Xiaomi announce the Redmi 3 (plus: links to order for UK delivery)

[Guest PaulOBrien]

Xiaomi have officially announced their new entry level handset, the Redmi 3, priced at RMB 699 (just over $100 at current exchange rates) in China. While the device is cheap, it packs some impressive specs, an all metal body and is a pretty little thing.

Running MIUI 7 out of the box, the device's specs include:

• Snapdragon 616 octa-core processor
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB ROM with microSD expansion
• 5" 720P screen
• 13 Megapixel F/2.0 PDAF rear camera
• 5 Megapixel F/2.2 front facing camera
• LTE on bands 1/3/7 (no B20 for UK folks that need it)
• Dual SIM support
• Bluetooth 4.1
• 2.4GHz WiFi
• IR transmitter for remote control functionality
• 4100mAh high density battery (!)
• 139.3 x 69.6 x 8.5mm
• 144g

While the internals are certainly at the lower end of the spectrum, they are by no means bare-bones (in fact, they're not that different to the hugely more expensive HTC One A9!). I'm particularly intrigued to see how well the huge battery performs with the frugal processor and 720P screen... Xiaomi are also showing off the camera's image quality already with this gallery.

If you want to buy one for import to the UK, it's worth checking out Top One on Aliexpress, my seller of choice. They will sell you a device in any of the 4 available colours (white, gold, grey and 'classic gold') for around £115, with all taxes and duty included.

You can also check out the product page in Chinese.

Are you going to pick one up? Let us know!

 

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[Guest doncoop]

Yep ordered. 

Lots of travelling to and from Australia so this will replace a nexus 5. Hopefully dual sim and that monster battery will be perfect. 

[Guest amjl]

shame it isn't dual sim PLUS microSD, one slot is either the second sim or memory. I did see some hackeroo involving gluing a sim onto a SD.. but potential for failure looks high! I love my Honor Holly, but mainly as it was both cheap and had dual sim plus the slot for the memory.