I'm not talking about a supermodel. I'm talking about Xiaomi's flagship Mi Note smartphone. The hottest Chinese company on the planet with a $46 billion valuation is eating Samsung's lunch and gunning for Apple.
Founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur and angel investor Lei Jun, Xiaomi (pronounced shao-me, not zao-me or zee-oh-me), is now one of the world's largest smartphone makers despite its primary markets being China, India and Indonesia.
The Chinese company is frequently called "The Apple of China" because its cult-like fans mirror Apple's diehard fanboys and its smartphones always sell out within minutes (sometimes even seconds).
Having snapped up Hugo Barra, Google's ex-vice president of product management for Android in 2013, Xiaomi's sales are now expected to top $16 billion this year.
If you need proof of Xiaomi's dominance in Asia, look no further than its Mi Note, an Android smartphone that sells for ¥2,299 (about $367). The phone sold out to hardcore fans in three minutes.
Although you can't buy a Mi Note in the U.S. (and even if you could, its 4G LTE bands aren't compatible with U.S. spectrum; you'd be stuck on 3G), we thought it'd be a good idea to take a look at it to see if Xiaomi's got the chops to take on future iPhones and Galaxy phones.
Familiar design
Samsung bears the brunt of the smartphone copycat blame mainly because it's the biggest Android smartphone maker. But if you thought Samsung's phones copied the iPhone too much, wait until you get a load of the Mi Note.
There's absolutely no doubt the Mi Note was inspired by Apple's iPhones. If an iPhone 4S and 6/6 Plus shacked up and birthed a big smartphone the Mi Note would be it.
Its chamfered edges, micro-drilled speaker holes and antenna bands are practically carbon-copied right out of Jony Ive's top-secret lab. The design's tweaked a little — after all, everything is a remix — but it's indisputable where the inspiration came from. That doesn't make the Mi Note any less handsome.
The Mi Note's front is dominated by its 5.7-inch (1,920 x 1,080 resolution) screen that reaches almost to the edges with the usual earpiece on the top. Despite Android 4.4.4 "KitKat" not requiring hardware buttons anymore, the Mi Note still has three capacitive buttons on the bottom bezel. It's insanely thin at 0.28 of an inch and weighs 5.68 ounces — thinner and lighter than an iPhone 6 Plus while packing a larger screen.
Just like the phone's front, the back is also made from Gorilla Glass 3. The back's two longer edges curve downwards, kinda like the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. The back's curved edges make it so the large phone is comfier to grip in one hand and doesn't dig into your palms as much. The design is also easier to scoop up when it's laying on a flat surface.
Nighty Mi
Powering the Mi Note is a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor and 3GB of RAM. It's not the latest Snapdragon 810 processor in devices like the HTC One (M9) and LG G Flex 2, but it's no weakling. The Mi Note zips along quite well and Android 4.4.4 "KitKat" is smoother than a fresh jar of skippy.
The Mi note powers through web browsing, YouTube videos and 3D games like there's no tomorrow. It comes in 16GB and 64GB storage models and you can't expand it; there's no microSD card slot on the phone.
There's a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash and optical image stabilization (OIS) on the back and a 4-megapixel selfie camera on the front. Both shooters are quick to launch and shoot. Pictures are pretty sharp and better than most Android cameras not named Samsung Galaxy Note 4 or Sony Xperia Z3. There's a cute feature that's sure to flatter the owner: When the camera's front-facing camera is on, the camera uses facial recognition to try to guess your age. It's pretty pointless, but fun to use when you use your front-camera for a pocket mirror (don't deny that you do it!).
The back camera records video in 4K resolution. It's a nice feature to have, but don't bother with it unless you own a 4K TV or 4K computer monitor to replay footage on. Recording video in 1080p full HD video still gets you a lot of detail and your battery will last longer too.
Speaking of battery, the Mi Note's got one with 3,000 milliamp-hours (mAh) inside. Like a Galaxy Note 4 or an iPhone 6 Plus, it was able to go a day and a half before needing to plug it in.
Alternate Android
The Mi Note runs Android 4.4.4 "KitKat" with Xiaomi's custom MIUI (that's "me UI") 5.2.7 skin. Instead of the heavy gloss that's often found on budget Android smartphones, MIUI is a flat user interface that's minimal, but pleasing. There's a certain "lightness" to the OS from the flat icons to the thin system font to the excellent use of white space in the menus — every element feels very clean and zen. MIUI is strikingly refreshing compared to the bloated mess that Samsung's TouchWiz has become.
In fact, MIUI can best be summed up as a mixture of Android and iOS. Unlike regular Android, which has an app drawer, MIUI has none — apps are installed onto homescreens just like iOS. One really cool MIUI feature is themes; you can easily install different themes to change up how the OS looks. There's even a theme that comes dangerously close to mimicking iOS 6 pixel for pixel.
In China, the Google Play app store and Google's services don't exist. For its intended Chinese and Asian buyers, the lack of the Google Play store isn't a deal-breaker. Instead of the Google Play store, it's got the Mi Market. Instead of Google search, it's got Baidu. Instead of Twitter, it's got Weibo. Instead of WhatsApp, it's got WeChat. China's an alternate universe where Google's apps don't need to exist because there are plenty of homegrown alternatives.
For some reason my review unit's software didn't even come with a web browser. (I factory-reset it several times, but the browser never showed up.) I was able to "side-load" a.k.a. unofficially install the Google Play store onto the Mi Note and get Chrome, Gmail and all of my essential apps running fine. And honestly, everything worked perfectly.
Can't touch this
There's a public perception that Chinese companies can't produce well-made products and can only create knockoffs (incredibly detailed ones, at that).
As China's economic might explodes, that perception is changing. Companies like OnePlus, Meizu and Xiaomi are leading that high-quality charge. Xiaomi's Mi Note, heavily Apple-inspired design and all, is a beautifully crafted smartphone.
It's unusually rare for an Android smartphone, let alone one from China, to look and feel like a premium device.
In recent weeks, Xiaomi's been accused of shipping smartphones with malware preloaded on them. That alone might be reason for pause, but the company has since determined that the infected smartphone was a counterfeit. See that? Xiaomi phones are so popular, even bootleggers are cloning them.
Whether you trust Xiaomi or not, the Mi Note is still a fantastic smartphone. Too bad you probably can't buy one. Xiaomi doesn't sell its smartphones or tablets in the U.S., and for good reason: It'd probably get slapped with violating intellectual property. But if you could, the Xiaomi Mi Note would be a home run.
