Xiaomi tablet, what features would you like to see?

This next few weeks is an exciting time for Xiaomi fans! The Mi3 is on the way and so to is a smart TV and rumoured Xiaomi Tablet! So we ask “What features would you like to see in a Xiaomi tablet?”

Xiaomi make some wonderful phones, a great UI and are now working on expanding their range with an Android smart TV and Xiaomi tablet, aka the MiPad.

The possibility of a Xiaomi tablet has gotten me quite excited. I currently use a 3G iPad mini for my tablet needs and I really like it. It has great performance and it’s lightweight and portable, but the iPad mini is not a cheap device and iOS 6 (soon to be iOS 7) is nowhere near as flexible and easy to use as Xiaomi’s own MIUI.

So for me a Xiaomi table would have to have MIUI and be a similar size to the iPad mini, but what else?

Xiaomi Tablet features I would like to see

Design and construction

Although I like the alloy body of the iPad mini, it does add to the overall cost, and it can dent quite easily (especially when your kids get hold of it). I would like to see the Xiaomi pad made of a study plastic which can handle knock and bumps better than the Asus manufactured Nexus 7.

The design would be similar to the Nexus 7, but with narrower bezels along the edges and a more curved rear shell, similar to the current Xiaomi Mi2a.

Xiaomi are known for their infinite customisation options so either the rear panel would come in colour options (possibly removable) or their will be plenty of covers and cases available at launch.

Screen

I’m hoping the Xiaomi tablet will have a slightly better screen resolution than the iPad mini, and possibly the same resolution 1280 x 800 resolution as the Nexus 7. A higher resolution would be fantastic, but this device is expected to ship for just $160 so we have to keep things realistic.

Gorilla Glass or some other laminated protection would also be highly desirable on the Xiaomi pad.

Connectivity and expansion

Like many of you I would love to see Xiaomi have an SD card bay in their tablet, but judging by their range of phones this is going to be highly unlikely.

3G would be a deal breaker for me. If the Xiaomi tablet doesn’t have 3G then I won’t go near it, I also hope that they will adopt the faster 5Ghz Wifi which the Xiaomi Mi2a currently boasts along with GPS.

Speaking of the Mi2a we can expect NFC on the tablet too, to enable file transfers, media sharing and other functions.

Mini HDMI out would be great, as well as OTG and MHL via a micro USB port.

Cameras

I honestly don’t see the point in a rear camera on a tablet. My Android phone has a great camera, and if I expect to take photos I’ll use my DSLR. A front facing video chat camera would be handy though. Anything above 2 mega-pixels would do for me.

Hardware

Again it would be easy to say I want a Snapdragon 800 chip with 4GB RAM on board, but at the rumoured price point it’s not going to happen but I would still like a boost in performance over the iPad mini.

I’m going to go for the same dual-core 1.7Ghz Snapdragon 8260A processor as found in the MI2a with 1GB RAM and Adreno 320 graphics.

Battery size would be at least 4000mAh, but the bigger the better. A non replaceable unit would be preferable too to keep the overall thickness of the tablet down and help to increase stiffness.

Android OS

Of course a Xiaomi isn’t a Xiaomi without MIUI, and I hope the Xiaomi tablet will run it’s own tablet variation of this ROM.

I would especially like to see the implementation of apps which can run over the top of other applications, something which we are seeing a lot in newer Android phone roms.

The ability to have email pop up over the browser would be extremely handy and would really help increase productivity and time spent on the device.

What would you like to see

So those are a few ideas I would like to see on the Xiaomi tablet, but what about you guys? Let us know in the comments section below.