Mi India, the operational name of Xiaomi company of China, in India has got tremendous response to its mid-range Mi3 smartphone in India. Since its launch one month ago, they have been able to sell 95,000 units of the same via unique method of flash sale on Flipkart.com. To take advantage of popularity of their brand, Mi India has launched their budget smartphone Redmi 1S at an attractive price of Rs. 5,999/-.
Like the Mi3, the Redmi 1S will also be available through flash sale from 2nd September in India. The pre-registrations for this device has commenced on Flipkart. The Redmi 1S will be available only to those who have registered by midnight of September 1st on flipkart.com/Mi and they will be eligible to purchase the phone from September 2nd onwards.
The Redmi 1S has following specifications :
- 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 (HD) IPS display
- Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS with MIUI v5 on top
- AGC Dragontrail scratch-resistant glass
- 1.6 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with Cortex-A7 core
- 1 GB RAM
- 8GB ROM extendable to 64GB via microSD card
- Dual SIM – WCDMA slot for 3G data and GSM slot for 2G
- 8MP rear camera with ƒ/2.2 aperture for 1080p video recording and a front 1.6MP camera
- 2000mAh battery
- Dimensions : 137x69x9.9mm
- Weight : 158 grams
- Connectivity options : GPRS/ EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with Direct and hotspot functionality, 2G, 3G, Micro-USB, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio, GPS/ A-GPS
Speaking about launch of the Redmi 1S in India, Hugo Barra, Vice President, Xiaomi Global, said, “The Redmi 1S is the first phone of the Redmi family made available in India. It offers the best quality and user experience and at a very affordable price point. The device offers a great 720p HD screen, an 8MP camera that delivers superfine quality images, great battery life and a range of software features as part of MIUI v5 that will make every Redmi 1S owner very happy. ”
From the hardware specifications, the Redmi 1S appear to be good deal at Rs. 5,999. We shall be reviewing the Redmi 1S shortly. The Redmi IS shall be competing with Asus Zenfone 4 available at the same price and Moto E, which is priced at Rs. 6,999.
Despite above budget smartphones, there are many options available with the consumers for budget smartphones of Indian companies like Micromax, Lava and Karbonn. The problem with the Xiaomi is that their devices are not available easily and many prospective customers are not comfortable with their flash sale method of selling. For instance, many of my friends have approached me to complain that they intend to buy Mi3 smartphone, but do not have the patience to be glued to their devices to book the same when the flash sale opens. Similarly, for buying Redmi 1S, if one will have to burn their energies then we doubt, it will create same type of hype as of Mi3. For changing the game, the product should be readily available and sell in huge numbers. If you sell few thousand devices in a country like India then it can’t be a game changer product in true sense of the word.
Only the coming days will tell how the consumers react to flash sale of Redmi IS and how many units are brought by Xiaomi in the first lot.
