Good news for Xiaomi 14 Ultra users: the long-awaited HyperOS 3 update (based on Android 16) is finally set to land on global units this month. After weeks of silence, the global build has reportedly been signed off and is ready to ship.

Tipster Erencan Yılmaz says the stable global ROM — OS3.0.1.0.WNAMIXM — has passed its final checks. The “MIXM” code confirms this one is strictly for the international model, and for once, the global variant won’t be waiting behind China’s rollout.

According to the leak, Xiaomi plans to start pushing the update towards the end of November. Mi Pilot users should get access a few days earlier, with a wider OTA following shortly after. China units should receive their own build any time now, but the gap between regions is expected to be small — a rare win for global Xiaomi owners.

HyperOS 3 isn’t just a visual tweak. Early testers in China say it brings smoother animations, a refreshed control center, better memory handling, and big improvements to battery life — especially when using the camera or running the phone at 120 Hz. Some users report gaining two extra hours of screen-on time. The random stutters that occasionally show up in heavy apps also seem to be gone.

You’re also getting the full set of Android 16 privacy and security features, which should help the 14 Ultra feel a lot more up to date heading into 2026.

HyperOS 3 looks like the most polished software package the 14 Ultra has had since launch — and it’s arriving just in time for the holiday season.

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(Source)

The post Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s HyperOS 3 global update finally rolling out this month appeared first on Gizmochina.

Mobile World Congress 2023The highly anticipated Mobile World Congress 2023 is just around the corner, set to kick off at the end of the month. Numerous brands are busy preparing to showcase their latest and greatest devices. Brands like Xiaomi are expected to bring many of their China-exclusive devices to the world stage at this launch event. One such gadget is the Xiaomi Buds 4 which is expected to finally launch globally at this event.

Tipster SnoopyTech has claimed that the global debut of the Xiaomi Buds 4 will happen soon. As you may remember, the earbuds were launched in China back in December 2022. Snoopytech claims that three color options will be available for the earbuds – White, Black, and Green. As for the price tag, the tipster says that European customers can expect to pay €59 for the earbuds. Let’s take a look at what features you are getting for this price.

Xiaomi Buds 4 specs & features

Xiaomi’s Buds 4 take design inspiration from Apple’s AirPods, featuring a semi-in-ear style that doesn’t incorporate silicone ear tips. The microphones for noise cancellation and audio input are located in the stem of the earbuds. In addition to housing these components, the stem of the Buds 4 also functions as a touch-enabled control hub for easy adjustments to playback and volume.

The Xiaomi Buds 4 delivers exceptional audio quality, thanks to its advanced graphene-dual magnetic dynamic driver. These earbuds boast a range of impressive features, including intelligent active noise cancellation, 360-degree spatial audio, and a transparency mode. Additionally, they are Hi-Res audio wireless certified and equipped with LHDC 5.0 for CD-level sound quality. With three built-in microphones and noise reduction technology, the Buds 4 offers crystal-clear call quality, even in noisy environments. Furthermore, they are designed to reduce wind noise for a truly immersive listening experience.

Xiaomi’s Buds 4 is accompanied by a sleek, pebble-shaped storage and charging case that boasts a dual-tone design. The top half of the case has a glossy finish, while the bottom half has a plastic texture. These truly wireless earphones are powered by a 480mAh battery, with each earbud having a 30mAh cell. The earbuds offer an impressive 6 hours of playback time, and the case provides an additional 30 hours of total battery life. The Buds 4 can also be simultaneously connected to two devices, offering greater convenience and flexibility. Lastly, the earbuds are IP54 certified for dust and water resistance.

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• OnePlus 11 5G & Buds Pro 2 TWS Earbuds Go on Sale in India – Checkout Pricing & Offers
• Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2+ Launching Soon; Will Support Continous Heart Rate Monitoring
• Best Wireless Earbuds 2023 – 1More, Huawei, Samsung

The post Xiaomi Buds 4 Global Launch Timeline & European Pricing Revealed appeared first on Gizmochina.

After teasing for the past few days, Xiaomi has officially launched the Xiaomi Civi 2 in China. The latest lifestyle smartphone from the company arrives with a new design and a spec bump.

It is the first Android phone to have a pill-shaped cutout for the selfie cameras at the top center of the display. Hence, its front looks somewhat similar to that of Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Let’s take a look at what all this handset has to offer.

Xiaomi Civi 2 Design

The Xiaomi Civi 2’s design goes in line with that of the Xiaomi 12 series and the Redmi K50 series. In other words, it features a rectangular island on the rear housing the cameras and an LED flashlight in a triangular fashion separated by lines.

However, its front is unique as it sports a pill-shaped selfie camera cutout at the top center of the display. Like its predecessor, it also flaunts a thin and light form factor.

The Civi 2 measures 7.23mm in thickness and weighs 171.8g. It arrives in three standard colors, such as black, pink, and blue. Additionally, it also comes in a special Hello Kitty Edition sporting white paint job and customized patterns.

Xiaomi Civi 2 Specifications

The Xiaomi Civi 2 is built around a 6.55-inch curved OLED display with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels (FHD+), 120Hz refresh rate, and 10-bit color depth. The screen supports 800 nits peak brightness level, 240Hz touch sampling rate, and 1920Hz PWM dimming. 

The Corning Gorilla Glass 5-protected panel has a fingerprint sensor underneath it at the bottom and a pill-shaped cutout at the top. It covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and can play HDR content (Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+).

The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset paired with LPDDR4x RAM, UFS 2.2 storage, and a stainless VC liquid cooling system. It boots MIUI 13 based on Android 12.

It has a triple camera setup on the rear comprising an OIS-assisted 50MP Sony IMX766 primary sensor, a 20MP Sony IMX376K ultra-wide unit, and a 2MP GalaxyCore GC02M1 macro snapper.

The main highlight of the smartphone is its front camera system. It has dual 32MP sensors inside the pill. The main sensor supports autofocus, while the secondary sensor is fitted with a 100° ultra-wide lens.

These two front cameras are accompanied by quad LED flashlights, which can operate at multiple color temperatures. Xiaomi has also baked in many camera features in the software to make use of the hardware.

Connectivity options on the handset include dual-SIM, 5G, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GNSS, NFC, and USB Type-C. It also comes with other features, like Dolby Atmos-supported dual stereo speakers, linear vibration motor, infrared sensor, 4,500mAh battery, and 67W fast-wired charging support.

Xiaomi Civi 2 Price and Availability

The Xiaomi Civi 2 will retail at the following price tags in China starting at 3 PM CST today.

• 8GB + 128GB – ¥2,399 ($335)
• 8GB + 256GB – ¥2,499 ($349)
• 12GB + 256GB – ¥2,799 ($391)

Though Xiaomi is yet to confirm, reports suggest that the Civi 2 will be released outside mainland China, unlike the original Civi and Civi 1S.

The handset may launch as Xiaomi 12 Lite NE in international markets.

RELATED:

• New Redmi Note 11R incoming, design renders, price & specs revealed via China Telecom
• Xiaomi 13 Pro moves closer to launch as it gets 3C certified with 120W fast charging
• Xiaomi Box 4K (2nd gen) spotted on FCC certification site, could launch soon
• Redmi Note 12 series could launch next month, key specs emerge
• Get $100 OFF on Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 at Giztop (Coupon)
• Xiaomi Auto Technology gets an EV Charging Patent

The post Xiaomi Civi 2 Launched: Dual 32MP Selfie Cameras, Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC, & More appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi has today announced a new color option for its Redmi K50 series smartphones in its home market in China. The new summer color option is called Qingxue or Snow White and features a matte white cover with a frosted glass back panel.

While the new color option for the Redmi K50 lineup has been announced, it will be officially available for purchase in the Chinese market from 18th June for the starting price of 2,399 yuan, which roughly converts to $356.

Zhang Yu, Marketing Manager of Redmi posted some images of the upcoming color option for the Redmi K50 on the social media platform Weibo and added that the frosted glass back panel does not sustain fingerprints.

As per the reports, the new Snow White color option will be available for three models of the Redmi K50 — 8GB + 256GB, 12GB + 256GB, and 12GB + 512GB. For the K50 Pro, it will be offered for the 8GB + 256GB and 12GB + 256GB models.

Apart from the color, everything else on the smartphones remains the same. The Redmi K50 series features a 6.67-inch AMOLED QHD+ display and runs the Android 12 operating system with the company’s own custom user interface on top.

The Redmi K50 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8100 processor, while the top-end model, the Redmi K50 Pro, is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 SoC. The phones come packed with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage.

RELATED: 

• Redmi Note 12 series preliminary details leaked well before the launch
• Xiaomi partners with McDonald’s and offers free burgers to Redmi Note 11 buyers
• Xiaomi Electric Scooter 4 Pro may launch in Europe soon, receives certification
• Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Global variant starts shipping before the official launch
• Xiaomi India partners with YouTube to offer up to 3 months of Premium membership: check eligible devices

The post Xiaomi’s Redmi K50 series gets new Snow White color option with a frosted glass back panel appeared first on Gizmochina.

Mi Global Store at AliExpress is giving out huge discounts and deals on the World Premiere of Xiaomi 12 Series. Under this world premiere, you can get Xiaomi 12, 12 Pro, and 12X smartphones at heavily discounted prices. Also, the first 1000 paid orders under this world premiere deal will get random assured gifts. Please note that the world premiere online launch event is happening on 15 March while the actual sale starts on 17 March, 00:00 PST. So be sure to add your product to the cart even before the sale starts, to avail of the discounts and assured free gifts. 

World Premiere of Xiaomi 12 Series

Xiaomi 12

Retail Price: $998           Discounted Price: $699

Key Features:

• Display: 6.28″ FHD+ Dot Display
• 120Hz refresh rate
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 
• RAM: 8GB / 12GB
• Storage: 128GB / 256GB
• Triple Rear Camera: 50MP (main) + 13MP (ultra-wide) + 5MP (tele-macro)
• Front camera: 32MP
• Battery: 4500mAh – 67W wired + 50W wireless turbocharging
• Colors: Gray, Blue, Purple

Xiaomi 12 Pro

Retail Price: $1427          Discounted Price: $999

Key Features:

• Display: 6.73-inch AMOLED Flexible Screen
• 120Hz refresh rate
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 
• RAM: 8GB / 12GB
• Storage: 128GB / 256GB
• Triple Rear Camera: 50MP (main) + 50MP + 50MP
• Front camera: 32MP
• Battery: 4600mAh – 120W wired + 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse charging
• Colors: Gray, Blue, Purple

Xiaomi 12X

Retail Price: $784        Discounted Price: $549

Key Features:

• Display: 6.28″ AMOLED DotDisplay, FHD+
• 120Hz refresh rate
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
• RAM: 8GB 
• Storage: 128GB / 256GB
• Triple Rear Camera: 50MP (main) + 13MP + 5MP
• Front camera: 32MP
• Battery: 4500mAh – 67W wired turbo charging
• Colors: Gray, Blue, Purple

Please note that the prices mentioned above are applicable to the base variants only. The price may change according to the variant and color. 

The online launch event is happening on 15 March while the actual sale will be live from 17 March, 00:00 PST. Be sure to check out the online launch event, to know more about the products and the upcoming deals and discounts. 

Please note that the above price is region-specific and the final price may vary according to your shipping region, warehouse, and regional taxes.

For more information on such exciting deals and offers check out our deals hub.

* Please Note: When you buy something using the links in our articles, we may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

The post Xiaomi 12 Series World Premiere Sale: Get Huge Discounts, Deals and Free Gifts appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Chinese smartphone market is experiencing a rebound, going by the latest numbers coming from government data. The latest official data shows that China had shipped about 342.8 million smartphones to the domestic market in 2021, which indicates a 15.9% improvement from the previous year. The numbers show a strong performance given the large dip that occurred due to the pandemic. The current figure however falls below the pre-pandemic performance, but the outlook remains bright.

In 2020, the total shipments were about 296 million smartphones, which was a 20.4% decline from its 2019 high of about 372 million units. The data were pieced together from a government-backed think-tank, the China Academy of Information and Communications (CAICT). The aggregate numbers reveal a comeback for several Chinese brands that had suffered massive declines due to the pandemic and other extraneous factors. The global chip shortage, which persists, could also be a possible factor that could have slowed down the growth.

The Chinese smartphone market is a highly competitive one, with a large number of local brands taking a chunk of the market, and Apple, the only foreign brand with a significant presence in China’s domestic market. Apple has continued to record a strong showing in the Chinese domestic market including Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Chinese domestic smartphone market is on a rebound, and the projections are positive that it will reach and surpass the pre-pandemic performance in 2022.

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(source)

The post China recorded a 15.9% YoY rise in smartphone shipments in 2021 despite chip shortage appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi has a launch scheduled for September 15 and one of the products expected to be announced at the global event is the Mi Pad 5/Pad 5. While there is still no confirmation the tablet will be unveiled on that day, we can confirm that the new tablet will indeed get a global release thanks to an unboxing video that has been uploaded on the internet.

The video was uploaded on Instagram by the Belarusian store NSV.by. The store has also put up a post on the social media platform that says the Mi Pad 5 is now available for pre-order.

Xiaomi Tab 5 Global Unboxing leaked by Belorussian retailer https://t.co/Tgtyp5jpal.

Source (IG):https://t.co/uvIOmYmep1
Source:https://t.co/CjXqH4EwVK pic.twitter.com/5AgG938PI5

— Xiaomiui | Xiaomi & MIUI News (@xiaomiui) September 4, 2021

In the video which was reposted on Twitter by Xiaomiui, we see the Xiaomi Pad 5 will come in a white box just like the Chinese variant. However, this box is significantly thicker than the one that is sold in China, thanks to the included accessories such as a charger and USB cable.

The film on top of the tablet shows a few specs such as a WQHD+ resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, quad spealers, a Snapdragon 860 processor, and a dual-cell 8720mAh battery. The video also shows that the global version of the Mi Pad 5 will be available in white and black colorways.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Сеть Салонов НА'СВЯЗИ (@nsv.by)

The store has put a price tag of BYN 1199 (~$479) on the tablet and this gets you the variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. This is significantly higher than the CNY 1999 (~$310) price tag in China. We will have to wait until the global launch to know if the official price will be lower.

RELATED:

• Realme Pad, the company’s first tablet, confirmed to launch on September 9
• Mi Pad 5 Pro vs Xiaoxin Pad Pro 2021 tablet comparison: Unexpected Results
• vivo tablet confirmed to launch in the first half of 2022

The post Xiaomi Mi Pad 5 global version gets unboxed, price revealed too appeared first on Gizmochina.

Attention readers!

There is an awesome deal on POCO F3 from the official POCO store at AliExpress. The store is giving out $50 off via coupon code: POCO50 only till 8 April 2021.

POCO F3 is the latest flagship from POCO, tailor-made for those who search for the best performance at the least price. The smartphone features a 6.67” E4 AMOLED display, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The elegantly designed smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G Octacore processor and comes in two storage variants viz: 6GB + 128GB and 8GB + 256GB.  By fine-tuning the touch algorithm POCO has achieved a 360Hz touch sampling rate and a high refresh rate of 120Hz. This means you get an extremely smooth and responsive screen perfect for your gameplay or browsing. Moreover, the LiquidCool Technology 1.0 Plus ensures that your phone doesn’t get overheated making it perfect for pro gamers and heavy users. 

The smartphone is fueled by a 4520mAh battery with a 33W fast charging support which charges your smartphone to 100% in just 52 minutes and gives you 10 hours of non-stop gameplay, 14 hours of video, and 149 hours of music. 

On the occasion of the POCO F3 world premiere, the POCO store is giving a $50 discount coupon for POCO F3 via Coupon Code: POCO50. This means now you can get POCO F3 for as low as $349 at AliExpress. 

Also, the first 1500 buyers will get free Xiaomi Earbuds 2. Moreover, the official POCO store is giving a free screen replacement service within 6 months: One free screen repair refers to the replacement of a cracked screen within the first 6 months. However regional availability may vary. For terms and conditions, please visit the POCO website.

Also, check out these awesome deals on Xiaomi Mi11 Lite and Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum Mop 2 Pro+.

Xiaomi Mi11 Lite:

6+64GB（CN Warehouse)     Current Price:$299  Discounted price after coupon: $279 

6+64GB（EU Warehouse）   Current Price:$347   Discounted price after coupon: $307

Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum Mop 2 Pro+:

$20 Off via Coupon Code: 2PRO020

EU Warehouse – Current Price:$399  Discounted price after coupon:  $379 

CN Warehouse –  Current Price:$439  Discounted price after coupon:  $419

Please note that all the above coupon codes are only valid till 8 April 2021, 7 am UTC. So grab your discounted products asap before the coupons expire. 

For more information on such exciting deals and offers check out our deals hub.

* Please Note: When you buy something using the links in our articles, we may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

The post Deal: Get $50 off on POCO F3 (Coupon) appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T 5G is all set to launch at 12 PM on Jan. 8. Ahead of the launch, the handset was found prematurely listed at Amazon Germany. The listing carried the key specs and renders of the smartphone. It is now no longer accessible as it has been taken down.

Shown below are some of the renders of the Redmi Note 9T 5G that a tipster managed to download before the Amazon listing was deleted. As can be seen, the Redmi Note 9T 5G will be available in at least black and violet colors.

The renders show that the Redmi Note 9T 5G has a punch-hole display and a side-facing fingerprint scanner. The back panel of the phone has a round-shaped camera module with three cameras and an LED flash inside it.

1 of 3

Editor’s Pick:  Xiaomi is offering free repairs for owners of bricked Mi A3 units

Redmi Note 9T 5G specifications

The Redmi Note 9T 5G has a 6.53-inch FHD+ display. The screen supports a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The handset is fitted with dual speakers.

The Dimensity 800U chipset is present under the hood of the Redmi Note 9T 5G. It has LPPRDR4x RAM, UFS 2.2 storage, and a microSD card slot. The handset has support for 18W fast charging for its 5,000mAh battery. It carries support for NFC connectivity.

The Redmi Note 9T 5G has a front camera of 13-megapixel. The rear-facing triple camera system has a 48-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide shooter, and a 2-megapixel.

At present, there is no word on the pricing of Note 9T 5G. It will be breaking cover as a rebadged version of China’s Redmi Note 9 5G.

UP NEXT: Mi 11 source code reveals a new Qualcomm SM7350 SoC; will Redmi K40 sport it?

(via 1, 2)

The post Redmi Note 9T 5G renders emerge before official launch appeared first on Gizmochina.

Companies patent a wide variety of things including design, technology, and branding. Xiaomi is no stranger in this regard. Recently, the company has been granted a smartphone patent design with a bizarre flip camera mechanism.

Smartphone OEMs have been coming up with strange ideas to achieve full-screen display on their products. As of now, we have seen phones with notches, punch-holes, pop-ups, flip-ups, and sliders. We are uncertain what tomorrow brings us to the table in the smartphone industry. Thankfully, we can imagine those designs when companies file for their patents such as this strange flip camera mechanism by Xiaomi involving a flexible display.

1 of 5

As you can see from the images, unlike ASUS 6Z and Galaxy A80, Xiaomi’s flip camera design will include a flexible display. On the former phones, only the camera module flips up and down with the help of mechanical parts. Whereas on the Xiaomi design, the cameras are embedded in the display like punch-holes and the screen itself flips like a foldable smartphone.

When on the back, the display could be used for camera viewfinder, notification panel or concept features as showcased by the company on its Mi Mix Alpha surround screen smartphone. While when the camera part of the display is flipped up, the entire back of the phone is left clean. On the sides, however, the design shows volume rockers and power key on the right side, dedicated key to call AI assistant on the left side, and USB Type-C port as well as speaker grilles at the bottom. Since there is no sign of a fingerprint reader, we can assume it to be featured under the display.

Anyway, we cannot guarantee Xiaomi to launch a commercial smartphone with this bizarre flip camera display design. Perhaps, this design will never see light as a finished product like many other design patents before.

UP NEXT: Xiaomi announces the 10,000mAh Mi Wireless Powerbank in India, with 10W fast wireless charging

(Via)

The post Xiaomi patents a bizarre Flip camera Smartphone with a Foldable display on Top appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Mi CC9 Pro will launch with five rear cameras. It has been revealed that one of the cameras is a periscope lens with up to 5X optical zoom, 10X hybrid zoom, and 50X digital zoom. In order to show off the zoom capabilities of the phone, Xiaomi has released a video showing the camera in action.

In the video, we see the Mi CC9 Pro is mounted on a tripod on one side of the road while on the other side of the road, 5 meters away, is an eye chart. We see the phone zoom in on the chart and take photos at the following zoom levels – 1x zoom, 2x zoom, 5x zoom, 10x zoom and 50x zoom. As you can see, the pictures taken at each zoom level are sharp and full of details.

The Mi CC9 Pro’s zoom features will come in handy in cases where you want to take photos of a subject that is far away from you without sacrificing details.

The other four cameras include a primary 108MP sensor, a 20MP ultrawide angle camera, a 12MP portrait camera, and a 1.5 cm macro camera. The phone will also have a 32MP selfie camera, a 6.47-inch OLED screen, up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It will run Android 9 Pie out of the box and have a 5170mAh battery capacity.

UP NEXT: This is the Xiaomi SmartWatch & it’s HEAVILY inspired by the Apple Watch

(Source)

The post Mi CC9 Pro shows off its zoom capabilities in promotional video appeared first on Gizmochina.

Recently, Xiaomi debuted at the Hong Kong stock exchange and their shares traded at HK$16.58 a piece. It helped Xiaomi to raise around HK$23.97 billion ($3.05 billion) on the debut run. Similarly, on Tuesday Xiaomi’s backed Viomi debuts at US-based Nasdaq stock exchange. It got the ticker symbol “VIOT” on Nasdaq and got IPO priced at $9 per ADS.

Viomi offered 11.4 million American Depositary Shares which allowed them to gather $103 million. Since the morning, Viomi started trading at the $9.50 which is significantly 5.56 percent more than the IPO price. Later, it rose to 9.66 and hit $10.95, then after fluctuation, it ended up below the IPO price at $8.97 per IPO.

It allowed the company to raise $103 million valuing the company at $811.8 million. There are many expectations from recent IPO at Nasdaq said Xiaoping Chan, co-founder, and CEO of Vomi. He further added, “By listing on the Nasdaq, Viomi hopes to better focus on the development of home appliance technology and further expand brand awareness, as Nasdaq is known as a tech-heavy stock exchange.” 

In May 2014, Viomi was founded with the help of Xiaomi. It deals purely in the IoT (Internet of Things) devices for home users. Its brochure packs various IoT-enabled home appliances, products, and commercial machines for businesses. Xiaomi has invested at the right time and in the right market as there will be high demand for IoT devices in the future. IPO will help Viomi to raise additional funds for the development of the company.

• Read More: Xiaomi reveals part of IPO capital will bankroll India expansion

Additionally, IoT devices consist of a network of physical devices embedded with electronics, softwares, sensors, and many other smart things. As per the recent report, China’s home appliances market will reach $176.5 billion from present $121 billion by 2022.

The post Xiaomi’s Viomi Technology goes public on Nasdaq: Priced IPO at $9 per ADS appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition was launched alongside the Mi 8 and Mi 8SE and the smartphone turned out to be the high-end model among the lot. All three models come with almost similar designs but in the case of the Mi 8 Explorer Edition, it features a translucent glass back which shows the internal components in a beautiful way. The device equally comes with an in-display fingerprint technology and of course, a steep price tag. 

The Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition comes only with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage and it is priced at 3,699 Yuan (~$577). This is quite modest for a Snapdragon 845-powered flagship but the Mi 8SEis way cheaper at 1799 yuan (~$280) for the 4GB + 64GB version. Even the 6GB + 64GB version is still affordable at 1999 yuan(~$312). So, if you fancy the glass panel of the Explorer edition but won’t want to spend so much on a smartphone, this casing could be your saviour. A third-party protective casing has been spotted in China. The casing comes with a translucent glass back just like the Mi 8 Explorer and it fits the Mi 8SE perfectly. The casing cost just 29 yuan (~$4).

Read Also: The Transparent Mi 8 Explorer Edition Isn’t Showing The Phone’s Real Internals

So, for just 29 yuan ( $4), you can pick up the casing and get to upgrade to the Mi 8 Explorer Edition. We don’t know about the material used for the casing or its weight but it looks like a laminated vinyl phone skin. We do hope this gets available outside China.

(source)

The post You Don’t Need To Shell Out So Much For The Mi 8 Explorer Edition With This ¥29 (~$4) Translucent-Looking Casing appeared first on Gizmochina.

Not leaving a chance for its rivals to coast past the company, Samsung is cementing its ties with partners across the world. The company’s Vice-Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who is also the de facto head of the conglomerate has reportedly met with Chinese business leaders during his trip to Asia’s No. 1 economy.

The source revealed that the Samsung Czar arrived in China earlier this week and met with leaders at the helms of affairs of major Chinese IT companies, including BYD Auto, Huawei Technologies, and Xiaomi. The trip to China is apparently to forge deeper ties with local partners. Samsung’s Chief Executive was accompanied on the trip by Kim Ki-nam, the head of Samsung’s device solution division, which oversees its crucial chip business, and Lee Dong-hoon, who leads Samsung Display.

Related: Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 Release Date Could be Drawing Near

There is hardly any doubt that the visit is connected directly to Samsung’s chips and display businesses which get most of their patronage from China apart from Apple. The display and chips businesses face stiff competition from local manufacturers in China and even Japan but Samsung isn’t letting go so easily. Interestingly, Samsung’s Vice-Chariman Lee Jae-yong recently visited Europe and Canada on a trip that symbolized his full-fledged return to corporate affairs after being incarcerated for almost a year for bribery. An appellate court granted him a suspended sentence in February this year.

(source)

The post Samsung’s Vice Chairman Meets Huawei, Xiaomi Executives In China To Strengthen Partnership appeared first on Gizmochina.

The market of Chinese TV boxes is crowded but we all know that Xiaomi usually makes high-quality products for a low price. Enter Xiaomi with the Mi Box: a small, nondescript black box offering a full Android TV experience, 4K HDR video and a remote for the current price of just $56 — easily the lowest price for one of these devices running a fully sanctioned version of Android TV.

Inside the Mi Box is a very run-of-the-mill spec arrangement, with a 2GHz quad-core (Cortex-A53) processor, 2GB of RAM and 8GB of storage — the latter of which capable of being expanded via a full-sized USB-A port on the back.

Xiaomi, like other Android TV makers, offers a “Mi Box recommends” section on the home screen showing some content apps that you’ve heard of before, but that’s it in terms of customizations.

Xiaomi TV Box has quite a lot to offer for the price of just $56.39 and you can now get it from lightinthebox.com.

The post Get Xiaomi 4K TV Box for just $56.39! appeared first on Gizmochina.

SUMMARY:

We all have heard and seen 360° photos and videos on the internet, but how many of you have actually used a 360° camera before? I believe the concept of 360° content production is still pretty new for a lot of readers out here and the Xiaomi Mi VR camera is here to help you start your journey. It’s far from being the best 360° camera in the market, but for its relatively affordable price tag of under $250, the Mi VR 3.5K Panorama camera manages to produce some good looking 360° photos and videos.

Before I carry on with the review, I would like to thank Gearbest for sending in this camera for review. The Mijia 3.5K Panorama camera is currently up for sale at just $248.99 on the website.

PROS:

• • Simple & Elegant Design Built To Last

• • Compact

• • IP67 Certified

• • Smart Notification Indicators

CONS:

• • Gets Hot Quickly

• • App Isn’t Perfect

• • No Option To Upload to YouTube Directly

Design & Built

The Xiaomi Mi VR 360° camera comes in an elegant black shade. You get a matte like texture on the front as well as the back, while the sides get a smoother finish. I love the overall compact design of the device and the fact that it’s hard to get scratches on the body makes me love it even more! Often while taking 360° pictures or videos, you have to keep the camera in rocky terrains or sandy beaches and so far, my Mi VR camera has managed to survive them all without any significant scratches. Of course, I have not yet dropped it to see if it survives, but I don’t have the courage to see what’ll happen in such a situation. But don’t be shy to expose your Mi VR camera in different terrains to get the perfect 360° shots.

The mini tripod comes with the camera itself and does a fine job of keeping the camera study in different terrains. Even when it was raining and things were a bit slippery, the tripod managed to keep the camera intact. This along with the protective sleeve (which is also included in the box) makes up for the perfect pair of accessories for the camera.
Note that the camera uses a standard 1/4 inch mount, so you can use any tripod or accessory with this connector.

Xiaomi has kept the design simple, with three buttons on top — a Record button (in red), a Wi-Fi button and a Power / Mode button. The buttons are tactile and give good feedback when clicked. On one of the sides, you have the MicroUSB port used for charging as well as a MicroSD card slot. Note that the camera is IP67 certified, which means its dust and waterproof. Hence, the slots are covered.

There are three notification lights, all located on one side of the device (on the opposite side of the Mijia logo). The battery indicator glows blue and red (when the camera has low charge). Then there’s a camera as well as a video notification indicator in blue. The video indicator starts blinking in red when you are recording.

Overall, I’m happy with the camera’s elegant design and sturdy built quality.

Xiaomi Mi VR 3.5K 360° Camera Specs

The Mi VR camera is made up of two 190° Fish Eye lens with 2 x IMX206 sensors. With this configuration, along with the Amabrella A12 chipset inside, the Mi VR camera manages to capture up to a max resolution of 3.5K at 30 fps. You can even capture 60 fps videos in lower resolution. You can capture in 3.5K for about 75 minutes in a single charge, but make sure to keep a large memory card handy. Speaking of memory cards, the camera takes MicroSD card up to 128GB. Do note that it is recommended to use a Class 10 or up memory card inside the device for the best performance.

There are three shooting modes (customizable in the app): Flat / Sphere / Planet. The cam supports time lapse and comes with 6-axis stabilization as well, which keeps the videos relatively stable.

Battery Life

The 1600mAh battery on the camera is good for capturing photos for around a day on a single charge or videos for more than an hour. I personally used the camera for 30-40 360° pictures and a few videos a couple of times and I still had like 40-50% charge remaining on the device, which I feel is pretty good. The standby time is also good, as I would still see nearly 30-35% charge after switching the camera on the next day. Charging the camera takes around 2 hours.

Mi VR 360° Panorama Camera: How To Use

Since 360° cameras are a relatively new concept for many readers out here, I would give you a brief idea as to how to use the Mi VR camera.

Connecting the Camera to the App

• • Charge the camera first for an hour until you see the fully charged blue battery icon on the camera.

• • Hit the power button and turn on the camera.

• • Once the camera is on, you can either start recording or you can connect your smartphone.

• • If you want to connect your smartphone, make sure to download the Mi Sphere app first from this link.

• • To connect to your phone, just press the Wi-Fi button on the camera and connect your smartphone’s Wi-Fi to the camera’s network. It should be something like MJXJ-XXXXXX. Note that the default password for the camera’s Wi-Fi network is 12345678.

• • Open the Mi Sphere App (downloaded from the link above) and it has all the instructions that you need to connect to the camera.

Shooting Pictures / Videos Using the Camera (Without connecting to the App)

• • Once the camera is switched on, you’ll see the current shooting mode via the indicator icon. It can be either the camera mode or the video mode.

• • You can switch between the two modes via the power button.

• • You can capture pictures or videos by clicking the record button once. You’ll hear a light beep which indicates whether the pictures was captured or the video shooting started.

Shooting Pictures / Videos With the Camera App

• • Once your camera is connected to the phone, turn on the app and you’ll see a yellow camera icon. Click on it to take you to the camera interface. You’ll be greeted with a large preview screen as well as a few additional options such as settings (on the top right corner), gallery (bottom left corner), capture button (bottom center) and camera / video toggle mode (bottom right). There’s a timer setting as well (the one which looks like a clock icon).

• • Click on the capture button to take pictures or videos.

• • You can fiddle with a few settings as well like white balance, exposure, ISO, and resolution.

• • Once the photo / video is captured, you can select different viewing modes as well such as Mirror Ball, Flat, Little Planet, and Pano. Further, there’s an option for single screen view as well as 2 screen view (for VR headsets).

• • Further, there are four filters that you can apply to the photos — original / fleet / youth / film. Not the best filter options, but at least you can do this directly in the app itself.

Note that there’s a share button integrated right inside the app (you have to go to the app’s gallery and click on the image to get this option on the top right corner). Available sharing options include Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, WeChat, Weibo etc. No option to share videos directly to YouTube (which is disappointing) but there’s a way you can share it to youtube.

Download the video to the phone first and then using YouTube Metadata injector or any other video editor, insert 360 metadata (helps them identify this as a 360 video). Once done, you can upload it to YouTube or any other 360 supported platform. You can actually try an app called VRFix for Android that reinjects the 360 metadata to videos.

I know this turned out to be a very long review because of these instructions, but I hope it makes your lives easier with the Mi VR camera.

Xiaomi Mi VR 3.5K Camera & Video Quality

The Mi 3.5K VR camera managed to capture 360° photos and videos with sufficient levels of detail. Well, you might find them a bit grainy for your taste but when compared to other VR cameras in the same range, Xiaomi’s 360° device does quite well.
Actually, the bar itself is quite low for 360° photos, so the content captured by this camera comes out quite better than other cheap alternatives. The image size ranges from 6-14Mb while a 30-second video would be like 100Mb in size. The dynamic range is pretty good and the colors are quite accurate as well. 360° photo stitching is also good but it’s not completely seamless. Do note that Xiaomi’s app does a fine job of getting the two pictures together for a complete 360° picture.
As for video quality, there are two resolutions available and thanks to the 6-axis stabilization, your videos come out less shaky, even when you are walking and recording.

Overall, for under $250, the Xiaomi Mi VR 3.5K camera does pretty well in terms of quality as compared to its competitors.

Make sure to check out the camera and video samples from this drive folder.

Or you can see a couple of live uploaded photos down below.

Verdict

It might take some time getting used to the world of 360 photos, but with the Mi VR 3.5K camera around, things are pretty straightforward. We are seeing a flood of 360 content these days and cameras like the Mi VR 3.5K enables regular users to join the 360° club with good hardware for starters. I would definitely recommend it for those who wish to take good quality 360° photos without breaking their wallets.

The post Xiaomi Mi VR 3.5K Panorama Camera Review: Great Hardware For 360° Content, But Software Needs Work appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi has officially confirmed to launch its upcoming flagship smartphones, the Mi 6 and Mi 6 Plus in this month. Fresh photos of the large sized Xiaomi Mi 6 Plus phone has reportedly appeared on Weibo. The rear side as well as the front sides of the black colored variant of the phone have been revealed.

As it can be seen, the leaked photo of the front panel of Mi 6 Plus suggest that the smartphone would be flanked with narrow bezels.  There is a physical Home button placed on the chin of the device. Since the fingerprint scanner is not placed on the rear side of the phone, it is likely that the Home button will be integrated with fingerprint scanner. This black variant of the Mi 6 Plus has a glossy appeal.

The dual camera setup which is one of the USPs of the Xiaomi Mi 6 Plus can be seen sitting on the top left corner of the rear panel. It is coupled with dual LED flash. The leaked photos of the alleged smartphones that have surface in the recent past has also hinted that the smartphone would be coming with twin cameras on the rear side.  It is said to be equipped with a pair of 12-megapixel Sony IMX362 sensors.

Related: Xiaomi MIUI 9 Unveiling Was Actually An April Fool Prank: Camera App With Very Special Features

According to previous reports, the Xiaomi Mi 6 Plus would be fitted with a 5.7-inch screen that would be supporting full HD resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. The Snapdragon 835 SoC is heavily pegged to fuel the device with 4 GB of RAM. Speculations have hinted that Mi 6 Plus would be also available in other RAM variants like 6 GB and 8 GB.

Rumors have also revealed that the phone would be coming in storage choices like 64 GB and 128 GB. The highest configuration model of the phone is pegged to house 256 GB of storage. The front-facing camera of the phone is speculated to be of 8-megapixdel.

It will be available with Android 7.0 Nougat coupled with the latest edition of MIUI. It will be driven by 4,500 mAh capacity battery. the lowest storage model is priced at 2,599 Yuan ($377) and the highest configuration variant is speculated to be available for 3,499 ($507).

The post Xiaomi MI 6 Plus Real Photos Allegedly Surface As Launch Date Nears appeared first on Gizmochina.

An industry analyst, Pan Jiutang has said the Mi 5s and Mi Note 2 will follow the trend of the newly released Redmi Pro and have higher prices than their predecessors.

The Redmi series is known for its low price tag but that has changed with the release of the Redmi Pro which has a starting price of 1499 Yuan ($224) and goes up to 1999 Yuan ($299), setting the record for the most expensive Redmi phone. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise since the Redmi Pro is sporting a number of new features the company hasn’t put on a phone before, such as  the use of dual rear cameras and an OLED display.

The Mi 5s is reported to also launch with dual cameras. It will have a glass body, an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, and an advanced pressure sensitive display. The Mi Note 2 on the other hand will feature a snapdragon 821 SoC and an advanced pressure sensitive 2K display as well but with a curved edge. These new features will definitely see them having higher price tags but which are still competitive enough for them to give the competition a run for their money.

RELATED: Render of Xiaomi Mi 5s With Dual Cameras

The Mi 5s and Mi Note 2 are expected to launch next month before the release of the iPhone 7s (sevens) in September.

The post Analyst: Xiaomi’s Mi 5s and Mi Note 2 to Cost More appeared first on Gizmochina.

Indian Xiaomi fans have all been waiting for the launch of the Xiaomi Mi 5 in the country. Xiaomi had said that the launch would be in April, but it looks like fans might just get their present early. The company has reportedly started sending out invites for the Mi 5 launch event in India, which will be on March 31.

The invites for the launch event clearly shows off the number 5 along with the usual tagline of “All you ever imagined, and more”. So, it’s no mystery that the company will announce the Xiaomi Mi 5 flagship at the March 31 event. Although the venue of the event is yet to be revealed, it will kick off at 2:30 pm local time.

Xiaomi released three different variants of the Mi 5 in China last month — two variants of the standard Mi 5 and one Mi 5 Pro. It’s possible that all the three models will be announced in the country at this week’s event. However, given that the Mi 5 Pro model is yet to go on sale even in China, you may have to wait for a few weeks more to get hold of the Pro version.

As for the specs, the two variants of the standard Mi 5 differ in terms of the internal storage, one with 32GB and the higher model with 64GB ROM. Both come with 3GB RAM. On the other hand, the Mi 5 Pro comes with a 3D ceramic body, along with 4GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. All the three models are be powered by the Snapdragon 820 chip (Pro version gets a faster-clocked chip @2.15GHz). At the back, there is a 16MP camera with 4-axis OIS while up front, there is a 4MP Ultrapixel shooter. Other features include Android 6.0 with MIUI 7, 3000mAh battery, Quick Charge, VoLTE and dual SIM Card slots.

One thing that we still don’t know is the Xiaomi Mi 5’s price in India. But given the company’s aggressive pricing strategy in the country, you can expect it to be close to Chinee pricing i.e. 1999 Yuan (~Rs. 20500).

The post Xiaomi Mi 5 India Launch Confirmed On March 31 appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi has made all the right moves in the past two years, now transforming itself as a global tech company. The Xiaomi Mi4 sold pretty well in China as well as international markets and it looks like its successor, the Xiaomi Mi5 could integrate a fingerprint sensor on its home button, much like the iPhone 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6.

The news comes directly from the State Intellectual Property Office website of China wherein Xiaomi technology Limited Liability company has registered a patent for a touch buttons and fingerprint implementation method, device and mobile device. So, it looks like the company is all set to its own fingerprint tech on its upcoming devices.

The patent application (No. 2015100507538) says that the primary purpose of the patented technology is to integrate fingerprint recognition into the touch button. So, instead of a rear sensor that we have seen on many Chinese phones, Xiaomi could be looking for a user friendly home button based fingerprint recognition sensor. Also, there seems to a layer of glass on top of the button, probably for improved asthetics and solid built (these two points were highlighted in the patented application as well).

Rest of the details from the application (Application Publication No. CN104537365A) are given below translated from Chinese to English.

“The device comprises a bottom fingerprint sensors and optical sensor provided in the terminal equipment of the cover glass; fingerprint identification circuit connected fingerprint sensor for fingerprint recognition sensor and the fingerprint information analysis and processing, obtain fingerprint analysis ; host processor, and an optical sensor and fingerprint identification circuit connections for the monitored optical sensor light information received to determine whether cover glass touch button operation; identity authentication based on fingerprint analysis results obtained fingerprint identification circuit.”

So what do you think? Will the Mi5 come with this fingerprint tech?

The post Xiaomi files a patent for new fingerprint technology, could end up on Mi5 appeared first on Gizmochina.

Back in January, Xiaomi took the wraps off a new premium smartphone lineup, the Xiaomi Mi Note. However, at the time of the announcement, the company had announced only two versions of the device, the Xiaomi Mi Note running Snapdragon 801 and the Xiaomi Mi Note Pro running Snapdragon 810. Interestingly, it looks like the company may have another device in the Note lineup.

Earlier today, a new Xiaomi Note device was spotted on Geekbench, revealing some of the key specifications and benchmark scores of the device. The new device, called as the Xiaomi Mi Note Plus features the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor as the Mi Note Pro, and the RAM too is 4GB. The device was running on the Android 5.0.2 Lollipop version. From the name, it looks like the Mi Note Plus could be the top end variant in the company’s Note lineup.

This is not the first time we are hearing about the Xiaomi Mi Note Plus. Just a few days after the announcement of the Mi Note lineup, a device with the same name had popped up on AnTuTu benchmark, revealing identical specs as the Mi Note Pro model. So, at that time, we wondered whether this particular model was the same as the Pro.

In the GeekBench test, the Mi Note Plus scored around the same figure as the HTC One M9. It scored 1235 in the single-core test and 4039 in the multi-core test, which was very close to One M9’s score of 1282 and 3929 in those tests. However, even with the top end hardware, Samsung Galaxy S6 easily outdid these two, thanks to the powerful Exynos 7420 64-bit octa-core chipset underneath. S6 scores an amazing 1501 in the single-core test and 5417 in the multi-score test which clearly shows its power.

Xiaomi’s co-founder and president, Lin Bin revealed yesterday that the company was going to announce a special edition of the Mi Note today. However, we don’t think that the Mi Note Plus will be announced as he said that a better looking special edition Xiaomi Mi Note will be revealed. Still, lets wait and watch what the company has in store for its fans.

Stay tuned for more information.

The post Xiaomi Mi Note Plus spotted on GeekBench with Snapdragon 810 and 4GB RAM appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi has been making the headlines for a long time now. The latest leak shows off “3D” schematics of the advertised “thinner than the cicada’s wings ” new Xiaomi smartphone. These pictures come to us from the Foxconn factory in China and supposedly were snapped (in low resolution) by someone with a connection to the supply chain.

The first thing that hits you about the Xiaomi Mi4s are the rounded corners on the device, which dovetails with many of the other leaks we’ve seen of the phone. Unfortunately, the leak does not reveal any measurements of the device, although it does appear to keep the extremely thin design that we’ve seen before. But if slimness is what the company is aiming for,  then it could have similar measurements to the iPhone 6 Plus’s 158.1 x 77.8 x 7.1 mm or even better measurements!

The power key has been moved to the right, supposedly to improve the grip on the phone, and the volume buttons are now elongated. In addition, the flash has changed to an oval design from the lozenge used on the iPhone 5s.

In addition to the 3D images, we also got some specifications directly from Foxconn. The Xiaomi Mi4S flagship will reportedly feature a 5.5inch 2k display，snapdragon 805, 3gb ram, 16gb/64gb rom, 16mp + 8mp camera. These specs are in line with what we heard a few days back, except for the camera department which was said to come with a more powerful 20.7MP sensor.

Yes, you should take this with a grain of salt, especially when the Xiaomi Mi4S leaks are all over the place. It is perfectly fine to cast a cynical eye on the images, even if you believe that the next Xiaomi flagship will look just like this.

The company confirmed an event on 15 January 2015 for its flagship launch about a day back, so we don’t have to wait too long to see whether these specs and the pictures are indeed of the upcoming Xiaomi Mi4S / Xiaomi Mi5.

The leaked Xiaomi Mi4s 3D schematics follow below.

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