A new Note has arrived! No, not that Note, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2.
The Redmi Note 2 is Xiaomi’s new Android phablet that offers some nice specs for its price. It comes equipped with a 5.5-inch 1920x1080 display and a 5-megapixel camera on its face, as well as a 13-megapixel Samsung-made camera on its rear. Inside of its 8.25mm-thick body there’s 2GB of RAM, 16/32GB of storage, and dual SIM slots. Powering the Redmi Note 2 is combination of an octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 processor and a removable 3060mAh battery.
The Redmi Note 2 comes equipped with Android 5.0 running beneath MIUI 7, Xiaomi’s new custom Android user interface. One of the big new features of MIUI 7 is face recognition in the Gallery, which can help to sort all of your images based on who’s in them.
Xiaomi plans to offer the Redmi Note 2 in three different versions. The base model offers 16GB of storage, one LTE SIM slot, and one 3G SIM slot for RMB 799 ($124). The next step up offers 16GB of storage and dual LTE SIM slots for RMB 899 ($140 USD). Finally, the top-end model is known as the Redmi Note 2 Prime, and it includes 32GB of storage, dual LTE SIM slots, and a processor that’s clocked at 2.2GHz rather than 2.0GHz. The Redmi Note 2 Prime will cost ($156 USD).
Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 2 looks like a solid Android device. It fits somewhere in the upper mid-range category, offering a large 1080p display, beefy cameras, and an octa-core processor, though its RAM is probably a little lacking for some folks. At a starting price of $124, though, it’s tough to get too upset about that RAM. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see the Redmi Note 2 make it outside of Asia. Xiaomi has said that it’s interested in bringing its phones to the US, but that it’s at least one year away from doing so.
What do you think of the Redmi Note 2? Would you carry it as your daily driver?