Review: Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G

Price: Rs 10,000 (Flipkart.com)
Xiaomi has for long had a policy of selling only one handset at a time in India, probably to prevent cannibalisation within its own camp. The company has discontinued the Redmi Note a week ago, but is now selling its replacement – Redmi Note 4G, along with the smaller and previously discontinued Redmi 1S, probably because it seems to have realised that these are two completely different devices at different price points for different demographics and will not hinder the sale of one another. The phablet Redmi Note 4G may look the same as the Redmi Note, but the internals are different. While the older model was a dual SIM handset with a MediaTek octo-core CPU, the newer model has a single SIM but with 4G capability, and features a quad-core Snapdragon CPU. At a price point of Rs 10,000, which is a thousand rupees more than the previous version, let’s find out if the Redmi Note 4G is really worth the extra premium. Please note that this review may appear like a copy-paste of the Redmi Note review, because it is partially true, where the two devices have the same features.

Review: Xiaomi Redmi Note

Xiaomi Redmi Note

Price: Rs 9000

Xiaomi was probably not contenpt with its successes with the Mi3 and Redmi 1S in recent times. Now it has come up with a phablet – Redmi Note. The Redmi Note looks like a scaled-up version of the Redmi 1S. It sports a 5.5” HD IPS display and is powered by an Octa-Core processor from MediaTek supported by 2 GB RAM. This dual-SIM device promises great performance in an affordable price. Let’s find out if it can really do what it claims.

Samsung Continues Its Large Screen March With The GALAXY Note 3

While the sane techies may criticise Samsung for its increasing screen sizes in mobile devices, the Korean manufacturer prefers to listen to the majority who want such screens and continues its march by launching the GALAXY Note 3. The new smartphone boasts of a 5.7" Full HD Super AMOLED multi-touch display that should be a treat to view due to its high pixel density of 388 ppi. Despite its large screen size, the device is just 8.3 mm in thickness and weighs 168 grams, which is just about the same as most smartphones today. It is powered by an 8-core Exynos 5 Octa chip (1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 and 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU with ARM Mali T628MP6 GPU) with 3 GB RAM that should provide enough firepower for the most demanding tasks today.

The Note 3 looks better than its predecessor with a faux metallic bezel and a plastic leather rear cover with faux stitching. It has a 13 MP rear camera capable of recording 1080p@60fps and even 4K@30fps. With 32 GB of internal storage, there is a microSD slot to add up to an additional 64 GB. It supports USB OTG with the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 standard, thus becoming the first smartphone to support this interface for faster data transfers with compatible devices. A 3200 mAh battery is present for power backup. Here are the specifications:

• Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean), Google Play
• 2G (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), 3G (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz), Micro-SIM 
• 5.7" Super AMOLED capacitive multi-touch screen with pixel dimensions of 1080x1920 (386 ppi) 
• Exynos 5 Octa chip (quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 and quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU with ARM Mali T628MP6 GPU) 
• 3 GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage, Up to 64 GB via microSDXC 
• 13 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, autofocus, 1080p@30fps and 2160p@30fps 
• 2 megapixel front camera with 1080p@30fps 
• Wi-Fi with hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, Infrared, micro-USB 3.0 with OTG 
• 3.5 mm audio jack, GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS 
• Accelerometer, Gyrometer, Proximity, Compass, Barometer, Temperature, Humidity, Gesture 
• 3200 mAh Li-Ion battery

On the software front, the smartphone comes with Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) cloaked by Samsung's TouchWiz UI. Being a Note class of device, it comes with a stylus that automatically launches the Air Command menu once it is removed from its compartment. There are pen-oriented features such as Action Memos (something similar to sticky notes, but using handwriting recognition), Pen Window, Screen Write annotation tool, S Finder, and Scrapbook. It retains the multi-window functionality that has been enhanced to support more apps. Additionally, it can run multiple instances of a single app (thus you can log into multiple instances of an IM client using different IDs from the same device simultaneously) and you can drag and drop content between apps A My Magazine news aggregator app comes preinstalled to keep you updated with the latest happenings around. It also comes with a 1-year subscription for Evernote Premium.

Samsung provides security to the phone with its KNOX application that allows users to store security-sensitive apps and data inside a secure "container". There is also a Find My Mobile feature that allows users to disable the device if it is stolen or lost. This prevents even factory reset of such a disabled device, while the user can still remotely track or erase the data if necessary. With the Indian market in mind, the smartphone comes with support for 11 regional languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya and Assamese. The Samsung GALAXY Note 3 comes for a whopping Rs 49,900. Probably as a consolation, Samsung bundles freebies worth Rs 15,000 with the smartphone, which include preloaded apps and a wide range of services that can be accessed through a special zone called Content Gifts. Also, Note 3 customers on Vodafone network will be able to avail 2 GB of 2G internet per month for two months. The smartphone will be available from 25 September 2013 and can be pre-booked on the Samsung mobile e-Store right away.