Check out all the new phones that debuted this week

17 January, 2015

It has been a busy week, with intriguing announcements taking place in various parts of the world. To make sure you haven't missed anything here's the quick recap of all the new phones that debuted over the past 7 days.

Arguably, the most important event was Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi's press conference on Wednesday. After we had seen a fair share of rumors and leaks of its next flagship, the company unveiled not one, but two devices.

The Xiaomi Mi Note and the Xiaomi Mi Note Pro appear identical at first glance, but the Pro moniker carries important benefits in the hardware department. Not that the vanilla Mi Note is too shabby, packing last-year's flagship Snapdragon 801 chipset, 3GB of RAM and 16/64GB of built-in storage. The device is firmly in phablet territory with a 5.7-inch 1080p screen.

The Mi Note Pro builds upon that, featuring the latest Snapdragon 810, a whopping 4GB of RAM, and a QuadHD display of the same size. The Pro version will also boot Lollipop, unlike the KitKat 4.4.4 of its inferior sibling.

The week saw the market premiere of the Tizen platform on a smartphone - Samsung Z1. The budget device was launched in India carrying a price tag of $92. The specsheet is understandably modest, with an entry-level dual-core processor, paired by 768MB of RAM and 4GB of expandable storage. Android apps will be able to run on the device via a third-party solution, providing a solid ground for the emerging Tizen OS.

Microsoft announced two new smartphones this week (or 4, if count the dual SIM versions separately), both low-end Windows Phone 8.1 devices. The Lumia 435 sports a Snapdragon 200 with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. 2MP main camera and a VGA front shooter are present to meet basic needs.

The Lumia 532 is slightly better-equipped, packing a quad-core processor and a 5MP main camera. The rest is all the same between the two, including the 4-inch 480 x 800 pixel display, the 1560mAh battery, and microSD expansion option. The Lumia 435 will set you back €70, while the Lumia 532 is a good €10 more expensive.

Be sure to follow the links in the table below for quick access to the detailed hardware specs and official images.