Xiaomi earlier this week launched a new budget smartphone, the Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime. At Rs 6,999, the smartphone is Rs 1,000 costlier than its predecessor – the Xiaomi Redmi 2. So it is pertinent to known what extra features the Redmi 2 Prime offers over the Redmi 2 for which you should spend the extra Rs 1,000.
Design
It is very difficult to differentiate between the Xiaomi Redmi 2 and Redmi 2 Prime in terms of looks. Both look like twins with similar dimensions, 134 x 67.2 x 9.4 mm, and weight, 133-gram.
Both have the same plastic back panel which is removable, under which lies two SIM card slots and a micro SD card slot. In the back lie an 8 megapixel camera, on either side of which lies an LED flash and a speaker grill. The volume speaker and power button are on the right hand side. In the front, there are three offscreen buttons below the 4.7 inch display.
Overall, both the phones have a bland look without any distinguishing factor to choose one of them over the other.
Display
Here too it is a tie. Both the Redmi 2 and Redmi 2 Prime offer a 4.7 inch IPS display with Resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels, thus offering Pixel density of 312 ppi.
Processor & Memory
This is where the Redmi 2 Prime looks a lot different than the Redmi 2.
The older Redmi 2 has a quad-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 410 Processor and Adreno 306 which runs with 1 GB of RAM. It has 8 GB of internal storage which can be expanded to up to 32 GB.
On the other hand, the Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime has much better 2 GB RAM and double internal storage – 16 GB. It too has the same Snapdragon 410 Chipset comprising of a 1.2 GHz quad core processor and Adreno 306 graphics processor.
Other features
Other than that there is no difference between the phones. Both offer Android KitKat based MIUI 6.0 interface, 2200 mAh battery, 8 megapixel primary camera, a 2 megapixel front camera, dual-SIM, 4G, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, WiFi, and WiFi hotspot.
Wrapping up
With 8 GB extra storage and 1 GB more RAM, the Redmi 2 Prime is undoubtedly the phone to go for instead of the older Redmi 2 which at Rs 5,999 anyway looks irrelevant with newer devices coming with much better specs. For instance, just a day ago Intex Cloud M6 with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage was launched at just Rs 5,999. There is also the Intex Aqua Speed that costs Rs 5,999 and offers 2 GB RAM though it is a 3G smartphone.We had recently published our Top 5 pick under Rs 5,000 which will help you choosing a much cheaper smartphone.