Tag: Xiaomi Mi3

Xiaomi Mi3 Coming Back to Market Close to Diwali

Xiaomi never fails to create a buzz. The company which recently postponed the sales of the Mi3, to put focus on the Redmi 1S, has said the blockbuster handset is about to make a comeback.

The Xiaomi Mi3 didn’t just sell like hot cakes, it overshadowed all other smartphone manufacturers. The entry of the Chinese brand was a giant seismic shake for the populated mobile phone market.

Xiaomi plans to have a comeback flash sale for the MI3 around Diwali

The company has said that it plans to bring back its bestseller to the market close to the festival of Diwali. This was announced at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Bangalore by Xiaomi India head of operations Manu Kumar.

Reportedly, Xiaomi is also working on a “priority pass” system which will directly send the device to the carts of folks who have tried ordering and failed previously. Flipkart is currently working on the execution of the priority pass. This plan can be used by e-tail giant for future sales too.

Xiaomi will also be bringing its latest flagship and the successor to the Mi3, the Mi4 somewhere around the end of the year. The sale of Xiaomi’s Mi3 saw immense number of registrations. Although most of them had to return disheartened as the limited handsets weren’t enough for all who waited with baited breath to buy the device.

Currently, Xiaomi has been holding flash sales for Redmi 1S on Flipkart. It has held five flash sales, and the maximum amount of time the phone was on offer was 5.2 seconds. Considering the previous cases, one can easily anticipate a massive stampede to get the device. Also, the news of the launch of Mi4 might dissuade some folks from getting the Mi3. But as the Mi4 is expected to be launched starting at Rs. 22,000, the Mi3 might still be a viable option for people looking for the most bang for their buck.

September 26, 2014

Moto G (Gen 2) vs Xiaomi Mi3 Comparison

Moto G (Gen 2) comes with considerable improvement over its trendsetting predecessor. Moto G had essentially set a foot forward in terms of bringing cheap Android devices with good built quality and great hardware. Xiaomi Mi3, also recently launched in India, belongs to the same price bracket.

However, the latter has been facing problems in terms of availability , as it has been made available in limited stock exclusively on Flipkart. One of the main highlight of Mi3 is that it comes with quad core Snapdragon 800 processor which is quite an achievement in its price bracket. We are are comparing the Motorola Moto G (gen 2) and Xiaomi Mi3 head to head. Check out the video below:

SPECS	Motorola Moto G (Gen 2)	XIAOMI MI 3
Display	5 inch, 294 ppi	5 inch, 441 ppi
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, 2.3 GHz Quad-core
RAM	1 GB	2 GB
Storage	16 GB	16/64 GB
Expandable Upto	32 GB	–
Main Camera	8 MP	13 MP
Front Camera	2 MP	2 MP
Battery	Non-removable 2070 mAh	Non-removable 3050 mAh
Operating System	Android KitKat 4.4.4	Android 4.3 upgradable to 4.4.2 (KitKat)

September 22, 2014

Buy a Xiaomi Mi3 In The Next Sale Using These Tips to Better Your Chances

The Xiaomi Mi3 has been a drop of evil for a lot of people, some have waited through the three sales patiently trying to get one of these chinese “wonder phones”. On August 12th 2014, at 2:00 pm the Xiaomi Mi3 will go on sale yet again, this time with a proported 20,000 handsets, says online shopping website Flipkart.

If you really want to buy a Xiaomi Mi3 this time around, here are a few tips to better your chances of scoring one of these budget bad boys.

1. Pre Register

Possibly the most obvious tip, you need to pre register to buy the phone, so go ahead and do it by : Clicking Here

2. Know the Time

The Xiaomi Mi3 will go on sale at precisely 2:00 pm IST on the 12th of August, so try and reach the buying page at least an hour earlier, even though it seems like overkill.

3. Multiple device logins

Try being online from multiple devices, preferably on different internet connections; in order to have different I.P. addresses accessing the site, this will improve your chances and bring to one step closer to buying a Xiaomi Mi3.

4. Flipkart App

The Flipkart app uses a separate server and has a higher chance of “not failing” at the time of sale. If you want to buy a Xiaomi Mi3 the app might prove to be easier, “might being the key word.

5. Super Refresh times 40,000

When the sale starts, most people are struggling to open the webpage, ctrl+R / f5 (refresh) is your best friend, hit it till you get a page to buy a Xiaomi Mi3. (cmd+R on a mac). Other people have reported opening several tabs being helpful.

6. Cart it!

If you do get a page loaded, add that phone to the cart like there is no tomorrow, once you have the handset in your cart, your chances have just gone up from 1 in a million to 50:50 in order to buy a Xiaomi Mi3.

7. Patience

Once you have it in your cart, attempt payment by refreshing several times, in most cases you won’t be able to make payments due to overloads on the server so keep trying.Here the app helps too.

Also, if the website fails completely, there is a very high chance that the phone is in your cart when Flipkart comes back online, thats the perfect moment for you to buy a Xiaomi Mi3.

Once you do get through to the payment section and make your payments in whatever the mode you select, pat yourself on the back sir, you my friend are a lucky owner of the coveted Xiaomi Mi3.

Yay!

Now watch our Review Here:

August 11, 2014
Xiaomi Mi3 Sold Out Within Seconds; Flipkart Crashes

Chinese handset maker Xiaomi sold all its 15,000 Mi3 devices in its third flash sale online within a matter of seconds. The company made available 15,000 units of the Mi3 smartphone today, as against 1,50,000 registrations for the device. With these units, Xiaomi through Flipkart has sold 35,000 Mi3 smartphones till date in the country.

The Flipkart website crashed seconds after Xiaomi’s Mi3 went on sale today. At 2 pm, when sales began, the site showed a server related 502 error. A few minutes later it showed an out-of-stock message on the page promoting the device. The website had also crashed temporarily on July 22, minutes after the Mi3 first went on sale on Flipkart. In the second flash sale, on July 29 the Xiaomi sold out the entire stock in five seconds.

Today, it has been four hours and Flipkart is still dead..

Now, the Flipkart site says that registrations for the phone will restart at 6pm today with the next sale on August 12.

The price of Rs 13,999 pits Mi 3 against mid-segment devices such as the Moto G and BlackBerry’s new Z3 device. With the latest software and immaculate specifications at its price it will be interesting to observe whether Xiaomi can match the hype with a robust supply chain and service network.

August 5, 2014
Xiaomi Mi3 Review : Get it Now!
The era of saying, “that’s a Chinese phone” in a negative manner may have finally ended, and that will be purely thanks to the fact that a lot of Chinese manufacturers are ready to put that norm to rest.

With Gionee taking the market horses by the reins last year, Xiaomi is the latest player and is ready to play in the heated battle zone with the right approach for India.

OVERVIEW

India is the most price sensitive market in the world, one of the largest markets for Mobile Phone users, even those who switch handsets frequently. The country is flooded with manufacturers and brands trying to reach a level of excitement in the mobile space. With the Xiaomi Mi3, the Chinese manufacturer hit the right note with Indian buyers, by simply launching the product. There was a huge demand for a good budget phone; However Xiaomi dissolved their overheads by launching the product at a marvellous price of Rs 13999/- for the 16 GB variant.

The stocks are very limited, and only those who preregister can buy the phone. Every few days the phone will go on sale on shopping website Flipkart, making it excruciatingly difficult to own one right now. What makes it more painful is the long list of dealers who have multiple accounts on Flipkart, waiting to snatch this phone, just so that they can sell for a markup.

Is the handset really worth all that worship? Let’s find out.

BUILD QUALITY AND HARDWARE

Let’s say this, finding a phone this well made, for this price, is practically impossible. The Xiaomi Mi3 is encased in a solid brushed aluminium shell and laden with Gorilla Glass 3 in the front. Possibly one of the only phones with a reinforced micro USB port, the Xiaomi Mi3 has held no bars in design and build quality.

The rigid frame also gives it fantastic looks and the rounded sides and edges relate to the fit in the hand, and it all feels great. Each time you pickup the Mi3 the first words out of your mind would be “No way this costs only Rs. 13999?.

Hardware wise, the Xiaomi Mi3 is pretty top notch, unlike its latest version; the Mi4, the Mi3 carries a Snapdragon 800 chipset with quad cores clocked at 2.3 GHz, a full HD 1920 x 1080p IPS LCD display made by Sharp or LG, 2 GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a whopping 3050 mAh battery. Apart from that you get the Adreno 330 GPU and Bluetooth 4.0 LE along with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac.

Just putting the parts together will cost you more than a phone. However someone at Xiaomi has the right contacts with suppliers.

ANDROID AND MIUI

The Xiaomi Mi3 in India comes preloaded with Android 4.4.2 out the box, which is skinned with MiUi, a very iOS like skin which does not contain an application drawer. The UI is fast and snappy and offers a lot of customisations including themes which can be downloaded from the Mi Store. The Mi3 will give full access to the Play Store and allow for launcher downloads as well as launcher replacement if so be the case.

The UI is snappy and not laggy at all, the phone has good multitasking capabilities and will blaze through the live applications, despite few software glitches, that may often cause slowdowns and crashes.

PERFORMANCE AND GAMING

The phone is a beast for the price range. It does not break any records as per say, but is truly top notch in its price bracket, in fact pretty much compares to phones in double the price bracket. The phone runs through mostly all our tests and scores good results in our benchmark tests.

Test

Score

Quadrant Benchmark 20376

Antutu Benchmark 30537

Nenamark 60.0 FPS

As far as gaming is concerned, the Mi3 can handle anything that is thrown at it, basically, any game that exists on Android will run on the Mi3, which is mostly thanks to the heart of the handset being a Snapdragon 800 – one of the most stable chipsets when it comes to apps and software.

We gamed on the Mi3 extensively and found it to be seamless and smooth, although the 16 GB runs out, and it runs out fast. You would be better waiting for the 64 GB variant if gaming is your bit because space is tight.

The Xiaomi Mi3 is excellent in day to day use and offers excellent performance, whether its running apps or multitasking, you will not be disappointed.

MULTIMEDIA AND CAMERA

The Xiaomi Mi3 has a beautiful display with excellent viewing angles and a full HD resolution. Xiaomi has gone as far as calling it a “retina” display, because the panels are made either by LG or Sharp, both of which supply to Apple for the iPhone.

The display is big and bright, and you will enjoy consuming media on this phone, the audio is excellent out of the 3.5mm jack, and you will be happy with the overall experience. The onboard speaker is not overly loud, but can be adequate, of course, which could be different for different folks, we would have liked a better speaker though.

The camera is the best in class, with a 5 element lens and f2.2 aperture, the 13 MP shots are right on the money. The colours are accurate, and images are perfectly sharp. Low-light performance is excellent, and video is good. The front camera is good for 2
MP shots which will more than suffice for the selfie nerd in you.

PHONE AND BATTERY LIFE

Phone networks are strong, and network performance is good where we tested (Delhi/NCR and Mumbai), the phone supports 3G networks mostly globally and without issues in India. There is no 4G/LTE and expecting it would be inappropriate.

Battery life is impressive thanks to a well balanced chipset, which helped us get through almost two days without a recharge on the 3050 mAh battery pack.

Talk Time 6-7 hours

Music 19 hours

Internet 10+ Hours

CONCLUSION

Just a few months ago, Motorola broke the bank in India by launching the Moto G in this price bracket using a similar sale strategy (the Flipkart way). Now Xiaomi seems to have this in their pocket for the Xiaomi Mi3 and possibly for the Mi4 in the near future. There are several complaints, already of handsets with faulty Sim card trays, heating issues and handsets that refuse to boot or get charged.

Around 35-service centres will offer, support and Flipkart has a brilliant reverse pickup for faulty and dead on arrival products. So device and support “should not be” a problem. However, there is no clarity on who is behind the sales, an Indian partner or the company itself? How dedicated are they and how serious do the consider one of the larger mobile markets?

With confirmed news of the new Mi4 coming soon, and OnePlus showing interest in India, the Mi3 may be a miss for some. However for those who need a phone now, it doesn’t get any better than this. If you were considering a last generation Nexus 5, this overthrows that with half the price. Get the drift? Now get the phone!

Buy Now

[tw-column width=”one-half”]

GOOD THINGS
- Excellent Build
- Uber Hardware
- Stunning Looks
- Android 4.4 and MiUi
- Excellent Performer
- Great Battery
[/tw-column]

[tw-column width=”one-half” position=”last”]

BAD THINGS
- No Official Company to find
- Flipkart only Sales
- Limited Units
- Faulty on Arrival Units
[/tw-column]
July 27, 2014
Xiaomi Mi3 Launched in India for Rs 13,999

As a pleasant surprise, Xiaomi announced the Mi3 in India at a price tag of Rs. 13,999, which is less than the initial price revealed by the company earlier this month. Along with Mi 3, Redmi 1S and Redmi Note have also been launched at the price of Rs 6,999 and Rs 9,999, respectively. The Xiaomi Mi3 is up for pre-registration today and will be available via FlipKart on July 22.

At the offered price and with its set of features, the Mi 3 is here to trouble other Indian smartphone makers. It will compete with the Nexus 5 and the HTC One M7 with it’s mighty Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 SoC. Moreover, Xiaomi has also put in some thought when it comes to the pressure sensitivity of the display.

The touch feature on the Mi3 allows users to operate the phone even with wet and gloved hands. In addition to launching the phones, the company has released a new India theme in the MiUI themes store. It features refreshed iconography and UI elements, with a very India design aesthetic that features henna patterns, elephants and a wallpaper that shows the Taj Mahal.

As per the recent phablet trend, the Mi 3 comes with a large 5-inch display featuring a 1920 x 1080p resolution. The full HD display ensures that the pixel density goes all the way up to 441ppi. The company says that ‘Mi 3’s backlit display is fused directly to the touch screen’, ensuring deeper colors which pop up for a great visual experience.

The RedMi 1S is Xiaomi’s budget smartphone. It has a 4.7-inch 720p IPS display, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.5GHz with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory. The phone comes with a microSD card slot and a 2,000mAh battery. It also has an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.6-megapixel rear camera. It runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean underneath the MiUI user interface.

Xiaomi Redmi Note phablet sports a 5.5-inch 720p IPS display. It is powered by a 1.7GHz MediaTek MT6592 octa-core processor and 1.7GB RAM. It holds 8GB of internal storage and is expandable to 32GB through the microSD. The phone has a 3100mAh battery and runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with Xiaomi’s MiUi layer on top. It sports a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front facing camera.

For those who were skeptical about the customer service, Xiaomi has also set up a network of service centers in 20 big cites in India. There will be 2 exclusive Mi centers in New Delhi and Mumbai, which will have two hour turn around times. Additionally there will be 34 partner operated service centers that will have one day turn around times.

During its launch in Singapore, 5,000 units of Redmi Note, priced at S$199 (Rs 9,600 approximately), were sold out in just 42 seconds. Judging by the pricing of Mi 3 in India, we expect the company to unveil the other phones at an equally competitive prices.

July 15, 2014