Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer, took the Indian market by storm when it introduced the Mi3 here at an astonishingly low price point. The highly specced handset has become a much sought after device and was being sold exclusively through Flipkart via a unique flash sale model. However, it looks like the run might be over and Xiaomi might have discontinued the Mi3 for the Indian market. Continue reading “Xiaomi Mi3 sales temporarily discontinued in India”
We had a chance to sit down with Hugo Barra, Vice President of Xiaomi Global and clarify some of the burning questions surrounding the brand in the Indian market.
It’s still early days for Xiaomi in the Indian market, but they have already managed to make a name for themselves with their first product. Thanks to their flash sale model, the Mi 3 made headlines each time it went on sale. Continue reading “Exclusive: an interview with Hugo Barra – Vice President, Xiaomi Global”
The Chinese smartphone giant, Xiaomi, has already seen mainstream success with its wildly popular handset ie the Mi3. Having the announced the Redmi series of phones for India, the company has now issued invites for two separate events to be held in Bangalore and Delhi to introduce the Redmi 1S. Continue reading “Xiaomi Redmi 1S launch events scheduled on August 25th and 26th in Bangalore and Delhi”
The first two Xiaomi flash sales left quite a few disappointed, after they were unable to purchase the device. Both times, the Mi 3 went out of stock pretty quickly; 39 minutes the first time, and an astounding 5 seconds is what the Xiaomi Mi 3 took to go out of stock during the first and second flash sales respectively.
Continue reading “Xiaomi reveals: 15,000 Mi 3 units up for sale on August 5”
Android continued its dominance in the smartphone market and accounted for a record 84.6% share of global smartphone shipments in Q2 of 2014, according to research by Strategy Analytics. Global smartphone shipments reached 295.2 million units in Q2 said the report.
Thanks to whistle-blowers like Edward Snowden, privacy has become a public topic of discussion these days, which is always a good thing. On that note, earlier today, an article from ocworkbench claimed that Xiaomi’s Redmi Note smartphone is uploading data to Chinese servers, without explicit user permission. Considering Xiaomi is from China, a country which has been accused of spying on civilians in the past, the issue made its way to mainstream internet thanks to the virality of social media. But it was just one part of a story. We had reached out to Xiaomi to understand what the other side of the story is like, and they finally have an answer. Hugo Barra, the company’s public face for its International operations, has taken to social networks, to explain how the company is, in fact, not invading user privacy.
Second batch of Mi3 units went on sale on Flipkart yesterday at 2 PM. Flipkart and Xiaomi has announced that the week’s stock sold out in 5 seconds. Last week’s Mi3 stock sold out in 38 minutes and 50 seconds, mainly due to server issues on Flipkart. In first sale, Xiaomi reportedly sold 10,000 units of Mi3s. Today the company confirmed that 20,000 Mi3 units have been sold on Flipkart since launch. Continue reading “Xiaomi sold 20,000 Mi3 units on Flipkart since launch”
One of the major uncertainties regarding the recently launched Xiaomi Mi 3 (our review) smartphone was whether the phone was protected by Gorilla Glass or not. This has been a confusion ever since the company launched its India specific page, but thankfully, @MiIndiaOfficial, the official Twitter account of the company has clarified that all the Mi 3s in India have Gorilla Glass 3 protection for the screen. The clarification puts an end to all the speculation that surrounded the screen’s protective capabilities, as Gorilla Glass has been known to be very tough, since its inception.
Continue reading “Xiaomi clarifies: All Mi 3 phones in India have Gorilla Glass 3”
Earlier this month there were reports that the Xiaomi Mi4 with metal build could be unveiled on July 22. Now, fresh leaks are suggesting that the device will not have a metal back and instead boast a plastic rear back panel.
Continue reading “Xiaomi Mi4 fresh leak suggests plastic back panel”
Xiaomi announced a total of three devices for the Indian market, the Mi3, the Redmi 1s and the Redmi Note. While the Mi3 is a flagship and the Redmi 1S occupies the lower end, the Redmi Note tries to sit in the median of the other two, with phablet ambitions and a similarly attractive price tag. The phone was announced for Rs. 9,999, a compelling price point for a phablet, especially with the kind of specifications it packs. The Redmi Note sports a 5.5 inch 720p screen, Mediatek’s MT6592 octa-core processor, a 13 megapixel camera and even 2 GB of RAM to support the processor. The spec sheet alone got us intrigued about the device in question, and hence we took it for a spin in front of the camera for a hands on video –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNEhgoC_744
Continue reading “Xiaomi Redmi Note Hands on and First Impressions”
If there was one product at the Xiaomi India launch event we’d have really wanted announced for the Indian market, it’d be the Mi Pad. Launched just a couple of months back, the tablet with a 7.9 inch 20148×1536 screen resembles a lot of the iPad mini. The form factor, the size and even the UI pretty much gives the fact away that Xiaomi has its cross hairs squarely aimed at the iPad, and is not afraid to show it. Sporting a really powerful Nvidia Tegra K1 chipset on the inside, the mini tablet claims to be really fast and powerful, but will be available at a price lesser than what the iPad mini with a retina display is selling for. The 16 GB version sells for approximately 14k INR, which is about half the price of the retina-display iPad mini. With that said, we were really interested to check the device out in person, so here is a quick hands on video we made from the event, to see what the device is like –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B6J8uA2mkE
Continue reading “Xiaomi Mi Pad Hands on and First Impressions”
Xiaomi the Chinese phone maker is all set to enter India tomorrow where the company will officially unveil its products for the Indian market. While most of you including myself are impressed with the design and build quality of the Xiaomi phones, what if something goes wrong, how do I get it fixed? Most of you have been asking us if the company will have service centers in India and we just have some interesting news to share. We just heard from a reader who has supplied us with the service center list and looks like Xiaomi is going to take its India operations quite seriously with service centers in major cities across the country. You can find Xiaomi India Service Center List after the break.
Continue reading “Exclusive : Xiaomi will have service centers in India”
Flipkart, one of India’s largest e-commerce retailers, has started teasing the Xiaomi Mi3 on its social media channels, tacitly confirming their exclusive deal with the Chinese company. Flipkart’s foray into exclusivity started with Motorola’s devices, as the company, recently bought by Lenovo, sought to take advantage of their previously lost distribution channel partnerships here. Xiaomi, on the other hand, is used to selling exclusively on its own websites, even outside China, without the overhead of a traditional distribution channel or advertising, so the Flipkart partnership must have been natural for them.
Looking for our Xiaomi Mi3 review? Go here.
Continue reading “Flipkart confirms Xiaomi Mi3 exclusivity with launch teasers”
The Xiaomi Mi3 launch in India has been a revelation of sorts. Everyone’s now talking about the manufacturer, which remained unheard of by quite a section of the Indian audience until a few months back.
Continue reading “Xiaomi teases more devices; Redmi series to launch in India on July 15th?”
The Xiaomi Mi3 we reviewed yesterday, has been officially priced in India for Rs. 14,999. The phone comes with a 5 inch 1080p screen and a minimalistic design and build wraps around the display to bring forth a solid device. While we discussed about its design, build and ergonomics in our review, we find it apt that the device receive a separate photo walkthrough without too much of text coming in the way. So, here you go, a separate photo gallery for the Xiaomi Mi3, which, in case you are planning to get one, could be helpful.
