Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 vs Redmi Note (2014): What's New in 2015 Model and Everything You Need to Know

On Thursday (13 August), Xiaomi officially unveiled the new Redmi Note 2 series in China.

The new phablet comes with major upgrades compared to its predecessor Redmi Note, in terms of display resolution, SoC (System on Chip), camera and Operating system.

Here is comparison of features of the Xiaomi Redmi Note siblings. 

Design:

The new Redmi Note 2 is sleek and slim compared to its predecessor. It measures 152.0 × 76.0 × 8.25 mm in dimension and weighs 160g, whereas the Redmi Note is tad big and bulky. The Redmi Note measures 154.0 x 78.7 x 9.5 mm in dimensions and weighs 199 g.

The new Xiaomi phablet also comes with certain cosmetic changes such as curvy corners and the camera module is now circular. The 2014 model flaunts a square-shaped module with a protruding camera on the back-side.

Display:

In terms of screen, the first generation Redmi Note model features a 5.5-inch HD display with pixel density of 267 ppi (pixels per inch). The new phablet too sports a same display size, but its resolution has been doubled; the Redmi Note 2 display comes with 401 ppi pixel density.

Xiaomi, in its bid to enable users read messages at night, has reduced the Redmi Note 2's minimum screen brightness to 10x (compared to Redmi Note's screen). 

Processor, Storage and RAM capacity:

Xiaomi's first generation Redmi Note device was released in two variants – one 3G model having MediaTek (MTK MT6592) Octa-core processor with 1.7GHz CPU speed and another 4G variant boasting of a 1.6GHz Snapdragon 400 series quad-core processor.

Now, the new Redmi Note 2 too comes in two variants having the same MediaTek (MT6795) Helio X10 Octa-core CPU. The 16GB based normal Redmi Note 2 houses 2.0GHz based Helio X10, whereas the Redmi Note 2 Prime's (32GB) CPU can clock 2.2GHz speed.

The Redmi Note 2 will house 2GB RAM and 16GB storage capacity, just like its predecessor. The Prime model will come packed with 32GB inbuilt storage. The only draw back is that the new Xiaomi phones do not support microSD card.

[Note: 2014 based Redmi Note came with expandable option with up to 32GB]

Camera:

The Redmi Note 2 and the the 2014 model house the same 13mp main camera and 5mp front-snapper in terms of pixel count, but the new Xiaomi phablets' image processing is said to be superior, as the company has incorporated advanced 13mp camera Samsung/OV camera with PDAF (Phase Detection Autofocus) function and 0.1s focus speed. And on the front, it houses a 5mp OmniVision snapper with 5-element lens and f/2.2 aperture.

And the new OS MIUI v7.0 is also expected to come with value-added applications to enhance the photography experience.

Mobile Operating System:

Redmi Note 2 series devices ship with the new MIUI 7.0 out-of-the-office. It is based on Google's latest Android 5.1.x Lollipop OS. The company claims it was developed by an team of about 750 R&D engineers. They have created a slew of custom themes and introduced face-recognition technology in the gallery app that can automatically make separate albums for each individual, provided users turn on the auto-sort feature via People tab in the settings.

The Redmi Note (2014) models were recently upgraded to MIUI v6.0, but there is no word whether Xiaomi has any plan of releasing the new OS update.

Battery:

In this aspect, Xiaomi, to everyone's surprise, has watered down the battery capacity of the new Redmi Note 2 to 3060 mAh. Its predecessor comes with 3100 mAh cell.

We have seen similar trends in other tier-1 brands like Samsung Galaxy S6. With the use of efficient processors and RAM optimisation features, the devices can be made to work close to 10 hours with less battery capacity.

Similarly, it is believed the MediaTek Helio X10 in the Redmi Note 2 comes with optimisation features so that the battery power is efficiently utilised. 

The new Redmi Note 2's battery also comes with Quick Charge 2.0 technology, where the user can charge 60% of the battery capacity in just 30 minutes.

Read more: Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 price details

Key Specifications of Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 and Redmi Note (2014):