Hasta La Gadget!

A few months ago, Xiaomi unveiled the Mi3 Android smartphone which made it the first smartphone in the world to feature NVIDIA’s Tegra 4 chipset. That in itself was pretty cool but unfortunately at that time, the launch of the handset with the Tegra 4 chipset also meant that the device could only place nicely on China’s TD-SCDMA networks, essentially meaning that if you lived outside of China, well you’d be out of luck if you were hoping to hook onto a 3G network, but if 2G or less is fine, then by all means go for it! However for those who are slightly more patient, you might be pleased to learn that Xiaomi will be launching a WCDMA version of their Mi3 handset on the 31st of December, New Year’s Eve.

This support means that the handset will be compatible with China Unicom’s 3G network as well as 3G networks in other countries. Perhaps not all, but most would be a safe assumption. This means that if you liked what you saw in the handset, you can rest assured knowing that if you were to import it after the 31st of December, you will be able to use it on your carrier’s 3G network. This also means that Xiaomi had to made some hardware changes and will see the device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 chipset instead, but the rest of its specs, such as its 5” Full HD display, 2GB of RAM, 13MP rear-facing camera, and its 3,050mAh battery should remain the same.

Xiaomi Mi3 With WCDMA Support Arriving 31st December original content from Ubergizmo.

As this author was fiddling with his Xiaomi Phone 2S (or MI2S) in bed ahead of Xiaomi’s big event tomorrow, he spotted something odd: a thumbnail of an unfamiliar device — next to the entry-level Red Rice aka Hongmi — in the company’s online store app. Since it’s a high-resolution image, we’re able to zoom into our screenshot (full version after the break) to see this Lumia-like design but with a flatter back. The long flash strip also suggests that this could be a beefed-up dual-LED flash module. Other than that, there’s not much else that we can pick up here.

Given the clock on this mysterious phone matches the 2pm start time of tomorrow’s event, we’re pretty certain that this is Xiaomi’s third-gen flagship device, the MI3; and it’ll likely be announced alongside the Xiaomi TV. We also recall seeing the same back cover leaked way back in February, and the side-by-side shot with the MI2 (embedded after the break) is pointing to a 5-inch screen for this new phone. Judging by the pattern so far, we bet it’ll use Qualcomm’s beastly Snapdragon 800 SoC to follow the 600 on the MI2S. Ultimately, it’ll be all about the price, which is likely to be no more than CN¥1,999 or about US$330 off contract.

While the above product thumbnail appears to be stuck in the cache on our MI2S, the same spot is occupied by the proper MI2S image in the same app on our MI2A. Talk about perfect timing, eh? Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have some sleep to catch up on — we don’t want to scare Hugo Barra with our panda eyes.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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