Xiaomi is all set to launch its next Redmi smartphone in India on Tuesday, at an event in New Delhi scheduled to begin at 11:30am IST. The Xiaomi Redmi 4 is expected to be launched, and we already know that Amazon India will be the exclusive retail partner for the smartphone.
The Xiaomi Redmi 4’s launch event will be live streamed on the company site. Amazon India has also started accepting registrations for notifications about the smartphone. Xiaomi is also expected to launch the Redmi 4 Prime in India alongside the Redmi 4 at the event.
The Redmi 4 and Redmi 4 Prime were launched in China in November last year, alongside the Xiaomi Redmi 4A, which has been available in India since March. In China, the Redmi 4 is priced at CNY 699 (roughly Rs. 6,900), while the Redmi 4 Prime is priced at CNY 899 (roughly Rs. 8,900).
Both the Redmi 4 and Redmi 4 Prime bear identical metal unibody designs, 2.5D curved glass displays, hybrid dual-SIM slots, and a fingerprint sensor on the rear panel, but have some major differences in specifications such as display resolution, memory, processor, and inbuilt storage. Both smartphones run MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and were launched in in Gold, Grey, and Silver colour variants.
The Redmi 4 bears a 5-inch HD (720×1280 pixels) display, and is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC clocked at 1.4GHz coupled with the Adreno 505 GPU and 2GB of RAM. It sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.2 aperture, 5-lens system, PDAF, and dual-LED flash. On the front, it bears a 5-megapixel camera with an f/2.2 aperture.
It comes with 16GB of inbuilt storage that is expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB). Connectivity options on the Redmi 4 include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.1, and GPS/ A-GPS. It is powered by a 4100mAh battery with fast charging support. Sensors on board the Redmi 4 include accelerometer, ambient light, gyroscope, infrared, and proximity. Dimensions are 141.3×69.6×8.9mm, and it weighs in at 156 grams.
The Redmi 4 Prime on the other hand sports a 5-inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) display, and is powered by a 2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC coupled with Adreno 506 GPU and 3GB of RAM. It bears 32GB of inbuilt storage, which is also expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB). It also offers Bluetooth v4.2 connectivity, but apart from this, all other specifications match the Redmi 4.
Those of you who have been around from the 1960's through the 1990's will remember the vibrant live music scene in almost every starred hotel in India. Those were the days when you walked into a nightclub like 'Rendezvous' at The Taj Mahal hotel and 'Supper Club' at the Oberoi Sheraton in Mumbai to see curtains going up on a band that was the prime focus of these outlets. Every seat in these restaurants allowed an unobstructed view of the band that performed every night on resident contracts. Today all this has disappeared thanks to some ridiculously high entertainment taxes on live music. Today, non off these hotels have complete bands playing save for a few that feature small duos or solo singers. The Lodhi in New Delhi, recently listed among the world's best hotels, decided to step in and rewind to the good old days. They got Goa's premier jazz quartet 'Jazz Junction' to move to Delhi on a resident contract and the decision has paid off in terms of footfalls generated by the band. Jazz Junction featuring singer Daniella Rodrigues, pianist Tony Dias,
bassist Colin D'Cruz and drummer Angelo Colasco began playing at The Lodhi in June 2018. Four months into the contract the band generated a sizeable following, with quite a few high profile guests choosing to celebrate their special occasion at the Elan bar where the band performs. Against all odds the rewind option proved to be a huge success and hopefully other properties around the country takes the cue to trigger a whole new revival of live music.