Every time I receive a "gaming smartphone" on test I constantly ask myself the question "but who could ever buy a device like this?", Which then, to be honest, is also the most frequent made by you who follow us and not you never miss a single video.
Today I want to tell you about the Redmi K50 Gaming which, as the name implies, is a smartphone for gamers but this time it probably has something that could make it attractive to purchase not only for those who play with the smartphone, but also for those looking for a reliable and elegant product. I'll explain why.
Redmi K50 Gaming Review
Design and Materials
I want to reveal immediately why this smartphone is different from all the other gaming products tested recently (and not): it is aesthetically refined, it is pleasant to hold and, potentially, there's no shame in pulling it out of your pocket for any constructive extravagance.
Redmi K50 Gaming it has a side frame made of metal and a rear body in glass with half opaque and half glossy finishes: I want to tell you, however, that if on the one hand I found it extremely nice to the touch, on the other it is tremendously slippery. It is a little better, however, from the point of view of the footprints that on the opaque part struggle to remain trapped, while the shiny part gets dirty more easily.
Speaking aesthetic details noteworthy, Xiaomi has included the lightning-shaped LED flash on this smartphone, a well-placed touch of style. To be honest, however, they are integrated into the bump chamber two small RGB LEDs that are activated when notifications are received or when the smartphone is charging: you can customize the color, the applications in which it is activated, but eventually you can also disable it completely.
There are also the two retractable triggers that can be activated via two sliders and, in case they do not come in handy, you can always send them back inside without external encumbrance.
The dimensions of Redmi's K50 Gaming are important, know it: we are talking about 162.5 x 76.7 x 8.5 mm and a weight of approximately 210 grams, not among the highest in the industry but not even a featherweight. However, thanks to a 20: 9 aspect ratio the smartphone is held well in the hand, preferably with a cover given the extreme slipperiness.
About the arrangement of the elements Xiaomi he had a lot to do because of this K50 Gaming it is practically invaded on every side: I start from the left side that houses the Dual Sim trolley at the top which does not offer the possibility of expansion via Micro SD, the volume rocker and the secondary microphone in case you use the smartphone horizontally.
On the right side, instead, there is space for the two triggers with the relative ones activation slider and, moreover, the on and off button which also acts as a biometric reader for unlocking, precise. On the top there is the infrared port, another microphone and one of the two stereo speakers made in collaboration with JBL while at the bottom we find the other, next to the Type-C connector and the primary microphone. And yes, I know you are probably waiting for me to mention the 3.5mm jack, but sadly on this model it is absent.
Display
Redmi K50 Gaming has a display 6.67 ″ FullHD + OLED with refresh rate up to 120Hz and HDR10 + support; ok, you will say and surely think that on the resolution front something more could have been done, but trust me, it is not necessary. This screen which, among other things, has Gorilla Glass Victus glass, supports a touch sampling rate up to 480Hz and, above all, has a really comfortable tactile feedback on pressure and not very easy to find on similar smartphones.
Compared to the model of the last generation that had obtained quite a few problems on the display front, this year the company has implemented a 1920Hz PMW dimming system to avoid flickering of any kind. Ultimately it is a panel with excellent colors, well-calibrated whites and a very deep black. There is also the possibility to customize the colors with a large number of extra parameters, as well as it is possible to vary the response frequency of the display or to activate the always-on which, too, is radically customizable to one's liking.
Hardware and Performance
Last year, reading the opinions of users a bit, there was a lot of general disappointment regarding the hardware platform chosen by Xiaomi for the K40; this year, in order not to be mistaken, the company has chosen well to use the most powerful processor currently available in the Android world, the first generation Snapdragon 8, even if it is not entirely free from defects.
In detail, the Redmi K50 Gaming has on board 8 or 12GB of RAM (in my case 8) LPDDR5 at 3200MHz, 128 or 256GB storage with type memories UFS 3.1 and a Adreno GPU 730, therefore the best that could be desired in the technical field. A doubt arises, however, more than anything else related to the meaning of this smartphone: the supplied hardware is practically identical to the various ones Xiaomi 12 o Xiaomi 12 Proor (I'm referring to SoCs, memories, GPUs and not cameras or anything else), so defining it as a gaming smartphone is, perhaps, a bit of a gamble, since the only substantial difference is the two retractable triggers, and nothing more. By the way, to be honest, I found them very comfortable during testing and, if you play at high levels, they can really make a difference.
Leaving aside this, however, the performances offered by the smartphone are of a high level, despite the MIUI present on this Chinese unit is not the best; the gaming sector is well cared for with specific methods and optimizations. I have tried several titles including PUBG, Call of Duty Mobile and Real Racing 3 and they all returned exceptional performance, very high framerates depending on the individual compatibility and temperatures, meh ... I'll be honest, the temperatures are a bit high, it's never annoying to hold the smartphone, of course, but think that the device goes into "protection ”After a couple of benchmark sessions, so much so that I was unable to complete my classic test of GFXBench precisely because of the temperatures.
It is a shame, especially for the work done by Redmi on the cooling system which reaches a surface of 4860mm² and is the largest ever seen on a smartphone. I do not feel like criticizing Xiaomi on this front because it is one of the most common problems of this SoC and, at the time of writing, the only smartphone that has managed to keep temperatures under control is the Redmagic 7 which, on the other hand, boasted two fans dedicated to cooling.
Camera
A little surprisingly, at least as far as I'm concerned, it is the photographic sector that I never expected to describe with positive words and praise, I'm honest. Technically there are three lenses, the first from 64MP with aperture f / 1.7 and PDAF focus, the second ultra wide 8MP f / 2.2 with 120 ° FOV and the third 2MP f / 2.4 macro; a selfie camera comes full circle 20MP which supports HDR and FullHD video recording.
In detail, the shots taken by Redmi K50 Gaming they are very respectable; I will not make comparisons with the new Xiaomi 12 because it makes no sense, but making them with last year's models is definitely possible and realistic. In general, the photos in daytime have good colors, well balanced and also the definition is more than good: I found the autofocus slightly inaccurate, but only in certain situations, which occasionally loses a few shots.
Even the wide-angle lens ensures more than enough shots even if they lose definition on the edges, a bit like typical of many other smartphones out there. Also good Photos made at night, where there is good management of the lights and the shots are respectable: even at night there are some small autofocus problems, easily circumvented if we manually tap on the point where we want to focus.
As for the front camera, the selfies that the smartphone manages to capture are good, but as already seen on other products of the company always make sure to deactivate the various beauty filters. Finally, the video recording in FullHD at 60fps is good, it enjoys excellent stabilization and, above all, in the videos the focus is lightning-fast. In case you have the need, you can also record videos in 4K at 60fps.
Software
I don't want to dwell much on the software, it is always the same MIUI of Xiaomi which is in version on this model 13.0.5 based on Android 12 with security patches updated as of February 1, 2022.
The company has not included any special customizations for this "gaming edition" other than the Game Space mode, which allows you to monitor performance optimizations, key and trigger customizations, gameplay recording and very little else.
Autonomy
On the autonomy front, the Redmi K50 Gaming mounts a battery under the body 4700 mAh and supports fast charging up to 120W; thanks to the equipment included in the package, the smartphone is able to recharge from 0 to 100% in just 17 minutes declared (actually it's a little bit more than 20 minutes, but still a great value).
The autonomy, on the other hand, is not the best if you intend to play most of the time: making an estimate the smartphone consumes about 15% to play an hour of video on Netflix or YouTube, while it downloads about 35% if you play Call of Duty online for one hour.
If, on the other hand, you bought the smartphone to use it as a common other device and therefore with calls, web browsing and poco other, you can be calm.
Price and Considerations
We close this review with the same question I asked myself at the beginning, namely "does this device make sense?". Xiaomi has recently expanded the range of K50 devices with three other prominent products both on the hardware front and on the aesthetic and constructive one that go in opposition to this K50 Gaming which, among other things, has a slightly higher price.
Buy this Redmi K50 Gaming, in fact, it requires a budget of at least about 500 euros for the 8 / 128GB version but you can easily reach more than 650 euros for the 12 / 256GB version, a much higher price but always cheaper when compared to the Xiaomi 12 with which he shares almost the entirety of the technical data sheet.
So, yes it makes sense if you are fascinated by the Xiaomi 12 series and are looking for an excellent cheap technical data sheet, the 8 / 128GB version is the one for you.
