alekhkhanna
Innovator
So didn't know where to post this. Anyway, got an invite for the Xiaomi Mi4i launch. Was scheduled for today. Registrations were supposed to start at 2:30pm, reached at 1:45 and there was already a queue of about ~400 peeps. All of us waited in the afternoon sun while the queue got bigger and bigger. Finally registrations started and we went in collecting our goodie bags.
The goodie bag had a Mi tee which the employees were requesting us to wear while going inside the auditorium (it was in Siri Fort Audi).
By the time it was 4 (the scheduled time for the event to start), ALL the seats were full. AFAIK, the Siri Fort Audi has a seating capacity of about 1600-1800 people, and nothing was vacant. There was a queue of about 200 outside, which I guess they had to return back due to non availability of seats.
Hugo took the stage and as expected, charmed the **** out of everybody.
- The Mi4i was soon introduced. First product from the company launching in India ahead of any other market (not even China). Mi4i = Mi 4 India (cheesy, lol).
- Insane crowd. Huge Xiaomi fans. Loud claps and uproar everytime a new feature was announced (and a comparison with iPhone 6 was made. Oh yeah, Barra took loads of jabs at i6 !)
- So it's a 5", 1080p phone with ~ 3100 mah battery. 13mp and 5 mp cams, dual led flash, a "Sunlight screen" which apparently takes care of the super bright and shadowy areas under strong sunlight to give a better picture (a demo was also done, worked beautifully). The back had some coating on which even if you write with a marker, an eraser/cloth can be used to wipe it off (so basically decreasing the fingerprint count). Runs on 2nd gen SD 615, 2 GB LPDDR3 with 16GB of ROM. Will be loaded with Lollipop MIUI.
- A cool new feature is Visual IVR. Basically you don't have to wait for the IVR voice to tell you options before you select one. They preload a menu the moment you make a call at a IVR centre and you can just tap your way through. Much faster. A video will give a better explanation though.
- Also loads of controlled tests were demonstrated to show the strength of the phone. It now features a unibody design. Looks great. 5 colors - Black, White, Sky Blue, Yellow and Pink.
- Barra asked the audience for a fair pricing and mostly everybody responded with a 15k+ tag. Surprise, it's priced at 12999 ! If I'm, not wrong, the crowd kept on clapping for a good 5 mins. Nobody expected it ! Shocker TBH.
- Next was the launch of Mi-Band. Launching at a disrupting price of 999 INR. Exclusive to Mi India website.
- There's a sale on 28th at Mi India site where 1000 units of Mi band will be sold for Re 1 !
- Bigger shocker - EVERYBODY in the audience got 1 Mi Band and an extra strap FREE !
Tried my hands at Mi4i (demo units available). Lovely phone at that price. Feels good in hand, solid construction, fluid UI, snappy. Will be my next buy possibly.
By the time I was done with the hands on, the extra straps were finished. So got the Mi Band wonly (with a single black strap).
Overall, a wonderful event. Hugo's charm and the wonderful audience really made the audi come alive. Made me a fan again !
Some pics of goodies (pardon the pics. low light, high noise)
Registrations are live at Flipkart.
The goodie bag had a Mi tee which the employees were requesting us to wear while going inside the auditorium (it was in Siri Fort Audi).
By the time it was 4 (the scheduled time for the event to start), ALL the seats were full. AFAIK, the Siri Fort Audi has a seating capacity of about 1600-1800 people, and nothing was vacant. There was a queue of about 200 outside, which I guess they had to return back due to non availability of seats.
Hugo took the stage and as expected, charmed the **** out of everybody.
- The Mi4i was soon introduced. First product from the company launching in India ahead of any other market (not even China). Mi4i = Mi 4 India (cheesy, lol).
- Insane crowd. Huge Xiaomi fans. Loud claps and uproar everytime a new feature was announced (and a comparison with iPhone 6 was made. Oh yeah, Barra took loads of jabs at i6 !)
- So it's a 5", 1080p phone with ~ 3100 mah battery. 13mp and 5 mp cams, dual led flash, a "Sunlight screen" which apparently takes care of the super bright and shadowy areas under strong sunlight to give a better picture (a demo was also done, worked beautifully). The back had some coating on which even if you write with a marker, an eraser/cloth can be used to wipe it off (so basically decreasing the fingerprint count). Runs on 2nd gen SD 615, 2 GB LPDDR3 with 16GB of ROM. Will be loaded with Lollipop MIUI.
- A cool new feature is Visual IVR. Basically you don't have to wait for the IVR voice to tell you options before you select one. They preload a menu the moment you make a call at a IVR centre and you can just tap your way through. Much faster. A video will give a better explanation though.
- Also loads of controlled tests were demonstrated to show the strength of the phone. It now features a unibody design. Looks great. 5 colors - Black, White, Sky Blue, Yellow and Pink.
- Barra asked the audience for a fair pricing and mostly everybody responded with a 15k+ tag. Surprise, it's priced at 12999 ! If I'm, not wrong, the crowd kept on clapping for a good 5 mins. Nobody expected it ! Shocker TBH.
- Next was the launch of Mi-Band. Launching at a disrupting price of 999 INR. Exclusive to Mi India website.
- There's a sale on 28th at Mi India site where 1000 units of Mi band will be sold for Re 1 !
- Bigger shocker - EVERYBODY in the audience got 1 Mi Band and an extra strap FREE !
Tried my hands at Mi4i (demo units available). Lovely phone at that price. Feels good in hand, solid construction, fluid UI, snappy. Will be my next buy possibly.
By the time I was done with the hands on, the extra straps were finished. So got the Mi Band wonly (with a single black strap).
Overall, a wonderful event. Hugo's charm and the wonderful audience really made the audi come alive. Made me a fan again !
Some pics of goodies (pardon the pics. low light, high noise)
Registrations are live at Flipkart.
