Xiaomi’s Redmi K30 Pro brings Snapdragon 865 phones down to $425
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The lack of IP68 is surprising, that being said, we need phones like this in the US. Shoot, Even $699 or $799 would be a good price point for a Snapdragon 865 based phone.
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Funny that this comes right on the heels of the "865s are too expensive" article mentioning phones that cost twice this going with the 765G.
Seems like the design trade-offs (battery-intensiveness, extra size requirements, etc.) are the larger drivers than SoC cost.
Seems like the design trade-offs (battery-intensiveness, extra size requirements, etc.) are the larger drivers than SoC cost.
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Until Qualcomm integrates the 5G modem into the SoC I'm just staying away from phone upgrades in general, even at a great price.
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While the specs are pretty good (and I do like the idea of a front camera that stays covered when not in use), it comes down to bands, and Xiaomi's phones tend to lack a few key US ones. Still, this is a pretty killer feature set for the price.
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Are Xaomi phones coming to the US yet? I know they were afraid of patent suits for a long time. If this does come to the US and has an IR blaster it may be worth dealing with the 865 5G shenanigans. I have no interest in paying hundreds of dollars for megapixels and RAM and curved screens and glass backs, or even wireless charging, though that one does entice me a little bit. But an IR blaster, sign me the F@#$ up. I still haven't enjoyed a smartphone as much as my Galaxy S5 since then.
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Most Xiaomi phones can be bought on Amazon and shipped to the US, that's how I got my Mi A1, which similarly has an IR blaster. However, if you're asking about these things being sold by major carriers, it's probably not gonna happen, considering the most off-mainstream brands offered by the big 3 are Kyocera and Solim with zero offerings from Xiaomi/Huawei/Honor (though T-Mobile does have OnePlus devices).
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And as long as they have the right frequencies they should work on the US carriers? And are they sold in english, or do you have to futs with them? I've sworn off buying anything from a carrier that I can buy elsewhere.
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I'm one o those people that can't remember the last time I used my forward facing camera so a popup camera just means a camera that isn't wasting screen space when I never use it but the big problem has always been the bands. Outside of a few phones they tried to target at the US the imported phones always lacked a couple key bands for US carriers. I want to say band 12 for T-mobile and probably band 71 now which is all of T-mobiles low band coverage.
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Methinks the staff was a wee bit touchy about the comments to yesterday's "Snapdragon 865 TOO EXPENSIVE big companies DO NOT WANT nothing less than $1000" article.
yeah, we are all trapped at home. Comments are going to be a bit punchy. Sorry about that.
yeah, we are all trapped at home. Comments are going to be a bit punchy. Sorry about that.
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They will work with US carriers like T-Mobile/AT&T/most GSM-based MVNOs, but they sometimes don't have all the US 4G bands, so while you'll be able to do pretty much all functions, you won't get the best bandwidth on mobile data. And yes, they are sold in English without the need for serious futzing or anything more than an Amazon account.
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More like OEMs like Apple and Samsung are charging outrageous prices for "flagships" because they can. This phone has a SD865+X55 SoC, 6.7" OLED display, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 4700mAh battery, in-display fingerprint reader, with four back cameras and a pop-up selfie camera, for $425. That's not a "trade-off" in anyone's book.
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Are in screen fingerprint readers actually good yet? Otherwise, the specs look very nice.
Inevitably of course, the band support will kill this for US use.
Inevitably of course, the band support will kill this for US use.
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No mention of wireless charging?
What about Xiaomi's policy and track record for Android updates?
What about Xiaomi's policy and track record for Android updates?
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THIS! I would even give up sd chip support for this. Unfortunately I live in the land of Verizon.
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Xiaomi is one of the biggest mobile sellers worldwide. Maybe you don't have a clue about them in the USA but their phones are too good for their money.Are you guys sure that's an authentic snapdragon or a spamdragon? Price is too good to be true
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So either the flagships are overpriced by at least $800 USD more. Or there is a trap somewhere with this Redmi K30 Pro. Why would anyone buy a Samsung S20 ?
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Seems you're unfamiliar with sarcasm.Xiaomi is one of the biggest mobile sellers worldwide. Maybe you don't have a clue about them in the USA but their phones are too good for their money.Are you guys sure that's an authentic snapdragon or a spamdragon? Price is too good to be true
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Hi Ron, the K20 pro is marketed outside China and India as the Mi 9T Pro, not the Mi 9T. The K20, which has the same hardware specs except for the fact that it has a Snapdragon 730, is marketed as Mi 9T, at a lower price point.
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Buuuut.. the ram, storage, camera... still won't be integrated !!!! How will you manage ????
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Could be a fun hacking phone, the Poco F1 supported root by default and even though the bands sucked, it's a good little dev device.
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Wow, that feature set is almost perfect! Even IR blaster. Just wireless charging missing, which is curious.
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I've been using and getting others around me to buy Redmi Notes for 3+ years now. Contrary to previous, cheaper Chinese 3rd/4th-tier OEMs I tried, there is no huge downside and no hidden defects that ruin the devices.
The built quality is solid. The OS support is fine for Android, you can count on 2 major OS updates and some security updates beyond that. Xiaomi's MIUI skin is mostly an iPhonization of Android that makes stuff, especially Settings, maddeningly different for no reason; but it does add value in places: gestures were here early and work very well, and there's both a dual-app feature that clones an app to enable 2 different accounts, and a dual-workspace feature that enables 2 whole different copies of the OS. Battery life is excellent, and pics are nice for the price.
There are even nice extras: SD slot, audio jack, FM radio, IR blaster, and cheap parts for rather easy DIY repairs.
And drawbacks: not all models have NFC, they sometimes release a europe-specific version with that. And some stuff that rarely gets reviewed is a bit behind the curve: screen glare, mic quality, even sound quality both loudspeaker and jack, is OK-not-great. Also low-light pics, though there's been a ton of progress on later models.
In the end, I trust Xiaomi as a brand, and made the Redmi Note my default recommendation. Great phone for $150. Paying less will land you in the "crap" or "noticeably compromised" segment, paying more puts you in a worse place on the bang/buck curve, but can be justified for special cases (avid photographers, gamers, ...). Recently, BBK's Oppo/Realme brand has been coming on strongly though, providing interesting competition.
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There are usually "China" and "Global" versions of Xiaomis. "Global" versions include more bands, and a smorgasbord of languages. Make sure to buy the "official global version with OTA", some resellers hack a multilingual ROM onto a Chinese SKU. gearbest and geekbuying are reliable, though beware of their marketplace and make doubly sure you're buying from the true geekb/gearb; their "marketplace" tag is especially discreet.
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From the Ars article about OEMs not using the 865: "Instead of being slightly worse in every way, the Snapdragon 765G actually one-ups the 865 in one area: it's Qualcomm's first SoC with an integrated 5G modem."
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$599 or $799 is truly too much and there will be plenty of phones in that range. Xiaomi, has become a dominant power by offering high top tier quality at mid range prices.
The only thing about this phone that may be a negative is that it may not include enough bands to work well in the US. Xiaomi has phones that offer the full spectrum of bands such as the Mix series, and recently the Mi8, Mi9 ( 9T has less bands) and upcoming Mi10 ( which is expected to cost $725)
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Snapdragon 865 on just 4700mAh battery... Feels like a Ferrari with a 20 liters gas tank. 765 seems like the SoC of this generation.
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It’s a good thing the Chinese government supports their companies, otherwise the company couldn’t afford to offer this chip in a phone for this price.
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It does seem like a lot of phone for the money. Do Xiaomi make much of a profit on them?
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Another great phone that cant be used in the USA, only supports LTE bands 5 & 41
Thats the problem with all these Huawei and Xiaomi phones.
https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-ch ... mi-k30-pro
Thats the problem with all these Huawei and Xiaomi phones.
https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-ch ... mi-k30-pro
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Wait for the "global" version. The (China) K20 Pro got renamed to the Mi 9T Pro for "Global" markets, and offered better band coverage, though nothing to write home-to-the-USA about: https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-ch ... -mi-9t-pro
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Unfamiliarity with the brand, and lack of the needed frequency bands. I use and recommend Xiaomi phones, because they often offer phenomenal value, but you need to do your due diligence to be sure the device you're buying supports the bands your carrier uses.
A couple years ago, the Mi Mix 2 (still my daily driver) was a INCREDIBLE value, with an 835 at a similar price (when it was the current SOC) AND they packed in global 4G band support. That particular model supported essentially everything, globally.
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They used to give beta update every month or so, and give that even to 3+ years old devices. Nowadays those update are limited to CHINA ROM. You can still install it to global phones tho, but with more hassle.
so nowadays, normal GLOBAL users will get around 2 years of OS update, and 2+ years for security updates.
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I bought a Mi Mix 2S and used it on Verizon, but I bought the global model to make sure it had the right bands. Even though it only had 4/5 4G bands and no 3G bands, it worked fine, including VoLTE, although I had to turn that on manually, and, as it turns out is usual for a phone that Verizon doesn't sell, you need to use a SIM that's already been activated on the Verizon network. But in my case I just went into a store, and they popped a card out of one of the demo phones. YMMV on that.
What you want to do, if you don't read Chinese, is wait for them to release a global model, because it'll support other languages (and, in this particular case, hopefully have more US bands--the Chinese version of this phone doesn't support a lot of US bands (only 5 and 41 for 4G LTE, based on a quick search.)
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