Xiaomi announced the new addition to its Mi Note lineup just moments ago, with the Mi Note 3 essentially being the rumored Mi 6 Plus which the company was reportedly developing for at least half a year now, save for having a non-flagship SoC in the form of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660. The newly unveiled handset is hence set to compete in the mid-range phablet market, being equipped with premium specs delivered inside a package that’s more similar to the Mi 6 than the Mi Note 2.
The Mi Note 3 hence ships with a dual camera setup on its rear panel, featuring two Sony-made 12-megapixel sensors. The primary sensor is situated behind a 27mm lens with an aperture of f/1.8 and four-axis optical image stabilization (OIS), indicating that the handset will be able to perform well in low-light conditions, especially given the inclusion of a dual-LED (dual tone) flash unit. Other key features of the Mi Note 3’s camera setup include 2x optical zoom, phase detection autofocus (PDAF) support, and the ability to record 4K video content, with the smartphone’s secondary imaging system being comprised of a single 16-megapixel sensor identical to the one found on the Mi 6. The two main sensors of the phablet are arranged in a horizontal manner in the top-left corner of its back plate, with the LED flash flanking them from the left. The front-facing camera module also powers the smartphone’s artificial intelligence-based facial recognition tech which is supported out of the box, Xiaomi said.
The Mi Note 3 runs Android 7.1 Nougat with MIUI 9 on top of it and will take advantage of all new features that debuted alongside the latest iteration of Xiaomi’s proprietary mobile software suite. Those software additions include improved resource management, smart image search, and a revamped user interface which the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer designed in an effort to make the process of navigating its smartphones as streamlined and intuitive as possible, the company said earlier this year. The Mi Note 3 boasts a USB Type-C slot and comes with support for A-GPS, BDS, and GLONASS, in addition to being compatible with Quick Charge 3.0, Qualcomm’s fast charging technology. NFC support is also part of the package here, as is a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display panel with a resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels amounting to a conventional aspect ratio of 16:9. The Mi Note 3 is extremely likely to receive an update to Android 8.0 Oreo in early 2018, though it remains to be seen how long will Xiaomi take to upgrade its new phablet to the latest version of Google’s mobile OS.
