Xiaomi Announces the Redmi Note 4 in India

Just before Hugo Barra announced he was leaving the company, he and Xiaomi on Thursday introduced its latest phablet, the Redmi Note 4, in India. The design of the smartphone resembles that of the Chinese version, but the internal architecture has changed. Instead of the MediaTek Helio X20 SoC, the Indian version of the Redmi Note 4 uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625, which is a shift from a tri-cluster 10-core A72/A53/A53 design to a full A53/A53 eight-core SoC. Meanwhile, despite the hardware switch, the concept of the device has not changed: the high-end flagship phone will retail at price-points below $200.

Hugo Barra, former chief marketing officer of Xiaomi, published specs and prices of the Redmi Note 4 phablet that will be available in India. The company has changed a lot about the device both inside and outside, possibly because the newcomer will eventually be available globally and thus will have different competitors than it does in China. In general, the new Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 remained the same: it is a 5.5” smartphone that comes in a metallic unibody chassis with rounded edges and antenna separated from the rest of the back cover using polycarbonate strips. The new Redmi Note 4 lineup will include matte black, matte gold and matte gray smartphones.

When Xiaomi introduced the Redmi Note 4 in China several months ago, the company used Mediatek’s deca-core Helio X20 in a market where core-count can matter at this price-point (as in, it affects buying decisions). For the new version, Xiaomi uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC that features fewer general-purpose cores, has a single-channel memory controller and a modem with more bands. More importantly, the chip is made using Samsung’s 14LPP (14 nm FinFET, low-power plus) manufacturing technology and presumably has generally lower power consumption when compared to the Helio X20 made using TSMC’s CLN20SOC (20nm planar) fabrication process. In any case, Xiaomi says that the Redmi Note 4 with its 4100 mAh battery lasts 25% longer when compared to its predecessor (the Redmi Note 3 with a 4050 mAh battery), an indicator that the new unit uses components with lower power consumption.

On the other hand, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 650 that features two high-performance ARM Cortex-A72 cores as well as four low-power ARM Cortex-A53 cores, compared to the quad A53+quad A53 of the Snapdragon 625 in the Redmi Note 4. The octa-core A53 configuration will result in lower performance for this version of the Redmi Note 4 compared to the Helio X20 version and the older Redmi Note 3 Pro, especially for bursty workloads like web browsing.

In the last generation of mid-range smartphones, a number of companies were happy to take a ‘hex’ core design: big.Little using dual A72 and quad A53. This allowed the SoC to offer good peak performance, using some of the highest performing cores available at a high frequency, and move to the small cluster when in power saving mode. However, these designs were on 28nm – a popular but not leading edge process node. So far this year we’ve seen a number of devices announced that are ditching the pair of A72 cores for another set of quad A53 cores, on SoCs built on a 14nm node. The performance of the cores doesn’t change with process node, but the power consumption does: using a 14nm S625 over a 28nm S650 means that battery life is up and up (on all else being comparable) however peak performance is generally down. The interesting intersection is if they compute the same amount of work and how much power is required: it is generally considered that a 14nm S625 still wins that one as well. This is despite the fact that the chip probably costs more, by virtue of the 14nm process. It would seem that vendors are willing to take the hit on price and performance in exchange for battery life (other devices announced include the honor 6X, Huawei Nova/Plus and the ASUS Zenfone 3 Zoom). Another downside of these S625 devices seems to be that some don’t support 802.11ac. 

The Redmi Note 4 phone has a 5.5-inch FHD IPS display covered with 2.5D Gorilla Glass for protection. The Chinese version of the Redmi Note 4 claimed to have a maximum brightness of 450 nits, a contrast ratio of 1000:1, 72% NTSC color gamut as well as a special technology that improves visibility of the display outdoors, but we do not know whether the Indian version has the very same display panel too.

As for imaging capabilities, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 uses a 13 MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture, PDAF and a dual LED flash on the back as well as a 5 MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture on the front. Audio features of the Xiaomi RN4 include built-in speakers as well as 3.5-mm TRRS audio jack on top. Meanwhile, for local connectivity, the phone features 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 and a microUSB port. Now, while we understand that the Snapdragon 625 supports LTE, WCDMA, CDMA and GSM, but so far, Xiaomi has not announced specific bands for the Redmi Note 4 smartphone. In the best-case scenario, the handset supports everything the SoC does, but the manufacturer has not confirmed that yet.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 uses Google’s Android 7 with various enhancements by Xiaomi, including new security features of the MIUI 8 designed to simplify usage of the fingerprint scanner.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 was up for sale in India as of the 23rd January. For the prices, they will vary from Rs. 9,999 ($146) for the entry-level 2 GB/32 GB model to Rs. 12,999 ($190) for the high-end 4 GB/64 GB SKU.

Gallery: Xiami Announces Redmi Note 4 in India: 5.5 Inch, Snapdragon 625, 4 GB/64 GB, 4100 mAh

Related Reading:

• Xiaomi Launches Redmi Note 4 in China
• CES 2017: Xiaomi (Not) Live Blog
• Xiaomi Announces the Mi Note 2 (Snapdragon 821, 6GB RAM) and Mi MIX Concept Phones
• Xiaomi Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus Announced

Samsung Reveals Root Cause of Galaxy Note7 Battery Fires

Samsung held a press conference today detailing the results of its investigation into the battery fires that plagued its Galaxy Note7. Reports of phones catching fire appeared soon after it went on sale August 19, 2016. After an initial investigation identified faulty batteries from one of its suppliers as the root cause, later identified by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission as Samsung SDI, Samsung announced a global exchange program on September 2, where phones containing the faulty battery would be replaced by ones using a battery from a second supplier; however, after this new batch of phones continued to catch fire, it became clear that the Note7’s battery problem was more complicated. Without a solution in hand, the company was forced to cease production and suspend sales of the Note7 on October 11. To date, Samsung said 96% of the roughly 3 million phones sold to customers around the world have been recovered.

Over the past several months, Samsung has been working to uncover the root cause of the Note7’s battery fires. The company’s own internal investigation involved over 700 engineers and data gathered from testing 200,000 phones and 30,000 Note7 batteries. To facilitate the testing, Samsung built a large-scale test facility that automated various charging and discharging scenarios that ultimately replicated the failures that occurred in the field.

To ensure it found the true cause or causes of the failures, it examined everything from the battery to hardware to software to manufacturing and logistics. Samsung tested both wired and wireless charging over a range of voltages and currents, with the Note7’s rapid charging feature both enabled and disabled. To see if the phone’s IP68 rated environmental protection caused heat buildup inside the sealed chassis, it tested phones with and without the back cover in place. It even checked to see if the Note7’s iris scanning feature or running certain preloaded and third-party apps resulted in excessive battery current.

In addition to its own internal testing, Samsung also enlisted the aid of two independent testing labs—Exponent Engineering and Scientific Consulting and UL—for battery and electronics testing and hired TÜV Rheinland to investigate possible causes due to logistics and assembly.

Ultimately, these investigations revealed that the Note7 fires were caused by different design and manufacturing defects in the batteries from both suppliers. The lithium-ion batteries used in the Note7 were constructed from long strips of an insulating separator sandwiched between positive and negative electrode foils spirally wound to create an electrode assembly inside a heat-sealed polymer pouch. Electrode tabs were welded to the positive and negative foil electrodes for external connection points.

For the batteries from Samsung SDI (referred to as “Company A”), the polymer pouch did not provide enough room for the negative electrodes in the upper-right corner closest to the negative tab. Either through normal expansion and contraction of the battery while charging/discharging, or through damage caused during manufacturing or assembly (as discovered by UL), the negative electrodes were bent after contacting the pouch corner, stretching the separator. If the separator failed, the cell would short circuit, which could lead to a runaway thermal failure. UL also discovered that the separator was too thin in some samples, which would increase the likelihood of this type of failure.

The pouch design of the batteries supplied by “Company B” (Amperex Technology), which were used in the Note7 replacements, had sufficient clearance around the electrodes. The failure of these batteries was instead due to poor control of the ultrasonic welding process used to attach the positive tab to the positive electrode. This spot welding process created sharp protrusions that could bridge the gap between the positive tab and the neighboring negative electrode during normal expansion and contraction of the battery due to thermal cycling, causing an electrical short. Some samples were also found to be missing a layer of protective insulation tape under the positive tab (the separator material was still in place), increasing the likelihood of a short circuit.

For batteries from both companies, the use of high-energy density cells increased the risk for thermal runaway during a short circuit, especially when the battery was in a high state of charge.

UL and Exponent also tested the Note7’s internal charging circuitry along with external charging accessories, including Samsung’s charger and popular third-party chargers. UL found that the Note7’s battery temperature and maximum current drain did not exceed rated limits and that battery current, voltage, and temperature did not exceed the battery’s specifications when charging with Samsung’s included charger. Exponent also found the Note7’s internal battery protection circuitry capable of defending it against chargers operating outside specifications. Based on their investigation, the companies concluded that the Note7’s electronics did not contribute to failures of either manufacturer’s batteries.

To reduce the likelihood of future battery failures, Samsung is implementing an 8-point Battery Safety Check that involves additional inspection and testing, and improving training for everyone involved in handling batteries, both during assembly and shipping. It’s also adding more space and brackets around the battery to protect it from crush related failures, improving the safety standards for the materials inside the battery, and improving its software algorithms that control the battery charging temperature, current, and duration. Samsung confirmed that the upcoming Galaxy S8 will benefit from these new procedures and features, noting that they will not significantly impact the S8’s release date, which will occur sometime after Mobile World Congress this year.

Samsung is eager to move past the Galaxy Note7 and begin the process of regaining consumer trust, which is one reason why it’s sharing the results of its investigation. In a further bid to improve battery safety throughout the industry and repair its reputation, Samsung said it will share its new 8-point inspection plan with global standards organizations.

ZTE’s CSX “Hawkeye” Concept Phone Detailed, Kickstarter Launched

For some time now ZTE has been running a program to crowdsource the ideas for smartphones. The basis for this is to collect the ideas of consumers in order to best build the kind of device that consumers want. Some may actually disagree with this philosophy, but it’s one that ZTE has taken to its extreme with their crowd sourced X (CSX) program, where X stands for any physically possible mobile device that consumers can dream up.

ZTE’s CSX program is now beginning to show results with the announcement of ZTE’s first crowdsourced smartphone, the Hawkeye. Given that this is a very experimental way of developing a smartphone, ZTE is departing from their standard methods for development and distribution. They’ve set up a Kickstarter campaign, which for the time being will also serve as the storefront for buyers to purchase the phone. Right now the goal is set at $500,000 USD, and with each phone priced at $200 it appears that ZTE hopes to sell at least 2500 units, which seems feasible even for a very niche device.

The two primary features of the Hawkeye phone that came from consumer input are the ability to navigate the interface using eye movement, and the inclusion of an adhesive case that allows the phone to be attached to surfaces. It’s worth noting that Samsung has implemented eye-tracking to control the UI in the past, and it hasn’t worked out well due to problems with tracking, eye strain, and the general lack of sense in moving a smartphone UI around with ones eyes. The adhesive case is being billed as a convenient feature, and while I don’t really see the use of it, it’s obviously something that was proposed to ZTE and supported by enough users that it was chosen to be put into production. Until now there hasn’t been much detail about the Hawkeye stacks up internally, but we now have an idea of what the specs look like, and I’ve included those below.

As you can see, there are still some details missing, but the available specs give a good idea as to where the ZTE Hawkeye sits in the market. As of right now there are no true photos of the Hawkeye, partially due to the fact that ZTE is still crowdsourcing ideas regarding the design, including the color choices and the materials to be used, although that latter part will obviously be limited to a degree by the cost of the phone. The cover image for this article is a concept render, and you may have already noted oddities like the fact that it only has a single rear camera when the Hawkeye is supposed to have two.

Anyone interested in buying the ZTE Hawkeye can check out ZTE’s Kickstarter campaign. It’s priced at $199 USD, and ZTE states that they plan to have it available in September of this year, but that date is subject to change. They also caution that they may not be able to deliver the eye-tracking and adhesion features in a satisfactory manner, which could lead to the device being cancelled. In the event of the phone’s cancellation, buyers will be entitled to a ZTE phone of equivalent price, with there seemingly being no option to have the contribution refunded instead.