Xiaomi's iPhone Killer Is The New Cutting Edge Mi Note Phablet
Chinese smartphone and lifestyle manufacturer Xiaomi has announced its latest handset.
After teasing the new design online since the start of the year, the Mi
Note was revealed in full today. The Mi Note is a 5.7 inch phablet with
two screen resolutions on offer, dual-SIM support, and prices start
at CN¥2,299 (around $370).
There’s no mistaking that Xiaomi is going after Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus phablet - CEO Lei Jun specifically
called out the dimensions of the Mi Note as being slightly slimmer and
slightly lighter than Apple’s phablet. Not only that, but the camera lens on the 13 megapixel rear camera is flush with the back plate of the phablet. I’d also point out that the ‘Note’ name has a strong association with Samsung’s range of Galaxy phablets.
(Read More: Lei Jun is Forbes Asia’s Businessman of the Year for 2014).
These comparisons don’t stretch to the design of the Mi Note. There’s
not much you can do with a 5.7 inch screen phablet, but
Xiaomi’s phablet has its own design. The flush camera lens is one touch,
another is the curvature it has placed on the glass front and back
panels to create sculpted edges for users to grip with no discomfort.
January 27th will see the first units of the base model going on
sale. This phablet will come with a 1080p resolution screen manufactured
by Sharp, while the larger QuadHD screened Mi Note Pro model is
pencilled in for release at the end of March.
The Mi Note model is powered by a 2.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801,
the Adreno 330 for graphics, 3GB of RAM, and either 16 GB or 64 GB of
internal storage. These are backed up by a 3,000mAh battery. The premium
version bumps everything up. The Mi Note Pro with its larger QuadHD
screen will come with a 2 GHz octa-core Snapdragon 810, the Adreno 430, 4
GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, LTE support, and an extra 90 mAh in the
3090 mAh battery.
