Xiaomi announces the new Mi Note, Mi Note Pro flagships

MANILA, Philippines – After Xiaomi’s Redmi 2 smartphone announcement, the Chinese company announced on January 15 their newest flagship phones – the Mi Note and the Mi Note Pro.

CEO Lei Jun was on point at the launch, directly comparing his company’s newest phablet against the iPhone 6 Plus.

It would take a closer look to see the difference but the Mi Note has a 5.7” screen and thinner sides at 6.95mm (The iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5” screen and 7.1mm at the side).

The back gives Xiaomi an upperhand despite being thinner as the Mi Note’s camera doesn’t protrude, unlike Apple’s.

Inside, the Mi Note can hold its own with a Snapdragon 801 processor at 2.5Ghz, 3GB of RAM and a Full HD display.

The Note Pro is faster, boasting a Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor and 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, as well as a 2K (2560×1440) display pushing 515 pixels per inch (PPI) on the screen,

Xiaomi made sure that the Mi Note will be a real contender by working with other, more experienced brands. Its components include a 5.7” screen made by Sharp and JDI, a 3000mAh Lithium-ion battery by Sony and LG, and a Philips 2-tone flash for the camera at the back.

Sony made the 13mp rear camera featuring Optical Stabilization and f/2 aperture, putting it in the standards of entry level prime lenses. At the front is a 4mp camera with larger 2-micron pixels. This means a bigger sensor, housing bigger pixels for a better image quality.

Other features include a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 front and back, 24bit/192KHz lossless audio system – able to play mp3, APE, FLAC, DSD and WAV; Dual 4G micro or nano sim with dual standby, Quick Charge 2.0 and LTE-CAT 9 capable of up to 450mbps download speeds.

The Mi Note will be available for $370 – 16GB, $451 – 64GB while the Mi Note Pro will only be available at 64GB for $532. Check their Philippine Facebook page (Mi Philippines) for updates on when it will be available. – Rappler.com