Still riding high on the success of its K40 series, Redmi unveiled its first gaming-centric phone dubbed the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition on Apr. 28.
Aside from incorporating key elements of a gaming phone, the K40 Gaming Edition phone addresses the shortcomings of the K40’s design style. The 6GB+12GB model sells for 1999 yuan, the 8GB+128GB version retails for 2199 yuan, 8GB+256GB will set you back 2399 yuan.
Likewise, you can get your hands on the 12GB+128GB model for 2399 yuan, and the 12GB+256GB version for 2699 yuan. You can visit this link to get your hands on the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition phone for $399 – $529 from Giztop. You can choose between white, silver, and black color options.
Design
Redmi’s first gaming phone adopts an e-sports style. The elements on the back cover of the frosted glass are arranged horizontally with the word “Fighting” placed in the middle.
The triple camera module on the side is engraved with “Freezing” and “Speediest,” which shows that the phone is revolutionary in terms of dissipation and performance release. Like most gaming phones, the K40 Gaming Edition comes with RGB light strips.
The two curved light strips are placed on both sides of the camera setup, and they will flicker while charging incoming messages and playing games. It also serves as a notification reminder. There is a cute design under the camera setup.
The flash is in the shape of lightning. Moreover, it has a built-in 5065mAh large battery and the NFC antenna is placed near the flash.
Upfront, there is a 6.67-inch OLED flexible straight screen with 2400×1080 pixels resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, DC dimming support, and an upgraded three-finger 480Hz ultra-high touch sampling rate. The bottom bar is made narrow through the flexible COP packaging process, and the four sides are nearly similar in width, and the screen-to-body ratio is also high.
The K40 and the K40 Pro have plastic frames, but the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition uses an upgraded metal frame. The left side of the frame features an integrated fingerprint power button, along with a pair of Black Shark 4 liftable physical shoulder buttons.
These buttons can be lifted by flipping a mechanical switch. The physical shoulder key is more convenient to use than the touch shoulder key. The X-axis linear motor provides a handle-like operating feel while playing games.
The microphone is placed at the top, bottom, and right sides of the frame. 8 printed antennas ensure it is not blocked in any posture. Mijia’s signature infrared remote control function is also available on the handset.
The Redmi K40 Gaming Edition features upgraded stereo dual speakers as the company teamed up with JBL this time. The phone offers a better sense of external listening and Redmi has printed the JBL logo on the frame.
Despite using a large battery, the K40 Gaming Edition is just 8.3mm thick and weighs only 205 grams.
The phone comes with a myriad of accessories including a 67w customized charging kit. The charging head comes in a yellow and black color scheme, and the charging cable features yellow elbow data. You won’t be able to use it while charging or playing.
Hardware
The 8GB+256GB version is powered by MediaTek’s latest 6nm flagship processor Dimensity 1200. A gaming phone doesn’t usually pack a MediaTek chip.
The Dimensity 1200 CPU uses the latest 1+3+4 three-cluster architecture, the super-large core frequency reaches 3.0GHz, which is ideally used for instantaneous overweight and complex calculations. 3 2.6GHz A78 cores are used for long-term operation.
High-performance continuous output. Four 2.0GHz A55 energy-efficient cores make daily light use more energy-efficient.
In the GeekBench5 test, which represents the theoretical performance of the CPU, the Dimensity 1200 scored a single-core 830 and a multi-core 2994. This is similar to the Snapdragon 870.
In the 3DMark Wild Life benchmark, which represents the GPU performance, the Dimensity 1200 scored 4106 points, which is the same as the Snapdragon 865.
3DMark Wild Life stress test continuously performs 20 rounds of high-intensity tests to show the heat dissipation and performance release stability of the phone. In this test, the K40 Gaming Edition phone achieved 98.7% stability, even when the temperature reached 50 degrees Celsius.
There was no frequency reduction and the performance release was firm.
The K40 Gaming Edition uses LPDDR4X memory and UFS3.1 flash memory and runs high in Androbench, especially the sequential write performance.
In the AnTuTu test, the phone scored 696321 points, which is better than the Snapdragon 865+, but slightly inferior to the K40 standard version which is powered by the Snapdragon 870.
To check whether the phone’s performance while playing a game, Honor of Kings was played at 90-frame mode and the X-axis linear motors can be used to provide shock feedback. There was no stuttering during the 30-minute gameplay even when the frame rate was higher than 90 frames and the final average frame reached 90.1 frames.
The experience of playing Honor of Kings was excellent. At a room temperature of 20 degrees Celcius, the temperature of the back cover was about 41 degrees Celcius.
Peace Elite is also equipped with a 90-frame mode and an X-axis linear motor. The frame rate chart shows that the rate curve is very smooth, with just one freeze.
After 30 minutes of gameplay, the average post-frame rate is 87.6 frames, and the hottest part of the back was about 41.6 degrees Celcius.
This shows that the high-load power consumption of the Dimensity 1200 is quite similar to that of the Snapdragon 870, and the power consumption of the whole machine is about 4-5 watts. Even after 2 hours of continuous play, the battery is still 55 percent, which is very good.
The 33w charging of the previous K40 series was poor, but this time the K40 Gaming Edition phone comes with a 67w flash. It can fully charge the 5065mAh battery in just 44 minutes.
Cameras
Since the k40 Gaming Edition focuses more on gaming elements, the cameras have not been given a lot of attention. The phone houses a 64MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 2MP macro camera.
The main camera has a single pixel of 0.7 micrometers and supports four-in-one pixel technology. The image quality of pictures shot in the day is acceptable, with pleasing colors.
The ultra-wide-angle distortion control is good, however, the color is relatively dull.
The four-in-one pixel technology ensures that the imaging quality of the main camera remains good, in the night scene mode. The ultra-wide-angle noise is more.
The macro lens can achieve close-range shooting around 4CM.
Software
While the functions of the MIUI12 are impressive, the optimization isn’t quite good. The Redmi K40 Gaming Edition runs MIUI12.5 stable version as a factory pre-installed system, which comes with performance optimization.
The UI fluency has been improved and app loading, background switching are smoother. According to MIUI official, the earlier version of the firmware, MIUI 12.5 are optimized at the bottom, with improved power consumption control and performance release. The power consumption has been reduced to 40 percent.
No obvious bug has been detected in this version of the firmware, suggesting that the underlying optimization played a role.
Verdict
Gaming-centric phones usually come with heat pipes and even fans inserted into the fuselage. While this may improve the gaming performance, it increases weight and overall daily use experience.
Moreover, Mid-to-high-end chips can run at full 90 frames. It would be better if there is a larger battery and a shoulder button to improve the gaming experience.
The Redmi K40 Gaming Edition, which is currently available on Giztop, is a great choice for playing national-level mobile games. Moreover, it is easy on the pocketbook as well.
source: giztop.com
