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Xiaomi unveils 5-inch $200 Mi 4c with USB Type-C, Bluetooth speaker, ‘Mi Mobile’ plans

@michaeldwm

Chinese smartphone upstart Xiaomi, which is building a formidable reputation for producing well-designed Android smartphones at disruptive prices, on Tuesday announced the launch of its latest device: the Mi 4c.

The phone is expected to be available in China only, and Xiaomi says it’s the first Snapdragon 808-equipped smartphone in the world at this price point off-carrier.

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The 5-inch Full HD smartphone will start at around $200 and be available in a variety of “bubblegum” colors including white, grey, pink, yellow, and blue.

Eager buyers in China can get their hands on the device from September 23. It comes in two models: 2GB RAM with 16GB storage for about $204 (depending on conversion rates), and 32GB with 3GB RAM for about $235.

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“With two Cortex-A57 and four Cortex-A53 cores, paired with the Adreno 418 GPU, Mi 4c excels at all tasks including complex 3D games and high-quality video playback,” the company said.

It runs on a Snapdragon 808 (1.8 GHz 6-core 64-bit), and Xiaomi’s heavily skinned version of Android 5.1 Lollipop, known as MIUI. While this will ship with version 6 of its mobile OS, it’s expected to get an upgrade to MIUI 7 fairly soon.

Notably, it’s one of the first Android phones to opt for the USB Type-C make (the OnePlus 2 was the first). A generous 3080mAh battery with Quick Charge 2.0 should mean this phone won’t run short of juice as a daily driver.

Xiaomi is also integrating what it calls “Edge Tap,” which allows users to tap the edge of the phone once to take a photo, and twice to go back. Beyond that, users can also double tap the screen to wake the device.

“Measuring a mere 7.8mm thick and weighing just 132g, Mi 4c is lighter than the iPhone 6s by 11g, yet has a larger display,” the company said.

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But there’s more: In a slightly unexpected move, Xiaomi also unveiled its new Mi Mobile pay-as-you-go phone plans that support China Unicom’s 4G networks.

“We launched our MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) services with Mi Mobile, unveiling two prepaid plans that do away with the complicated packages typically offered by mobile operators,” Xiaomi said.

As for the camera, it sports a 13MP main shooter round back — Xiaomi says it has “phase detection autofocus” — and a 5MP front-facing camera.

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Like all of the company’s phones, this comes with a dual-sim tray. But it’s also rolling out some new infrared remote functionality:

“Mi 4c comes with a built-in IR blaster to control more than 2000 different appliances from 10 product categories,” Xiaomi said. “It can also control dSLR cameras, so taking group photos become a breeze.”

Details for the Mi Mobile plans, though less interesting to consumers outside China, are as follows:

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Pay-as-you-go:
Supports China Unicom 2G/3G/4G
RMB 0.10 (under $0.02) per voice minute, SMS and 1MB data
Available for sale on Mi.com starting September 23

3GB Data Bundle for RMB 59 per month (under $10):
Supports China Telecom 2G/3G/4G
Equivalent to RMB 0.02/MB for data
RMB 0.10 per voice minute, SMS or 1MB data exceeding 3GB
Available in public beta starting October

Finally, Xiaomi unveiled an all-new $30 Bluetooth speaker. More on that below:

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“The Mi Bluetooth Speaker with a compact all-metal body designed to fit easily in your pocket. Available in gold, blue and pink, Mi Bluetooth Speaker boasts impressive sound quality with volume up to 90dB(A) @0.5m, a built-in bass radiator, neodymium magnets and a Avnera AV3102 chip for a cleaner sound.”

“It supports music playback from a MicroSD card, among other modes, and can last eight hours on a single charge. It also acts as a handsfree speaker when a call comes in while streaming music over Bluetooth.”

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