After introducing the Mi 3 smart phone, Xiaomi will be selling its 4.7″ Redmi 1S model in Malaysia this month for less than RM500. Apart from this budget model, Xiaomi also has plans to offer its bigger 5.5″ Redmi Note which was just announced a few months ago.
If you can’t wait, a couple of grey importers have started selling the Redmi Note at only RM599 for the high-spec model. That’s not too bad considering it costs for 999 Yuan in China which is about RM515 when converted directly. The only thing you need to take note is that these are AP sets and they are not officially covered by Xiaomi’s official service centres. However the respective retailers are offering their own local warranty of 2 years. During our interview with Hugo Barra, he said that Xiaomi will still accept grey import units at their centres but you may need to pay for repair cost.
The specs for the Redmi Note include a larger 5.5″ HD 720p display and you have a choice of 1.7GHz Octa-Core MediaTek processor with 2GB of RAM or a lower spec variant of a 1.4GHz Octa-Core processor with 1GB of RAM. It gets 8GB of expandable on-board storage with support up to 32GB microSD card. It gets a 13MP f/2.2 main camera and a front facing 5MP unit. With its large 3,200mAh capacity battery, the Redmi Note weighs 199 grams and is 9.45mm thick. You can get the full specs over at Xiaomi’s Redmi Note product page.
When the Xiaomi Redmi Note went on sale in China, it sold 100,000 units in just 34 minutes. No prize guessing where most of them got transferred to.
You can check out the listing from SatuGadgetDotCom and DirectD.
