UMIDIGI F1 Play, an incremental version to UMIDIGI’s
big hit phone UMIDIGI F1, also the second phone from the company to sport a
48-megapixel rear camera after UMIDIGI S3 Pro, kicks off global sale now at
US$199.99 on AliExpress. At its price point, the smartphone competes with
Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 7 in similar specs, but which one is better?
UMIDIGI F1 Play and Redmi Note 7 both feature the
similar shaped notch design. UMIDIGI
calls it the ‘waterdrop’ while Xiaomi calls it the ‘dot drop’. Both of
them have the 6.3-inch display with FHD+ resolution (2340×1080). It seems the
bezel and chin of F1 Play is smaller than Redmi Note 7 from the photos.
UMIDIGI F1 Play is powered by Helio P60 AI SoC like
the UMIDIGI F1, while Redmi Note 7 comes with the similar performance
Snapdragon 660 processor. On AnTuTu benchmark, both Helio P60 and Snapdragon
660 score about 140k so they have the similar good performance that can handle
heavy games well. In terms of memory, you can get 6GB RAM + 64GB ROM in UMIDIGI
F1 Play at US$ 200 but only 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM you can get in Redmi Note 7 at the
same price.
F1 Play packs a huge 5150mAh battery while Redmi
Note 7 have a 4000mAh battery. Both phones support 18W fast charging, and
UMIDIGI F1 Play gets 18W Type C charger in box but Redmi Note 7 ships with only
10W Type C charger.
Both phones boast a 48-megapixel primary camera with
1/2″ image sensor and 1.6-micron super-pixels (via pixel binning that merges
four 0.8 micron pixels into one when in low light). But it’s 8MP secondary camera in F1 Play
while 5MP in Redmi Note 7. About selfies, there’s a 16-megapixel front camera
in F1 Play while 13-megapixel front camera in Redmi Note 7.
On the software front, F1 Play runs on stock Android
9 Pie without ads. Redmi Note 7 runs on MIUI 10 based on Android Pie. Both
phones get the 3.5mm headphone jack. But UMIDIGI F1 Play has NFC for Google pay
and bus payment while Redmi Note 7 doesn’t. Also, UMIDIGI F1 Play supports
global bands while Redmi Note 7 just supports local bands.
UMIDIGI’s new phone also kicks off global sale now
at US$ 199.99 on AliExpress. It offers a better set of specifications but the
price is lower than Redmi Note 7. UMIDIGI F1 Play with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage
is priced at US$ 200, while Redmi Note 7 starts at US$ 200 for the base model
with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. It needs US$ 230 for Redmi Note 7’s 4GB RAM and
64GB storage version.
Besides, UMIDIGI also offers some generous price
cuts for other devices during the Aliexpress 9th Anniversary activity from
March 28 to March 31. The UMIDIGI S3 Pro will be priced at US$ 275.99, UMIDIGI F1 US$ 179.99, One Pro US$ 139.99, and A3 Pro US$ 79.99. Decent prices for decent
smartphones.
