Xiaomi is planning to enter the Africa market this September

[PhireSide]

According to the site it is R80 for courier. I also confirmed this by emailing MIA. Looking at getting the mi band also

Awesome, thanks. I mailed them last week and tweeted them but I haven't had any response.

Seems you will have to be our spokesperson as you actually get replies

Takealot didn't deliver today and they revised the ETA to tomorrow during the day sometime. I did get my OTG adapter and my spare Nokia Lumia 1320 cover from BoB though. Time to start prepping the phone for handover to my dad (new screen protector and TPU cover) in anticipation of the Redmi arriving tomorrow!

 

[hackerjargon]

Thanks for the write up. Very informative. I got my Redmi Note 2 today from Takealot. So will play with it later. From all he reviews I've read and watched it looks like a solid phone for the money

No Problem.
Forgot to mention.
This is the first phone that I have that actually works on LTE! With both my MTN sim cards, I can use 4G. Even in a remote location as Lanseria, very surprised.
*Will depend on the network you use and if LTE is enabled and ready at your location.

Dual sim and screen size is what I was after before I bought it.
For the price, its really a very good phone (phablet )

 

[PhireSide]

What is your take on the battery life? Also did it ship with MIUI 6 or MIUI 7?

Coming from my 6" 1320 I don't think I will notice the slightly smaller screen, but at least it is quite a bit lighter (60g in fact).

I might order a cover from MIA and use it until the ones I ordered from DX.com arrive. My biggest concern is that they do not officially quote any protective measures taken to protect the screen, so I am pretty angsty to get the tempered glass screen protector that I ordered. I wonder if MIA will bring them in as well?

 

[MiffMeister]

What is your take on the battery life? Also did it ship with MIUI 6 or MIUI 7?

Coming from my 6" 1320 I don't think I will notice the slightly smaller screen, but at least it is quite a bit lighter (60g in fact).

I might order a cover from MIA and use it until the ones I ordered from DX.com arrive. My biggest concern is that they do not officially quote any protective measures taken to protect the screen, so I am pretty angsty to get the tempered glass screen protector that I ordered. I wonder if MIA will bring them in as well?

Have just booted the phone up. It has miui 7 pre loaded. I have downloaded the updated global rom and will load it now. Phone is solid

 

[PhireSide]

Sounds promising.

Thanks MiffMeister for the update

 

[MiffMeister]

Loaded the new global rom. Phone running well. Very fast.

I like there is no bloatware, only the necessary apps. Camera is decent as well. I've read reviews where everyone says the camera and battery life is bad. But the camera looks good. Will have to test the battery life

 

[PhireSide]

Where did you get the ROM from? I think en.miui.com hosts them IIRC.

Do you just slap the file onto the phone storage and update it via the recovery?

 

[MiffMeister]

Where did you get the ROM from? I think en.miui.com hosts them IIRC.

Do you just slap the file onto the phone storage and update it via the recovery?

Yes you get it from en.miui.com

What I did was copy the file to the root of the phone storage. Renamed it update.zip. I then powered the phone off and booted to recovery. This can be done by holding the volume up and power button at the same time, and keep holding until it's in recovery. Then you choose the update option. Wait about 5-10 minutes and you're done

 

[PhireSide]

Seems simple enough. It definitely sounds better than unlocking bootloaders and loading custom recoveries via Fastboot like my old Moto G.

I might download the global ROM so long and zap it on once I get the phone. It sounds like it goes quick enough at least. I wonder if it's as easy to roll back to a previous version? In case things go pear shaped as they tend to do when I am involved

 

[MiffMeister]

Seems simple enough. It definitely sounds better than unlocking bootloaders and loading custom recoveries via Fastboot like my old Moto G.

I might download the global ROM so long and zap it on once I get the phone. It sounds like it goes quick enough at least. I wonder if it's as easy to roll back to a previous version? In case things go pear shaped as they tend to do when I am involved

There is older roms on the site you can download as well in case

 

[Vegeta]

Whats the rom version that you installed?

 

[MiffMeister]

Whats the rom version that you installed?

I loaded the latest one they had there. 7.1.3

 

[hackerjargon]

Whats the rom version that you installed?

I'm using stock firmware that was preloaded on the device. No bloatware. There was and update after I switched on the phone.
I had two updates recently (one today actually) and I'm happy to see the updates are small (7.2MB for bug fixes and optimizations) and that it does get updated often and not have to wait like for other manufactors that usually also first push it to the mobile operators etc..

MIUI 7.2.3.0 LHMMIDA Stable, Build LRX22G

I'm very happy with the stock firmware/rom on here and everything works perfectly. It's the international (EU) too and not the Chinise one.
This phone reminds me alot of how Google Nexus devices are and good clean firmware/rom. Not sure if you do buy any other Xiaomi device at any operator if they flash it with their custom rom with crap, etc.. but the stock rom is availble on their site to download for the device.

Battery life is not bad and plus the battery is removable and replacable later, so far it's at 20% this morning after being on for 14+ hours, but with light usage and mobile data on (not wifi).
Speaking of data, I'm very happy to see that even with all my apps installed (whatsapp, facebook, twitter, 9gag and so on) that usually always 'ate' all my data in the background, it uses minimual data. Even the system apps used more data on my previous android devices. Just goes to show how bloatware 'eats' your data.

You can goto security settings and choose what apps to use what connection (mobile data or wifi). Also had a built in virus scanner with two definition sources and that spares the load for installing other virus scanners (you have to manually scan, but that's fine with me).

You can find this under 'settings' 'system apps' 'security'.

 

[hackerjargon]

Some screenshots. I have a shortcut to the system settings on my notifications menu for easy access. It also shows how much data I'm using for the day (very handy). The block list btw can block all other calls and sms'es (you can screen them later) for only contacts on your phone so no need for a 3rd party app for that.

 

[PhireSide]

I'm not sure if I like the new notification shade (the previous gaussian blur-style one looked a bit better IMHO) but the rest looks good.

MIUI seems like a decent customisation of Android and it adds some pretty nifty features. The added features are handy ones such as the antivirus/spyware, phone cleaner and call blocker, so it saves us from having to download third party apps providing they work as promised.

Thanks for the feedback thus far

 

[hackerjargon]

Love the ability to change themes and custome it. Will look into designing my own later, different themes also adds things like weather widgets to the lock screen etc..
Some more screenshots after I applied one of the themes.

Use the Mi PC Suite to create themes, etc..

 

[hackerjargon]

Had and idea, at the moment I keep my phone save in this pouch I picked up at the flea market in Boksburg a couple of years ago, neven used it till now. It's made for 5.5 inch phones and has lots of space. Fits perfectly on my belt so I can wear it.

Wonder what wireless power back solutions there are and if there are any universal ones that will work with this phone.
The poutch can easily fit a power back in the back side and as soon as you put the phone in the pouch in the front, it will start to charge.

I'm going to look into this and let you guys know what I found.
Here are photos of the pouch.

 

[Neoprod]

^^, poutch...potch...poutch...you had 3 tries and missed

Say no to the fanny pack, man.

 

[hackerjargon]

^^, poutch...potch...poutch...you had 3 tries and missed

Say no to the fanny pack, man.

haha, thx. I didn't even notice the spelling mistakes
I prefer it around my waist, with the cover arriving soon, it will add to the 5.5 inch size and its bulky in my front pocket of my pants. I never put anything in my back pockets, seen to many phones from friends/family broken that way.

I don't mind lookling like a dork, I'm a geek and love my gadgets. It's also not like I'm wearing a moon bag.

 

[hackerjargon]

Just got contacted by the courier for the delivery of may case I ordered form MIA Africa.
Must say, after doing a bank transfer yesterday into their account, it's very quick. Oder confirmed to arrive tomorrow.

Will post picks tomorrow of case and phone in case.
Also to confirm it's the right case for the Redmi Note 2 and not the Note 3

Here is a photo of my previous post on the pouch around my waist.