Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 will retail at S$229 in Singapore

Hugo Barra personally came down to announce the launch of Xiaomi's Redmi Note 2 on his birthday, three months after its release in China. The affordable smartphone claims to give a flagship-like experience at a cut-throat price. It is now available for pre-orders at S$229.

The dual-SIM Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 comes a year after the previous Redmi Note 4G. While it retains the 5.5-inch display size, the Redmi Note 2 has Full HD screen resolution (at 1080 x 1920 pixels). This puts the screen at a higher quality than the HD (720 x 1280 pixel resolution) the previous smartphone had. This is also a significant boost to the pixel density, with the Redmi Note 2 sitting at a comfortable ~401 ppi (pixel per inch), while the older version has ~267 ppi. Being a new Xiaomi smartphone from this year also meant that it's using Android 5.0 OS, skinned in Xiaomi's new MIUI 7 out of the box.

The Redmi Note 2 is powered by an octa-core Mediatek MT6795 Helio X10 chipset, which somewhere between the Snapdragon 801 and 810 in terms of performance (depending on which benchmark you believe in). This is a massive upgrade from the predecessor's chipset, which uses a Snapdragon 400 SoC.

The new phone still carries only 2GB RAM, with 16GB internal storage space. There's also the option to expand storage using a MicroSD card by another 32GB, and its USB 2.0 On-The-Go support means that it can host MicroUSB thumb drives, all of which is a effective workaround for limited in-built storage.

If you're concerned with camera quality when getting smartphones, it's worth noting that Xiaomi made minimal changes between the previous and current devices. It still touts a 13-megapixel camera at 4128 x 3096 pixel resolution with autofocus and LED flash.

However, the Redmi Note 2 now comes with phase detection autofocus with a focus speed of 0.1 seconds - this means faster autofocus speeds when compared to conventional autofocus technology available on most smartphones (such as the one found on the Redmi Note 4G).

The Redmi Note 2 comes with a 3,060mAh battery capacity, which puts it a touch lower than the predecessor's 3,100mAh battery. In exchange, it gains a fast-charging system that allows the Redmi Note 2 to attain 60% charge in the span of 30 minutes. It also has typical connectivity support, with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatibility, Bluetooth 4.0, and LTE network support. It still lacks NFC support, but that's not a deal breaker for an affordable smartphone. 4G network is supported on both dual-SIM slots, and the phone is 152 x 76 x 8.3mm, weighing a mere 160g - that's 25g lighter than the Redmi Note 4G.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 will retail at S$229 (16GB), and pre-orders begin on 11 November 2015. The first units will come in two weeks after pre-orders begin, with a choice between two colors, White and Black.