Redmi 14C review: Some style on a budget

The budget segment of the Nepalese smartphone market is pretty competitive these days. We have a new phone popping in almost every two weeks. Today, I have this Redmi 14C which is quite a bold phone in terms of the rear design. As I have been using this phone for a week now, here's everything you need to know about the Redmi 14C's design, display, performance, camera, and battery aspects. But before heading toward the Redmi 14C review, let's scroll through the specs first, shall we?

Redmi 14C Specifications

• Display: 6.88-inch LCD panel, HD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 600nits HBM
• Chipset: MediaTek Helio G81 Ultra 4G (12nm)
• Memory: 4/6/8GB LPDDR4X
• Storage: 128/256GB eMMC 5.1 (expandable up to 1TB)
• Software & UI: Android 14
• Rear Camera: Dual (with LED flash); – 50MP f/1.8 primary lens – 0.08 auxiliary sensor
• Front Camera: 13MP f/2.2 (water-drop)
• Battery: 5000mAh with 18W USB-C Fast Charging (33W Charger in the box)
• Color Options: Sage Green, Midnight Black, Dreamy Purple
• Price in Nepal: NPR 13,999 (4/128GB), NPR 15,999 (6/128GB), NPR 18,999 (8/256GB)
• Check out the full specifications of the Redmi 14C here.

Redmi 14C Review

A Premium Outlook

• 171.88 mm x 77.80 mm x 8.22 mm (204 / 211 gm)
• Vegan Leather/Glass Back, Plastic frames

Budget phones are not necessarily boring these days and the Redmi 14C is a suitable example. The rear panel of this guy looks premium with an Oreo-shaped circular camera module and a vegan leather finish on this Sage Green variant I have. It didn't fail to impress me but I bet, the Dreamy Purple is even more eye-catching if you are fond of some colors. Meanwhile, the front side is not that appealing I'd say, as we get a waterdrop notch display with a thicker chin on the bottom. I know this is common across budget phones but recently, Tecno has upped its game by providing a more modern-looking hole-punch cutout display in the same segment.

120Hz Display

• 6.52” HD+ IPS LCD display
• 120Hz refresh rate

Okay talking of the display, it is a tall 6.88-inch IPS LCD panel with HD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Yep, a fast 120Hz refresh rate on a budget phone, while the base flagship phones from the Cupertino giant are still ridiculously stuck at 60Hz in 2024!  Alright, you get two refresh rate options the Redmi 14C which by default, automatically adjusts up to 120Hz. But in my testing, it goes only up to 90Hz on that setting and if you truly want to witness 120Hz, go to the second option and choose the "Up to 120Hz" option.

And I didn't really expect a buttery smooth scrolling for the price and it results the same. The 120Hz is only visible on the system settings app. And the social media apps can only run on a 60Hz refresh rate! Well, it's a budget phone so, we can let that slide in, maybe? But at least a 90Hz experience on social media apps would have been wholesome. Apart from that, the actual display quality is fine for the price. Good enough for reels, Tiktok scrolling and some movies. You don't get a dual stereo speaker setup here while the mono one on the bottom can suffice your media consumption needs. Meanwhile, the sunlight readability is just on the decent side with 600nits on High Brightness Mode.

Performance

• MediaTek Helio G81 Ultra 4G (12nm)
• Octa-core (2×2.0 GHz Cortex-AA75 & 6×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55
• Mali-G52 MP2

Now let's talk about the performance side. This phone is powered by a Mediatek Helio G81 Ultra chipset on the core. This 12nm fabbed chipset bears the same architecture as the Helio G85 SoC. And the performance is also kinda similar. It can handle your day-to-day tasks like phone calls, texting, social media, and multimedia usage fine for the price! The memory variant starts at 4 gigs but I recommend you to get at least 6GB of RAM as apps in 2024 have gone resource-hungry. Plus, multitasking on a 4GB RAM phone might be a hassle sometimes.

In terms of gaming, you can opt in for some light games like Candy Crush, Subway Surfers, Temple Run, and such. If you are thinking of some BR actions like PUBG, the phone can only do it in a casual way with 30 frames. After all, it's a budget midrange phone, so, it is expected!

Software and UI

• HyperOS
• Android 14

As for the software, the phone boots on HyperOS built on top of Android 14. It brings the customizations, the lock screen customization, icons, and such. But not all the features are available here. For instance, there is no 3D lock-screen wallpaper but it's understandable as even the Redmi Note 13 Pro 4G, which I reviewed a few months ago, didn't have this feature while the Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus and above devices have it. Likewise, the phone does ship with some bloatware and ads! You can uninstall most of the bloats while turning off the app requires you to surf some settings. You have to go through' Security, Music, and such app's settings and turn off the receive recommendations option. This should solve the annoying ads.

Camera

• Dual (50MP + Auxiliary lens)
• 13MP selfie camera

Technically, the Redmi 14C houses a dual camera setup but the usable camera is the 50MP main sensor. The auxiliary lens is just there to fill the module space. Upfront, there is a 13MP selfie snapper. I compared its camera with the Galaxy A14 4G and here's what I have found.

Daylight

Talking of the daylight situations, I'm leaning on Redmi which boasts a more natural look than the Galaxy A06. The latter one subjects to produce more saturated colors which might appease some!

Portraits

Coming to the portraits as well, I found the Redmi 14C to perform a tat bit better than the A06.

Selfies

On the selfie side, both phones click decent-looking images with social media-ready images. In some pictures, the Galaxy A06 looks a bit more contrasty.

Videos

And it's a budget midrange phone, so, 1080p 30fps is all you have to settle for here. No EIS stabilization or anything!

Battery and Charging

• 5160mAh battery
• 18W fast charging support (33W charger in the box)

As with every other phone in the segment, a 5160mAh battery fuels the Redmi 14C. Which goes for one day and a half on moderate usage. And to top this guy, Redmi generously provides a 33W charger in the box although the phone only supports 18W fast charging. So, if you have a Redmi phone lying around that supports 33W, you can make its full use.

Connectivity

The connectivity part on budget phones is pretty important if you ask me about it, especially for cellular connectivity. Because this segment is widely purchased by the population living on the rural side. Although, there is no issue for Ncell 4G, incase if you didn't know, NTC's 4G operates on Band 20 (800MHz) in rural areas which might not be present on some smartphones.

Thankfully, all officially launched Xiaomi/Redmi phones have support for this particular band, including the Redmi 14C. Plus, having Band 20 is also beneficial for city areas providing carrier aggregation and better 4G connectivity for NTC users. So, all-in-all this phone can do VoLTE calls, Carrier Video Calling, and WiFi Calling. Other than that, you get dual-band WiFi 5 support and Bluetooth 5.4 here for fast wireless connectivity.

Redmi 14C Review: Conclusion

Okay, it's conclusion time folks! To sum up, the Redmi 14C is a very decent offering in the budget midrange segment with a premium-looking design and enough power for your day-to-day usage. The cameras are equally decent too. Likewise, HyperOS is feature-rich albeit the app recommendations and some infused ads can be a turn-off. But you can easily disable those and get a cleaner UI experience. Meanwhile, the battery life is good and the in-box 33W charger is commendable, despite the phone only supporting 18W. Overall, there is nothing much to complain about here, but, if I have to nitpick one, I would have definitely loved a hole-punch cutout display.

Redmi 14C Review: Pros & Cons

Pros

• Premium Design
• Decent Cameras
• Decent Performance

Cons

• Bloatware and Ads
• 120Hz refresh rate can be optimized