While the U.S. is buzzing about the Google Nexus 4 smartphone made by LG, China is waiting for another high-end smartphone: the Xiaomi Phone 2.
Also known as the Mi-Two, Xiaomi Phone 2 is one of the hottest devices expected to hit the market. The smartphone is slated to launch in China on Oct.30, and its specs promise to make the wait worthwhile.
The Xiaomi Phone 2 sports a 4.3-inch display with a resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels at 341 pixels per inch (ppi), packs 2GB of RAM and a powerful 2,000mAh battery. The smartphone also features an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of 1080p video recording, and will come with the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box.
What makes this smartphone special, however, is the fact that it packs a quad-core Snapdragon S4 chip under the hood, as well as the latest Adreno 320 graphics. The system-on-chip (SoC) is Qualcomm's APQ064.
The Xiaomi Phone 2 was announced back in July, which makes it the first device to boast the quad-core Snapdragon S4 chipset, although the LG Optimus G beat it to the market. In addition, the company makes it a priority to sell its devices for reasonable prices, and the Xiaomi Phone 2 will be the cheapest device to use this hardware set.
The company launched the Xiaomi Mi-One S in the latter half of August, and faced an overwhelming response for the smartphone. It put 200,000 units up for sale on the launch day, and experienced a total of 1,300,000 backlog of orders to be satisfied. The Mi-One S came as the improved version of the Mi-One handset, and the smartphone sold for ¥1,499 (roughly $235). It sported a 4-inch display with a 854 x 480 resolution, a 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 processor, a front-facing camera, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with HD video recording, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of built-in storage, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.
The Xiaomi Phone 2 is expected to experience at least the same amount of excitement from Chinese buyers. According to the company, it will initially offer 50,000 units, and add another 250,000 units in mid-November. The smartphone will be sold in two configurations, 16GB and 32GB, and will cost ¥1,999 (about $320) and ¥2,299 (roughly $370), respectively.
