Redmi K30 Review

Battery Tests

Xiaomi Redmi K30 is equipped with a 4500 mAh battery and arrives with a 5V/3A~9V/3A~12V/2.25A~20V/1.35A (27W) fast charger. All battery tests we run on the devices we review are developed by us and performed with the screen of the device being calibrated to 200 cd/m². The battery of our review unit charged in full for 1 hour and 16 minutes with the provided USB data cable and charger. The process develops fast until the battery regains 54% of its charge which happens exactly 30 minutes from the start. After that, the charging speed drops a bit and it takes 20 minutes for the battery to regain another 26% of its charge (80% in total - 50 minutes from the start). From that moment on, charging slows down significantly and even more so after the battery passes the 90% level. Hence, the last 20%, until the battery is completely full, needs 26 minutes to be completed. The battery temperature starts at 29°C and in 6 minutes jumps to 38°C, drops to 36°C and immediately starts to increase again even before the firs t10 minutes are done. After that, the temperature is relatively steady. Its peak of 40°C is reached 30 minutes from the start, after which, the temperature slowly starts to decrease. The decrease is more significant after the first hour is completed, and in the end, the battery temperature measures 35°C. The browsing test is the most meaningful one if we want to test the battery life with the screen set to 120Hz and 60Hz refresh rate. The battery life with the screen set to 120Hz is 9 hours and 31 minutes of intensive browsing. The discharging process is steady from the start until the end. The battery temperature does not fluctuate as well. It starts at 31°C and gradually increases to 36°C remaining at this level until the end. The battery life with the screen set to 60Hz is 14 hours and 11 minutes of intensive browsing. The difference compared to the previous result is significant. The discharging process is not so steady - at 45% of charge there's a slight increase in the discharging speed, which is corrected an hour later and the discharging process returns to its regular speed. The battery temperature starts at 29°C and in 45 minutes increases to 33°C maintaining this level for the next 7 hours. After that, the temperature drops to 30°C, remains at this level for almost four hours and increases back to 33°C, which is maintained until the end. The video test for battery life uses a 1080p video at 30 fps with a ~20Mbps rate. In this test, the battery of the Redmi K30 lasted for 12 hours and 25 minutes with the screen set on 120Hz. The discharging pattern is steady throughout. The battery temperature starts at 28°C and in 45 minutes reaches 33°C remaining at this level until the end. The discharging pattern is the same and the battery temperature development is also unchanged. However, it is clearly visible that during the 60Hz test the temperature is lower than the one during the 120Hz test. The 4K video battery life test uses a 2160p video at 30 fps with a ~55 Mbps rate. In this test, the battery of the Redmi K30 lasted for 11 hours and 18 minutes with the screen set on 120Hz. The discharging process develops with one and the same speed from the start until the end. The battery temperature starts at 29°C and in 50 minutes it goes up to 34°C maintaining this level until the end. When the screen is set on 60Hz, the battery lasts for 13 hours and 52 minutes. The discharging process and battery temperature follow the same pattern. For the 3D Graphics/Gaming test, the YEBIS OpenGL ES 3.0 3D Tech Demo is used. The battery of our review unit lasted for 6 hours and 52 minutes with the screen set on 120Hz. The discharging process is steady from start to finish. The battery temperature starts at 32°C and in 1 hour and 15 minutes it reaches 39-40°C maintaining this level until the end. When the display is set on 60Hz, the battery lasts for 7 hours and 39 minutes. The discharging process and battery temperature follow the same pattern. The above photos of our sample of Xiaomi Redmi K30 are taken with a FLIR thermal camera. The left photo shows the device's temperature during charging. The hottest area of the smartphone is the left side of the top half of the body with a temperature of 36.5°C. The second photo depicts the device's temperature during our 3D battery life test. In this case, the same area is the hottest part of the device with a peak temperature of 38.8°C.

Battery Software

The Battery & Performance settings appear on one screen that displays the current battery charge level and charging status and a battery-life optimization option. If you tap on this button, the system analyzes the processes in the device and suggests actions after which you can increase the available battery life. There's a toggle for the standard Battery Saver and a second one for the Ultra Battery Saver. The latter is a strongly restrictive mode that switches the device to a dark mode allowing only basic functions to be accessible. The performance is also restricted, so is the screen brightness.

The Battery Settings also include battery usage statistics, options for scheduling automatic tasks, and the "Schedule power on/off" feature. The additional settings include a toggle for battery drain notifications, app battery saver, various scenarios, lock screen settings for saving battery life, etc. In MIUI, the Battery menu from the System Settings is intertwined with the battery options from the Security app. In the latest UI versions, these have been simplified a lot and now the Battery tab from the Security app directly redirects to the Battery Settings.