Chinese smartphone sensation Xiaomi hits Indian shores; launches Mi3 for Rs 13,999

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has finally made its debut in the Indian smartphone market. The company has launched its flagship device Mi3 in the country, which will go on sale starting July 15, 2014. The device sports a 5 inch display and runs on the Android operating system, which can be fine-tuned with custom-built themes, built-in apps and widgets, and robust settings options. It will be available for purchase for as low as Rs 13,999.

However, the company has not revealed whether it will sell the device via its own website (which went live last month) or will partner with Indian e-commerce major Flipkart.com for the same. Earlier, reports were doing the rounds that the company will take the Motorola route to offer its smartphones exclusively on the e-commerce site.

Here is a look at the specifications of the device.

Originally unveiled in China last year, the smartphone sports a 5 inch full HD IPS LCD touchscreen display (1920x1080 pixels resolution) with 441 ppi pixel density. It runs on the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean operating system that has been optimised with MIUI version 5. Powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 8274B processor with Adreno 330 GPU, the smartphone has 2GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 16GB (available storage capacity 13.22GB) but further memory expansion is not available.

It has a 13 megapixel autofocus rear camera with dual-LED Flash (and Stacked CMOS sensor) and a 2MP front facing camera for video calling. Both the cameras can also record full HD videos (1080p) at 30 frames per second. On the connectivity front, it has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi (with Wi-Fi Direct) and 3G. Mi3 also has GPS (with A-GPS support) and Near Field Communication (NFC).

The dimensions of the device are 144mm x 73.6mm x 8.1mm and its weight is 145gm. Xiaomi has provided a 3,050mAh battery in the device which it claims will provide up to 25 hours of talk time, 50 hours of music playback and 500 hours of standby time. According to the company, Mi 3's body uses a magnesium alloy frame which is coated in three layers of thermal graphite film.

Here is an introductory video of the device.

While it is rarely that we say something like this, it is one of those times that we have to. Considering its specifications, and the price at which it is being offered in the country, Mi3 doesn't really have any competitor in the market. Sure many local vendors that can match the prices, but the quality that Xiaomi is providing (at least on paper) makes it a must buy at Rs 14,999. In fact, we feel the closest competitor to the smartphone is Google's Nexus 5, which is priced almost double in comparison to Mi3 at Rs 28,999.

One advice, be ready to fight it out for the smartphone on July 15, since Xiaomi smartphones have a habit of going out of stock within minutes of them being launched. A direct result of which is the fact that in 2012, Xiaomi sold 7.2 million smartphones, and then more than doubled this number to 18.7 million handsets last year. The company is now looking to increase this number to 40 million handsets in 2014.

Apart from the smartphone, the company has also listed its Mi Power Bank in two capacities of 10,400 and 5,200mAh on its site, however, a pricing for the same has not been disclosed.

Last month, Manu Kumar Jain, the co-founder and former managing director of Rocket Internet-incubated lifestyle e-tailer Jabong.com had joined the company as its general manager (GM) for India.

Apart from Xiaomi, other Chinese smartphone manufacturers that already have a presence in the country include Gionee and Oppo.