Xiaomi launches Mi 3 in India for Rs 13,999; exclusively via Flipkart

Xiaomi has launched its flagship Mi 3 in India and the device will start selling from today onwards. The Mi 3 has been priced at Rs 13,999, less than the initial price revealed by the company earlier this month.   The phone will be sold on Flipkart initially, but it remains to be seen whether the exclusivity will extend beyond this initial launch stage. At the moment you can pre-register for the sale from today and the phone will go on sale on July 22nd, with the pre-registered users getting priority.   At that price and with its set of features, the Mi 3 could **ruffle the feathers of Indian smartphone makers.** The **Mi 3 will compete with the likes of the Nexus 5 and the HTC One M7** , because it has Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 SoC. The quad-core processor has been being clocked at 2.3GHz and the chipset also has an Adreno 330 GPU. It includes 2GB of RAM, which is good enough to handle all those apps and services, running on the custom MiUI OS. Xiaomi has released some benchmarks claiming that the Mi 3 is faster than some devices from big brands such as the  Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One.   In addition to launching the phone, the company has released a new India theme in the MiUI themes store. It features refreshed iconography and UI elements, with a very India design aesthetic that features henna patterns, elephants and a wallpaper that shows the Taj Mahal.   [caption id=“attachment_227055” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Sleek at 8.1mm[/caption]   Xiaomi will not disappoint when it comes to cameras too. It comes with a 13-megapixel rear snapper and a 2-megapixel front shooter for selfies. Besides, it features some other standard features such as dual LED flash, f/2.2 aperture and 28mm wide angle lens. Both camera support 1080p support for video recording. Xiaomi is also packing in a continuous shot feature to give users the option of taking 10 shots in a second.   Connectivity in the smartphone is taken care of with dual-band WiFi (with support for ac band) and NFC support. Despite the relatively slim form, the Mi-3 comes with a pretty impressive 3,050mAh battery.   Xiaomi hasn’t compromised on the build quality either, given the price. The 8.1 mm thin body is built using magnesium alloy frame coated with three layers of thermal graphite. It measures 144 x 73.6 x 8.1 mm, and weighs a mere 145 g. The device also comes dipped in several colours including black, silver, yellow and pink. Xiaomi has also bundled a waterproof  cover with the Mi 3. Facebook, Flipkart and SwiftKey will be pre-loaded on the Mi 3.   So what do you think? Has Xiaomi made the right splash with the Mi 3 launch? The price is certainly great, but it remains to be seen whether the brand will work in India.