By When Android faithful Hugo Barra left Google, we knew it had to be for good reason, and it was: he joined Xaiomi, a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer growing at an outrageous clip. The company has just announced a new brand, called “Redmi” which essentially stands for “mobile internet passion”.
Company co-founder and CEO, Lei Jun, says Xiaomi’s goal is “creating products that make our customers scream,” but the only thing making us scream thus far is a lack of details. Other than a splash page teaser, Redmi’s first phone is shrouded in mystery.
Or is it?
Barra indicates that Redmi was officially announced today but the site’s description suggests 2013 was the initial introduction and we found Chinese-language assets that would support this claim.
Some digging reveals the phone was announced for Taiwan last year under the original Chinese brand of “Hongmi”. We can likely assume that its specs, price, and features will fall into line with this announcement, with the major change being a rebranding for non-Chinese speaking markets.
Here are some pics from last year’s Taiwanese announcement.
If the original Xiaomi Redmi specs remain consistent we could be looking at:
- Only $130
- 4.7 inches IPS display with 1280×720resolution
- 1.5GHz quad-core processor
- 1GB RAM
- 4GB ROM
- MicroSD card slot
- 8MP camera with 1080p capture
- 1.3MP front-facing camera
- MIUI V5 based on Android
Somewhat of a confusing “announcement” but we’ll share any clarification as it arrives.
Thought that Hongmi2 is also coming soon?
So Redmi is infact Hongmi1 right????
Looks like an LG L9
Sh!t. I just spent $200 on a moto g for my girlfriend on V day.
You still made a great purchase, don’t worry. This has really low internal space, plus it’s not made in the USA like the G.
George W Bush was made in the USA, how come he’s so crappy?
We will never get it here anyways….. Even if we get it, it won’t be $130… lol.
dat bezel though
Looks good, id buy one
Look at that gawd awful bezel. What is it a tablet or a phone. OMG, they invented the Tabone !!! :D
cheaper than moto g and its not a bad phone at all, its good to see that lowend devices with good performance at low price its now an option for android
The other specs are fine, but 4GB ROM seems rather limited.
MicroSD card slot
Fair enough (as long as apps can be installed on the microSD card).
Has this been through quality control? Chinese phones that are cheap and have high specs usually break down easily…
Xiaomi is on a whole different league. They aren’t your typical no-name brand on AliExpress.
I just hope it’s not a Mediatek processor. The other issue is that really low internal space, it can’t cost that much to bump it up. Hell give us an option of upgrading it to 8 at least.
And no, a micro SD is not the same. The device will have to always read and write to the external storage using more battery and time vs the internal option, let alone if apps to SD isn’t available.
Hope you keep us updated, I always like to have backup inexpensive phones.
It’s call Hongmi and yes it comes with Mediatek processor.
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Xiaomi-Hongmi_id8194
Dang. Thanks man. I just wish someone other than Moto would bring something decent to the affordable table. Moto G is still the device to beat.