redmi K80 comes with the latest HyperOS 2.0 Based on Android 15. Xiaomi has done a great craftsmanship with the animations. Simple things like dragging down Control Center feel like dragging my finger through a stream of water. Other than that, it’s pretty much the same HyperOS we’ve seen before.

There are some interesting AI features onboard, like AI writing, dynamic wallpapers, speech recognition, and real-time translation features. I turned them around, and they seem to work fine except for the AI ​​wallpaper. Given that this is a Chinese entity, I’d prefer to reserve my full analysis for the global release of these features.

The K80 includes a large battery with a capacity of 6550 mAh. Although I could not get concrete results, but the phone Only 20% loss occurred Which is excellent during my hour and a half long gaming experience. Even after using the phone for a day, there was still 40% juice left in the phone. You can top up its massive tank with the 90W charger packed in the box 0 to 100 in 35 minutes,

very close to greatness

As of now Redmi K80 looks no less than a flagship device. But there’s always a silver lining and for this phone, it’s the cameras. It has a feature 50MP Lite Hunter 800 Sensor with AF/1.6 aperture and OIS. It is bundled with the primary shooter one 8MP ultrawide On the back. There is a house in the cutout in front 20MP shooterWithout wasting much time, let’s jump straight to the samples.

Redmi K80 performs well in daylight. takes pictures with it good amount of detailsBe it landscapes or shots of your friends, the overall daylight experience is great. I noticed a little Yellowness in some images But it’s far from a deal-breaker. Ultra wide swatches are also good, but it’s not going to win any awards.

Night time pictures also turned out good. however, Night mode takes a few seconds To capture the image. So after post-processing, you may encounter some unintentional long exposure clicks. Details are also affected, and there is a strange color around light sources, which I think can be fixed with an update.

Selfies are good. The 20MP camera takes serviceable photos that will look fine on your Instagram feed. but they tend to soften the subject A little bit, which I’m not a fan of. Portrait mode also works as intended and the edge detection software is hit most of the time.

Talking about video, the phone can capture up to 8K 24FPS, as well as 4K 60/3o with the primary lens. It can do 1080p 60FPS from the front camera and if you want to switch between lenses, I suggest you stick to 1080p 30FPS. I wish I could test the camera more, but this is what I got from initial testing.

Redmi K80 verdict: It’s not even fair anymore

Flagship killer is a category where most of the focus is on performance while everything else is an afterthought. But this time, Redmi has actually introduced a device that can go at par with any of the top offerings from other manufacturers. From its gorgeous 2K display to the tactile haptics and of course the performance.

Yes, optics are affected, but some areas face cost-cutting. This device could possibly be released globally as POCO F7 and I really hope it will have all the same charms. Especially the design. Redmi K80 has been launched in China with a starting price of CNY 2,499 (~) $345For that price, you’re getting a respectable device that outperforms many other flagship phones.