I met up with the shop.gizchina.com team today who gave me a rather exciting present, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2. Here is my first hands on and impressions of the latest Redmi device.
At the time of writing this hands on and first impressions I have lost my voice and in a hotel room with less than adequate light conditions, so a hands on video will have to wait until later on in the week, but what I can give you now are my initial impressions of the 2nd generation Redmi Note.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 hands on
Opening the all to familiar Xiaomi packaging brings me face to face with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 for the first time, but like the recycled cardboard box the face of the phone is a familiar sight.
With a 5.5-inch display and red navigation hardware buttons there are some similar features on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 compared to the original model, but the design is now slightly more compact, more rounded and finished to a high standard.
Narrower bezels and a slightly thinner body means the new Redmi Note 2 feels right at home in the palm of your hand. It might not be as compact as some other 5.5-inch phones, but there is very little in it and at this price the increased attention to detail is even more notable. To compare to other phones, the figures of the Redmi Note 2 are 152 x 76 x 8.25mm.
Adding to the overall quality feel is the soft to the touch finish of the removable rear panel. As per usual Xiaomi have released on the white version of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 for now, but other colours are coming, and as the back can be taken off it will be easy to switch to the one you want. The soft to the touch panel is similar to the panel on the Xiaomi Mi4i and the original white OnePlus One.
Removing the rear is simply a matter of pulling at one of the corners and once inside the big orange 3020mAh battery of the Redmi Note 2 is visible. Just as with the older Redmi Note the battery is removable and there is space for dual SIM cards and even an extra slot for an SD card!
If we move on to the exterior of the Redmi Note 2 again we see that 13 mega-pixel main camera which boasts fast PDAF auto-focus (Phase Detection Auto Focus) and a single LED flash.
At the top there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and an IR sensor allowing the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 to be used around the house as a universal remote. Power and volume buttons are located on and right, standard USB on the base and a speaker is found on the rear.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 feature highlights
So from a design stand point the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 is a better looking, more comfortable, and overall better engineered phone, but not all the differences are cosmetic.
Gizchina News of the week
That 5.5-inch panel may not have grown any but the resolution has increased to FHD standard giving the panel 1920 x 1080, the same as most modern day flagship phones. Below the screen are backlit capacitive buttons and above a 5 mega-pixel camera with face beauty options.
The 13 mega-pixel main camera on the rear is an update on the old camera. It still comes from Samsung though but now boasts PDAF for a claimed focus time of 0.1 seconds. PDAF is a feature we are starting to see on more and more phones, but not generally on devices that cost so little.
Other upgrades go on under the skin. The processor in this model is a Mediatek X10 Helio chip running at 2.0Ghz. There will also be a ‘prime’ version of the Redmi Note 2 with 2.2Ghz chip, but so far it is unreleased in China. The Helio X10 is a stonking performer and again a surprising addition on a phone that costs so little.
Power VR G6200 GPU, 2GB RAM, 16GB memory, and 32GB SD card support are the other parts of the processing package.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 model I have supports FDD-LTE (B1/B3/B7), WCDMA (B1/B2/B5/B8) and of course GSM. GPS, Glonass, Beidou, and dual band 2.4/5.0GHZ WIFI are all present and correct too.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 first impressions
The first thing you notice when turning the phone on is the screen. Compared to the older 720p panel the 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 screen on the Redmi Note 2 is crisp, sharp, clear and vibrant. I’ve only used the phone in the evening so will need to wait until tomorrow before I test it out in the burning Shenzhen sun.
So far I have no gripes about performance and so far the Redmi Note 2 seems way more responsive and stable than the Xiaomi Mi4i. Mediatek really have come of age with these Helio chipsets!
Xiaomi’s claim of a 0.1 second focus speed is only partially correct. I certainly see the speed of focus when going from a close up to something at more of a further distance (its almost instant) but items that a closer to the phone give it something to think about. Again I have only used the Redmi Note 2 in the evening with lower light which might be part of the reason, and I plan to fully test the camera tomorrow in the daylight.
That said though the camera on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 is well above and beyond what we have seen of a Redmi phone so far, and the images snapped are good considering the cost of the Redmi Note 2 package. Below are a few samples from this evening, more camera samples will be posted tomorrow.
So far I am very impressed with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, it is by far the best Redmi Xiaomi have made, it looks and feels better and the hardware it boasts is good enough to keep it ahead of the competition for sometime to come. I also have to admit that the Redmi Note 2 is a better performer so far when compared to the Xiaomi Mi4i, MIUI has been faultless with no slowing, lag and there is no overheating present either.
Keep posted for tomorrow when I plan to post more Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 camera samples and give you more of an insight of the phone after a day of use. For those of you wanting to buy the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 head over to shop.gizchina.com where you can choose to have the phone shipped from China or the EU right now.
The mobile looks good with budgeted price…device have better performance and specifications are really come up good..have to solve the heating issue.
There is no heating issue
I’ve heard rumors about yellow screen.
from the pic above i would say that looks pretty white to me.
can you confirm this issue is not there either?
Just checked it. On full brightness and giving it a good long stare I would say the top of the screen is slightly warmer that the bottom i.e it’s whiter towards the bottom. I had to have a good look at it to notice though.
In the updates. Could you please check charging time???? 10 – 100%??? Thanks Andi.
yup, need to run it down first. Got a feeling it is going to take a long time 😀
“Long time” huh. This is getting intresting. Hope it will take much shorter time charging up.
use pcmarks battery test at full brightness, should take 3-4 hours from 100%. Unless that soc is magical. Lol
oh, so nothing major.
looks like there’s people out there trying splitting hairs forgetting it’s a 120$ phone that has almost everything and can compete with the bigger brothers.
thanks for sharing your experience.
Where do you get it for 120$? All I see is 150$ for the GSM version and 170$ for the FDD(or is it TDD? Can’t remember). Where do I find it for 120$ if I don’t live in China?
It doesn’t cost $120 in China or elsewhere.
in China:
when i say a price i mean the official mainland China price.
i usually don’t mention reseller price because it’s a floating price, it’s different between resellers, it changes overnight with the same reseller.
There are always some people complaining about overheating, yellow screen, bad battery life, on every new device.
It’s the same as the rumors for the MX5, their color temperatures are on the warmer side.
The comments a little way up are from a no named person, hopefully with the vast majority everything is fine.
No FDD B20. No luck.
Unfortunately most Chinese phones seem to neglect B20 for some odd reason, especially when they are marketing them to European customers it makes the omission even more bizarre.
Odd reason? This phone is for China Unicom and China Mobile in Mainland China only, they don’t have band 20 in China or anywhere in Asia. If they would add a rural LTE band they should add band 28 used in Taiwan and other countries. Band 9 would make some sense as well as it’s used in Taiwan, South Korea etc.
The phones which are maketed to Europeans (not Xiaomi or Lenovo) like Ulefone, Elephone and other basement companies do have band 20 it seems.
It would also seem that they are not allowed to include more bands than FDD LTE 1,3,7 since even big brand phones only have that for China. Same with the missing GSM 850 on Chinese phones.
I think you should look at some reviews of the brands you mention. They often specify B20 but it is not usually supported, just a way to sell to European customers.
Its for two reasons:
1. No official presence in Europe.
2. Costs. Sales in Europe aren’t strong enough to justify adding the extra antenna and paying the licensing fees to operate on that band.
Until these brands start selling officially in Europe or have very strong sales there it will continue to be hit or miss to whether they support those bands. Its the same with the US bands.
FDD LTE bands 1/3/7 actually supports most European operators. so it works much better than in the US.
That may be true but that has nothing to do with the point I was making. The point I was making was Band 20 isn’t included for the same reasons that the US LTE bands are not. It is expensive to use those bands due to European and FCC licensing. Those other bands are used in several countries in Asia.
Apparently if you are in the UK and you like Chinese phones, go with either EE or Three, stay away from O2 and Vodafone (as these two mobile operators use B20 (800 Mhz) frequency.
It’s tough but more phones are starting to offer it, just hasn’t been adopted as quickly as other features.
An example being the OnePlus One didn’t, but the OnePlus Two does (correct me if i’m wrong).
Every band needs a distinct own antenna? Where did you see that info? and the band license fee? never heard any of those.
Where did I see this info? It’s how a modem picks up cell phone signals, by using antennae and switches. Every antennae can work on certain frequencies, some of those frequencies can cover multiple bands. Phones like the Oneplus One have 3 antennae and multple switches (which is how the modem activates/deactivates the bands you want). It all depends on the modem each phone uses, the RF switch used and what type of antennae they are using. Everything works together to pick up the signal.
Because they are NOT produced for EU market
Hi Andi I’ve read a few reports today that say Xiaomi is contemplating upgrading this phone at the end of the year to a helio x20. Have you heard any of these rumours? Would be great if they could and keep within $20 or so of the current model!
Not heard that at all. I suppose it could be possible if there is enough competition, but I was actually thinking the spec could easily last over 12 months as it is (which seems to be what Xiaomi do with the Redmi line). X20 has a better GPU, not sure how that would translate in the real world though as the X10 is fine for gaming too.
Would be very interested in the devices battery performance. Maybe you can run PC Marks battery test on it.
If you run pcmarks battery test on airplane mode, 50% brightness and 0% volume. My guess would be that this device would score in 4-5 hours range in work battery life.
Is there a version supporting both FDD/TDD LTE modes ?
Yes the Unicom version does (i.e the one that shop.gizchina.com is selling) TDD-LTE is B38/B39B40/B41, plus the FDD and WCDMA bands noted in the article
does it have a clearmotion feature or 120mhz refresh rate(helio soc feature)
On the official MIUI forums some people are complaining about overheating, yellowish screen, short battery life, bad touch response, low available ram and bad auto brightness (at least this is what I managed to figure out from google translate).
Links for reference:
1) http://www.miui.com/thread-2831979-1-1.html
2) http://www.miui.com/thread-2831201-1-1.html
3) http://www.miui.com/thread-2827747-1-1.html
Did you experience any of these issues?
thanks for the tip, gona wait a little bit before i buy one, the best chip is no good , if the software is not up to it
Lol, doesn’t surprise me at all. I’m not gonna be buying a xiaomi device in a while, i saw some good reviews before I bought the mi4i and it turned out to be terrible. After using flyme on my m2 and seeing how solid fast and responsive it is i’m sticking with meizu for a while, don’t care about xiaomi’s low prices i think miui 6/7 is just badly optimized in general.
Yet I don’t have any problems with my mi4i is it just luck of the draw or something. I have a Meizu m2 and it now just keeps on freezing all the time and the touch screen it not as responsive and it is very slow in opening web pages
I have a slight yellowing of the display, it doesn’t feel as responsive as I had hoped. I will try and use it more today (too busy yesterday) to see if I can replicate the other issues
Andi:
Is there 850mhz GSM band? I ask because here in Chile when we lose WCDMA signal automatically change to GSM in some places when you are on a call. I know Xiaomi usually add that band but this time I don’t see it
Thanks
No there isn’t 850 MHz GSM, like most Chinese phones.
Damn! My Mi3w have the four GSM bands u_u
Luckily it have, I saw a video and engineer mode shows 850 GSM BAND 🙂
It could still be disabled elsewhere or just be buggy, but there is a chance of it working at least.
The mobile looks good with budgeted price…device have better performance and specifications are really come up good..have to solve the heating issue.
There is no heating issue
I’ve heard rumors about yellow screen.
from the pic above i would say that looks pretty white to me.
can you confirm this issue is not there either?
Just checked it. On full brightness and giving it a good long stare I would say the top of the screen is slightly warmer that the bottom i.e it’s whiter towards the bottom. I had to have a good look at it to notice though.
In the updates. Could you please check charging time???? 10 – 100%??? Thanks Andi.
yup, need to run it down first. Got a feeling it is going to take a long time 😀
oh, so nothing major.
looks like there’s people out there trying splitting hairs forgetting it’s a 120$ phone that has almost everything and can compete with the bigger brothers.
thanks for sharing your experience.
“Long time” huh. This is getting intresting. Hope it will take much shorter time charging up.
It’s the same as the rumors for the MX5, their color temperatures are on the warmer side.
Where do you get it for 120$? All I see is 150$ for the GSM version and 170$ for the FDD(or is it TDD? Can’t remember). Where do I find it for 120$ if I don’t live in China?
It doesn’t cost $120 in China or elsewhere.
There are always some people complaining about overheating, yellow screen, bad battery life, on every new device.
in China:
when i say a price i mean the official mainland China price.
i usually don’t mention reseller price because it’s a floating price, it’s different between resellers, it changes overnight with the same reseller.
use pcmarks battery test at full brightness, should take 3-4 hours from 100%. Unless that soc is magical. Lol
The comments a little way up are from a no named person, hopefully with the vast majority everything is fine.
No FDD B20. No luck.
Unfortunately most Chinese phones seem to neglect B20 for some odd reason, especially when they are marketing them to European customers it makes the omission even more bizarre.
Odd reason? This phone is for China Unicom and China Mobile in Mainland China only, they don’t have band 20 in China or anywhere in Asia. If they would add a rural LTE band they should add band 28 used in Taiwan and other countries. Band 9 would make some sense as well as it’s used in Taiwan, South Korea etc.
The phones which are maketed to Europeans (not Xiaomi or Lenovo) like Ulefone, Elephone and other basement companies do have band 20 it seems.
It would also seem that they are not allowed to include more bands than FDD LTE 1,3,7 since even big brand phones only have that for China. Same with the missing GSM 850 on Chinese phones.
Its for two reasons:
1. No official presence in Europe.
2. Costs. Sales in Europe aren’t strong enough to justify adding the extra antenna and paying the licensing fees to operate on that band.
Until these brands start selling officially in Europe or have very strong sales there it will continue to be hit or miss to whether they support those bands. Its the same with the US bands.
FDD LTE bands 1/3/7 actually supports most European operators. so it works much better than in the US.
That may be true but that has nothing to do with the point I was making. The point I was making was Band 20 isn’t included for the same reasons that the US LTE bands are not. It is expensive to use those bands due to European and FCC licensing. Those other bands are used in several countries in Asia.
Apparently if you are in the UK and you like Chinese phones, go with either EE or Three, stay away from O2 and Vodafone (as these two mobile operators use B20 (800 Mhz) frequency.
Because they are NOT produced for EU market
I think you should look at some reviews of the brands you mention. They often specify B20 but it is not usually supported, just a way to sell to European customers.
It’s tough but more phones are starting to offer it, just hasn’t been adopted as quickly as other features.
An example being the OnePlus One didn’t, but the OnePlus Two does (correct me if i’m wrong).
Every band needs a distinct own antenna? Where did you see that info? and the band license fee? never heard any of those.
Where did I see this info? It’s how a modem picks up cell phone signals, by using antennae and switches. Every antennae can work on certain frequencies, some of those frequencies can cover multiple bands. Phones like the Oneplus One have 3 antennae and multple switches (which is how the modem activates/deactivates the bands you want). It all depends on the modem each phone uses, the RF switch used and what type of antennae they are using. Everything works together to pick up the signal.
Hi Andi I’ve read a few reports today that say Xiaomi is contemplating upgrading this phone at the end of the year to a helio x20. Have you heard any of these rumours? Would be great if they could and keep within $20 or so of the current model!
Not heard that at all. I suppose it could be possible if there is enough competition, but I was actually thinking the spec could easily last over 12 months as it is (which seems to be what Xiaomi do with the Redmi line). X20 has a better GPU, not sure how that would translate in the real world though as the X10 is fine for gaming too.
Would be very interested in the devices battery performance. Maybe you can run PC Marks battery test on it.
If you run pcmarks battery test on airplane mode, 50% brightness and 0% volume. My guess would be that this device would score in 4-5 hours range in work battery life.
Is there a version supporting both FDD/TDD LTE modes ?
Yes the Unicom version does (i.e the one that shop.gizchina.com is selling) TDD-LTE is B38/B39B40/B41, plus the FDD and WCDMA bands noted in the article
Would be nice to see a compare head to head with Meizu M2 Note: performance, designe, camera, battery, UI.
M2 Note is whole class and maybe 2 under this. M1 Note is a bit closer.
Just because it uses a MT6753 doesn’t mean its worse, right now posting from a Meizu M2 Note and there is no difference in performance for real world usage vs my Galaxy s4, Xiaomi mi4, Mlais m52 and Zenfone 2, I’m sure you will only notice a difference while gaming, but what are you 8yrs old? Also already ordered a Note 2 just for the Micro SD + Dual SIM something that the Meizu M2 Note lacks.
Nice bad purchase rationalization, i like it. One question, do you even yourself believe in what you just typed?
Not a bad purchase at all, it’s an amazing phone for such price, if it only came with stock android I would love it to no end.
6753 is bad compared to 6752… Tests have shown the m1 can do about 11hrs of video playback while the m2 (4.5.3i) despite lower clocked can only do 7hrs.
I also have m2 note, and i did test it multiple times with firmware 4.5.1i and the updated 4.5.3i. video loop with mp4 720p movie 50% brightness and 50% volume of headphones and airplane mode. same result for both firmware, averages around 7 hours of video playback.
That’s due the current problem with the deepsleep (or lack of it) the Meizu M2 Note isn’t triggering deepsleep, that’s why there is battery problems still, you can get 6 hours of screen on a 20-22hours period, once the deepsleep problem get fixed you will get a longer battery life on the Meizu M2 Note(easily those 10+ hours you can get with the M1 Note on video playback, right now mine reached 8hours with MX Player watching a serie).
The CPU right now always runs at 1040Mhz, the Meizu M2 Note is one of the best phones I have used on the past year, I would pair it with my Xiaomi Mi4 for every day usage, but flyme isn’t for everyone, that’s for sure.
http://i.imgur.com/fJ0ymDt.jpg
I don’t think it has anything to do with deep sleep if running a video loop test.
The phone rarely goes to deepsleep even you don’t touch it for hours.
is the phone supposed to go into deep sleep while watching a movie?
The screen cap was after I wake up from a 100% charge(yes I wake up at 2:43pm), but yesterday someone found a work around and the Meizu M2 Note now goes into deepsleep, today the battery drained about 2% while I was asleep, it was draining about 1.5% per hour on my device while not being used but other people were experiencing faster draining, for me this will mean 24% more battery life in a 16hours period, and I was already getting 5-6 hours of screen time, so now I will be enable to reach up to nearly 8 hours on a 16 hours period.
I can see how this discussion is going nowhere.
Video loop, meaning playing a video until the battery reaches a certain level or the device shuts down.
So, deep sleep has nothing to do with this test because during the test the device remains ON the entire time.
The M2 can only do 7 hours, where as the M1 have been reported to do 10 hours.
You dont seem to understand that the phone was working at 1040MHz all the time instead of the 299MHz it takes to play a video, you do remember this is a 1300MHz CPU right? , so the CPU was working nearly at max clock speed all the time, if you can’t understand how that impacts on the battery life, I can’t help you.
Did a few test today with video playback and I can confirm the m2 is running at 299mhz while playing a 720p mkv file. So it has to be something else that is causing such bad playback hours for the m2.
Update: around 60% of the time it is running at 299 mhz then other times is all over the place.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b39b776ed3599238310d24372321e0004e5fe239c132ed91e0e1a469ebe65b4d.jpg
The work around for the lack of Deep Sleep is 1.- Leaving Google Installer installed, Give permission to:
Google Installer
Google Play Services
Google Play
to start on boot and to stay running while on idle (both on the “Security” app Permission and Power Saving) and rebooting the phone, then every time you charge it you need to reboot the phone since charging triggers the 1040MHz problem, easy work around, you can check if your Meizu M2 Note is going into deep sleep installing CPU-Z app.
Also some people (I think they are running the Flyme 4.5.3I, with preinstalled Google services) claim than only restarting the phone after charging it prevents the locked 1040MHz problem.
running 4.5.3i, will see if it works.
ok, m2 note is good, but don’t over extimate it, it’s a mid-ranger with good build quality and features (but with an idiot single button wich prevents using custom roms without virtual keys) wich will shift towards lower range soon thanks to its crappy-ish processor (a different story if it had mt6752), while redmi with his more powerful SoC will stand way better the test of time.
M2 note use better display from LG, metal body on the inside but not sure about this, battery from sony while redmi note 2 use display and battery from china oem and plastic internal body. That what i read on the China website where they analysis why redmi note 2 can cost cheaper. The proc use here is also lowest range of Heliox X10 which have a M in the code while the prime version will use the highest end of X10 proc.
But I still chose this over M2 note anytime. Haha
Meizu M2 Note is using Sharp IGZO and not display from LG. This Sharp IGZO is an energy efficiency panel and the display is crisp and sharp.
Yes, as Thang said, Meizu is using Sharp dislpay, not LG and inside it’s also carbon (you can check a teardown).
http://www.myfixguide.com/manual/meizu-m2-note-teardown/
does it have a clearmotion feature or 120mhz refresh rate(helio soc feature)
I just don’t get it. Where did they save money? It seems to have most of what you want. Is it maybe addictive? Does it contain sugar? So you start eating it and then have to buy a new one?
They didn’t, they maybe even lose but they gain even bigger popularity, and will kill the other small brands who steal their sales.
With cheap and expendable manpower
Possible no Corning Gorilla glass, screen quality can also differ. After reading many Chinese users reviews, there are still quite a lot of bugs (phone suddenly rebooting, can’t use the external microsd card). Also, some users have posted the following problems (as mentioned below): overheating, yellowish screen, short battery life, bad touch response, low available ram and bad auto brightness.
That imo is a very long list of trade offs no? Hope that Xiaomi’s in-house devs can tackle most of it with BETTER code, else the user base are screwed with a forced near term device upgrade.
hmmm … i was happy uptil i read this article…
get ready for a HELL LOAD of disappointments !
Andi is already hinting at a below par camera …. :/
cameras
The review says “backlit capacitive buttons” but are they really? Can you confirm that? Because I’ve never seen any picture or video with them lit.
Previous version of Note had backlit buttons, no reason that this one does not.
yes they are
How does the samsung camera in this compare to the lenovo k3 note and jiayu S3 camera? And what are the major differences between the helio X10 and the MTK6752 (in real life performance)?
On the official MIUI forums some people are complaining about overheating, yellowish screen, short battery life, bad touch response, low available ram and bad auto brightness (at least this is what I managed to figure out from google translate).
Links for reference:
1) http://www.miui.com/thread-2831979-1-1.html
2) http://www.miui.com/thread-2831201-1-1.html
3) http://www.miui.com/thread-2827747-1-1.html
Did you experience any of these issues?
thanks for the tip, gona wait a little bit before i buy one, the best chip is no good , if the software is not up to it
Lol, doesn’t surprise me at all. I’m not gonna be buying a xiaomi device in a while, i saw some good reviews before I bought the mi4i and it turned out to be terrible. After using flyme on my m2 and seeing how solid fast and responsive it is i’m sticking with meizu for a while, don’t care about xiaomi’s low prices i think miui 6/7 is just badly optimized in general.
I have a slight yellowing of the display, it doesn’t feel as responsive as I had hoped. I will try and use it more today (too busy yesterday) to see if I can replicate the other issues
Yet I don’t have any problems with my mi4i is it just luck of the draw or something. I have a Meizu m2 and it now just keeps on freezing all the time and the touch screen it not as responsive and it is very slow in opening web pages
Andi:
Is there 850mhz GSM band? I ask because here in Chile when we lose WCDMA signal automatically change to GSM in some places when you are on a call. I know Xiaomi usually add that band but this time I don’t see it
Thanks
No there isn’t 850 MHz GSM, like most Chinese phones.
Damn! My Mi3w have the four GSM bands u_u
Luckily it have, I saw a video and engineer mode shows 850 GSM BAND 🙂
It could still be disabled elsewhere or just be buggy, but there is a chance of it working at least.
Would be nice to see a compare head to head with Meizu M2 Note: performance, designe, camera, battery, UI.
M2 Note is whole class and maybe 2 under this. M1 Note is a bit closer.
Just because it uses a MT6753 doesn’t mean its worse, right now posting from a Meizu M2 Note and there is no difference in performance for real world usage vs my Galaxy s4, Xiaomi mi4, Mlais m52 and Zenfone 2, I’m sure you will only notice a difference while gaming, but what are you 8yrs old? Also already ordered a Note 2 just for the Micro SD + Dual SIM something that the Meizu M2 Note lacks.
Nice bad purchase rationalization, i like it. One question, do you even yourself believe in what you just typed?
M2 note use better display from LG, metal body on the inside but not sure about this, battery from sony while redmi note 2 use display and battery from china oem and plastic internal body. That what i read on the China website where they analysis why redmi note 2 can cost cheaper. The proc use here is also lowest range of Heliox X10 which have a M in the code while the prime version will use the highest end of X10 proc.
But I still chose this over M2 note anytime. Haha
Meizu M2 Note is using Sharp IGZO and not display from LG. This Sharp IGZO is an energy efficiency panel and the display is crisp and sharp.
6753 is bad compared to 6752… Tests have shown the m1 can do about 11hrs of video playback while the m2 (4.5.3i) despite lower clocked can only do 7hrs.
I also have m2 note, and i did test it multiple times with firmware 4.5.1i and the updated 4.5.3i. video loop with mp4 720p movie 50% brightness and 50% volume of headphones and airplane mode. same result for both firmware, averages around 7 hours of video playback.
Yes, as Thang said, Meizu is using Sharp dislpay, not LG and inside it’s also carbon (you can check a teardown).
http://www.myfixguide.com/manual/meizu-m2-note-teardown/
That’s due the current problem with the deepsleep (or lack of it) the Meizu M2 Note isn’t triggering deepsleep, that’s why there is battery problems still, you can get 6 hours of screen on a 20-22hours period, once the deepsleep problem get fixed you will get a longer battery life on the Meizu M2 Note(easily those 10+ hours you can get with the M1 Note on video playback, right now mine reached 8hours with MX Player watching a serie).
The CPU right now always runs at 1040Mhz, the Meizu M2 Note is one of the best phones I have used on the past year, I would pair it with my Xiaomi Mi4 for every day usage, but flyme isn’t for everyone, that’s for sure.
Not a bad purchase at all, it’s an amazing phone for such price, if it only came with stock android I would love it to no end.
I don’t think it has anything to do with deep sleep if running a video loop test.
The phone rarely goes to deepsleep even you don’t touch it for hours.
is the phone supposed to go into deep sleep while watching a movie?
The screen cap was after I wake up from a 100% charge(yes I wake up at 2:43pm), but yesterday someone found a work around and the Meizu M2 Note now goes into deepsleep, today the battery drained about 2% while I was asleep, it was draining about 1.5% per hour on my device while not being used but other people were experiencing faster draining, for me this will mean 24% more battery life in a 16hours period, and I was already getting 5-6 hours of screen time, so now I will be enable to reach up to nearly 8 hours on a 16 hours period.
I can see how this discussion is going nowhere.
Video loop, meaning playing a video until the battery reaches a certain level or the device shuts down.
So, deep sleep has nothing to do with this test because during the test the device remains ON the entire time.
The M2 can only do 7 hours, where as the M1 have been reported to do 10 hours.
You dont seem to understand that the phone was working at 1040MHz all the time instead of the 299MHz it takes to play a video, you do remember this is a 1300MHz CPU right? , so the CPU was working nearly at max clock speed all the time, if you can’t understand how that impacts on the battery life, I can’t help you.
Did a few test today with video playback and I can confirm the m2 is running at 299mhz while playing a 720p mkv file. So it has to be something else that is causing such bad playback hours for the m2.
Update: around 60% of the time it is running at 299 mhz then other times is all over the place.
ok, m2 note is good, but don’t over extimate it, it’s a mid-ranger with good build quality and features (but with an idiot single button wich prevents using custom roms without virtual keys) wich will shift towards lower range soon thanks to its crappy-ish processor (a different story if it had mt6752), while redmi with his more powerful SoC will stand way better the test of time.
The work around for the lack of Deep Sleep is 1.- Leaving Google Installer installed, Give permission to:
Google Installer
Google Play Services
Google Play
to start on boot and to stay running while on idle (both on the “Security” app Permission and Power Saving) and rebooting the phone, then every time you charge it you need to reboot the phone since charging triggers the 1040MHz problem, easy work around, you can check if your Meizu M2 Note is going into deep sleep installing CPU-Z app.
Also some people (I think they are running the Flyme 4.5.3I, with preinstalled Google services) claim than only restarting the phone after charging it prevents the locked 1040MHz problem.
running 4.5.3i, will see if it works.
I just don’t get it. Where did they save money? It seems to have most of what you want. Is it maybe addictive? Does it contain sugar? So you start eating it and then have to buy a new one?
They didn’t, they maybe even lose but they gain even bigger popularity, and will kill the other small brands who steal their sales.
With cheap and expendable manpower
Possible no Corning Gorilla glass, screen quality can also differ. After reading many Chinese users reviews, there are still quite a lot of bugs (phone suddenly rebooting, can’t use the external microsd card). Also, some users have posted the following problems (as mentioned below): overheating, yellowish screen, short battery life, bad touch response, low available ram and bad auto brightness.
hmmm … i was happy uptil i read this article…
get ready for a HELL LOAD of disappointments !
Andi is already hinting at a below par camera …. :/
cameras
That imo is a very long list of trade offs no? Hope that Xiaomi’s in-house devs can tackle most of it with BETTER code, else the user base are screwed with a forced near term device upgrade.
The review says “backlit capacitive buttons” but are they really? Can you confirm that? Because I’ve never seen any picture or video with them lit.
Previous version of Note had backlit buttons, no reason that this one does not.
yes they are
How does the samsung camera in this compare to the lenovo k3 note and jiayu S3 camera? And what are the major differences between the helio X10 and the MTK6752 (in real life performance)?
Could you test if its supports 128gb sd card?
If I can get hold of one
I’m pretty sure it will run it no problems as long as it’s formatted to FAT32.
This is for all phones not only this one.
Hi Andy, can you review the battery and camera sector.
are the camera quality compareable with his brother mi4i?
I would even like to see a comparison to way more expensive phones like OPT, or Andi’s own Le1 in this department.
BTW. So far, it looks like this is the phone that Mi4i was meant to be.
Now, I wanna se a 5inches and 720p version of this to compete with Meziu’s M2.
if this had the camera off the Mi4i it would be perfect
yeah … im thinking more and more about holding off buying this now 🙁
we know you don’t want to buy any phone 😛
U_U … thats not true
You will die waiting for the perfect phone!!
thats harsh :/
I assume, you give XRN2 lower notes for camera, then?
niiiiiiiiiiiiiice
Could you test if its supports 128gb sd card?
If I can get hold of one
I’m pretty sure it will run it no problems as long as it’s formatted to FAT32.
This is for all phones not only this one.
What are the camera opitions in video shooting mode ? X10 is capable of full hd 480fs, but the xiaomi site says it’s only 30fps FHD in this phone, is it true ? Is there a slo-mo option with lower resolution ?
Interested to know about slow-mo option as well….
Hi Andy, can you review the battery and camera sector.
are the camera quality compareable with his brother mi4i?
I would even like to see a comparison to way more expensive phones like OPT, or Andi’s own Le1 in this department.
BTW. So far, it looks like this is the phone that Mi4i was meant to be.
Now, I wanna se a 5inches and 720p version of this to compete with Meziu’s M2.
if this had the camera off the Mi4i it would be perfect
yeah … im thinking more and more about holding off buying this now 🙁
we know you don’t want to buy any phone 😛
I assume, you give XRN2 lower notes for camera, then?
U_U … thats not true
You will die waiting for the perfect phone!!
thats harsh :/
niiiiiiiiiiiiiice
what about touchscreen response and sensitive?
is there some delay?
is it any problem with touchscreen response?
not so far, but I will keep an eye on it
lol , its like you WANT a problem to appear 😀
Early review please before full review
What are the camera opitions in video shooting mode ? X10 is capable of full hd 480fs, but the xiaomi site says it’s only 30fps FHD in this phone, is it true ? Is there a slo-mo option with lower resolution ?
Interested to know about slow-mo option as well….
I was going to buy the LeTV one but this looks very interesting for its price. Why would i pay 100 $ extra for LeTV one? Any disadvantages?
Better build, faster UI, so far a better camera
oh boy … so the camera is bad on Redmi note … AGAIN ?!
what about touchscreen response and sensitive?
is there some delay?
is it any problem with touchscreen response?
not so far, but I will keep an eye on it
lol , its like you WANT a problem to appear 😀
Early review please before full review
This comment was deleted.
Better build, faster UI, so far a better camera
oh boy … so the camera is bad on Redmi note … AGAIN ?!
will it work in the US on 4g? $135 for a phone that performs roughly as well as a Galaxy S6 is pretty darn tempting .. the ram, camera, and screen are all a bit weaker, but not terribly so. the only downside really is that they are already moving away from IR blasters in china.. in the US, there is still a large market in terms of people with ir-based remotes instead of the newer rf remotes.
Nope it won’t work on LTE in the US
I know the Meizu M2 Note supports T-Mobile HSPA+, but does this device also support it. I’m not worried about LTE in NYC since 3G+ is so fast on T-Mobile.
Hi Andi,
I’m thinking about getting this to replace my Note 4, and frankly the only thing holding me back is the 2GB RAM. Do you experience having to reload apps or browser tabs when switching them around? I get that the Redmi is a budget line, but I really wish that the Prime version had at least 3GB!
Why would you replace a Note 4 with anything else?
TouchWiz is bogging it down like mad. My keyboard randomly hangs while typing, along with other associated random lags. Factory reset only postpones this; it comes back with a month or so of use. I would install Cyanogenmod on it but then that will trip Knox, voiding the warranty and destroying resale value.
About the only thing I will miss on it is my ZeroLemon case and the S-Pen, but I can make do with a power bank.
I’m not sure you would be happy replacing your Note 4 with this. The Note 4 is still a great device that was designed to be top of the range, the Redmi Note 2 is a good budget phone.
Oh I do understand that, however the Note 4 has been severely let down by Samsung with regards to it’s software. I just booted up my Nexus 4 and was amazed by how smooth it was; Samsung seriously screwed up the software on the Note 4. Although to be frank MIUI isn’t exactly a very light software skin either.
Have you tried the 5.1 update? it was supposed to fix a lot of issues for the note 4.
It’s really great value for money! It’s half price of most phones built on same SoC! But only one thing is missing – 3gb ROM. I think to purchase LeTV x 600, but now i doubt. LeTV cost 299$, but now, the price for it start to drop. Thank for Xiaomi!
Ram*
Im a bit curious about the painfully limiting “SINGLE” LED flash :/ … does it impact the camera’s overall performance in night shots ?
also , does the phone have NFC ??
will it work in the US on 4g? $135 for a phone that performs roughly as well as a Galaxy S6 is pretty darn tempting .. the ram, camera, and screen are all a bit weaker, but not terribly so. the only downside really is that they are already moving away from IR blasters in china.. in the US, there is still a large market in terms of people with ir-based remotes instead of the newer rf remotes.
Nope it won’t work on LTE in the US
I know the Meizu M2 Note supports T-Mobile HSPA+, but does this device also support it. I’m not worried about LTE in NYC since 3G+ is so fast on T-Mobile.
Hi anfi,
When can we expect the updated info to the display + camera samples from the daylight?
Yeah, let us know about the daylight pics (whenever you can, no rush…)
Hi Andi, could you ask to Xiaomi why did they use a standard MicroUSB connector and not the USB Type-C?
Hi Andi,
I’m thinking about getting this to replace my Note 4, and frankly the only thing holding me back is the 2GB RAM. Do you experience having to reload apps or browser tabs when switching them around? I get that the Redmi is a budget line, but I really wish that the Prime version had at least 3GB!
Why would you replace a Note 4 with anything else?
TouchWiz is bogging it down like mad. My keyboard randomly hangs while typing, along with other associated random lags. Factory reset only postpones this; it comes back with a month or so of use. I would install Cyanogenmod on it but then that will trip Knox, voiding the warranty and destroying resale value.
About the only thing I will miss on it is my ZeroLemon case and the S-Pen, but I can make do with a power bank.
I’m not sure you would be happy replacing your Note 4 with this. The Note 4 is still a great device that was designed to be top of the range, the Redmi Note 2 is a good budget phone.
Oh I do understand that, however the Note 4 has been severely let down by Samsung with regards to it’s software. I just booted up my Nexus 4 and was amazed by how smooth it was; Samsung seriously screwed up the software on the Note 4. Although to be frank MIUI isn’t exactly a very light software skin either.
Have you tried the 5.1 update? it was supposed to fix a lot of issues for the note 4.
It’s really great value for money! It’s half price of most phones built on same SoC! But only one thing is missing – 3gb ROM. I think to purchase LeTV x 600, but now i doubt. LeTV cost 299$, but now, the price for it start to drop. Thank for Xiaomi!
Ram*
Im a bit curious about the painfully limiting “SINGLE” LED flash :/ … does it impact the camera’s overall performance in night shots ?
also , does the phone have NFC ??
Hi anfi,
When can we expect the updated info to the display + camera samples from the daylight?
Yeah, let us know about the daylight pics (whenever you can, no rush…)
Hi Andi, could you ask to Xiaomi why did they use a standard MicroUSB connector and not the USB Type-C?
1080 p instead of 720 p and higher processor then note 4g, BUT still with same battery…
very interessted to see the battery life..
it can’t be better then the note 4g and that only last 1 day, .. so are you gonna need to bring the charger with this magnificent ** Phone?
1080 p instead of 720 p and higher processor then note 4g, BUT still with same battery…
very interessted to see the battery life..
it can’t be better then the note 4g and that only last 1 day, .. so are you gonna need to bring the charger with this magnificent ** Phone?
Hello where is the update please??
Hello where is the update please??
More intersted in the battery life of the x10. Hopefully Andi runs PCMarks battery test so we can have some real numbers and not the usual vague “will get you through the day”. Atleast we should get data on the screen on time of the XRN2.
What happened to the so much advertised as low price guys?? $200 for a 16GB version is not what we’ve been told! $169 for 16GB is the lowest price you can find and this is still more than what we expected.
In stock? I saw at least 200$ prices everywhere .. The difference is the shop’s extra profit..
i have already received that phone with the price of $149.99 from EU ,
http://goo.gl/FRDlQX
Hello, Andi! When do you think we will have your full review? I am between this phone and Letv 1. Should I give the extra money for Letv? I live in europe.
More intersted in the battery life of the x10. Hopefully Andi runs PCMarks battery test so we can have some real numbers and not the usual vague “will get you through the day”. Atleast we should get data on the screen on time of the XRN2.
What happened to the so much advertised as low price guys?? $200 for a 16GB version is not what we’ve been told! $169 for 16GB is the lowest price you can find and this is still more than what we expected.
In stock? I saw at least 200$ prices everywhere .. The difference is the shop’s extra profit..
i have already received that phone with the price of $149.99 from EU ,
http://goo.gl/FRDlQX
Which is worth buying the 32gb prime version at 206$ or the16 fdd version at 169$……?
Both are not worth getting until resellers drop prices.
Can you please explain your comment?
Hello, Andi! When do you think we will have your full review? I am between this phone and Letv 1. Should I give the extra money for Letv? I live in europe.
Which is worth buying the 32gb prime version at 206$ or the16 fdd version at 169$……?
Both are not worth getting until resellers drop prices.
Can you please explain your comment?
i think the m2 note has the better design and camera if only it had a better soc
So I guess ”tomorrow” still hasn’t come since I don’t see any update
So I guess ”tomorrow” still hasn’t come since I don’t see any update
What is the exact display panel vendor Sharp/Lg/Auo or anything else
mine is AUO its about 10% of all redmi notes and the other 90 is Tianma, i heard that Tianma is worse and also i am absolutely satisfied with AUO display
You lucky then 90% of them that’s bad
What is the exact display panel vendor Sharp/Lg/Auo or anything else
mine is AUO its about 10% of all redmi notes and the other 90 is Tianma, i heard that Tianma is worse and also i am absolutely satisfied with AUO display
You lucky then 90% of them that’s bad
could someone try 128 gb sd card and tell us if it works.
could someone try 128 gb sd card and tell us if it works.
Andi, what you can talk about battery life?
Andi, what you can talk about battery life?
I will not recommend this mobile because
1) battery backup is not good
2) application are consuming more ram
3) white color is not showing properly, it is showing dim white
4) loud speaker volume is less
5) camera quality is not good
did you own or use one?
I will not recommend this mobile because
1) battery backup is not good
2) application are consuming more ram
3) white color is not showing properly, it is showing dim white
4) loud speaker volume is less
5) camera quality is not good
did you own or use one?
This is my first Xiaomi phone, and now finally can say for experience:
I hate Xiaomi!
I bought a brand new phone, and with time, i have touch problems.
Softkeys not responding, touch screen response very poor, softkeys working without touching them, making the use of the phone a Nighmare.
It wasn’t nice at all to meet you, Xiaomi!
This is my first Xiaomi phone, and now finally can say for experience:
I hate Xiaomi!
I bought a brand new phone, and with time, i have touch problems.
Softkeys not responding, touch screen response very poor, softkeys working without touching them, making the use of the phone a Nighmare.
It wasn’t nice at all to meet you, Xiaomi!
Hello team, I’m using this handset for long time and got this guide here: http://androidcure.com/improve-performance-redmi-note-2/ and wondering whether it would work or not! If someone has tried it, please let me know!
Hello team, I’m using this handset for long time and got this guide here: http://androidcure.com/improve-performance-redmi-note-2/ and wondering whether it would work or not! If someone has tried it, please let me know!