Die-hard Xiaomi fans, despair no longer. Mi Note is finally arriving on our humble shores, since its launch in China early this year. It will be available to public for sale on next Tuesday, 28th July via Mi.com .
Mi Note will be available in white and selling at S$569 without contract. In conjunction with Singapore’s Jubilee celebration, Xiaomi will be offering an assortment of SG50 engraved power banks, Mi bands and USB LED light for sale as well.
You can also get Mi Note through Singtel, the exclusive telco partner. The device will be available for S$0 if you sign up with the Singtel Combo 3 plan.
Xiaomi x UBER collaboration (Photo courtesy of Xiaomi)
For eager beavers, you can try your luck a day earlier at the pre-launch sale on 27 July, thanks to a special partnership with Uber.
Xiaomi x UBER. (Photo courtesy of Xiaomi)
Simply make the purchase via Uber app and have Mi Note delivered to you personally! However, this is limited to a few hundred sets only.
Touted the flagship phone, Mi Note is proclaimed to be Xiaomi’s most beautiful device ever made. Built with a 5.7″ sharp/JDI full HD display, it boasts an incredible contrast ratio of 1400:1 which result in 95% true-to-life colors. For us, it means richer colors for better visual experience.
Mi Note in white (Photo courtesy of Xiaomi)
To meet an ever-increasing need for power, Mi Note runs on a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz processor and 3GB RAM and is fitted with a 3000mAh Sony/LG 4.4V high density Li-ion battery. It also comes with a 64BG internal memory which is more than sufficient for most.
Weighing 11 g lighter than iPhone 6+, I have no problems holding Mi Note with one hand (I have rather small hands) without fear of losing my grip and dropping the phone.
iPhone 6+ (author’s) vs Mi Note
Compared with my iPhone 6+ side-by-side, Mi Note’s viewable screen size is significantly taller and slightly wider than the iPhone 6+. The two are almost identical in body size (in terms of height and width), however Mi Note is much slimmer at 6.95mm in its aluminium framed curved gorilla glass body. Mi Note came with dual-SIM card slots as well, and it is thoughtfully designed with slots for micro and nano sim cards respectively. This is great for travellers. The product designer must have experienced pains with looking for a SIM card adapter. All smartphones should come with dual SIM cards slots, if you ask me.
What caught my attention is the durability of Mi Note during the drop test. In the video shown during the product demo, Mi Note’s screen did not crack once when dropped from 150cm height, or when a metal ball hits its screen. I wonder if it will survive a 11th storey tall drop test and remain in one piece.
Counting Down to 28 July
I’ll be looking forward to get hold of a Mi Note and test drive it. I would be keen to find out myself if this flagship product is able to influence an long-time iPhone user like me to consider switching.
Meanwhile, don’t forget to set a reminder for next Tuesday, 28 July. The sale starts at 10am on www.mi.com/sg. May the fastest fingers win!
