If there's a field in which Xiaomi excels greatly, it is in making entry-level and mid-range devices. Particularly, the company has found great success in its Redmi line of devices. It has been so successful, in fact, that the company has broken apart the Redmi brand as a subbrand of its own, and has sprung devices from all ranges, from affordable flagships like the Redmi K20 Pro to entry-level phones like the Redmi 7A and Redmi Go. Today, Xiaomi is launching the next iteration of its Redmi A-series in the form of the Redmi 8A.

Their lower mid-range and entry-level devices, in particular, have improved by leaps and bounds in the past year. I recently had the chance to review the Redmi 7A, and found it to be an amazing budget phone and very easily one of the best, if not the best, devices under $100. Now, the Redmi 8A will serve as a successor to the successful and well-received Redmi 7A. And with several all-around improvements on the table, all while being in the same price bracket, it's set to take the same spot as its predecessor.

Possibly the most outstanding change compared to its predecessor, the Redmi 7A, is its overall form factor. While the Redmi 7A had a compact 5.5-inch 18:9 display in a small, compact body, the Redmi 8A goes instead for a bigger footprint, similar to the Redmi 7. It embraces the teardrop notch and employs a 6.22-inch 19:9 display. This signifies sad news for those that were still hoping for a smaller, more compact device, but the good news is that the Redmi 8A more than makes up for it: the device features a mammoth 5,000 mAh battery that dwarfs most other devices in its price range and should deliver amazing battery performance overall.

As for the rest of the specifications, we have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 with up to 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. This should be plenty for most of the needs in this price segment. We also have a USB Type-C charging port, which is a substantial upgrade from the 7A's micro USB port, and the device supports 18W fast charging technology, another significant feature for this price range. Unfortunately, we still don't have a fingerprint sensor here, but the device supports face unlocking with the front-facing 8MP camera.

For the camera, the device sports a single 12MP IMX363 sensor for the rear camera, which is the same sensor found in several flagships from last year. Lastly, the device is running Android 9 Pie out of the box, as you may expect, with Xiaomi's MIUI 10 UX on top. Another highlight of the device is the fact that it also comes with wireless FM radio, at a time when even flagships like the OnePlus 7 Pro skip out on wired FM radio.

Redmi 8A: Pricing and Availability

The Xiaomi Redmi 8A comes in at a price of ₹6,499 (~$92) for the 2GB RAM variant, and ₹6,999 (~$98) for the 3GB RAM variant, both of which come with 32GB of internal storage. This pricing is very slightly higher than the launch price of the Redmi 7A, but you do get decent upgrades that more than justify the small increase. The Redmi 8A will be available in India from September 30, 2019, from mi.com and Flipkart, and shortly thereafter across offline stores.

What are your thoughts on the Xiaomi Redmi 8A? Is this a compelling starter smartphone? Let us know in the comments below!