All hail the existence of grey importers, allowing early adopters everywhere to get their hands on devices not readily available in their country of purchase. DirectD is a household name in our country and despite setting abhorrent prices on some of their inventory.
Xiaomi’s second iteration of a tablet, the Mi Pad 2, meets the list and now has an all metal body – easily comparable to the iPad Mini 4.
The model that’s available on DirectD’s website is the 16GB version, and they’ve priced it RM 899 (w/ GST). The colours on offer are Champagne gold and Dark grey. Jogging your memory on this tablet, it has a 7.9-inch screen plastered onto its metal build, the screen itself has a resolution of 2048 x 1536 (326 ppi).
Lighter, thinner and overall smaller than its predecessor, it maintains the same screen size but shrinks down the bezels all around the screen. The Mi Pad 2, ditches the plastic yet weighs in at 322grams, when the model it replaces tips in at 360grams.
The upgrades continue with an Intel chipset now at the helm, a 14nm 64-bit Atom X5-8500 to be precise. Its 16GB internal storage might set off some alarms with the omission of a microSD slot, especially those inclined to have most of their media with them on the go.
For photography (if you’re seriously going to consider that with a tablet), it’ll get an 8-megapixel f/2.0 aperture lens on the rear, that will get you up to FHD video recording. As the front has a 5-megapixel lens, in case of those video calling moments or selfies (again, if you’re seriously considering doing that with a tablet).
Two speaker grills will be found on the bottom rear and underneath its backing, there’s a 6190 mAh battery, smaller than before. Xiaomi however, promises it’ll get you 100 hours of music listening and almost 12 and a half hours of video watching.
Charging the aforementioned battery will be the USB Type-C port and connector, while other connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.1 and 802.11ac Wi-Fi; sadly, no 4G LTE support makes its way on this device.
In terms of software, you’ll find MIUI 7 OS skin, as per usual. Xiaomi has plans on releasing a Windows 10 model soon, but we have no idea when it’ll be announced.
Comparing prices abroad in the brand’s domestic market (China), the 16GB sells for roughly RM 662, that’s a RM 200+ premium, that you’re paying for. At the same time, the higher 64GB model retails for about RM 861, so think about that for a second.
You pay for what you get it seems and DirectD has the ball in their court, whether or not it’ll be received well, that depends on you guys.
[ SOURCE, VIA, IMAGE SOURCE ]
