Xiaomi unveils quad-core Red Rice droid as Hongmi

Xiaomi has announced the long rumored Red Rice smartphone. Its official name is Hongmi which is Chinese for... well, red rice. Xiaomi Hongmi packs a 4.7-inch 720p IPS display with 312ppi density, protected by a Gorilla Glass 2. The Hongmi is powered by Mediatek's MT6589 chipset featuring a quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A7 processor, PowerVR SGX544 graphics and 1GB of RAM. Other notable features are the 4GB storage plus a microSD card slot, and a 2000 mAh battery. The phone comes with an 8MP BSI Samsung-made rear camera with 1.4ųm pixels for improved low-light performance and 28mm wide five-element lens. The Hongmi is capable of shooting 1080p videos. There is also a 1.3MP front snapper for video chats. Xiaomi Hongmi is dual-SIM handset with support for GSM/3G and TD-SCDMA networks on both SIM slots. The Hongmi is running on the proprietary MIUI V5 launcher on top of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Here comes the best part of the news - the Xiaomi Hongmi costs only CNY799 which equals a few cents less than €99.

The phone is already available on pre-order in China at QZone and is going to start shipping on August 12.  There are three flavors you can choose between - Black, Chinese Red and Metallic Gray. The battery cover is exchangeable and you can opt for additional blue, green and yellow panels. Unfortunately the Xiaomi Hongmi is highly unlikely to leave China. We'll keep you updated if we hear something about international availability, though.


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