Xiaomi Mi 4i Now Available In Open Sale, No Registration Required On Company Site And Flipkart

Xiaomi Corp. has just announced that its launched-from-India smartphone, the Mi 4i, will now be available on open sale. This means no more flash sales and feeling envious of F-Code owners.

F Codes are Xiaomi's way of favoring fans, reviewers and contributors. A possessor of such a code gets to bypass flash sales and queues, and directly buy any Xiaomi product on its store, according to the company website.

The phone is also available without registration on India’s online shopping site Flipkart, Xiaomi’s exclusive online partner. For those with a personal preference for the Mi website, Xiaomi has just obliged them: “Open sale from now on,” the company said, on its site.

In April, the Mi 4i -- which many believe is inspired by its costlier cousin Mi 4 -- drew throngs of people to stand in queues that snaked around the launch venue, in New Delhi. It was the first smartphone that Xiaomi was launching globally from outside China.

At 12,999 rupees ($205), the phone packs a lot of high-end features, but some users reported overheating problems. The company has since released a software update that it said had tweaked the way the phone uses its processors, and other features, to resolve the niggle.

The second-generation Snapdragon 615 chipset is under the hood of the Mi 4i, working at speeds of up to 1.7Ghz, serving up the Internet to a 1080p 5-inch full-HD display from Sharp/JDI. There’s no microSD card slot, so photos and videos from the 13MP primary camera, and selfies from the 5MP front camera, will be stored on the smartphone’s device storage.

The dual-micro SIM 4G phone has 16GB internal storage and 2GB RAM. A capacious 3120mAh battery should offer a full day’s use for most people, and Xiaomi’s MIUI skin -- on top of Android Lollipop -- now runs on this phone as well, offering some nifty features. These include in-call recording, the ability to block spam messages and calls, and setting the duration in which the phone will shut out all notifications.