Italy pre-orders open for Xiaomi Mi 4

Italy is the first lucky country in Europe to get the Xiaomi Mi 4. The device has entered pre-order stage and is planned to ship in August.

You'll need to cough up €394.90 and for that you get a 16GB Xiaomi Mi 4 in either white or black color. The 64GB unit is said to be coming later and so is the one that offers LTE connectivity - the current offer has LTE checked off.

The Xiaomi Mi 4 is a very highly anticipated flagship even before you consider the favorable price - around €100 or €150 less than its most direct rivals.

It commands a 5" 1080p display, Snapdragon 801 AC with a quad-core 2.5 GHz processor, 3GB of RAM and the Adreno 330 GPU. There is a Sony-made 13 MP snapper on board that can crunch-in UHD video recording and a 1080p-capable 8MP selfie snapper on the front.

The Android version is the latest currently available - Android 4.4.3 KitKat - with Xiaomi's Miui on top.

The only major issue is the dodgy availability outside of Asia - Xiaomi is using distributors (as is the case in Italy) to offer the device outside of China and some users may feel unsure of future support of their new device.