Inevitable: Oppo Find 5 meets Xiaomi Phone 2 and Meizu MX2

Posted on 12/12/2012 by Richard Lai

With all three major Chinese phone makers now showing their quad-core cards, it's only natural for us to take a friendly portrait of their latest flagships: from left to right we have the Meizu MX2 (due December 19th), the Xiaomi Phone 2 (already out) and the freshly announced Oppo Find 5 (due January). At 8.86mm thick, the Find 5 is subtly slimmer than our two other 10.2mm-thick phones when compared visually, but the five-inch 1080p screen is clearly a winner in terms of size and pixel density -- the latter is made more obvious by the fine details on the tactfully designed icons; just too bad you won't be able to fit much 1080p video content into the 16GB built-in storage. As for aesthetics, we're currently leaning towards the Find 5 for its less obvious bezel around the glass panel, and the phone's shape is also a nice change from the usual rectangle-with-evenly-rounded-corners form factor. Still, the feel and contour of the Meizu MX2's crystal back cover gave the most comfortable grip out of the three, only to be hampered by the Flyme OS' eccentric UX. Obviously, we shall do a more detailed comparison once we have our review unit, so stay tuned.

Gallery: Inevitable: Oppo Find 5 meets Xiaomi Phone 2 and Meizu MX2

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Xiaomi Phone 2 review: high-end specs in a surprisingly affordable package

Posted on 14/11/2012 by Richard Lai

As mobile phones have become more powerful, prices for many flagship models have managed to linger were they always were -- at the top end. The Xiaomi has always been one exception, though. Last year, this Beijing startup launched its very first namesake phone at just CN¥1,999 ($320), which was rather impressive given that this was the first Chinese device to feature the 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon MSM8260 chip (not to be mistaken with the Krait-based MSM8260A). This stimulated two fronts of the smartphone war: the price-per-performance ratio kind, and the cheap-as-hell kind. With regards to performance, we're looking at competitors like Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo and good old Meizu; while the price battle involves taking on MediaTek-powered devices under various new brands -- many of which have done so well that they've now set up stores in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei area.

Needless to say, Xiaomi is now facing a greater challenge -- one that barely existed a year ago. But on the brighter side of things, the company now has three Android devices spanning two price tiers: two editions of the Xiaomi Phone 1S for ¥1,299 ($210) or ¥1,499 ($240), and the quad-core Xiaomi Phone 2 -- the star of this review -- for ¥1,999, which is well below its ¥2,350 ($380) raw cost, according to CEO Lei Jun. There's no doubt that Xiaomi could recoup some of the costs from its vast range of accessories, and with the imminent launch of the Xiaomi TV set-top box next month, it's clear that the company's hoping to profit from content. Still, as mama said, it's the first impression that counts (especially for consumers outside China, anyway), so read on to see how we coped with Xiaomi's second-gen flagship phone.

Gallery: Xiaomi Phone 2 review

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Xiaomi Phone 2 review: high-end specs in a surprisingly affordable package originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xiaomi Phone 2 officially launching in China on October 30th, 16GB and 32GB flavors offered

Posted on 26/10/2012 by Richard Lai

With all these Snapdragon S4 Pro phones popping up here and there, Xiaomi's finally announcing its launch plan for the retail version of its very own Xiaomi Phone 2 aka MI-Two, which is also powered by Qualcomm's APQ8064 SoC. Here's what's going to happen: on October 30th, the company's online store will release the first 50,000 units, followed by another 250,000 units (approximately) in mid-November. Additionally, the device will be offered in both 16GB and 32GB flavors, which are priced at ¥1,999 (about $320) and ¥2,299 (about $370), respectively. Folks who reside in China can now register online for a quota, but it'll probably be just a matter of time before we see these on eBay in the US, anyway.

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Xiaomi Phone 2 officially launching in China on October 30th, 16GB and 32GB flavors offered originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 01:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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