Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Xiaomi

We haven't paid too much attention to Xiaomi's budget "Redmi" lineup, as its flagships are already pretty cheap. The latest addition to the Redmi line caused us so much sticker shock, though, that we just had to write it up. The Redmi Note 2—a 2.0GHz octa-core device with 2GB of RAM and a 5.5-inch, 1080p LCD—was just announced for $129.

The catch is that it's an eight-core MediaTek Helio x10 SoC, but apparently the chip was high-end enough to make it into the $800 HTC One M9+. As phone snobs, it's easy to turn our noses up at a Mediatek SoC, but benchmarks of the Helio x10 put it at least in the same ballpark as the Snapdragon 801 and sometimes competitive with the Snapdragon 810 and Exynos 7420. The Helio x10 forgoes the big.LITTLE design and opts for eight Cortex A53 cores—the "little" chips—all at an even clock rate.

The $129 version is the base model, but there are a few configurations and price points.

The $129 version runs at 2.0 GHz with 16GB of storage, It supports TTD-LTE and TD-CDMA, which seems like a China-only version.

A $140 version swaps the TD-CDMA for FDD-LTE—the type of LTE used in the USA and other parts of the world—which makes this the a more "world-ready" version.

A $155 version is called the "Redmi Note 2 Prime." It take the $140 version, bumps the SoC to 2.2GHz, and improves to 32GB of storage.

The rest of the specs are a 13MP camera with phase-detection autofocus, a 3020mAh removable (!) battery, dual SIM slots, and 802.11ac Wi-FI. Xiaomi also lists "Quick Charge 2.0" in the spec list, despite this being a MediaTek SoC.

The device shares a similar design with the iPhone 5c and the Xiaomi Mi4i—a colored plastic shell covers the back and wraps around the sides. It come in a pink, yellow, blue, white, and brown.

In addition, the MIUI 7 aftermarket firmware launches with the Redmi Note 2 and brings lots of color themes, a child mode, and other features.

Specs aren't everything, though, and while everything looks amazing on paper, we'll hopefully be able to see how things shake out in person.

Listing image by Xiaomi