In a nutshell, Xiaomi’s phablet offers impressive design and a respectable spec sheet. The Mi Note boasts a premium build with curved glass tapering into its slim (6.95mm) aluminum frame. On the front, it has a 1080p resolution 5.7-inch display as its centerpiece, and on the inside, there’s Qualcomm’s old battle beast, the Snapdragon 801 (with 3GB RAM), still roaring with impressive processing and graphics might. A 13MP dual LED flash main camera and a 4MP front cam (HTC’s UltraPixel snapper) take care of photos. Powered by a 3000mAh battery, the Mi Note runs Android Lollipop, topped off with Xiaomi’s delightful MIUI interface.

What it has over the HTC One A9: bigger screen, bigger battery, dual LED flash

What it lacks: 
expandable storage, carrier availability, Android 6.0, fingerprint scanner, mute switch

Price: $378