Why India Is Stuck With the K20 Pro

In our most recently article, we discussed the idea that with the recent launch of the MI9T, the world was bound to see a Pocophone F2. After diving deeper into this topic, we made a few discoveries that while supporting our previous theory, bring unfortunate news for those living in India.

As it turns out, the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro feature the B1, B3, B5, B39, B40, and B41 LTE bands. Much to our surprise, as Kimovil shows, these bands are not only perfect for the Chinese market, but also ideal for Indian LTE reception as well.

All of the Chines Bands work perfectly in India

This is not unusual for Redmi devices, as most of their smartphone entries feature bands that are a perfect match to both the Indian and Chinese devices. On the flip side, most of Xiaomi’s mainline phones receive designated Chinese and global versions instead. This is a special case however, as the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro are one of the first Redmi devices that have taken this long to reach India - adding more mystery to our Pocophone F2 theory.

Come to think of however, it was within the Pocophone brand itself that we found the answer. Back in 2018 when the Pocophone first launched, Xiaomi tackled the device specifically to the Indian market, a region where Xiaomi, despite having a presence, never found much flagship success in. In this sense, Xiaomi’s Pocophone brand settled itself as the company’s way of bringing the Xiaomi name to new markets outside of China, and since Xiaomi now is considered the second largest smartphone seller in India, Pocophone’s mission may be done.

Furthermore, it is important to understand that the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro are one of the first Redmi phones that can truly be considered “flagship killers”. This is an important detail as for devices to be sold cheaply in India, they must be produced locally. This may not have been a big issue when Redmi devices were so cheap, but now that the Redmi K20 And K20 Pro require an extra level of craft, issues with Xiaomi’s tooling and supply chain may explain its delay in the Indian market.

Redmi’s Indian productions are very small and limited in comparison to China’s

As if that wasn’t enough, China often serves as the ground base for testing Xiaomi and Redmi devices, ensuring that stability can be achieved prior to reaching other markets. With the K20 and K20 Pro, many Youtubers and journalists have voiced their opinions about the hardware capability coupled with software that is not yet truly optimal.

Thus, with all this information in mind, we believe it makes the most sense that the Pocophone F2 will be targeted to breach another market, and that for Xiaomi’s Indian fanbase, they will receive the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro as soon as manufacturing costs have been lowered and the software is truly finalised.

What are your thoughts on India receiving the K20 And K20 Pro? Let us know down below!

How the Redmi Mi9T is proof that a Pocophone F2 Is Coming

In 2018, Xiaomi brought to the public the Pocophone F1, proving to the world that a solid spec-sheet, durable design and outstanding cameras are not entirely reserved for the flagship space. With the Pocophone F1 being as successful as it was however, many have started to wonder when they can expect a successor to Xiaomi’s flagship killer - and after recent release of the Mi9T, we may finally have the answer.

Is the brand that was made for India not coming back to India?

            For those who are unaware, earlier this month Redmi - Xiaomi’s sub-brand - released the China exclusive Redmi K20 Pro, the company’s first device powered by the all new Snapdragon 855 processor, alongside the Redmi K20, a less powerful yet still capable device powered by the Snapdragon 730 chip. Coming in at an attractively low price of $370 for the Pro variant, many Xiaomi fans outside of China started to wonder just when the device would make a global appearance. This all changed last week, when Redmi finally unveiled that it would be bringing the device to other markets in the form of the Redmi MI9T - this however, came with one caveat: the lack of a pro version.

            Without a Snapdragon 855 offering, many have started to wonder Redmi’s role in foreign markets, and it is here that the potential for a Pocophone successor shines through. According to the Economic Times of India, Xiaomi created Redmi with as a “budget” sub-brand, furthermore, on an interview posted to Chinese blogging site Weibo, Xiaomi’s Lei stated that “While the Redmi brand focused on value-for-money budget smartphones, the Mi brand is focused on high-end devices. Also, the Redmi devices are primarily sold through e-commerce platforms while Mi devices are not e-commerce focused”.

            Following Lei’s statement, it becomes easier to understand why the west will not be seeing a K20 Pro variant. By releasing a Snapdragon 855 powered device that calls itself a “flagship killer”, the company would potentially put at jeopardy Xiaomi’s high-end focus, not only confusing consumers, but potentially harming the appeal of devices such as the Xiaomi Mi 9 in foreign markets.

            This isn’t the first time that such a tactic has been introduced by Chinese companies when entering the foreign market. Huawei, which owns the Honor sub-brand, ensures that Honor sells less complete packages in comparison to the Mate and P series phones, thus positioning Honor as the budget division of Huawei’s flagship lineup. A similar tactic can be seen with Oppo, owner of both One Plus and the Real Me sub-brands. In their case, One Plus has recently taken a flagship stand with the likes of the One Plus 7 Pro, while the Real Me phones stay at the sub $300 price point, smoothly leaving Oppo’s main brand in a stable mid-range position. By following a similar strategy, Xiaomi can ensure that consumers of all products can assimilate to their brands, while also creating a cohesive ecosystem for consumers to follow.

Is One Plus Xiaomi’s biggest competitor?

            Ultimately, it is important to understand that while the Pocophone is considered a separate sub-brand, it is still - unlike Redmi - advertised as a Xiaomi designed and produced device, meaning that a Pocophone F1 successor, most likely also featuring the Snapdragon 855 found in the K20 Pro, would not only prevent customer confusion, but also successfully ensure that Xiaomi’s vision for the Redmi and Mi brands’ distinctive roles in the market could be fully realised.

Xiaomi Redmi AirDots Vs QCY T1C // Cheap Bluetooth Headphone Comparison

The Xiaomi Redmi AirDots Are Xiaomi’s newest attempt at winning the TWS headphones battle that manufacturers are currently waging. But is Xiaomi competing with itself? We are going to compare the Xaiomi Redmi Airdots with the QCY T1C.

Case

QCY T1C:

What I Like:

• Feels extremely durable in hand even though it is made with cheap materials.

• No lid means less to break and better longer lasting durability.

• Magnets do a great job holding the headphone in place

• Case holds and extra 3-4 charges for the headphones

What I Don’t Like:

• No indicator of how much battery is left on the case

• Micro USB SUCKS! USB-C The world

• The plastic for the case feel cheap

Xiaomi Redmi AirDots

What I Like:

• Case is small

• Case is lightweight

What I Don’t Like

• Case feels extremely cheap

• Lid feels like its going to break

• Soft touch plastic means the headphones are more difficult to charge

• No battery indicator

• Micro Usb

Can you guess what headphone this is?

Headphones

QCY T1C

What I Like:

• Seal in the very very securely and block outside noise very well

• Button provides good feedback when it is pressed

• Small and can be worn under a hat, turban, hijab, etc.

• Lightweight and do a good job staying in ear

What I Don’t Like:

• Slightly larger than the Redmi AirDots

• Button can be difficult to press compared to Redmi Airdots

• Terrible microphone quality for taking calls

Redmi AirDots

What I like:

• Smaller than the QCY headphones

• Button has a nice feeling click that is easy to control

• Seal very nicely in your ear and keep out background noise

What I Don’t Like

• Terrible microphone quality for taking calls

Features

QCY T1C

What I Like:

• AAC audio codec give slightly better sound than SBC audio codec on the Redmi AirDots

• Between 3.5-5 hours of battery life per charge

• QCY has the BEST playback controls for their true wireless headphones

• Bluetooth 5.0 provides great range and latency

What I Don’t Like

• Nothing

Redmi AirDots

What I Like:

• 3.5-4.5 Hours of music playback

• Bluetooth 5.0 provides great range and latency

What I Don’t Like

• Bad playback controls, Using assistance to change tracks sucks and takes too much time

• SBC Audio codec generally performs worse than AAC

Sound:

QCY T1C:

Lots of bass and a lot of thump. They do a great job with Hip Hop, Electronic music and some rock. Overall these do an acceptable job for their price. While these headphones don’t sound amazing, given their price and overall user experience I would say the sound it great.

Redmi AirDots:

These headphones have overwhelming bass. Much of the highs and mids are cut out and they are extremely narrow in the type of music that sounds good. When listening to rock music a lot of the definition of the music is lost. The mids are slightly better but the music has a very compressed sound.

Conclusion:

Overall for the price there is no comparison. The QCY deliver slightly better sound overall but the real standout is the user experience. The case feels durable and there is no cheap lid to break. The user experience in pairing, and battery life is very similar toe the Redmi AirDots and its the user experience of changing songs that makes the QCY better in my opinion

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Don't Buy The Xiaomi Redmi AirDots, Buy These Instead, QCY T1C In Depth Review

A lot of people have been asking me about my favorite budget true wireless headphones. Because of my previous videos about the Xiaomi Mi AirDots being a great value option. People in my telegram group immediately started asking me to to reviews these, the QCY T1C headphones.

Design

What I Like:

• Case is small and fits in your pocket

• Magnet’s in the case confidently secure the headphones

• Headphones have great sound isolation

• Buttons are tactile and provide a definite “click

What I Dislike

• Micro USB Charging

• Headphones are slightly larger than Redmi Airdots

• Buttons can provide too much resistance to pressing

• Due to design the microphone quality is pretty bad

Features

What I Like

• Bluetooth 5.0 provides great range

• AAC Audio Codec provides slightly better sound than the Redmi Airdots

• Battery life of the headphones is more than 3.5 hours at 2/3 volume and battery life with the case is over 13 hours

• Amazing control layout means you don’t need to take your phone out to change songs

• Headphones recharge in under 20 minutes with a fully charged case

What I Dislike

• No APT-X codec support

User Experience

For a pair of headphones costing less than $20 USD in most places you have to have reasonable expectations. That is truly why I am so impressed with these headphones. They provide nearly the same experience of the QCY T1 Pro for LESS money. The overall convenience of these headphones is part of what is so impressive to me. You get an incredible user experience with a very entry level price.

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How To Use The Xiaomi Redmi AirDots In Mono Mode

Using the Xiaomi Redmi AirDots in Mono mode is really simple.

Step One: Remove the left headphone from the case

Step Two: Pair Redmi AirDots_L with your phone

Step Three: Now your left headphone is paired with your device and you can use the left headphone independently.

It’s important to remember: Now that you have each of them paired individually you need to take your right headphone out first and make sure it pairs with your device before the left. If you take the left headphone out first the left will pair and they will not be paired together.

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Xiaomi Mi 9 Hands On And First Impressions, WOW!

I've had the Xiaomi Mi 9 now for about 4 hours and I am ridiculously impressed with the device. Here are the initial impressions of the device after a short period of time.

Build: When i took the device out of the box all I could say was wow. The devices feels quite seemless in the hand. The metal frame really gives it a nice heft and a reassuring cool metal detail to break up the sheets of glass. The in hand feel of this device is as premium as the Mi Mix 3 which i have gotten to spend time with (about two hours playing with a store managers test unit here in vietnam). Although the Mi 9 doesn't have the same Teutonic feel of the heavier Mi Mix 3, it doesn't feel like its a budget device or a device made with cost in mind.

Screen: Oh how I have missed AMOLED displays. It's been a few years since I have used an AMOLED display and they really are a thing of beauty. The one on the Mi 9 has fantastic viewing angles, tons of contrast (obviously) and the system wide black mode really does look awesome. Xiaomi advertised this was a Samsung panel and the quality really shows. That said just because it LOOKS great doesn't mean it necessarily color accurate. The temperature can obviously be adjusted in the settings but its definitely a different experience than that on my Pocophone F1.

Cameras: They are great. I already shot a ton of photos with them, in night mode, not in night mode, in pro mode on a tripod, in 48mp vs 12mp mode. I am thoroughly impressed with the amount of detail and dynamic range we are able to get out of this camera and the 3 separate focal lengths are awesome for professional photographers such as myself. Just the freedom to use focal lengths and composition more freely on this device is really awesome.

ALSO GCAM WORKS OUT OF THE BOX! No flashing or modification to the rom required since Xiaomi has already begun enabling camera 2 API standard on devices with newer versions of MIUI. I tried the Gcam night sight on the Mi 9 and compared it directly to that on my pocophone f1 (the pocophone f1 Gcam port is stable). While it's not a clear win for the mi 9 I can surely see that specialized ports of Gcam will yield even better results.

Charging speed: This thing is ludicrous. I came home put the phone on the charger for 20 minutes and it jumped from 46% battery to 87% battery.

Bootloader unlock time: I have already applied to unlock the bootloader of this device and I cannot wait to get Xiaomi EU roms on it. I hate the Chinese rom and its lack of ability to remap the AI button to google assistant. That will obviously be something that changes with global firmware but right now the stock chinese software is my least favorite part of the phone.

I'll be doing more follow ups as I use the device more and i will of course be sharing pictures here as well.