I normally don’t really talk about value of a smartphone, but that’s because to me the most important part first is that the smartphone is good, regardless of price. Obviously, there are no bad phones, just bad prices. However, to me I feel that a good phone will feel that way regardless of price, although obviously if it’s far too expensive then it wouldn’t be a good recommendation. The Xiaomi Mi Note and Mi Note Pro are both great phones that I can directly compare to other flagship smartphones today regardless of price.
There are phones on sale today for 500-800 US dollars that are arguably worse than these two phablets, but these phablets cost hundreds of dollars less. OnePlus talks about how they intend on killing high-end flagship phones, but it seems Xiaomi is the OEM that is actually doing this. With the OnePlus One, I felt like there were a number of areas that lacked in polish and attention to detail, but given the great pricing these problems could be overlooked.
But with the Xiaomi Mi Note, I feel like there is great attention to detail and polish and with great pricing. My experiences with the Mi Note line has also made it clear to me that Xiaomi is not the Apple copycat like most people seem to believe. However, Xiaomi’s attention to detail is definitely Apple-like.
Given the pricing and quality on offer, I’m starting to understand why so many OEMs struggle to compete with Xiaomi. If I were an Android OEM, I’d be genuinely terrified of Xiaomi making inroads in Europe and North America. As a consumer, I am waiting to see them launch a phone in the US.
