Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 goes official
Xiaomi's Mi Pad tablets debuted in 2014 with
a plastic-back pioneer, while a year later, the Mi Pad 2 tweaked the formula
with the introduction of a metal body and an Intel chipset, capable of running
both Android and Windows 10.
It took two years to get another upgrade but
the Mi Pad 3 is now officially here. It popped up on the company's Chinese
website today, without any official announcement. Frankly, we can't really
blame Xiaomi, since the new offer is more of a refresh than a huge upgrade.
On the exterior, the Mi Pad 3 is practically
identical to the 2015 model. It has the same metal unibody design, measuring
200.4 x 132.6 x 7 mm and weighing in just a few grams more at 328 g. The
7.9-inch, 1536 x 2048 pixel LCD also seems to be unchanged, But, don't get us
wrong, it is still a pretty decent setup.
It's the new Mediatek MT8176 chipset that
leaves raises a few eyebrows. Rocking two 2.1 GHz Cortex-A72 cores and four 1.7
GHz Cortex-A53 ones, it should be more than capable, especially combined with
4GB of RAM - a twofold upgrade. However, we can't help but miss the x86
compatibility of the Intel chip or the exceptional GPU performance and gaming
pedigree of the ULP GeForce Kepler GPU in the Tegra K1 before it. It seems
Xiaomi just can't decide on a particular chipset line.
So, there's not going to be a Windows version
of the Mi Pad 3, but at least its Android is skinned by the newer MIUI8.
Other notable improvements in the tablet
include a bigger 6,600 mAh battery, which promises up to 867 hours of standby
and 12 hours of multimedia consumption. The main camera has also been upgraded
to 13MP, f/2.2. But, we won't fixate on that any further, since we condemn
tablet photography in all its forms.
The Mi Pad 3 is only offered in a 64GB
version and there is sadly no microSD card - still odd, since the original Mi
Pad did have one. The local price is set at CNY 1499, or around $220, but there
is still no word on availability.
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