Xiaomi sends out teasers for global Mi phone launch on April 23

Xiaomi sent out invites last week for the launch of a new global Mi phone in India on April 23. Over the weekend, the Chinese startup shared several cryptic teaser images via its social network profiles. Quite cheekily, the teasers carried text mocking the Apple with "i" bearing words.



The first teaser carries two images of Monalisa painting where one is pixellated while the other looks crisp. A text below the renders rhetorically asks if they look the same.



The second teaser image suggests that the upcoming Xiaomi creation will pack large battery in a compact body. The final teaser hints that the handset will have premium build quality.



In short, the new global Mi phone will sport a display with great pixel density, big battery and premium quality. So far, it is being speculated that Xiaomi will announce Redmi Note 2 or Mi 4i (plastic version) with 1080p display,snapdragon 615,2GB RAM. Thankfully, we won't have to wait long to find out what the company has in store.

Xiaomi Phone 2S and 2A announced with MIUIv5,the former entering Hong Kong and Taiwan

After selling 7.19 million phones in China last year, Xiaomi is now one step closer to world domination with a new device that'll take it to new territories: the Xiaomi Phone 2S (or MI-2S). As the name and look (pictured left) suggest, this is pretty much the same device as the 4.3-inch Xiaomi Phone 2, except it comes with Qualcomm's newer Snapdragon 600 quad-core chip clocked at 1.7GHz, plus a beefed up camera of 13-megapixel resolution (with F2.2 aperture) on the 32GB model. The 16GB 2S, on the other hand, gets the same old 8-megapixel F2.0 imager. The rest of the hardware is the same old: 2GB RAM, 2,000mAH removable battery, 720p IPS display, dual-mic noise cancellation, 2-megapixel front-facing camera and WCDMA 850/1900/2100MHz radio (there's also a CDMA version for China Telecom).

Unlike the previous launch, the 16GB flavor of this phone is already in stock on the day of announcement and is ready for purchase in China today for ¥1,999 or about $320 unsubsidized. Actually, strike that -- apparently the first lot of 200,000 units promptly sold out (likely thanks to scalpers). Luckily, Xiaomi is finally tapping into the Hong Kong market via its xiaomi.hk website starting April 23rd, so chances are genuine buyers in Hong Kong won't have to compete against the machines from mainland China; and Taiwan customers will also be able to buy a 2S from either local carrier Far Eastone towards the end of this month, or from xiaomi.tw starting next month. No word on the availability of the 32GB model just yet, but it's already priced at ¥2,299 or about $370 unsubsidized.

 

UMI X2 brings 1080p screen, quad-core CPU for unbelievable Rs 14,000

Blown away by the Micromax Canvas HD? Wait till you hear about this one. Chinese smartphone maker UMI has launched its flagship, the X2 in India, available online for Rs 14,000. The X2 is a follow-up to UMI's first smartphone, the X1.

That itself won’t grab your attention, so why don’t you take a look at the specs? For starters, the UMI X2 brings a quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor, the same as the one in the Micromax Canvas HD. It also has a 5-inch IPS display just like the Micromax smartphone, but where the Canvas HD has a 720p display, the UMI X2 brings a full HD resolution. That adds up to 441 pixels per inch.

The UMI X2 has a 1080p display and a quad-core CPU

The UMI X2, you will remember, is one of many Chinese smartphones that are taking the world by storm, chiefly by packing in high-end specifications but at a low price tag. The high-end specifications are not limited to only the processor and the display. The 1.2GHz quad-core processor is coupled with 2GB of RAM and a PowerVR SGX544 GPU. We reckon that should be enough for any task you can think of. Well, maybe not for playing Crysis 3, but you get a fair idea. 

The UMI X2 runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box. We think there will be a few customisations, but looking at the images on the company’s site, it seems the handset is running an almost-stock version of Jelly Bean. The company says it will be upgraded to 4.2 Jelly Bean by April. It is a dual-SIM handset and supports a 3G connection on one SIM, which is pretty standard. Internal storage is capped off at 32GB and UMI has also allowed for a microSD card slot, which supports cards up to 32GB.

On the rear is a 13 megapixel autofocussing camera with LED flash. The camera supports HDR mode as well as 1080p video recording. The front-facing snapper is a cool 3 megapixel unit. The back of the handset is removable, so you can replace the 2500 mAh battery, if need be. All this is packed inside a 8.9 mm thin body. UMI has gone with capacitive Android navigation keys under the display instead of on-screen buttons, but it looks like the company has kept the recent apps button instead of the legacy menu button.

Here’s another look at the key specifications of the device

• 5-inch IPS LCD with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and 441 pixels per inch


• Dual-SIM, HSPA on WCDMA, GPRS/EDGE on GSM


• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g with Wi-Fi hotspot


• Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP


• GPS with A-GPS


• Accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, magnetic sensor


• 13 megapixel primary camera with LED flash and 3 megapixel front facing cam


• 32GB internal memory, with microSD card slot for further expansion up to 32GB

However, we have to admit that the handset looks like a result of something nasty the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Nexus did when no one was looking. Of course, in light of other rip-offs coming to us from China, this is a relatively original-looking handset.