XIAOMI MI MAX LAUNCHED IN INDIA: PRICE, SPECIFICATIONS, RELEASE

DATE, ANDMORE

HIGHLIGHTS

1. For now, only one variant has been

launched in India

2. 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage/ Snapdragon 650 variant was launched

3. The dual-SIM handset supports 4G LTE with VoLTE

Xiaomi on Thursday launched the Mi Max in India, its "largest smartphoneyet", priced at Rs. 14,999. It will be available from Mi.com in its first flash sale on July6, with registrations opening on Thursday. The company at the event also unveiledthe global ROM of MIUI 8. Open sale on all partner platforms will begin on July 13.

To recall, the Xiaomi Mi Max had been launched first in China in May. Theall-metal body smartphone is available in Dark Grey, Gold, and Silver colours. Itsports a fingerprint scanner on the rear panel. While the company had unveiledthree variants in China, only one variant has arrived in India - 3GB RAM/ 32GB inbuiltstorage/ Snapdragon 650 SoC.

The Chinese conglomerate added that the Snapdragon 652 variant 4GB ofRAM and 128GB of inbuilt storage will also be available soon in India - Xiaomi says itwill be priced at Rs. 19,999. All variants of the smartphone come with a hybrid dualSIM configuration, allowing users to place up to a 128GB microSD card in thesecondary SIM card slot.

Xiaomi also announced 3 months of free movies and 1 year of unlimitedmusic on Hungama Play for the first 1 million Mi Max, Mi 5, and Redmi Note 3 users.Free Batman vs. Superman movie streaming for first 10,000 Mi Max users.

The Xiaomi Mi Max sports a 6.44-inch full-HD (1080x1920) 342ppi display. Itbears a 16-megapixel rear camera that offers phase detection autofocus (PDAF) andLED flash. The phablet also bears a 5-megapixel front camera also on board with85-degree wide-angle view. Both cameras have an f/2.0 aperture.

The dual-SIM handset supports 4G LTE with VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS/ A-GPSwith Glonass, and Wi-Fi 802.11ac with Mimo. There's no NFC on board. It is backedby a massive 4850mAh battery, measures 173.1x88.3x7.5mm, and weighs in at 203grams.

The Mi Max sports an infrared emitter to act as a universal remote control,apart from an ambient light sensor, gyroscope, accelerometer, and proximity sensor.

As for MIUI 8, the company said the public beta will be available in the formof an OTA update starting July 11, and users can get instructions on how todownload and install the update via the new Mi Community in India, and the MIUIForum. The stable version of the Global MIUI 8 ROM will begin rolling out on August16.