Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 specifications, pricing and features

The speculation, hype and rumours all came to an end when Xiaomi finally unveiled the Redmi Note 3 earlier today. The phone is something for the money but we’ve grown used to Xiaomi doing that to us each time.

That said, the upgrade from the Redmi Note 2 is incremental and it’s got more to do with the metal body than anything else. Nonetheless, should you be wanting to know the full specs of the phone, keep reading.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Full Specifications

Model	Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
SIM support	Dual 4G LTE SIM

Color	Gold, Grey and Silver
Storage and Memory	Set 1: 2GB RAM/16GB ROM Set 2: 3GB RAM/32GB ROM No microSD slot
Chipset	CPU: MediaTek Helio X10
Android Version	Android 5.1
Screen	Display Size: 5.5-inch FHD Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on Telegram Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Camera	13 mega-pixel rear camera with PDAF and dual tone flash 5 mega-pixel front-facing camera
Network and Wireless Connectivity	2G GSM: Band 2/3/8 3G WCDMA: Band 1/2/5/8; TD-SCDMA (China): Band 34/39 4G FDD LTE: Band 1/3/7; TDD LTE: Band 38/39/40/41
Battery capacity	4000mAh
Size	8.65 mm at its thickest point Weight: 164g
Other	Fingerprint Sensor, IR Blaster

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Picture Gallery

View gallery (15)

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Pricing

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is priced at an impressive 899 Yuan and 1099 Yuan for the 2GB/16GB and 3GB/32GB versions. This translates to roughly $140 and $170 respectively. If you’re based outside China, keep an eye on Shop.GizChina.com for reseller stock.

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.

About the author

Yash Garg
Yash is a blogger by profession, builder of things by passion and foodie by birth. You'll usually find him talking about technology, music, travel and the game of cricket on the streets of Pune when not busy writing or speeding his way through the country! Read more on retro handheld gaming on RETRO91
You can learn more about Yash, add him to your Google+ circles or follow him on Twitter to stay connected!

November 24, 2015
What about sellers that still have Xiaomi Redmi note 2 in stock?
This is not a good move.
- vijay sud
  November 24, 2015
  If they r over stocked with Redmi Note 2..they ll have to liquidate at a loss. This is a normal business risk.
- MaxPower
  November 24, 2015
  there are still people that would go for the previous version due to removable battery and sd card slot.
  i personally would pick the previous version.
  - balcobomber25
    November 24, 2015
    32GB is more than enough for me and I would pick the new one for the fingerprint and metal build.
a
November 24, 2015
vijay sud
November 24, 2015
Yash boss..one critical detail you forgot..2GB RAM/16 GB ROM..3GB RAM/16 GB ROM..yes..BUT what about SD card ???..yes or no…if not..then this is a giant no.no. for me atleast. And for majority of consumers in India.
- - vijay sud
    November 24, 2015
    - balcobomber25
      November 24, 2015
      - tauerman
        November 24, 2015
        I don’t go for the Meizu Metal because YunOS can’t be rooted. So I stick with the Redmi Note 3
        Marco Lancaster
        November 24, 2015
        Oh seriously? I was considering it, but no rooting is a kill for me.
        tauerman
        November 24, 2015
        See the answer from balcobomber.
        Till now there is no root.
        balcobomber25
        November 24, 2015
        Yun isnt easy to root but it is possible.
    - Bailey
      November 24, 2015
      Your list of manufacturers will get smaller and smaller as the years go on. because SD cards is very old tech. Everyone keeps on going on about Meizu and to begin with my Meizu note m2 note was great i have the international version but to be honest it is a very bad experience i got a software update it crashed the phone and then the play stor just vanished into thin air. Top it off it can take 4 seconds or more to open a appy it is slow and full of bugs and crashes at least 3 times a day and yes this was before the update. But my Xiaomi mi4 is great and i really enjoy using it i was waiting for this to come out as i would like to replace my meizu pile of crap with this phone its a great size for reading on the train and bus and 32gb is just fine for me
      - vijay sud
        November 24, 2015
        So what does one do with 16 GB Mi4 or 16 GB MI4i which Xiaomi sells in India ? Use a show piece..with barely 9 GB available and no Sd card ? This Sd card being old tech is pure crap..Implemented properly it works fine..my Note 4 duos never crashes..if implemented properly. if knowledgeable consumers demand even more n more manufacturers will incorporate into phones they bring in. Otherwise like Apple consumers will pay thru their back side for incremental increases in Rom.
        
        Bailey
        November 25, 2015
        There is the 32gb version of the mi4 that was not very expensive which is what I use.
      - aquagalon
        November 24, 2015
        “SD cards is very old tech” this is just bullshit. Google won’t bother to add adoptable storage on marshmallow if they want to ‘ban’ sd card use.
        Phone companies really need to move away from 16Gb as base model
        
        Bailey
        November 25, 2015
        ok how old does old have to be in tech land? The SD card slot is over 10 years old. Google may have added adoptable storage but did you see any of the latest Nexus phones with SD storage most of the expesive flagships this year came without it we are moving the way of the cloud and even if that means that you have to get their kicking and screaming thats the way its going to be. I dont buy 16gb phone but at the same time i dont store all my photographs on the phones as i use a dslr camera and i move them to the cloud carrying around 300 photos on my phone is madness and i dont need to have 128gb worth of music with me. Most houses in the world have wifi and more and more areas do to people bang on about getting the best chipset and ever better cameras and they are will to embrace high chipsets just so they can use facebook but when it comes to moving with the times for storage people act outdated
        
        aquagalon
        November 28, 2015
        Well maybe that’s why…
        You have DSLR camera, [B]WITH[/B] a SD/CF card slot. If SD card slot are outdated are you suggesting that DSLR camera maker should remove it and going cloud only?
        Most people don’t have a DSLR and even when they do have, using phones camera is more hasle-free
        Because in my opinion releasing a phone with 4K video recording capability with 16GB internal memory without external memory slot are ridiculous. Apps are also growing larger these days, developer want their app to load faster, so they store cache as much as possible on our phones.
        Yes, I agree cloud are the future, but not now. Most people including me still prefer to have physical control of their data rather than store it on the cloud for a lot of reason
        Bailey
        November 28, 2015
        Strangely enough I store all my photographs online. If you don’t like 4k with 16gb don’t buy the phone. Going back on forth won’t matter SD cards are on the way out
  - JM
    November 24, 2015
    I’ll take a plastic back and microSD support over a metal back and fingerprint reader any day of the week!
    - balcobomber25
      November 24, 2015
      I am the opposite I would prefer metal and fingerprint to SD card any day. In fact I would take the IR blaster over an SD card too.
arsalan
November 24, 2015
A big no for me if don’t have SD card support.
vijay sud
November 24, 2015
Confirmed..no MICRO SD SLOT…bad guys these .?
QwE43
November 24, 2015
First look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Wc6HZKAfI&fdv

MattD
November 24, 2015
The large battery nearby had me sold, but the fact it’s not removable and there is no microsd support really hold me back… All in all, the standard version is a better choice, considering it’s going to be even cheaper now that the metal version is around!
Freeje
November 24, 2015
Meizu Metal for the microSD card slot.
quodvadis
November 24, 2015
Where are you getting info about card slot support? GSMArena list it as having one. Confusing.

tauerman
November 24, 2015
I really want this. Nice that is has 4000mAh battery. And fingerprint.
I go for the 32GB version, then I don’t mind the missing SD slot.
But it is rather expensive at 280€ after import fees.
- quodvadis
  November 24, 2015
  Yeah people who use their phone for shallow things like browsing or light games won’t be bothered by the lack of expendable storages.
  But then, why even bother ‘upgrading’ your phone? lol
  - Interested
    November 24, 2015
    Hi, just genuinely interested – what for are you using your phones, that you need way more memory?
    - quodvadis
      November 24, 2015
      Gigabytes of music, gigabytes of games, gigabytes of photo, storing my data on micro sd prevent it from getting lost if my phone got f***d, titanium back-up for my data AND apps. Downloading things in case when I can’t use my notebook.
      Too bad, this phone is nearly perfect among the onslaught of shitty MT6753 phones in the market. If it just had a card slot and optionally, a removable battery, I would have bitten.
      - balcobomber25
        November 24, 2015
        You can keep all your photos on Google Plus/Drive for free. They give you 15GB for full size photos (unlimited for high quality photos) for nothing and you can set your photos to only upload when it’s on wifi connection. If you’re main concern is backing everything up in case your phone gets lost, you can do that with OTG USB, which is actually a better option than SD Cards.
        
        quodvadis
        November 24, 2015
        Not everyone has unlimited data plan, and no I won’t move away because of that.
        Err no, thanks for the, what I think is stupid, ‘better’ option, but no thanks. I can just buy other phone instead of lugging around OTG. I can afford micro SD cards just fine.
        
        balcobomber25
        November 24, 2015
        You don’t need an unlimited data plan to upload your photos to Google, I have yet to visit a country (and I go all over the world) that doesn’t have thousands of free wifi spots. It takes about 5 minutes on Wifi to upload photos to Google.
        As for OTG, if your not keeping the SD card in the phone and only using it for a backup option USB is a much better option.
        Aman
        November 24, 2015
        Welcome India/Pak/Bangladesh my friend 🙂
        balcobomber25
        November 24, 2015
        I have been to all three of those and have never had any issues finding a wifi signal. In fact Google is installing free wifi at every train station in India.
        
        Aman
        November 24, 2015
        Then you never visited India/Pak and Bangladesh. Stop beating around bush!
        balcobomber25
        November 24, 2015
        I got to all 3 for work about three times a year….
        MaxPower
        November 24, 2015
        it’s pretty obvious that sd card fanatics simply want cheap storage space otherwise they would simply buy the 64GB version of any phone
        balcobomber25
        November 24, 2015
        Guess and SD card just never made it high enough on my list to where it would prevent me from buying a great phone. More storage space is always welcome but there are ways around it.
        
        MaxPower
        November 24, 2015
        same here.
        The SD card slot is disappearing, and I’m not going to settle picking between one or two models that offer that feature.
        i rather get a better phone and either go with 64GB or cloud or otg.
        shouting at a conspiracy won’t help.
        But hey, they still have one or few options, still better than iPhone right?
        
        balcobomber25
        November 24, 2015
        The industry is moving to a cloud platform whether people want to accept it or not. Streaming music services passed physical sales for the first time ever this year and is expected to surpass digital downloads in 2016. Cloud is the future. It sucks for people where data is expensive but eventually those prices will come down as companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon are investing billions to turn the world into one giant hot spot.
        Of course I got plenty of Windows Phones I can sell them most have SD card support….
        
        quodvadis
        November 24, 2015
        I do for gigabytes of data. I don’t have time to spend idle time in wifi spot just to store my data that I might need anytime. I can just buy other phone that fits my need instead. Thanks for the, again incredibly dumb, advice though I guess?
        I personally think that not having to lug around extra device to backup data AND have usable data anytime I want is much much more better option. But w/e.
        
        balcobomber25
        November 25, 2015
        Good luck finding a phone now and in the future, SD cards are becoming rarer and rarer. Eventually you either have to change your way of thinking or find another option.
        quodvadis
        November 25, 2015
        Well not really, LG, Sony, Huawei, Asus and even Lenovo still have them, not to mention the myriad (almost literally) of Chinese phones not named Xiaomi (wait, even they have it lol). Thanks for the encouragement (?) though, I guess?
        
        balcobomber25
        November 25, 2015
        I am being honest with you, each year we see less and less phone that support it. Within 3 years as more companies switch to a cloud platform, it is going to be a rarity.
        quodvadis
        November 25, 2015
        Yes of course Mr. Industry Insider. I believe you.
        balcobomber25
        November 25, 2015
        There is nothing to believe just look at how the industry is going, the fact that we are even talking about is proof enough. If the industry wasn’t heading this way we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.
        
        quodvadis
        November 25, 2015
        I can see that Samsung lost a lot of sales from their newest line-up. I can see that many phones, flagships and otherwise still use micro sd slot. I can see that apple gonna apple like they’ve always been.
        I can see that there are also some people with amazingly peculiar train of thought in the internet. You concern is noted (lol) but don’t worry, I’m not worried, at all.
        
        balcobomber25
        November 26, 2015
        It’s peculiar to follow industry trends and make assumptions based on them? I think its peculiar to ignore stuff like that.
        quodvadis
        November 27, 2015
        It’s peculiar when someone pushes his flawed assumption to other people and acts as if it’s a fact.
        You can keep doing whatever you’re doing though lol.
        
        balcobomber25
        November 27, 2015
        There’s nothing flawed about it and it’s not an assumption. We wouldn’t be having this conversation if it wasn’t based in truth
        quodvadis
        November 27, 2015
        If that’s what you want to believe, sure.
        I don’t believe this was as much of a conversation as me accompanying a rambling of a peculiar man, and I’ve grown tired of it. You can have the last word.
        Ps. Oh and don’t worry about me not having the option to buy a phone with microSD slot. Appreciate the ‘concern’ though bahahaha.
        
        balcobomber25
        November 27, 2015
        I’m not concerned in the least bit could care less what you buy or what “youve grown tired of”. Best of luck though.
        arman
        November 24, 2015
        what about usb c type,and fast charging ?
        quodvadis
        November 24, 2015
        What’s the benefit of usb type c besides novelty?
        As long as the phone reliably last for a day, I don’t care with fast charging. I charge my phone overnight anyway.
  - tauerman
    November 24, 2015
    I don’t have a phone for 2 month now 😉
  - balcobomber25
    November 24, 2015
    Upgrading is about more than just storage. If I had the Note 2 I would upgrade just for the fingerprint sensor. Not everyone needs or uses a lot of space, that doesn’t mean they should never upgrade their phones. People upgrade for a better camera, better display, better battery life, faster processor, advanced features (fingerprint, NFC etc) and a host of other reasons. Storage size isn’t the be all end all for upgrading for some it isn’t even considered.
    - quodvadis
      November 24, 2015
      All those better hardwares which end up not having much use because of storage limitations lol.
      Better display? sharper fonts yay! what 4K movies?
      Better camera? I can shoot more yay? oh wait, ran out of space, forget it then.
      Battery life? sure, but this isn’t something that’s mutually exclusive to other features.
      Faster processor? for what? browsing the web or chatting with your friends? can’t even use it for emulator since you have not enough space to store ROMs.
      Fingerprint, NFC, etc. Subjective as heck, I guess people goes wild over something like fingerprint over having more use for your phone enabled with more storage.
      - balcobomber25
        November 24, 2015
        I have no storage limitations at all. All of my photos are uploaded to the Google Plus and then deleted. I use Google Play Music which gives me virtually every song ever released without taking up any storage space (other than 30mb for the app). And I don’t play any games. For videos I use Netflix and Amazon Prime, again doesn’t take up any additional storage. This is the future of mobile phones where everything is done in the cloud. I realize data can be very expensive in some countries, but in mine it is not an issue so this phone is perfect for me (if I didn’t already have a great phone). There is very little other than apps that I use storage for. At any given time I have at least 8GB free of the 12 that came on my phone (16GB MX5). Like I said storage isn’t important for everyone.
        A faster processor is useful for a lot more than just games and emulators. You do realize not everyone who uses a phone cares about gaming? I have an Xbox One for games. What do I need a fast processor for? Video editing, something I do for work often. Video editing is much more processor intensive than gaming (which relies more on the GPU).
        
        quodvadis
        November 24, 2015
  - Shikhi
    December 1, 2015
    Haha. I have Galaxy S Duos (a 5 year old phone) with internal memory swapped with the 32 Gb Micro SD card. So now it’s internal memory is 32 Gb. Would you like to exchange your current device with mine? 🙂
    PS. It’s has a LOT OF storage.
Ulti
November 24, 2015
What, it was only an Air Purifier, Mi Pad 2 and Redmi Note 3?! Still no Mi5?! Guess they don’t want me to upgrade yet.

Kingu Prima
November 24, 2015
Question about the Redmi Note 3
Is it possible to use the 2nd SIM slot for SD card as the Note 5 ?
http://phandroid.com/2015/08/14/dual-sim-note-5-microsd/
Michael Ogbonnaya
November 24, 2015
Why do they always do this to me? I almost make up my mind to purchase a phone and they repease something a lot better and cheaper. Now this has swayed me away from the LeTV LE 1s.
- David
  November 24, 2015
  - balcobomber25
    November 24, 2015
    - David
      November 24, 2015
      - balcobomber25
        November 24, 2015
        Type C is more of a convenience feature, unless it is USB 3.0 Type C (not all Type C is!), then you get theoretical faster transfer speed. But personally I would prefer the extra battery life.
        David
        November 24, 2015
        Good point. have you noticed that as you plug in and out of micro usb more and more, the usb port on the phone gets loose and the cord wiggles around?
        balcobomber25
        November 24, 2015
        Depends on the phone/cable, I notice that a lot on cheaper phones but with Xiaomi I have never had that issue.
      - Hiwyx
        November 25, 2015
        type C is quite annoying as early adopter, you’ll be able to use yours and only cable, almost no one can help you about it if you forgot it at home, and I guess a lot of convenience store won’t even have one to sell.
        Another point is you need an adapter for OTG.
        The comparison between Meizu metal/letv 1s and rn3 isn’t easy as their design and spec are similar.
        Actually I would take off letv 1s from the competitors as it’s known to have a bad quality camera.
        Xiaomi has big battery, Meizu has micro sd….
        Any of them with B20 would make it much easier to chose 🙂
        
        David
        November 25, 2015
- anette elmore
  April 19, 2016
  Interesting ideas ! I learned a lot from the details , Does anyone know if my assistant might be able to find a sample a form example to edit ?
  - Viky Palko
    April 20, 2016
Young
November 24, 2015
- Michael Ogbonnaya
  November 24, 2015
November 24, 2015
What about sellers that still have Xiaomi Redmi note 2 in stock?
This is not a good move.
- vijay sud
  November 24, 2015
  If they r over stocked with Redmi Note 2..they ll have to liquidate at a loss. This is a normal business risk.
- MaxPower
  November 24, 2015
  there are still people that would go for the previous version due to removable battery and sd card slot.
  i personally would pick the previous version.
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  32GB is more than enough for me and I would pick the new one for the fingerprint and metal build.
  Personally the only time I ever had the need for a removable battery was on phones with terrible software that would freeze up and the only way to reset them was a battery pull. Other than that I have never had the need or desire to replace or pull the battery. I did have an issue with my MX5 battery but I sent it back to Meizu and they fixed it for free, took about 2 weeks and I haven;t had an issue since.

Guest
November 24, 2015
vijay sud
November 24, 2015
Yash boss..one critical detail you forgot..2GB RAM/16 GB ROM..3GB RAM/16 GB ROM..yes..BUT what about SD card ???..yes or no…if not..then this is a giant no.no. for me atleast. And for majority of consumers in India.
- Yash Garg
  November 24, 2015
  Updated the table, no microSD support unfortunately.
- vijay sud
  November 24, 2015
  Good bye Xiaomi… will seek some manufacturer down the line who listens to consumers.
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  Meizu Metal has SD card support.
- tauerman
  November 24, 2015
  I don’t go for the Meizu Metal because YunOS can’t be rooted. So I stick with the Redmi Note 3
- Marco Lancaster
  November 24, 2015
  Oh seriously? I was considering it, but no rooting is a kill for me.
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  Yun isnt easy to root but it is possible.
- JM
  November 24, 2015
  I’ll take a plastic back and microSD support over a metal back and fingerprint reader any day of the week!
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  I am the opposite I would prefer metal and fingerprint to SD card any day. In fact I would take the IR blaster over an SD card too.
- tauerman
  November 24, 2015
  See the answer from balcobomber.
  Till now there is no root.
- Bailey
  November 24, 2015
  Your list of manufacturers will get smaller and smaller as the years go on. because SD cards is very old tech. Everyone keeps on going on about Meizu and to begin with my Meizu note m2 note was great i have the international version but to be honest it is a very bad experience i got a software update it crashed the phone and then the play stor just vanished into thin air. Top it off it can take 4 seconds or more to open a appy it is slow and full of bugs and crashes at least 3 times a day and yes this was before the update. But my Xiaomi mi4 is great and i really enjoy using it i was waiting for this to come out as i would like to replace my meizu pile of crap with this phone its a great size for reading on the train and bus and 32gb is just fine for me
- vijay sud
  November 25, 2015
  So what does one do with 16 GB Mi4 or 16 GB MI4i which Xiaomi sells in India ? Use a show piece..with barely 9 GB available and no Sd card ? This Sd card being old tech is pure crap..Implemented properly it works fine..my Note 4 duos never crashes..if implemented properly. if knowledgeable consumers demand even more n more manufacturers will incorporate into phones they bring in. Otherwise like Apple consumers will pay thru their back side for incremental increases in Rom.
- aquagalon
  November 25, 2015
  “SD cards is very old tech” this is just bullshit. Google won’t bother to add adoptable storage on marshmallow if they want to ‘ban’ sd card use.
  Phone companies really need to move away from 16Gb as base model
- Bailey
  November 25, 2015
  There is the 32gb version of the mi4 that was not very expensive which is what I use.
- Bailey
  November 25, 2015
  ok how old does old have to be in tech land? The SD card slot is over 10 years old. Google may have added adoptable storage but did you see any of the latest Nexus phones with SD storage most of the expesive flagships this year came without it we are moving the way of the cloud and even if that means that you have to get their kicking and screaming thats the way its going to be. I dont buy 16gb phone but at the same time i dont store all my photographs on the phones as i use a dslr camera and i move them to the cloud carrying around 300 photos on my phone is madness and i dont need to have 128gb worth of music with me. Most houses in the world have wifi and more and more areas do to people bang on about getting the best chipset and ever better cameras and they are will to embrace high chipsets just so they can use facebook but when it comes to moving with the times for storage people act outdated
- aquagalon
  November 28, 2015
  Well maybe that’s why…
  You have DSLR camera, [B]WITH[/B] a SD/CF card slot. If SD card slot are outdated are you suggesting that DSLR camera maker should remove it and going cloud only?
  Most people don’t have a DSLR and even when they do have, using phones camera is more hasle-free
  Because in my opinion releasing a phone with 4K video recording capability with 16GB internal memory without external memory slot are ridiculous. Apps are also growing larger these days, developer want their app to load faster, so they store cache as much as possible on our phones.
  Yes, I agree cloud are the future, but not now. Most people including me still prefer to have physical control of their data rather than store it on the cloud for a lot of reason
- Bailey
  November 28, 2015
  Strangely enough I store all my photographs online. If you don’t like 4k with 16gb don’t buy the phone. Going back on forth won’t matter SD cards are on the way out

arsalan
November 24, 2015
A big no for me if don’t have SD card support.

balcobomber25
November 24, 2015
I said a week ago I would be surprised if they released the Mi5. The timing is just off. It all comes down to the SoC selection. They need the 820 to be released before they will come out with Mi5. The 808 isn’t powerful enough for a 2016 flagship and the X10 is their mid-budget SoC. Given their history with Qualcomm (also a Xiaomi investor) I can’t see them using a Exnyos. That leaves just the 820.
Qualcomm has started to tease details of the 820 so the launch is coming very soon. My prediction from last week stands, Mi5 will either come out in January/February or May/June. As for the devices they did release a new Mi Pad was long overdue and looks to be a good tablet for non power users, will be perfect for me who only uses a tablet for music, Skype, movies and light browsing. The Note 2 came out and blew the competition (specifically the M2 Note) out of the water prompting Meizu to release the Metal. The Note 3 is Xiaomi’s response. The battle continues in the most important segment for phones (under $200).
- MaxPower
  November 24, 2015
  - balcobomber25
    November 24, 2015
    The 820 is looking like it is going to be the SoC to get Qualcomm back on the map after the disasters that were 810 and 615 and the vastly underpowered 410.
    - MaxPower
      November 24, 2015
      …on paper 😀
      nah, i believe that it should do good
      because they took their time, no rush, and also because the SD808 proved to be a solid SOC.
      - balcobomber25
        November 24, 2015
    - Steven Fox
      November 25, 2015
      615 was a very good chip, but the devices that first came out with it were poorly done, in later devices there was never any overheating problems, and the chip is actually quite good although not a FHD gaming SoC.
      - balcobomber25
        November 25, 2015
        The 615 was terrible at launch, it got marginally better but never came close to being very good.
vijay sud
November 24, 2015
Confirmed..no MICRO SD SLOT…bad guys these .😢

Nolan
November 24, 2015
No device-only GPS I guess (i.e. GPS without network/data assist, EPO assist etc.)
MediaTek chips can’t be used for offline navigation without a full-fledged 3G/4G data connection and mobile network assist.
What a bummer. 🙁
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  Who told you that? I just tested it out on my X10 powered MX5, I completely shut off data service and only kept wifi on. Every App I use that requires GPS obtained a lock in a seconds.
  - Nolan
    November 24, 2015
    Lol, you kept Wi-Fi on, and you didn’t expect location services on your device to bounce-off your router and the network to decide on the location? You make me laugh.
    And please, don’t tell me about how GPS apps / systems work, I use offline navigation apps on a regular basis while in Europe and I very well know what goes into making them work.
    Also, with your ridiculous experiment and commentary, you missed the point entirely. My point of reference was NOT portable GPS devices with preloaded maps, like the TomTom or Garmin. My reference was any phone, made to function exactly like a portable GPS device, which, for your benefit, means:
    1. All data networks off (Wi-Fi switched off too, lol)
    2. Location Services setting set to “device only”, explicitly.
    3. No assist data on device (EPO files etc.)
    4. Now test with any offline maps and try to get a location fix (Here Maps, MapsMe, OSM, Sygic) etc.
    Come back and update me here after you’re done scratching your head. 😉 Lol, Wi-Fi on and you’re testing offline capabilities. This made my day. 😀
    - Nolan
      November 24, 2015
      Of course, I forgot to mention that you’d have to download the offline maps for the particular app one-time, using some network, that’s a given. For example, I update my MapsME maps once a month or two.
      On this front, when a phone is made to function like a totally offline (no network, no WiFi) portable GPS device, with downloaded offline maps, in device only mode, MediaTek chips simply do not function.
      QualComm SD chips do.
      - MaxPower
        November 24, 2015
        he just told you that downloading MapsME and then turning the network (mobile+wifi) off he gets the lock.
        what are you trying to prove here?
      - Ivan
        November 24, 2015
        That’s completely wrong. I can install a fresh rom, never turn on any networks (even remove sim, because GSM stations are also used for positioning), then install gps app and will get a lock. So what you say is not true. EPO/A-GPS is simply assistance to speed up the lock.
        I don’t know who told you that. Even my old MT6589 phone could get lock without any assistance.
        And I can tell you the GPS in RN2 is on par with Qualcomm chips. MTK GPS is not what it used to be.
      - highwind
        November 26, 2015
        So just buy those ultra cool Snapdragon powered phones for hundreds of dollars and be happy…
    - balcobomber25
      November 24, 2015
      Your point wasn’t fully explained, you said without 3G/4G, never said anything about WiFi. But I just downloaded MapsMe and with no data/wifi on I got a GPS lock without an issue. Get back to me when your done scratching your head.
- Steven Fox
  November 25, 2015
  It`s mainly due to the fact that MTK SoC in the past have been used mainly by crappy vendors, who would not be bothered with proper software optimizations for the GPS. Famous brands like Xiaomi and Meizu never had any problems with MTK chips using GPS.

QwE43
November 24, 2015
November 24, 2015
Any news when will this be available on gizchina`s shop EU warehouse?
Any chance getting this phone before the 25th of December in Ireland?
Bogdan Botezatu
November 24, 2015
I don’t think RN3 is going to replace RN2. They will be sold in parallel. I can see a price cut of RN2 just to cover the $100-$140 segment.
MattD
November 24, 2015
The large battery nearby had me sold, but the fact it’s not removable and there is no microsd support really hold me back… All in all, the standard version is a better choice, considering it’s going to be even cheaper now that the metal version is around!

Guest
November 24, 2015
Meizu Metal for the microSD card slot.
quodvadis
November 24, 2015
Where are you getting info about card slot support? GSMArena list it as having one. Confusing.
tauerman
November 24, 2015
I really want this. Nice that is has 4000mAh battery. And fingerprint.
I go for the 32GB version, then I don’t mind the missing SD slot.
But it is rather expensive at 280€ after import fees.
- quodvadis
  November 24, 2015
  Yeah people who use their phone for shallow things like browsing or light games won’t be bothered by the lack of expendable storages.
  But then, why even bother ‘upgrading’ your phone? lol
- Interested
  November 24, 2015
  Hi, just genuinely interested – what for are you using your phones, that you need way more memory?
- tauerman
  November 24, 2015
  I don’t have a phone for 2 month now 😉
- quodvadis
  November 24, 2015
  Gigabytes of music, gigabytes of games, gigabytes of photo, storing my data on micro sd prevent it from getting lost if my phone got f***d, titanium back-up for my data AND apps. Downloading things in case when I can’t use my notebook.
  Too bad, this phone is nearly perfect among the onslaught of shitty MT6753 phones in the market. If it just had a card slot and optionally, a removable battery, I would have bitten.
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  You can keep all your photos on Google Plus/Drive for free. They give you 15GB for full size photos (unlimited for high quality photos) for nothing and you can set your photos to only upload when it’s on wifi connection. If you’re main concern is backing everything up in case your phone gets lost, you can do that with OTG USB, which is actually a better option than SD Cards.
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  Upgrading is about more than just storage. If I had the Note 2 I would upgrade just for the fingerprint sensor. Not everyone needs or uses a lot of space, that doesn’t mean they should never upgrade their phones. People upgrade for a better camera, better display, better battery life, faster processor, advanced features (fingerprint, NFC etc) and a host of other reasons. Storage size isn’t the be all end all for upgrading for some it isn’t even considered.
- quodvadis
  November 24, 2015
  Not everyone has unlimited data plan, and no I won’t move away because of that.
  Err no, thanks for the, what I think is stupid, ‘better’ option, but no thanks. I can just buy other phone instead of lugging around OTG. I can afford micro SD cards just fine.
  You can justify your use case, but that won’t change my, or many similar minded people out there. Especially not with those reasoning.
- quodvadis
  November 24, 2015
  All those better hardwares which end up not having much use because of storage limitations lol.
  Better display? sharper fonts yay! what 4K movies?
  Better camera? I can shoot more yay? oh wait, ran out of space, forget it then.
  Battery life? sure, but this isn’t something that’s mutually exclusive to other features.
  Faster processor? for what? browsing the web or chatting with your friends? can’t even use it for emulator since you have not enough space to store ROMs.
  Fingerprint, NFC, etc. Subjective as heck, I guess people goes wild over something like fingerprint over having more use for your phone enabled with more storage.
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  I have no storage limitations at all. All of my photos are uploaded to the Google Plus and then deleted. I use Google Play Music which gives me virtually every song ever released without taking up any storage space (other than 30mb for the app). And I don’t play any games. For videos I use Netflix and Amazon Prime, again doesn’t take up any additional storage. This is the future of mobile phones where everything is done in the cloud. I realize data can be very expensive in some countries, but in mine it is not an issue so this phone is perfect for me (if I didn’t already have a great phone). There is very little other than apps that I use storage for. At any given time I have at least 8GB free of the 12 that came on my phone (16GB MX5). Like I said storage isn’t important for everyone.
  A faster processor is useful for a lot more than just games and emulators. You do realize not everyone who uses a phone cares about gaming? I have an Xbox One for games. What do I need a fast processor for? Video editing, something I do for work often. Video editing is much more processor intensive than gaming (which relies more on the GPU).
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  You don’t need an unlimited data plan to upload your photos to Google, I have yet to visit a country (and I go all over the world) that doesn’t have thousands of free wifi spots. It takes about 5 minutes on Wifi to upload photos to Google.
  As for OTG, if your not keeping the SD card in the phone and only using it for a backup option USB is a much better option.
- Aman
  November 24, 2015
  Welcome India/Pak/Bangladesh my friend 🙂
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  I have been to all three of those and have never had any issues finding a wifi signal. In fact Google is installing free wifi at every train station in India.
- Guest
  November 24, 2015
  what about usb c type,and fast charging ?
- Aman
  November 24, 2015
  Then you never visited India/Pak and Bangladesh. Stop beating around bush!
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  I got to all 3 for work about three times a year….
- MaxPower
  November 24, 2015
  it’s pretty obvious that sd card fanatics simply want cheap storage space otherwise they would simply buy the 64GB version of any phone
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  Guess and SD card just never made it high enough on my list to where it would prevent me from buying a great phone. More storage space is always welcome but there are ways around it.
- MaxPower
  November 24, 2015
  same here.
  The SD card slot is disappearing, and I’m not going to settle picking between one or two models that offer that feature.
  i rather get a better phone and either go with 64GB or cloud or otg.
  shouting at a conspiracy won’t help.
  But hey, they still have one or few options, still better than iPhone right?
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  The industry is moving to a cloud platform whether people want to accept it or not. Streaming music services passed physical sales for the first time ever this year and is expected to surpass digital downloads in 2016. Cloud is the future. It sucks for people where data is expensive but eventually those prices will come down as companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon are investing billions to turn the world into one giant hot spot.
  Of course I got plenty of Windows Phones I can sell them most have SD card support….
- quodvadis
  November 25, 2015
  I do for gigabytes of data. I don’t have time to spend idle time in wifi spot just to store my data that I might need anytime. I can just buy other phone that fits my need instead. Thanks for the, again incredibly dumb, advice though I guess?
  I personally think that not having to lug around extra device to backup data AND have usable data anytime I want is much much more better option. But w/e.
- quodvadis
  November 25, 2015
  Good for you and your use case. I don’t care.
- quodvadis
  November 25, 2015
  What’s the benefit of usb type c besides novelty?
  As long as the phone reliably last for a day, I don’t care with fast charging. I charge my phone overnight anyway.
- balcobomber25
  November 25, 2015
  Good luck finding a phone now and in the future, SD cards are becoming rarer and rarer. Eventually you either have to change your way of thinking or find another option.
- quodvadis
  November 25, 2015
  Well not really, LG, Sony, Huawei, Asus and even Lenovo still have them, not to mention the myriad (almost literally) of Chinese phones not named Xiaomi (wait, even they have it lol). Thanks for the encouragement (?) though, I guess?
- balcobomber25
  November 25, 2015
  I am being honest with you, each year we see less and less phone that support it. Within 3 years as more companies switch to a cloud platform, it is going to be a rarity.
- quodvadis
  November 25, 2015
  Yes of course Mr. Industry Insider. I believe you.
- balcobomber25
  November 25, 2015
  There is nothing to believe just look at how the industry is going, the fact that we are even talking about is proof enough. If the industry wasn’t heading this way we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.
- quodvadis
  November 26, 2015
  I can see that Samsung lost a lot of sales from their newest line-up. I can see that many phones, flagships and otherwise still use micro sd slot. I can see that apple gonna apple like they’ve always been.
  I can see that there are also some people with amazingly peculiar train of thought in the internet. You concern is noted (lol) but don’t worry, I’m not worried, at all.
- balcobomber25
  November 26, 2015
  It’s peculiar to follow industry trends and make assumptions based on them? I think its peculiar to ignore stuff like that.
- quodvadis
  November 27, 2015
  It’s peculiar when someone pushes his flawed assumption to other people as if it’s a fact.
  You can keep doing whatever you’re doing though lol.
- balcobomber25
  November 27, 2015
  There’s nothing flawed about it and it’s not an assumption. We wouldn’t be having this conversation if it wasn’t based in truth
- quodvadis
  November 27, 2015
  If that’s what you want to believe, sure.
  I don’t believe this was as much of a conversation as me accompanying a rambling of a peculiar man, and I’ve grown tired of it. You can have the last word.
  Ps. Oh and don’t worry about me not having the option to buy a phone with microSD slot. Appreciate the ‘concern’ though bahahaha.
- balcobomber25
  November 28, 2015
  I’m not concerned in the least bit could care less what you buy or what “youve grown tired of”. Best of luck though.
- Guest
  December 1, 2015
  Haha. I have Galaxy S Duos (a 5 year old phone) with internal memory swapped with the 32 Gb Micro SD card. So now it’s internal memory is 32 Gb. Would you like to exchange your current device with mine? 🙂
  PS. It’s has a LOT OF storage.
Ulti
November 24, 2015
What, it was only an Air Purifier, Mi Pad 2 and Redmi Note 3?! Still no Mi5?! Guess they don’t want me to upgrade yet.
Kingu Prima
November 24, 2015
Question about the Redmi Note 3
Is it possible to use the 2nd SIM slot for SD card as the Note 5 ?
http://phandroid.com/2015/08/14/dual-sim-note-5-microsd/

Michael Ogbonnaya
November 24, 2015
Why do they always do this to me? I almost make up my mind to purchase a phone and they repease something a lot better and cheaper. Now this has swayed me away from the LeTV LE 1s.
- David
  November 24, 2015
  letv has USB type C
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  Is that enough to sway a purchase though?
- David
  November 24, 2015
  type C versus 1000mAh
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  Type C is more of a convenience feature, unless it is USB 3.0 Type C (not all Type C is!), then you get theoretical faster transfer speed. But personally I would prefer the extra battery life.
- David
  November 24, 2015
  Good point. have you noticed that as you plug in and out of micro usb more and more, the usb port on the phone gets loose and the cord wiggles around?
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  Depends on the phone/cable, I notice that a lot on cheaper phones but with Xiaomi I have never had that issue.
- Guest
  November 25, 2015
  type C is quite annoying as early adopter, you’ll be able to use yours and only cable, almost no one can help you about it if you forgot it at home, and I guess a lot of convenience store won’t even have one to sell.
  Another point is you need an adapter for OTG.
  The comparison between Meizu metal/letv 1s and rn3 isn’t easy as their design and spec are similar.
  Actually I would take off letv 1s from the competitors as it’s known to have a bad quality camera.
  Xiaomi has big battery, Meizu has micro sd….
  Any of them with B20 would make it much easier to chose 🙂
- David
  November 25, 2015
  What is OTG?
- anette elmore
  April 19, 2016
  Interesting ideas ! I learned a lot from the details , Does anyone know if my assistant might be able to find a sample a form example to edit ?
- Viky Palko
  April 20, 2016
  Hello anette elmore! my partner saw a blank a form version with this link http://goo.gl/yk4307

balcobomber25
November 24, 2015
I said a week ago I would be surprised if they released the Mi5. The timing is just off. It all comes down to the SoC selection. They need the 820 to be released before they will come out with Mi5. The 808 isn’t powerful enough for a 2016 flagship and the X10 is their mid-budget SoC. Given their history with Qualcomm (also a Xiaomi investor) I can’t see them using a Exnyos. That leaves just the 820.
Qualcomm has started to tease details of the 820 so the launch is coming very soon. My prediction from last week stands, Mi5 will either come out in January/February or May/June. As for the devices they did release a new Mi Pad was long overdue and looks to be a good tablet for non power users, will be perfect for me who only uses a tablet for music, Skype, movies and light browsing. The Note 2 came out and blew the competition (specifically the M2 Note) out of the water prompting Meizu to release the Metal. The Note 3 is Xiaomi’s response. The battle continues in the most important segment for phones (under $200).
- MaxPower
  November 24, 2015
  and we all benefit from that.
  amen
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  The 820 is looking like it is going to be the SoC to get Qualcomm back on the map after the disasters that were 810 and 615 and the vastly underpowered 410.
- MaxPower
  November 24, 2015
  …on paper 😀
  nah, i believe that it should do good
  because they took their time, no rush, and also because the SD808 proved to be a solid SOC.
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  Plus the 820 is using 14nm and being manufactured by Samsung Semi Conductor.
- Steven Fox
  November 25, 2015
  615 was a very good chip, but the devices that first came out with it were poorly done, in later devices there was never any overheating problems, and the chip is actually quite good although not a FHD gaming SoC.
- balcobomber25
  November 25, 2015
  The 615 was terrible at launch, it got marginally better but never came close to being very good.

Guest
November 24, 2015
No device-only GPS I guess (i.e. GPS without network/data assist, EPO assist etc.)
MediaTek chips can’t be used for offline navigation without a full-fledged 3G/4G data connection and mobile network assist.
What a bummer. 🙁
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  Who told you that? I just tested it out on my X10 powered MX5, I completely shut off data service and only kept wifi on. Every App I use that requires GPS obtained a lock in a seconds. Without a network connection all you can get from GPS is Latitude/Longitude. Portable GPS systems work because they come preloaded with maps of your country, the GPS chip determines your latitude/longtitude and the system software figures out where you are and where you are going based on it’s preloaded maps. Without those maps your car GPS would be useless unless it has a network connection to download those maps, which is what a phone requires it for. Many apps require a network connection to function with GPS as well. It has nothing to do with Mediatek. Their chips have full GPS/GLONASS support. Their older chips had terrible GPS issues but the newer ones work fine.
- Guest
  November 24, 2015
  Lol, you kept Wi-Fi on, and you didn’t expect location services on your device to bounce-off your router and the network to decide on the location? You make me laugh.
  And please, don’t tell me about how GPS apps / systems work, I use offline navigation apps on a regular basis while in Europe and I very well know what goes into making them work.
  Also, with your ridiculous experiment and commentary, you missed the point entirely. My point of reference was NOT portable GPS devices with preloaded maps, like the TomTom or Garmin. My reference was any phone, made to function exactly like a portable GPS device, which, for your benefit, means:
  1. All data networks off (Wi-Fi switched off too, lol)
  2. Location Services setting set to “device only”, explicitly.
  3. No assist data on device (EPO files etc.)
  4. Now test with any offline maps and try to get a location fix (Here Maps, MapsMe, OSM, Sygic) etc.
  Come back and update me here after you’re done scratching your head. 😉 Lol, Wi-Fi on and you’re testing offline capabilities. This made my day. 😀
- Guest
  November 24, 2015
  Of course, I forgot to mention that you’d have to download the offline maps for the particular app one-time, using some network, that’s a given. For example, I update my MapsME maps once a month or two.
  On this front, when a phone is made to function like a totally offline (no network, no WiFi) portable GPS device, with downloaded offline maps, in device only mode, MediaTek chips simply do not function.
  QualComm SD chips do.
- balcobomber25
  November 24, 2015
  Your point wasn’t fully explained, you said without 3G/4G, never said anything about WiFi. But I just downloaded MapsMe and with no data/wifi on I got a GPS lock without an issue. Get back to me when your done scratching your head.
- MaxPower
  November 24, 2015
  he just told you that downloading MapsME and then turning the network (mobile+wifi) off he gets the lock.
  what are you trying to prove here?
- Guest
  November 24, 2015
  That’s completely wrong. I can install a fresh rom, never turn on any networks (even remove sim, because GSM stations are also used for positioning), then install gps app and will get a lock. So what you say is not true. EPO/A-GPS is simply assistance to speed up the lock.
  I don’t know who told you that. Even my old MT6589 phone could get lock without any assistance.
  And I can tell you the GPS in RN2 is on par with Qualcomm chips. MTK GPS is not what it used to be.
- Steven Fox
  November 25, 2015
  It`s mainly due to the fact that MTK SoC in the past have been used mainly by crappy vendors, who would not be bothered with proper software optimizations for the GPS. Famous brands like Xiaomi and Meizu never had any problems with MTK chips using GPS.
- provokanter Tabellenführer
  November 26, 2015
  So just buy those ultra cool Snapdragon powered phones for hundreds of dollars and be happy…

Georgi Uzunov
November 24, 2015
Any news when will this be available on gizchina`s shop EU warehouse?
Any chance getting this phone before the 25th of December in Ireland?
Bogdan Botezatu
November 24, 2015
I don’t think RN3 is going to replace RN2. They will be sold in parallel. I can see a price cut of RN2 just to cover the $100-$140 segment.
Luis Amaral
November 24, 2015
Where can i find the 3gb version for $170?
- November 25, 2015
  That’s the price in China, expect to pay a % over that if you’re buying from reseller stores.
Muhammad Yasir
November 24, 2015
- Yash Garg
  November 25, 2015
  That’s the price in China, expect to pay a % over that if you’re buying from reseller stores.
Guest
November 25, 2015

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Picture Gallery, Full Specifications

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Full Specifications

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Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Picture Gallery

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Pricing

Yash Garg

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