Xiaomi Mi Play goes official with Helio P35 SoC, 5.84-inch waterdrop notch display, and dual rear cameras

The last smartphone that Chinese brand Xiaomi launched was its flagship Mi MIX 3 back in late October with Snapdragon 845 SoC, up to 10 GB RAM, quad cameras, and slider design. Well now, the company has launched a new smartphone – called Xiaomi Mi Play – but, unlike the Mi MIX 3, this one isn’t a flagship.

The Xiaomi Mi Play sports a 5.84-inch display that has an aspect ratio of 19:9 and a resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels. The display has a pixel density of 432 ppi, and, it also has a waterdrop-shaped notch up top. Well, this makes Mi Play the first Xiaomi smartphone to feature a waterdrop-shaped notch. However, despite of having a screen with a waterdrop-shaped notch and an aspect ratio of 19:9, the Mi Play has bezels that look a bit larger than some of the phones we have seen with these display specs.

The Xiaomi Mi Play flaunts a glossy, shiny back, and, with the Mi Play, Xiaomi too has jumped onto the bandwagon of gradient colors.

Talking about the innards, the Xiaomi Mi Play comes with MediaTek’s Helio P35 SoC running the show which is mated to 4 GB RAM. It has 64 GB of internal storage and it runs MIUI 10 which is based on Android Oreo instead of Pie.

For photography, the Xiaomi Mi Play features dual cameras – 12 MP and 2 MP – at the back and an 8 MP camera on the front. And, as is the case with many of the smartphones launched this year, the Mi Play also has some AI-based camera features in tow.

With that being said, users of Xiaomi Mi Play are offered 10 GB high-speed data per month for a year which is cool. And, keeping this entire package up and running is a 3000 mAh battery underneath which draws power from a micro USB port.

Xiaomi Mi Play Specifications

• CPU: 2.35 GHz MediaTek Helio P35 octa-core processor
• RAM: 4 GB LPDDR4X
• GPU: IMG-GE8320
• Operating System: MIUI 10 based on Android 8.1 Oreo
• Display: 5.84-inch Full-HD+ (2280 x 1080 pixels) 19:9 display with 432 ppi pixel density and 1500:1 contrast ratio
• Rear Camera: 12 MP (1.25 μm pixel size) + 2 MP with Portrait Mode, AI Beauty Mode, HDR, EIS and LED flash
• Front Camera: 8 MP with HDR and AI Beauty Mode
• Internal Storage: 64 GB
• External Storage: Expandable via microSD card
• SIM: Dual
• Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, GPS, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, micro USB
• Other: Fingerprint Scanner, Xiao AI Assistant, 10 GB high-speed data per month for a year
• Colors: Dream Blue, Twilight Gold, Black
• Battery: 3000 mAh

Xiaomi Mi Play Price and Availability

• Price: ¥1099 (around $159/₹11,136)
• Availability: Goes on sale in China from December 25. No word on availability in other markets

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