If you haven’t already bought the fantastic Xiaomi Mi Note, then the release of a new Bamboo version might just tip you closer to making a purchase.
Today Xiaomi announced a special edition Bamboo version of their flagship Xiaomi Mi Note. This new version has a bamboo rear cover which actually reduces the overall weight of the phone by 5 grams.
Gizchina News of the week
Specifications for the Mi Note Bamboo are unchanged from the standard version which is a good thing as the regular Mi Note is one of the best current flagships available. Pricing in China is from 2299 Yuan with a ‘F’ code required for purchase. International resellers are likely to offer this new model in the coming weeks.
Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.
lol they are having trouble with the curved glass so they released a more manufacturable version for their outdated “flagship”.
Wouldn’t bamboo be harder to work with than glass?
The Gorilla back cover is curved and that’s not something you see much, if at all.
Here Samsung talks about the curved cover glass on the Edge http://global.samsungtomorrow.com/forming-glass-forging-metal-the-art-of-craftsmanship-in-the-galaxy-s6/
“The curved design of GS6 edge was realized by 3D Thermoforming, a unique technology created and perfected by Samsung. This involves the insertion of glass between two molds, heating it to a pliable forming temperature of 800 degrees Celsius, and then allowing it to then be pressed into a symmetrical shape. In this process, the glass is shaped in three directions at once, giving it its curved shape.”
And there are reports that Samsung has low yields and very high costs because of it. Flat Gorilla is assumed to cost some 3$, while the extra work to curve it and the low yields might be pushing costs above 20$.
Assuming Xiaomi is using a similar process ,they would be likely to also have similar problems and very limited capacity so using anything else not only allows them to actually ship devices but is likely cheaper
Outdated? There are 2 versions of the Mi Note, the standard one with the older 801 SOC, and the Pro version with the 810 SOC.
This is about the Note not the Pro, the Pro is not even available yet.
And the Note is closer in perf to the Meizu m1 Note than to the Galaxy S6, it’s not really a flagship by specs and perf at this point.
SD801 is 1 year old and it was just a slightly higher clocked SD800 to begin with. The SD810 should beat it by a healthy margin (if it doesn’t catch fire) and the Exynos 7420 obliterates it. Then the screen is just 1080p, same as flagships 2 years ago, there are maybe some 15 phones now with 1440p and we should see 4k this year.
The Note is also $300 cheaper than the S6….
Yeah but also more than actual China flagships this year.
And more than twice as much as a m1 Note while offering maybe 30% more overall.
This should have been a competitor for the MX4 (with the MI4 bellow it) and the Pro at 1999CNY but Xiaomi is not Xiaomi anymore.
You want good prices, look elsewhere, Xiaomi is done with that. Even Asus has better pricing than them with the 4GB RAM version that has just a slightly slower SoC but at least isn’t insulting us with the lack of microSD.
The Mi Note costs about $50 more than the Mi4 did when it launched. As for the M1 note the Mi Note has more RAM, a better camera, a much thinner body and a better processor. Let’s see what other flagships are currently selling for that offer the similar specs to the Mi Note:
Mi Note – Snapdragon 801, 3GB Ram, 1080p – $370
Honor 6 Plus – Kirin 925, 3GB Ram, 1080p – $480
MX4 Pro – Exnyos 5420, 3GB Ram, 2k – $460
Gionee S7 – MT6752, 2GB Ram, 1080P – $422
OPPO R5 – Snapdragon 615, 2GB RaM, 1080P – $499
“Xiaomi is not Xiaomi anymore”. Because they are offering a better product at a slightly higher price? It costs more to produce a 5.7 inch phone for Gorilla Glass front and back than it does to produce a 5 inch plastic phone. If they really wanted to they could charge as much as the Honor 6 plus and still sell millions of these. I also didn’t realize you could be personally insulted by a phone not having an SD card. Asus has to sell their phones cheaper, they don’t have the brand name recognition that Xiaomi does. It remains to be seen how good the Zenphone will perform, on paper it sounds promising but we still need some reviews of it.
I think some would argue the Mi Note Pro would be their designated flagship which is about $535 USD.
Also you’re mixing the pricing up to totally favor Xiaomi by using the price of the Mi Note for what it sells in China and in some instances using the inflated reseller prices for the other phones. HonorBuy.com wants $489 USD for a 16gb Mi Note — over $100 more than the MSRP in China. Meizu just dropped a bomb on their MX4 Pro price and it now starts at 2199 RMB ($360 USD) for the 16GB version, yes, less than your precious Mi Note and the MX4 Pro has 2k screen and a finger print reader on the home button.
The Huawei Honor 6 Plus can also be bought on JD or TMall for 2299 RMB ($370) which is the same price as the 16GB Mi Note in China (Honorbuy wants $409 for the Huawei btw). Also official price of the S7 is 2499 RMB which is $405 although your price wasn’t too far off on that one.
“Your precious Mi Note” I don’t own a Mi Note and have no intention of buying one. But nice try. The Mi Note Pro will be the flagship when it releases, which it hasn’t yet.
Ah? You’ve been preaching and praising the Mi Note in so many threads (including this one) and proudly waving your Xiaomi flag and you have no intention of buying one? Not even a maybe? What changed?
Ah I know, you came to your senses and realized the Mi Note is in fact not a god send of value and specs that you claimed it to be. When I first saw the Mi Note I got excited, then saw the price and also said “wow”, then thought about it for 5 minutes and realized you can buy a 64gb OnePlus (which also has a 801, 3gb ram, and 13mp camera) for the same price as the 16gb Mi Note. Of course the Note looks a lot better than the OnePlus, I’ll give it that much.
You’ve been waiving your anit-Xiaomi flag every chance you get. See what I did there?
I own a Mi4 why do I need a Mi Note? The Mi Note is an excellent phone for the price, If I didn’t have a Mi4 I would have no second thoughts on buying one. I wouldn’t pay $100 for a One Plus, I hate Cyangenmod and think they are one of the ugliest phones available. I would rather have a very good looking phone with less storage that runs my favorite version of Android. I use Google Drive anyways so my phone storage doesn’t really matter.
Looks awesome, very good choice for me .
Is this suppose to tide us over until they figure out how to make the black one in mass quantity?
I actually dislike all these ‘wood/bamboo’ look phones, even though I have lots of natural wood around my house I just think it looks very 70’s on a phone! lol
Where is black ver?????
They hate that colour?????
yes, i bought one , it is perfect phonehttp://flosmall.com/phones/xiaomi-note-bamboo-3gb-16gb-detail