Xiaomi’s big “Give Me 5” announcement party in India was ruined just yesterday, when the full specs and features of the Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro surfaced online. Unsurprisingly, everything checks out today, with the final (and most important) piece of the puzzle also officially revealed for the world’s second-largest smartphone market.
Both devices will go on sale next Thursday, February 22, through Flipkart, Mi.com and Mi Home retail stores, starting at a ridiculously affordable $155 or so. The entry-level 3/32GB Redmi Note 5 configuration shall fetch Rs. 9,999, with 4 gigs of RAM and 64GB internal storage space setting you back 2,000 extra rupees for a total of less than $190.
Meanwhile, India’s Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro “camera beast” is priced at Rs. 13,999 with 4GB memory and 64GB storage, which goes up to Rs. 16,999 if you want a couple of additional gigs of RAM, equating to $220 and $265 respectively.
As expected, India’s Redmi Note 5 “all-rounder” is practically identical to China’s Redmi 5 Plus, with decent features including a 5.99-inch FHD+ “full screen” display, octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor, 12MP rear camera, 5MP selfie shooter, and 4000mAh “full-day battery.”
The Redmi Note 5 Pro is an entirely new handset with an entirely new SoC, namely Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 636, packing Kryo CPU cores previously exclusive to high-end Snapdragon 800-series chips.
The screen size, resolution and aspect ratio are the same that the non-Pro variant delivers, and battery capacity is also unchanged, since 4000mAh is already plenty of juice. Obviously, the “camera beast” shines brightest in the imaging department, with a spectacular-sounding 20MP front snapper capable of producing portrait selfies, and a dual rear-facing cam combining a 12MP Sony IMX 486 sensor for stills and 5MP Samsung sensor in charge of capturing depth information.
Unfortunately, there’s no word on the pre-installed Android version, which probably means both the Redmi Note 5 and Note 5 Pro will be running Nougat-based MIUI at launch.