Xiaomi’s new Mi Note ticks just about all the boxes in styling, performance and price
It’s sleek and snazzy with plenty of power under the hood. A slightly paltry top memory of 64GB is our only letdown
Xiaomi released its latest flagship smartphone Mi Note this month to global fanfare, but it also attracted criticism over its similarities to Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus, leading some critics to question the Chinese company’s originality.
This Post briefly tested the biggest and costliest Xiaomi smartphone before it went on sale across the country on January 27.
We were very impressed by the design of the Mi Note. At just 6.95mm thick (0.15mm thinner than the iPhone 6 Plus), it feels really light.
It is also very glossy and sleek, thanks to the glass on the front and back that gently curves around both edges, separated by a thin metallic rim. All of these give it a solid touch, and is a delight to hold in your hand.
Its full, high-definition display has a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, which equates to a pixel density of about 390 ppi (pixels per inch). During our testing, we found the display to be bright and crisp, with bold and vivid colours.
Under the hood, the Mi Note’s nippy Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, paired with 3GB of RAM, provided a smooth and responsive performance.
Powered by Android 4.4 KitKat running MIUI 6, Xiaomi’s latest operating system does not come with any Google apps by default, but they can be found on Xiaomi’s app store, a Xiaomi representative said.