Xiaomi has officially unveiled its latest flagships, introducing the new Mi Note and Mi Note Pro phablets that seem poised to take on Apple and Samsung.
With 5.7-inch display and powerful internals, the new Xiaomi Mi Note phablets reiterate the company's commitment to delivering good devices at decent price tags, and each of the two has its own highlights.
Xiaomi Mi Note
First of all, it's worth pointing out that the new Xiaomi Mi Note is in no way the successor to the budget-friendly Redmi Note. The Mi Note comes as a high-end offering, sporting a 5.7-inch full HD display made by Japan Display, topped with 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3 protection for extra resistance. Under the hood, the device packs a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, Adreno 330 graphics, 3GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization (OIS), a 4-megapixel front shooter with 2-micron pixels (similar to HTC's UltraPixel technology), and a large 3,000 mAh battery to keep things up and running. The phablet also supports dual 4G LTE SIM cards.
When it comes to the design language, the new Xiaomi Mi Note boasts a stylish glass on both its front and back, with slightly curved edges just like on the Galaxy Note 4 and the iPhone 6 Plus. The glass on its rear is curved, allowing for a better grip.
The Xiaomi Mi Note further features a non-protruding 13-megapixel rear camera from Sony (IMX214), sporting a 6-lens f 2.0 aperture, OIS, and a two-tone flash. The phablet will be available in 16GB and 64GB variants, priced at CNY 2,299 ($371) and CNY 2,799 ($451), respectively. Pre-orders are set to commence on Jan. 20, while shipping will begin on Jan. 27. Pricing may not be as low as Xiaomi customers are used to, but the Mi Note is far from a budget device.
Xiaomi Mi Note Pro
While the Xiaomi Mi Note is already a high-end device, the Mi Note Pro is even more powerful, aiming to take things to the next level. The Pro variant shares similar design and specs as the regular Mi Note, but with some notable improvements such as a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, a QHD display (2560 x 1440 pixels), 4GB of RAM, and LTE Cat. 9 support for download speeds of up to 450 Mbps. The Xiaomi Mi Note Pro will be available only in a 64GB internal storage configuration and will cost CNY 3,299 ($530). The company has yet to offer availability details for this model, but should provide more information shortly.
In the meantime, check out the Mi Note product page at this link.
