Articles about Xiaomi

There are lots of options available for those in the market for a low-end smartphone, but few are truly exciting and worth considering. Poor camera performance is to be expected in this segment, but a decent screen and adequate performance are must-haves, in my book.

Chinese maker Xiaomi has a very appealing low-end smartphone in the form of Redmi 2A. It just went on sale, as an affordable alternative to Redmi 2, costing as little as $80 off-contract. For that kind of money, it sure comes with all the right features a prospective buyer might be looking for.

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A few weeks ago my one-and-a-half-year-old Nexus 5 started to misbehave. Its power button wasn't holding up well, forcing the phone to switch off a dozen times, while also making it a chore to turn the phone back on again. I realized the phone was on its last leg. I also have an iPhone 5s, but I mostly use it to listen to podcasts, take phone calls, and take photos. Suffice to say I'm an Android guy. With OnePlus announcing its plan to release the successor of its One flagship in Q3 later this year, and LG reportedly working on the successor to Nexus 5, I decided to purchase a cheap phone running Google’s software to keep my boat floating until these much-anticipated smartphones begin to trickle up on the market. This led me to purchase the recently launched $200 Mi 4i smartphone from Chinese conglomerate Xiaomi. After using it for a couple of weeks, I don't think I want to upgrade to a new phone this year.

The smartphone market has seen many new forces arrive in the last couple of years. These new players have changed the landscape entirely, pushing new phones with top-notch capabilities at an increasingly competitive price point. We now have plenty of options in both the low and mid-tier categories. The dirt-cheap $100 Moto E is a decent entry-level smartphone, and the $180 Moto G entices users looking for a more efficient phone. The Lenovo A7000 offers 4G LTE capability for less than $150, and $100 Android One smartphones from Micromax, Karbonn Mobiles, and Lava offer the up-to-date software and reasonably good specs. But I wanted a phone that offers a high-end processor and top-of-the-line hardware modules; Xiaomi was offering me just that.

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been revealed as the most influential technology leader by Juniper Research’s latest industry rankings.

The rankings are based on a number of factors, including vision, innovation and personal capital, and saw Nadella gain top spot as a result of the fundamental changes he is implementing at his company.

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Xiaomi isn’t a household name in the western part of the world. But that is because the Chinese electronics conglomerate only sells its products in a handful of Asian regions. Despite its limited demographic, the company has managed to turn many heads. In its five years of existence, Xiaomi has become the largest smartphone vendor in its home country China and fifth largest manufacturer in the world.

Earlier this year, Xiaomi announced its plan to debut some of its products in US and UK by the end of 2015, and the company is now starting to deliver on that promise. It announces today that it will be holding a beta test flash sale on May 19 on its official Mi.com portal. The company will be accepting orders from people in the United States, United Kingdom as well as France and Germany.

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China's smartphone market has declined year-over-year for the first time in six years, according to a new report from IDC. In the first quarter of the year, shipments decreased by 4.3 percent compared to the same period from 2014, with the likes of Samsung and Lenovo posting huge drops.

Apple leads the pack in China, shipping 14.5 million iPhones in Q1 2015, 62.1 percent more than a year ago. Meanwhile, rival Samsung, which comes in fourth place, saw shipments of just 9.6 million units, a whopping 53 percent lower compared to Q1 2014.

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Regardless of where on the planet you reside, you must have heard of Xiaomi. The Chinese electronics giant may not be selling its products in your region (yet), but the company’s flagship stature devices priced at dirt-cheap cost have gleaned attention from everywhere. At its first global event today in New Delhi, the company launches a new smartphone called Mi 4i. If the name didn’t give it away, the Mi 4i is a stripped down, and a cheaper -- Rs 12,999 ($200) -- variant of last year's Mi 4 smartphone.

As with Xiaomi’s other smartphones, the Mi 4i shamelessly resembles Apple’s iPhone. Wrapped around a unibody polycarbonate body, the phone certainly looks nice. On the specifications front, the Mi 4i carries a 5-inch fully laminated OGS display. Hugo Barra, the VP of Internationals at Xiaomi says that it is a special solution customised by Corning. With a 7.8mm waistline, it is quite thin, and weighing just 130 grams, the phone is reasonably light too. (For comparison, the Nexus 5 also weighs 130 grams, and the iPhone 6 is ever so lighter at 129 grams.)

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Xiaomi is back in the news once again. At an event in China, the Chinese technology conglomerate today launches the much anticipated new variant of its 4K TV. Called the Mi TV 2 (yep, no Mi TV 3 yet), the new version sports a 55-inch display and costs RMB 4,999 (equivalent to $800 USD).

The world’s most valuable startup gleaned a lot of attention last week when it launched the 40-inch, full-HD variant in its Mi TV 2 lineup. The 55-inch television set is the successor to last year's 49-inch Mi TV 2 that retails for $640. The TV, which was until now only available in China, is expected to launch in India and other regions later this year.

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At an event in China today, technology conglomerate Xiaomi introduces a new TV set to its Mi TV lineup. The new TV -- as we had expected -- is a smaller and cheaper variant of last year's Mi TV 2 with a lower resolution display. The new Mi TV 2 has a 40-inch display with Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) screen resolution. It is priced at 1,999 yuan (equivalent to $320), and is available for sale in China through the company's website Mi.com.

As for the specification, the new variant of Mi TV 2 sports a Sharp SDP X-GEN LED-backlit panel that offers a contrast ratio of 5000:1. It is powered by a quad-core 1.1GHz Cortex A9 processor paired with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. With a frame of 14.5mm waistline, the smart television set runs on Android 4.4-based MIUI TV OS. The company assures that it will soon release the Lollipop update to it.

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Chinese technology conglomerate Xiaomi will be launching its new TV models tomorrow, the company has teased on Twitter. Xiaomi reportedly plans to launch two models in its Mi TV lineup -- one of which will be the successor to 49-inch 4K capable Mi TV 2, while the other will be a smaller-sized television set with FHD display.

Xiaomi has earned a name for itself for selling incredibly cheap-priced smartphones and other mobile accessories, and its Mi TV is no exception. The Chinese company launched the Mi TV 2 last May in China for the equivalent of $640. As for the specs, it packs in a 49-inch display with 4K screen resolution. The smart TV is powered by a quad-core MediaTek MStar 6AM918 CPU paired with Mali0450 MP4 GPU and 2GB of RAM with 8GB expandable storage. Running on Android, the TV has MIUI ROM skin on top.

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Microsoft confirms today that Windows 10 -- its forthcoming operating system for desktop, mobile, Xbox, and IoT platforms -- will be releasing this Summer in 190 countries and 111 languages. On a blog post, the Windows Phone-maker also announces that it has entered into a partnership with Xiaomi, China's top smartphone vendor to test Windows 10 for phones, suggesting that the two companies are working to make a flagship-level smartphone.

Microsoft notes that the company is testing Windows 10 with select Xiaomi Mi 4 power users. The Mi 4 is XIaomi's current flagship smartphone, which runs Android. "Through a new program with Xiaomi, one of the top smartphone distributors in the world, a select group of Xiaomi Mi 4 power users will be invited to help test Windows 10 and contribute to its future release later this year", the company notes on a blog post. "These power users will have the opportunity to download the Windows 10 Technical Preview – installing it and providing their feedback to Microsoft".

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In addition to the Redmi 2 smartphone, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi also launched its Android tablet Mi Pad in India today. The highlight of the Mi Pad is its top-of-the-line specifications that includes an iPad mini Retina Display-alike screen, and Nvidia Tegra K1 processor (same as used in the Nexus 9) at the enticing Rs 12,999 ($200) price tag.

As for the specifications, the Mi Pad sports a 7.9-inch display with 2048×1536 screen resolution, flaunting 326PPI and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection over it. Inside the device sits a 2.2GHz Nvidia Tegra K1 processor and 192-core Kepler GPU paired with 2GB of RAM, and 16GB internal storage with support for microSD that can add up to 128 gigs storage to the device.

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Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi today launched the Redmi 2 -- the successor to its dirt cheap Redmi 1S -- at an event in New Delhi. The company has once again partnered with e-commerce portal Flipkart to give it the exclusive rights to sell the smartphone in the country. Priced at Rs 6,999 ($110), the handset will be available for purchase starting March 24 and will be sold via flash sales. The registration will start at 6PM IST on Flipkart today.

Unveiled in China this January, the Redmi 2 sports a 4.7-inch IPS HD display with 312PPI. It is powered by a 64-bit 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor and Adreno 306 GPU paired with 1GB RAM. It comes with 8GB of inbuilt storage, which can be expanded up to 32GB via microSD card should you need more storage.

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Updated at 18:00 IST: Bluebox and Xiaomi are now confirming that the handset the security firm tested was a counterfeit product purchased through an unofficial channel. You can read Xiaomi's full statements below.

Xiaomi’s Mi 4 is one of the best smartphones you cannot purchase so easily -- but it might be for the best, it seems. Don’t get me wrong: The Mi 4 packs in top-of-the-line specifications, the latest Android-based operating system, and is incredibly cheap, but if data security firm Bluebox's latest report is to be believed, it also comes with malware and a host of other issues. The handset seems to have been tampered with by an unidentified third party, however. We’ll have more details on this later today.

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Xiaomi may be best known for its smartphones, but the company is exploring other markets as well. On top of its Android phones, its lineup also includes a tablet, activity tracker, TV, router, external batteries, headphones and much more. One might say that Xiaomi is looking to sell a lifestyle, not just gadgets.

Today, Xiaomi is entering another market with the announcement of Mi Pro Action Camera. The company's first action camera offers exactly what you might expect out of a Xiaomi device: decent hardware and great value. It's not up there with the best that GoPro has to offer, but it's also not as expensive.

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After growing its user base in China, and expanding presence in Singapore, Taiwan, India, and four other international regions, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is taking its first step to debut in the United States market. Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s VP of International announces the company’s plan to sell a range of products to United States residents through its website Mi.com "in a few months".

The company, however, doesn't plan to sell its dirt-cheap smartphones in United States just yet. Instead, Barra says that Xiaomi will be selling products such as health bands, power chargers, and headphones. Xiaomi "can bring these products to market much faster because they are simpler to take to market", he said at a news conference in San Francisco.

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