Next-gen Xiaomi phone to have quad-core S4 Pro chip and 720p display

Xiaomi is the Chinese company behind the popular MIUI ROM.
Last year, they launched their own Xiaomi phone with the MIUI ROM on top, and it seems they’ve been fairly successful with it, as they’ve just announced a $216 million investment in their company. Moreover, leaks are pointing out to a next-gen quad-core smartphone with a 720p display, coming soon from them.
The chip on the rumored phone comes from Qualcomm, and since the only quad-core processor they’ve announced for this year is the S4 Pro with the Adreno 320 GPU, that’s most likely what the high-end Xiaomi will have. The device doesn’t seem to have a front-facing camera, but the pricing might make up for it. The rumored price is just $300, which would be significantly cheaper than Meizu’s $480 quad-core phone (Exynos 4 Quad chip), Meizu being Xiaomi’s main local rival.
The OS version will most likely be Android 4.0, but if they won’t release the new quad-core device soon, it’s possible that Xiaomi will be able to upgrade it to Android 4.1. Even if it’s released with Android 4.0, i’m sure Xiaomi will release the Jelly Bean upgrade soon after, because they just love playing with custom ROMs and the latest versions of Android.
From the pictures, we can see that Xiaomi is following a trend that not many manufacturers have adopted yet – making stylish, yet colorful phones. I think that people want to have different colors on their phones, but so far, most manufacturers are still only choosing the safest colors, like black or white. Actually, not too long ago they probably thought the white color is pretty “daring”, but now it almost seems necessary for all phone models.


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Quad-core Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD to launch in August for under $500

Whether we like it or not, the wait for a true “iPad killer” has extended much longer than expected and is not set to end very soon. Samsung and Asus have come up with more than decent 10-inch tablets the past year or so, while Amazon and Google have released some really competitive 7-inchers. However, to be completely honest, there still isn’t one Android flagship that can truly go head to head with Apple’s iPad(s) in terms of hardware performance and software reliability.
But what if that “iPad killer” was to come from someone else than today’s top Android makers? Impossible, you say? Well, you’ve probably never heard of Huawei’s MediaPad 10 FHD, a 10-inch quad-core beast unveiled back in February and officially priced earlier today.
And if the MediaPad was intriguing months ago based simply on its tech specs, the tablet has now become a product to really wait for, based on its features, but also pricing. Powered by a quad-core 1.5 GHz Huawei K3V2 processor and featuring 2 GB of RAM, the 10-incher will start selling for “less than 3,000 yuan”, according to official statements from Yu Chengdong, the company’s head of the Consumer Business Group and Senior VP of Huawei Technologies.
Now, 3,000 Chinese Yuan would convert into about $475, so you might dream to get the MediaPad 10 FHD for less than 400 bucks. Then again, we’re almost certain that “less than 3,000 yuan” means 2,999, so don’t get carried away! Still, $475 seems like a very small price to pay for what the tablet promises to bring to the table, and it’s also very likely for that Chinese“mark” to be lowered in the US after all.

Chengdong’s official statement provides some insight on the tablet’s release date, promising to get it out in “late August”. Huawei’s VP didn’t mention if that timeframe is for a Chinese only release or for a worldwide launch, but we’re guessing it’s the former. However, we’re almost certain that we will be seeing the 10-incher come to the US, so there’s a good chance it will be up for grabs stateside as soon as the first leaves will start to fall.
To get a better picture about all the fuss surrounding the MediaPad 10 FHD, you should know that, aside from that very snappy chip under its hood and the 2 GB of RAM, the slate will also be coming with an 1920 x 1200 IPS LCD panel, Android 4.0 ICS, HSPA+ support, 8 MP/1.3 MP dual cameras, 8 GB of on-board storage, and a microSD card slot.
The MediaPad 10 FHD is not set to break any records in terms of battery life and will only come with a 6,400 mAh unit capable of running for around six or seven hours of heavy use, but then again the very slim profile (8.8 mm thickness and 589 grams weight) will most likely make up for it.
It’s far too early to even think this 10-incher will be able to steal some of Apple’s popularity in the tablet arena and be a true “iPad killer”. But it’s clearly not too early to say that the name Huawei (see how to pronounce it here) will be on the lips of many tech users these coming months. Ascend P1 + Ascend D Quad + MediaPad 10 FHD = so much win. Do you guys agree?


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