A new cheap of 5G - Redmi 10X released

[williamcll]

Costing around 230 EUR, It is the cheapest smartphone that can receive 5G signals. What's more is that the mediatek 820 processor seems to a big leap compared to last generation.

Quote

We’ve heard about the Redmi 10X for a while now, and Xiaomi has confirmed several specs in the run-up to its unveiling. Now, the Redmi 10X series has officially been launched and we’re actually seeing two phones. The Redmi 10X and Redmi 10X Pro are both powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 820 chipset, bringing upper mid-range power and 5G connectivity to the table. In fact, Xiaomi claims the chip has an Antutu score of 415,672 points, not far behind the Snapdragon 855‘s 445,343 points, according to the firm. In terms of 5G capabilities, Xiaomi previously confirmed that the Redmi 10X series supports 5G+5G dual SIM technology. This is possible thanks to the MediaTek chipset, with Qualcomm 5G chips not supporting 5G+5G just yet. Unlike Qualcomm 5G chips, the phone tops out at sub-6Ghz 5G as China doesn’t use mmWave 5G right now.

Other notable Redmi 10X series features include MIUI 12, IP53 splash resistance (it’s unclear if this applies to both models), USB-C, an IR blaster, and 3.5mm port. The Redmi 10X Pro also sports NFC, which the standard 10X lacks. 

 

The Redmi 10X starts at 1,599 yuan (~$224) for the 6GB/64GB option, 1,799 yuan (~$252) for the 6GB/128GB variant, 2099 yuan (~$294) for the 8GB/128GB model, and 2,399 yuan (~$336) for the 8GB/256GB device. Want the Pro model? Then you’re looking at 2,299 yuan (~$322) for the 8GB/128GB base model, and 2,599 yuan (~$364) for the 8GB/256GB variant. These weren’t the only Redmi 10X phones announced at the event, as Xiaomi also revealed the Redmi 10X 4G. The new device seems to be a rebranded Redmi Note 9, sharing the same Helio G85 chipset and 5,020mAh battery. Expect to pay 999 yuan (~$140) for the 4GB/128GB Redmi 10X 4G and 1,199 yuan (~$168) for the 6GB/128GB model.

Source: https://www.androidauthority.com/redmi-10x-1122513/

https://item.jd.com/100007265825.html (Chinese store link)
Thoughts: Nice to see Mediatek making a come back this month, both the 820 and 1000 looks competitive against other mid-range phones that either uses a qualcomm 7xx/8xx or Kirin equivalent. I do wonder how much more will the international version will cost, if it ever comes out.

[Matu20]

Mediatek CPU means no support from the XDA community, which is a deal braker for me personally. I do not like any of the custom skins, especially MIUI.

[williamcll]

20 minutes ago, Matu20 said:

Mediatek CPU means no support from the XDA community, which is a deal braker for me personally. I do not like any of the custom skins, especially MIUI.

Well they still operate on the same ARM architecture as other mainstream mobile processors so I would assume the majority of developer programs will run without issues.

 

Perhaps the only exception would be the anti-brick tool that was only designed for qualcomm chips.

[RejZoR]

27 minutes ago, Matu20 said:

Mediatek CPU means no support from the XDA community, which is a deal braker for me personally. I do not like any of the custom skins, especially MIUI.

People think average consumers even know what XDA is. Hell, there are even people like me who know XDA, know how to flash phones and have done so many times and returned back to factory stuff because working with anything from XDA or custom ROMs in general just means constant fiddling with phone and constant hassle of having shit even work. And to a final point where banking apps demand unrooted phone with locked bootloader otherwise they wouldn't even run. Meaning I have to either constantly be fiddling with it with Magisk or be unable to even login to my banking services because they demand functional app for 2FA. So, for me any 3rd party ROM's basically stopped existing. And thus giving a damn whether some chipset maker supports 3rd party or not. But I do care that Mediatek is competitive and makes good chipsets. And Dimensity 1000 and 1000+ are damn good chipsets and I hope more devices will come with it. If I ever decide to go back to Android, I'd love to see a lot of choice and not just Snapdragon in basically every single device in existence.

[LAwLz]

21 minutes ago, williamcll said:

Well they still operate on the same ARM architecture as other mainstream mobile processors so I would assume the majority of developer programs will run without issues.

That is sadly not the case.

You can not just take an Android kernel and boot it on a device. You need a custom kernel for each and every device. What you need is a "board support package" which tells the OS how to interact with the hardware. You can think of it as a BIOS, but it's specifically tailored to a specific SoC and other hardware components (rather than a BIOS where you can plug in a ton of stuff and it just automatically is detected and works).

 

Qualcomm is a very nice company and not only open sources but also uploads a lot of their customized code for their SoCs to a public forum, which means people at for example XDA developers have a far easier time modifying things like the open source Android to working on a particular platform.

MediaTek do not upload their modifications to public forums, which means it is extremely difficult, near impossible, to develop custom ROMs for them. That, on top of MediaTek are popular by device makers who tend to do things like have a bad stock ROM, and lock bootloaders, which has given them an even worse reputation.

[williamcll]

5 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

More affordable chipsets. Good for normies. But I insist on being able to completely dictate what my hardware can and cannot do.

Unfortunately that means you are stuck with more open source designs like the pinephone or the librem 5.

Though if you are used to rooting then the pixel or oneplus is a possible choice as well since they allow you to replace the stock rom with lineage OS.

[paddy-stone]

I had a mediatek CPU on my Lenovo k5? ITIW, was OK and actually had good support through the ROM community. I gave that phone to my great niece last year and still going strong with no major issues. But my brother has a Huawei phone with a mediatek CPU and it was a complete bitch, it bricked a few times and I was able to get it working again and loaded another ROM on it for him, but by that point he was fed-up with it and sold it on (still working BTW). So I have had good and bad experiences with mediatek. But only good things with Qualcom so far. I will say though that I haven't been rooting or loading new ROMs on them though, as 1) I haven't needed to (unlike the mediatek), and 2) I have been using more apps that don't like you having Root, so didn't bother.

I will say though, that I would have rooted if I could, because the bloatware, and "offical apps" really piss me off at times.

I may have to go back to having 2 phones, a good mid-high ranger for everyday usage, and a low end one for banking and stuff, that way I can root the better phone and get rid of the crap.

[Matu20]

14 hours ago, RejZoR said:

People think average consumers even know what XDA is. Hell, there are even people like me who know XDA, know how to flash phones and have done so many times and returned back to factory stuff because working with anything from XDA or custom ROMs in general just means constant fiddling with phone and constant hassle of having shit even work. And to a final point where banking apps demand unrooted phone with locked bootloader otherwise they wouldn't even run. Meaning I have to either constantly be fiddling with it with Magisk or be unable to even login to my banking services because they demand functional app for 2FA. So, for me any 3rd party ROM's basically stopped existing. And thus giving a damn whether some chipset maker supports 3rd party or not. But I do care that Mediatek is competitive and makes good chipsets. And Dimensity 1000 and 1000+ are damn good chipsets and I hope more devices will come with it. If I ever decide to go back to Android, I'd love to see a lot of choice and not just Snapdragon in basically every single device in existence.

I'm lucky enough to live in a country that does not ban rooted phones from working with apps (banking included). And I do have to say that I personally find fiddling fun, but it's not hard at all to find a stable ROM that you can stick with for years, without updates. Anecdotally, I have rooted and flashed my mom's and sister's phones, which have had very few issues over the years.

I do agree that competition is good and I'd love to see it continue, might actually push XDA devs to expand and support a wider variety of chipsets. Currently it's just not the case, unfortunately.