An iPad? NO, Its...Mi Pad

Announced today in China, the Xiaomi’s Mi Pad has excellent specs; 7.9″ Retina display, NVIDIA TEGRA K1 quad core Processor CPU 2.2GH, WiFi 802.11ac with 2X2 antenna, and 2GB RAM. The price, too, is impressive at US$239 – half the price of its rival. And clearly the Chinese maker has iPad lovers in its sights. 

The tablet received huge global attention for its likeness to Apple iPad mini, being dubbed a “clone” (can we sense another patent case from Apple looming?). 


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Mi Pad’s (2048 X1536) 7.9 inch screen boasts the “same display resolutions (2048 X 1536) as the iPad mini. 4:3 display aspect ratio,” Xiaomi notes on its website. It claims to have the same graphic computational capability as a PC, so will appeal to gamers looking for a cheap tablet. 

The tab runs a version of Google Android, called MiUI. 
“So the Xiaomi Mi Pad is clearly an iPad ripoff, understood. But admit it. The colors are really nice. So is the price,” Windows blogger Paul Thurrott, tweeted. 
“Xiaomi Mi Pad may be an iPad mini rip-off, but it packs some heavy hardware,” tweeted Pocket Now.  
Other specs include its 5MP front camera and 8MP rear camera (both F/2.0). It comes in various plastic shades of brightness – yellow, blue and pink. The plastic backed tablet, uses “the same technology as iPhone 5C”, notes the cheeky tech company. 

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Xiaomi is already the sixth largest phone maker globally. It sells one third of its devices in native China.

The tablet which costs around 1499 yen or around US$239, for the 16GB model, and $272 for 64GB memory.  
Mi Pad has a handy expandable micro-SD slot and supports up to 128GB memory. 
The 6700 mAh battery claims to allow 11 hours of video streaming, or 86h of music playback.  
It has WPS mobile officing app that is compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and supports cloud-based drivers including Dropbox.
Mi Pad is Xiaomi’s first Android-powered tablet.