Xiaomi is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its budget smartphone sub-brand Redmi. The company’s executives have taken to social media to share the date when the first-ever Redmi smartphone was born.

Redmi’s Hongmi was born on 31st July 2013

On Weibo (a Chinese microblogging website), Xiaomi General Manager Wang Hua shared that Redmi’s first smartphone was announced 10 years ago on this very date. A decade ago, the executive had also participated in a special press conference that didn’t even use a projector. He recounted the unveiling of Hongmi, which is basically the Redmi 1. The Chinese tech giant’s first smartphone was showcased to a small group of media.

At that time, Lei Jun (Xiaomi Founder) and some China Mobile executives were also present. Soon after this conference, the device broke new records after it went on sale. With this phone’s launch, the company shifted the perception of smartphones under 1,000 Yuan (roughly 140 US Dollars) in China. However, the waves it created in the smartphone market didn’t just end there since the device was popular in the global market as well in the following year.

To recall, the first Redmi smartphone was equipped with a quad core MediaTek MT6589T processor and supports 3G networking. It sported a 4.7-inch display that had a 720p resolution and 312 PPI. The device only had 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. The rear featured an 8-megapixel camera on the rear, while the front housed a 1.3-megapixel selfie shooter. A 2,000mAh battery pack powers the handset, which ran on Android 4.2 OS-based MIUI 5.

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Imitations of famous cell phone brands are very common and the Xiaomi Redmi Note is no exception. Recently, a company called ZOOZ released a cell phone that carries an eerie resemblance to the Xiaomi Redmi Note called the ZOOZ S5.5.

Like the Redmi Note, the front of the ZOOZ S5.5 is black while the back is white. Its measurements are 154.9×78.7×9.45mm and it has a 3.55mm earphone jack.

This ZOOZ S5.5 phone uses the MTK6582 quad-core processor (1.3GHz), and sports a 5.5” IPS display screen with QHD resolution (960 x 540). It uses GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz and WCDMA 850/2100MHz, but also supports WCDMA/GSM dual-SIM. As for its touch screen, it uses Capacitive 5 points.

Regarding camera specifications, the S5.5 sports a 8MP rear camera and 5MP front camera. This phone is powered by a 3200mAH battery and uses a 5-pin USB and is OTG-supported.

As for the ZOOZ S5.5’s other features, it supports Bluetooth 4.0+EDR, FM Radio, expansion T-flash cards (up to 32GB), GPS, AGPS, Wi-FI and hot spots, LED flash, G-sensor, light-sensor and proto-sensor. Its operating system is the Android 4.4.2 and it also uses the MIUI.

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July is a big month for Xiaomi as they prepare to release a wave of new products. ePrice announced that Xiaomiwill hold a launch event for their newest products on July 22. The products they will launch are the Hongmi 4G edition, Mi 4, Xiaomi bracelet, and the long-awaited MIUI V6 OS.

Not too long ago, the Hongmi 4G edition received certification from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s website where it’s listed as 2014501. It supports TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM China Mobile internet, uses the 1.3GHz MT6582 quad-core LTE chipset, and its OS is likely to be the MIUI V6. Its other specs are the same as previous versions including its appearance.

Like its predecessors, the Hongmi 4G will probably sold at 699 RMB (112.61 USD) or 799 RMB (128.72 USD).

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 July 22nd product launch event of Xiaomi is around the corner, which is to be put forward for about a month, compared with last year’s. With competition so fierce, will Xiaomi find a way out? Before product launch event, let me sum up  all the leaks of Xiaomi Mi4 so far.

Xiaomi Smart Bracelet

July 4^th, Xiaomi smart bracelet’s Weibo account showed up on wechat public platform, which had been recognized with authentication information as “this account is supported by Xiaomi Technology Limited Liability Company”. Meanwhile, you can find the account “Xiaomi smart bracelet” on Weibo also, which remains not certified.

 Photos of Xiaomi bracelet on Lei Jun’s Weibo

Today, Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun posted a photo of Xiaomi bracelet on his Weibo. Heclaimed the price tag would be 99 Yuan($16) each.

Redmi 4G and Redmi NOTE 4G

The day before yesterday, two new models of Hongmi Note 4G 2014501 and 2014022 acquired network access permits in China;  These two cell phone models just appeared on MIIT’s website today. From the pictures, it may be two derivatives of Hongmi and Hongmi NOTE.

 Both the devices support China Mobile4G network (TD-LTE) and will come into public on July 22nd.

MIUI V6

According to exposed MIUI V6 OS, the new MIUI will change its color of theme when running different apps. With time display on left side, some changes will be taken on in the whole design. MIMU V5’s inability in optimization when running on large screens caused public complaint of MI3. It is believed that MIUI V6 will do some optimization accordingly.

Xiaomi MI4

1 The  Metal Mi-4: Type 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel

When Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun claimed that MI4 would use a kind of special metal on the body, but he did not know that would became a hotly debated topic on Weibo, that people are guessing what kind of metal that is.

 To everyone’s surprise, the kind of metal turns out be the metal used in pots and pans in our daily life, which gained lots of compliant. Yet later on, Wanqiang Li(Xiaomi’s co-founder and CEO) explained in his Weibo that Type 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel would not be used on the back cover of Xiaomi Mi4.

2 Mi4’s First Look

There’s a few leaks about MI4’s appearance. It seems Xiaomi did a good secrecy job. As far as I’m concerned, this time, Xiaomi will take on a brand-new look.

From the very beginning (no design is the best design) to MI3, Xiaomi changed a lot on the appearances. Nowadays, cell phones tend to have similar outlooks which in turn asks Xiaomi to do more on the its appearance design.

3 Xiaomi Mi4’s Specs 

MI4’s specs remain mystery. Deferred from the slogan “Born for You, Burn for MI”, MI4 will be powered with Snapdragon 805 processor, 5-inch 1080p screen, 3GB RAM+32GB ROM. The  500 mega pixels front camera and 1300 mega pixels back camera. As for the price tag, it will certainly be 1999 Yuan($341).

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Xiaomi will hold its press conference in Beijing National Convention Center to unveil Xiaomi Mi4 at 22nd July. Most of the rumors said Xiaomi will release 4 products in the press conference, Xiaomi Bracelet, Xiaomi Mi4, Hongmi Note 4G and MIUI V6. Xiaomi had showed the Xiaomi Bracelet on it’s Weibo, and the other 3 new models as “2014215”, “2014022” and “2014501” have appeared in the National Quality Certification Center. Former two support 4G network, the latter only supports China Unicom 3G network.

Now, “2014501” and “2014022” both 4G models have appeared in MIIT. As described in the Ministry of the page, the former model is manufactured at Jiaxing, Zhejiang, while the latter model is manufactured  at Langfang, Hebei. Accoding to Xiaomi’s supply chain, we think the former manufacturers should be Wingtech communications, Inc., the latter is Foxconn.

Unfortunately, Xiaomi’s real pictures has not appeared on MII. But we can see that the former manufacturers used to manufacture Hongmi, the latter used to manufacture Xiaomi. According to the consumption, we think 2,014,501 should be Hongmi Note 4G while 2,014,022 should be Xiaomi Mi4. Both of them support TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM, but not WCDMA and LTE FDD. We believe they should be a tri-mode mobile version product. If all goes to plan, barring any unforeseen circumstance, there will be 4G version in the near future. But the China Mobile versions will be released first.

They say Xiaomi will use Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor (reportedly Xiaomi have not done MT6595 octa-core LTE models temporarily) in Hongmi Note 4G. On other specs might improve a bit compared to the older version.

While the Mi4 has 5-inch 1080p touch screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.5GHz processor, 3GB RAM and 16GB ROM, a 8 MP front camera and a 13 MP rear camera runing MIUI V6!

Applicant:  Xiaomi Technology LLC.

Manufacturer:  Xiaomi Technology LLC.

Device Name:  TD-LTE digital mobile telephones.

Model:  2014022.

Equipment Origin:  Hebei Langfang City.

Date of issue:  2014/7/9.

Expiry Date:  2015/1/9.

Note: 1) This device supports TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM formats; 2) Operating system: Android.

Applicant:  Xiaomi Technology LLC.

Manufacturer:  Xiaomi Technology LLC.

Device Name:  TD-LTE digital mobile telephones.

Model:  2014022.

Equipment Origin:  Zhejiang Jiaxing City.

Date of issue:  2014/7/9.

Expiry Date:  2015/1/9.

Note: 1) This device supports TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM formats; 2) Operating system: Android.

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No nonsense, straight to the point

The good：

1：Affordable, this is the most direct advantage. The sale price of 799 simply beats everything else.

2：Good function. In today’s world of machines, less than 1000 yuan is a low-end machine. But after you have the Hongmi Note in your hand you will not feel it is cheap,it has great functionality and style.

3：The entire screen fit. This is the main factor that changes the cheap feeling of the Hongmi, and raises the overall quality.

4：Eight-core CPU. Even though it is a numbers games, the performance keeps up with the 2S. And those who don’t know better will think it is more powerful than the Mi3.

5：MIUI system. I believe this is main reason many people have always supported Xiaomi. Because all the large manufacturers attack Xiaomi in price wars, and there are many choices for similar priced configurations. But the MIUI system is still a major factor in choosing Xiaomi, I don’t think anyone would argue that.

The bad:

1：The screen does not follow the hand, low touch resolution. To put it simply the touch reaction is slow. For example, Fruit Ninja. After you swipe with your finger, the knife slowly appears. You won’t notice it in daily use or non intense operating games. But in games when high reaction speed is needed, like Fruit Ninja, it is particularly uncomfortable, and just fails this test. And I don’t know if it is an optimization problem or what, but sometimes the touch will be interrupted; if I swipe in a straight line, in the middle there will be a small area with no reaction. This is the same problem as the Mi1 from the same year, I would guess it is a result of cost.

2：1G of internal memory is not enough, Android is not IOS, it is not perfectly optimized, the standard 1G RAM has more than 500M at startup, and 300 after stabilizing, which is completely not enough. Of course for everyday use it doesn’t matter, but isn’t that a waste of such capability? It is a problem of cost, the actual memory really is not so expensive, it is mainly about Xiaomi marketing strategy. They know that 1G is not enough, so if there is an enhanced version on the way, why release the 1G? Because right now they need the NOTE to maintain a high profile. Before the 3S comes out and has a price reduction, the 2S is still necessary. If an enhanced NOTE came out and the configuration stays the same, but the price goes down, then the 2S would be unnecessary. So we wait for the 3S, for the 2S to be delisted or have another price reduction, and after the 3S replaces the 2S, the enhanced version will be released.

The post Impressions after a few days using the Hongmi Note appeared first on Gizmochina.

Preceding its outstanding marketing strategy, the “Hunger Marketing”, which back in March, resulted to a 100,000 units sales of the Redmi Note Android OS-based smartphones within only 34 minutes, Xiaomi, a privately owned Chinese electronics company based in Beijing, proudly announced that as of today, 15 million people have already pre-ordered this $161 phabet.

This number surely surpassed both Apple’s iPhone 5s and 5c accumulated opening weekend’s total sales of 9 million, and also the Samsung Galaxy S5’s. Using a totally different sales maneuver, Xiaomi is defining its pre-order numbers not only based on how many people have paid for the Redmi Notes but additionally also based on people signing up to receive more information about the phone via email.

The $161 (CNY999) Redmi Note is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core chipset combined with 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, a 13MP camera and a 3200mAh battery. Utilizing a 5.5” 720 x 1280 touch screen display and running on Android OS version 4.2.2, the Redmi Note comes in a quite affordable price for a smartphone that comes with such packed of features.

Even so, the number of 15 million people registered would again affirm Xiaomi’s smart business strategy as well as its smartphone market strength, particularly in China. By the end of this year, Xiaomi will start selling its flagship, Xiaomi Mi3, in the neighboring Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Turkey as well as in other regions, in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Russia, while it continues to expand its market presence.

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Xiaomi Hongmi smartphone is the one of Chinese smartphone that ready to enter global market, is now Xiaomi HongMi or also known as Red Rice phone is entering Singaporean market.

In Singaporean market, the Xiaomi HongMi smartphone was not sold under the name HongMi. Xiaomi decide to use another name, RedMi. In addition, they will also be the name used for the global market. This Chinese companies that call RedMi as the English name of HongMi.

Xiaomi RedMi smartphone is equipped with 4.7 inch IPS HD screen resolution. On the inside, Xiaomi RedMi uses MediaTek 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 8 megapixel main camera, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory and 2000 mAh battery capacity. The Hongmi / Redmi runs Android 4.2 with Xiaomi’s custom MIUI interface.

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