14 DAY TRIAL // Chinese device maker Xiaomi has recently launched the Mi 4i handset in India, a model inspired by the country’s legacy and culture.
The Mi 4i is a pretty nifty device, arriving with a 5-inch Sharp/JDI fully laminated display with 1080 x 1920 (full HD) resolution and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chip fitted with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
It’s pretty interesting to note that Qualcomm India was tasked to produce a second-gen Snapdragon 615 chip especially for this phone, which reportedly brings more power into the equation by overclocking the original cores.
Anyway, as the current hearsay indicates, the Xiaomi is also working on the Mi5 smartphone, which might arrive as late as Q4 2015.
The handset was said to strongly resemble the Mi Note Pro, probably arriving with a QHD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and 4GB of RAM on the inside. Unless the US chip giant manages to make the next-gen Snapdragon 820 chip available, that is.
Xiaomi Mi5 to be the company’s first phone with a fingerprint scanner
The latest piece of information coming out of Chinese website news.mydrivers (as seen at MIUI) reveals that Xiaomi’s upcoming flagship might come equipped with a fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button, similar to what we’re currently seeing on the iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy S6.
Apparently, the phone maker has just registered a patent application for a new fingerprint scanning technology, which has been published by the State Intellectual Property Office.
At the moment, the company doesn’t use fingerprint scanning on any of its products, so if the patent is granted, the Mi5 might be the first Xiaomi handset to take advantage of such a setup.
The document reveals the integration of fingerprint recognition on touch buttons, using a glass layer over those buttons, placed there for protection purposes but also to bestow strength and improve the overall design.
The source also sheds some light on possible specifications and tells us we should expect the Xiaomi Mi5 to feature a 5.2-inch display with 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution, a quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor clocked at 2.7GHz with Adreno 420 GPU (so no Snapdragon 810 here).
Xiaomi will also throw in 3GB of RAM, 16/64GB of built-in storage, 16MP/8MP camera combo, plus a 3,600 mAh battery on the inside.
Are you excited about the prospects of seeing a Xiaomi device with a fingerprint scanner on the inside?