14 DAY TRIAL // Chinese handset maker Xiaomi has just announced the upcoming availability of another high-end Android smartphone in Singapore, the “Redmi.”
According to Xiaomi, this is another version of the Hongmi, a very popular Android smartphone that was launched in China back in 2013. The Chinese company has explained why it decided to launch the handset in Singapore as Xiaomi Redmi.
“In 2013, we introduced ‘Redmi’ — originally ‘Hongmi’ in Chinese — which fulfills the same promise of Xiaomi for first-time smartphone users. ‘Red’ means passion and ‘Mi’, our core brand, stands for mobile Internet.
Redmi is a line of high-performance products which are also extremely affordable and allow you to expect more and achieve more.”
Although no additional details have been provided on when exactly the smartphone will go on sale and for what price, Xiaomi handsets tend to be much cheaper than other devices in the same spec range.
Xiaomi has yet to confirm the Redmi’s software and hardware configuration, but we suspect that it will come with similar specs as the Hongmi, which is available in China.
Thus, expect the Redmi to ship with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box. It’s unclear whether the device will ever receive a major software upgrade, but Xiaomi rarely offers this for its smartphones.
On the inside, the upcoming smartphone packs a powerful 1.5GHz quad-core Mediatek MT6589T processor, a PowerVR SGX544 graphics processing unit and 1GB of RAM.
The phone comes with only 4GB of internal memory, but users will be able to further expand it up to 32GB via microSD memory card.
On the back, Xiaomi Redmi should feature an 8-megapixel photo snapper with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording, while in the front, there’s a secondary 1.3-megapixel camera for video calls.
Last but not least, the Redmi is expected to sport a 4.7-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display that supports HD (720p) resolution and features Corning Gorilla Glass 2 coating. Stay tuned for more info on Redmi’s availability and price tag.