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Xiaomi Mi 3 unboxed, first impressions

Xiaomi lent us a review unit of the Mi 3 last night and we immediately unboxed it and played around with the device. It’s also the first time we’ve looked into MIUI.

The Mi3 is Xiaomi’s flagship handset and is powered by a Snapdragon 800 chip. However, this variant does not have LTE (only HSPA+) and we don’t know when that other one is coming, if ever it will.

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On the front, the Xiaomi Mi 3 has a 5-inch Full HD IPS display which equates to 441 ppi. Above it is the earpice, light sensor, and the 2 megapixel front-facing camera. Down below are three illuminated capacitive buttons for Options, Home, and Back.

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The left side is devoid of any buttons while the right side houses the volume rocker and the power/lock button. Right on top are the headset jack, the pinholes for the microphone, and the SIM card tray. While down at the bottom are the speaker and the microUSB port.

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Flip it on its back and you’ll find the 13 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, another pinhole for the microphone, and the Xiaomi branding etched at the lower part.

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On hand, the Mi 3 feels premium and very well-made. The glass is encased in a glossy plastic bezel which gives off a smooth yet edgy feel. It’s also easy to grip as the sides are rounded. The top and bottom, on the other hand, are flat that you can actually make the Mi 3 stand on its own if you place it on a flat surface.

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To top it off, the Mi 3’s chassis comes with a solid body and feels metallic (even the physical buttons) thanks to its magnesium alloy frame coated with thermal graphite.

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Xiaomi Mi 3 specs:
5-inch Full HD IPS display, 441ppi
2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core CPU
Adreno 330GPU
2GB RAM
16GB internal storage
HSPA+, 3G
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, WiFi Direct
Bluetooth 4.0 w/ A2DP
GPS, AGPS, GLONASS
13 megapixel rear camera w/ dual LED flash
2 megapixel front camera
3,050mAh battery
MIUI v5 (Android 4.3 Jellybean)
144 x 73.6 x 8.1mm (dimensions)
145 grams (weight)

Based on the standard FOREX conversion, the Xiaomi Mi3 will sell between Php12k to Php13k when it officially ships in the next 2 weeks (barring any delays in Customs).

Stay tuned for our hands-on of the Xiaomi Mi 3’s and its full review in the coming weeks.

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This article was written by Louie Diangson, Managing Editor of YugaTech. You can follow him at @John_Louie.

18 Responses

  1. Avatar for ProPinoy ProPinoy says:

    Boycott chinese brands and products! Palalakasin nyo lang ang china. One of these days lulusubin na tayo nyan!

  2. Avatar for Chris Chris says:

    HI,

    The MI 3 is amazing for 12000 PHP. Found this Xiaomi MI3 vs Galaxy S5 Review:
    http://www.pricepony.com.ph/blog/xiaomi-mi3-vs-samsung-galaxy-s5-in-philippines/

  3. Avatar for Gago Gago says:

    Xiaomi Mi 3 is said to be about 12k by Hugo the VP of xiaomi in an interview in anc and the xiaomi 1s is said to be about 6k also said by Hugo

  4. Avatar for awdog awdog says:

    Im not feeling this. The design is really terrible – too angular and too much top and bottom bezels

  5. Avatar for jenie jenie says:

    time to sell some old gadgets b ^_^ d

  6. Avatar for awts awts says:

    malamang mag bagsak presyo na ang CM,Myphone at Starmobile

  7. Avatar for archie archie says:

    Waiting for their redmi 1s. Saw the specs and I think it is great for a budget phone of 8k plus. If Xiaomi can guarantee their customers quality and proper customer service, then no more HTC and Sony for me.

  8. Avatar for Rockafella Rockafella says:

    This phone has the highest score in Antutu. Its OS is better than Oppo’s ColorOS I love to get one of these kasi 16GB lang ang meron dito for now comes only in one color no sd slot pa. I guess they have to cut some corners to make the phone much affordable pero na ito.

    • Avatar for pakers pakers says:

      Hanap ka pa ng LTE, eh kahit 2mbps nga d kayang ibigay ng mga network provider dito sa pinas. Takaw battery lang! Hahaha!

  9. Avatar for Birdie Birdie says:

    Way to go announcing availability ahead of Xiaomi.

  10. Avatar for Freeje Freeje says:

    Good luck with their lame online ordering system!

    • Avatar for dalandan dalandan says:

      kesa naman sa lame customer service ng cherry mobile. lame na nga ung cs, lame pa ung quality. pati yang pagiisip mo lame. baka gusto mo ibenta?

    • Avatar for archie archie says:

      They have lame ordering system in China because they don’t just create million units and pressure themselves to sell them all at once in a country of 1 billion+ population. Since new player pa lang sila sa Pinas, tying up with Lazada and having an inventory of 50,000+ units for preliminary orders is excusable. Good thing they’re not spending billions of dollars for global marketing advertising just like what samsung, iphone etc. do because we all know that it will be an additional mark-up costs to their gadgets.

  11. Avatar for boybakal boybakal says:

    This is really cool. Hope the price will be a little bit cheaper.:-)

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