Redmi K30 Hands-On Review: A Few Drawbacks Compared To Redmi K20

Karamchand Rameshwar - Dec 19, 2019

The Redmi K30 surely comes with several upgrades over its predecessor Redmi K20. However, there are also several drawbacks compared to the Redmi K20.

On December 10, Xiaomi's sub-brand Redmi launched the next smartphone in the K-series, succeeding the Redmi K20 that was launched less than half a year ago. This time, Redmi only released the Redmi K30 while the Pro version was confirmed by Xiaomi to launch in the first half of next year.

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The biggest change on the Redmi K30 over its predecessor K20 is probably the exterior design. Instead of continuing to use the pop-up selfie camera design, Xiaomi has removed that mechanical design in this generation and replaced it with a hole-punch screen similar to the Galaxy S10+. For those who love the full-screen display, you probably will not like this display design very much.

The company even brought some downgrades on the K30 compared to the K20, when it removed the Super AMOLED screen and replaced it with an IPS LCD panel. That is also the reason why the Redmi K30 only has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor instead of an under-display sensor like the K20. For now, that technology is only available for AMOLED panel, not LCD one. Not only that, the frame of the device is now only made of plastic instead of metal like on the K20 and K20 Pro.

Redmi K30 1 — The box of Redmi K30 is white instead of black like the K20.

Redmi K30 2 — At the bottom, it is printed with some information about the phone. The version we have on hand is purple with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.

Redmi K30 5 — And a transparent silicon case that follows the tradition of Xiaomi

Redmi K30 6 — The Redmi K30 has added a new purple color option that we have here. The back of the device is no longer equipped with fire motifs, replaced by a frosted glass back

Redmi K30 7 — The highlight on the back comes from the main camera cluster of the device. Although it is placed in vertical form, it seems that the trend of the end of the year for manufacturers is to put in a circular or square module to make a difference.

Redmi K30 8 — This camera is protruding quite a lot, so we recommend users to use a case to avoid camera scratch.

Redmi K30 9 — At the bottom, there is still a familiar Redmi logo.

Redmi K30 10 — On the front, the Redmi K30 is equipped with a 6.67-inch IPS LCD screen, Full HD + resolution. This screen has a pill-shaped cut-out to house a dual selfie camera in exactly the same position as the Galaxy S10+. The cut-out area is where the 20MP + 2MP dual selfie cameras are located

Redmi K30 11 — Xiaomi offers the option to hide the ‘hole’ in the device's settings.

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Redmi K30 15 — Regarding configuration, Redmi K30 is equipped with Snapdragon 730G chipset, aided by 6 / 8GB RAM and 64/128 / 256GB storage. The included battery has a capacity of 45000mAh with 27W fast charging. In comparison, the 5G version has a Snapdragon 765G chipset, coupled with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.1 storage.

The side of the device. The power button is housed on the right side, mounted with a fingerprint sensor. It still has a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom edge and the infrared sensor on the top edge.

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Redmi K30 14 — There is a separate 64MP shooting mode

Redmi K30 19 — The camera system of the phone on the rear includes a 64MP main sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, a 2MP depth sensor, and a 2MP macro camera.

The price of the Redmi K30 4G in China is RMB 1,599 (roughly Rs. 16,100) for the base 6GB RAM / 64GB storage option and RMB 1,699 (roughly Rs. 17,100) for the model with 6GB RAM / 128GB storage. You can also get two more variants with 8GB RAM / 128GB storage and 8GB RAM / 256GB storage for RMB 1,899 (roughly Rs. 19,100) and RMB 2,199 (roughly Rs. 22,200), respectively.