Xiaomi have launched the Snapdragon 650-powered variant of the Redmi Note 3 — also unofficially known as the Redmi Note 3 Pro — in India.
Starting 9,999 INR ($148) for the 2GB RAM/16GB ROM version, the Redmi Note 3 goes for the kill. The top-end 3GB RAM version (with 32GB ROM) is priced 11,999 INR ($178).
The phone will be made available to buyers via Xiaomi’s own Mi.com and Amazon starting March 9th. Xiaomi will offer the phone on Flipkart, Snapdeal (and via offline partners) at a later date which was not specified.
During the launch, Xiaomi VP Hugo Barra seemed very excited about the phone’s benchmark capabilities.
Quoting Barra:
We are extremely excited to be launching Redmi Note 3 in India, which is the start of many firsts for us in 2016 and more than meets the demands of our hardcore Mi fans. We literally pioneered the category of ‘phablets’ below INR 10,000 in India, and with Redmi Note 3 we are redefining what you can get in this category. 2016 is a significant year for us and we are looking forward to introduce even more amazing products in India in the year to come.
Snapdragon 650 Redmi Note 3 Specifications
Gizchina News of the week
- 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080p display
- Snapdragon 650 hexa-core processor
- Qualcomm Adreno 510 GPU
- 2GB RAM/16GB ROM and 3GB RAM/32GB ROM variants
- 16 mega-pixel PDAF rear camera
- 5 mega-pixel front facing camera
- 4050mAh battery
- Dual SIM
- VoLTE
What differentiates this version from the initial Chinese version of the Redmi Note 3 are the processor (Snapdragon 650 vs Helio X10), camera (16 mega-pixel vs 13 mega-pixel) and network support, mainly.
Future Xiaomi launches in India
Xiaomi’s kitty of gadgets isn’t limited to phones, which is something GizChina patrols will be well aware of. The company makes tablets, power banks, earphones, scooters (the Ninebot Mini) and a lot more.
Xiaomi addressed that at the event yesterday, with Barra assuring the media and fans that ‘Mi India’s magic’ is still alive and that India won’t receive a step-motherly treatment from the company.
Following this, it was announced that the Mi 5 would be launching in India sometime next month, along with a 20,000mAh power bank.
Besides the Redmi Note 3, yesterday’s event at a jam-packed Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi also saw the announcement of the Mi Bluetooth Speakers (priced 1,999 INR/$29) which will go on sale sometime around the festival of Holi.
Xiaomi actually had these in the press kits, and nope, I don’t see a microSD slot in here 🙁
What? I have the Red version (Voice of China edition) oh these speakers and they have sd card slot (mine even came with 8Gb; but it was special verrison with the voice songs on it). On the pic you can clearly see the SD Slot
Ah good catch. However the ones contained in the press kits (which are likely the ones to sell in India later) don’t seem to have one.
Ref:
Okay that is really strange… in the MIUI Forum announcement for India it says that it’ll hav SD Slot: http://en.miui.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=235496&highlight=speaker
But as your model doesn’t, we just need to wait and see. Would be disappointing for Indian customers
Yup it wont be having the one, but thank god mine have one, but all i screwed up with Chinese language
Yup it wont be having, thank god mine have one, but all i screwed up with Chinese language
I have a Chinese version of mi speaker and I has sdcard slot.
Btw, the camera performance of mi note pro seems to be on the average side ( low light )
Nice phone that Redmi note 3 pro… It was on sale since February on some China re-sellers (bought mine from one of them- expecting it on Monday!).
Somehow everybody seems to forget that another difference between this one and the MTK version is that the Pro has a SD card slot (highly demanded feature)
Care to share camera performance? gsmarena says its below Xiaomi standard. The worst till date from Xiaomi.
Xiaomi makes phones from less than $100 to up to $500 and obviously cameras can’t be the same on those phones.
This one is far better than any other Redmi Note of the past.
Though the camera of my MI4 is slightly better than this one (in my opinion).
I hope I’ve been helpful to make you understand how this camera performs
I had the Mi4 and not fan of its camera. Take click at night and picture gets yellowish. Its not a tint just but a huge yellowish photo. Ugly. Does this Note click same?
I haven’t found a phone that makes good picture in low light conditions yet
Thanks to reply. But There is difference between noise and yellowish photo. I do know at night things change but its not just about night. Use flash in day with Mi4 and see how it turns photos in a ugly yellowish thing. I feel you have not checked the yellowish thing yet. Try to get a non-yellowish using flash. Night or day doesnt matter.
In fact I have never tried it.
To be honest I don’t even use the flash at night time.
And that’s always been like that, not just with Xiaomi phones.
Keep in mind that the camera of the Snapdragon version is different (and better) than the one of the mediatek one
I’m wondering If I get one or no as daily driver. I ditched my interest for Note 3 when I saw no MicroSD (yeah I confess, I’m one of those addicts). But then Pro version came out with it, and for the price is quite a deal, you get a SoC that theorically is better than 808.
I only hope those redmis with Qualcomm also get different flavours of Android, call me crazy or boring guy, but I like to use Xiaomi devices with Stock Android 😛
Wait until devs will release other roms for this phone and then your list is all checked.
I gave up requesting the unlocking code though, it’s all Chinese and I couldn’t figure out what to do to continue.
And the only reason was to get a developer ROM for root access.
I only need root to install adaware
You should insist on the unlocking code. There’s one in English and you can write anything as a cause. It will be needed. And there’s already a multi custom rom available for flash (without the need of unlocking bootloader).
if i can add an advice about xiaomi ..
always..always use the camera on HDR mode
the name is misleading as its not true HDR but the camera’s features comes to light in this mode.
downside it is slower ..but i checked..there are no focus issues ..just takes a bit longer to process .
xiaomi uses good sensors..but they do have something to learn about post processing a photo .
all modern sensors from the same gen
give more or less the same result ,given they have the same glass ;build..etc….the only big difference is how the software handles that shot.
Normal mode is satisfying for me.
I rarely use HDR because the difference of quality doesn’t worth the lack of speed.
The majority of the pics I take are about my son who can’t stay still for 1 second so I can’t afford to turn into HDR.
But thanks for the advice
the HDR shooting is done at the same speed as the normal one…the only difference is the post processing it does post shooting the object.
as for satisfying…go to a nearby plant or grass or animal ..take a picture with HDR on and without it . its leagues apart
Are you sure about that?
I feel like that if use HDR trying to take a picture of my son then he won’t even be there in the picture because he’s gone already.
Of course, a plant is different
How’s the performance and also battery life, I heard mtk version has a terrible battery life.
I’m not a heavy user so I can’t really tell. Let’s say that this one runs as fast (and more) than MI4
I forgot to mention the battery:
I can go through 2 days with intensive use of the phone
How many GB RAM is usuable or left?
You know miui is ram eater.
Just like the MI4.
It takes 1GB ram at boot leaving 2GB free, then the more apps you run during the day the less free Ram is left. I’ve never gone below 0.8 GB of free Ram.
I do remember, you obviously don’t.
I said that it was “interesting ” the fact that you were expecting to pay less than what was priced in China.
And then you said that 11,999 was the same price and I showed you that was not.
Keep laughing
yeah like your 12,600 and my 11,999 will make a difference! +600 dosent make any difference though! it gets the benefit of Make in India in pricing! i am still laughing hahahahah!
Hi,
Please what is the maximum capacity of micro sdcard accepted by this phone? Can it truly accept 128GB memory card?
thanks!
Sorry I can’t help you with it since I haven’t put any SD card yet.
What I can tell you is that usually the manufacturers to “play safe” guarantee the maximum capability that gets no problems.
Let me explain it better:
Let’s say Company X declares the maximum support is 32GB.
That means that you can throw any 32 GB sd card in it, even the cheapest ones without issues but most of the time you can also go higher up to 64GB using a good class 10 SD card from Samsung or SanDisk.
In this case, I’m safe to assume that you can use a 128GB Class 10 SD card from one of those company mentioned above.
To be sure I would suggest you to ask on their official forum
From the Amazon India website:
Does Amazon.in deliver internationally?
We do not deliver orders to international locations currently.
I haven’t seen any review of this phone.
Andi and Yash, when are we expecting a review?