Xiaomi have once again surprised everybody by announcing their foray into the tablet market with the release of the Mi Pad. An impressive device which seems to be able to compete directly with the iPad, rather than just emulate it. The specs are exciting in themselves, with the inclusion of the NVIDIA Tegra K1 quad-core 2.2GHz processor, a Kepler GPU with 192 CUDA cores, 2GB of RAM and a 7.9 inch 2048 x 1536 resolution display. There are two versions available, one with 16 GB internal memory and one with 32GB, and this space is expandable to up to 128GB with MicroSD card support. The battery is a Li-Po 6700mAh battery with 11 hours of multimedia usage supported. The operating system is the Android 4.4.2 Kitkat. The rear camera is 8MP and the front-facing sensor is 5MP. The tablet itself measures 202 x 135.4 x 8.5mm and weighs 360g. There are numerous colours available; green, blue, pink, yellow, white and grey.
So how much does all this hardware, wrapped up in a beautifully designed shell cost? Surprisingly little if the expectations are to be believed, just $138USD for the 16GB version and around $170USD for the 64GB. All this is going to happen on July 1st in China, and it remains to be seen whether the Mi Pad is to feature in Xiaomi’s expansion to overseas markets any time soon. With the Mi Pad’s excellent design and specifications, it would surely be well-received wherever it is made available.
