Chinese Android Phones

Iseedeadpixels

corwill wrote: »

The latest issue I heard about the S4 battery seemed to relate to a 4.4.2 update earlier in the year. What version are you running?

4.3

JONJO THE MISER

Hi guys, ive never had a smartphone before so im going to take the plunge now.
Ive been looking a a few phones, which one would be best.
The Jiayu g4s 150 Eur.
Elephone p2000 141 E Eur.
Elephone p8 150 Eur.
Asus zenfone5 123 Eur.

Or if anyone could rec any better phone for 150 or below.

Lucas Hood

Little more pricey but you can't do wrong with a moto g it'll be even getting lollipop soon.

And beware you may have to pay some duty on them phones so them prices may not be the final price

JONJO THE MISER

Lucas Hood wrote: »

Little more pricey but you can't do wrong with a moto g it'll be even getting lollipop soon.

And beware you may have to pay some duty on them phones so them prices may not be the final price

To be honest with you im all confused about all the tech words.
I just want to make phone calls and go on the net while out.
Will i be certain to be caught by customs?

Digital Solitude

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

To be honest with you im all confused about all the tech words.
I just want to make phone calls and go on the net while out.
Will i be certain to be caught by customs?

You'll most likely be caught by customs yeah, if its going to be your first smartphone the Moto G will probably be your best bet. If you have any issues or the like, there is a lot of support for the phone online, whereas the Chinese ones don't have as much

michael999999

Digital Solitude wrote: »

You'll most likely be caught by customs yeah, if its going to be your first smartphone the Moto G will probably be your best bet. If you have any issues or the like, there is a lot of support for the phone online, whereas the Chinese ones don't have as much

Have you ever bought a Chinese phone?

Digital Solitude

michael999999 wrote: »

Have you ever bought a Chinese phone?

6 phones and a tablet? Is my information not accurate?

michael999999

Digital Solitude wrote: »

6 phones and a tablet? Is my information not accurate?

And you can't find any online support for them?

You seem to have bought an awful lot of Chinese phones. So it seems strange you would suggest another poster doesn't!

corwill

Iseedeadpixels wrote: »

4.3

Samsung's 4.3 "update" for S3 and S4 was absolute poison, particularly for battery life. Any ROM you replace it with, whether stock or custom, should be an improvement.

Digital Solitude

michael999999 wrote: »

And you can't find any online support for them?

You seem to have bought an awful lot of Chinese phones. So it seems strange you would suggest another poster doesn't!

I didn't say you couldn't find any, the Moto G will have a hell of a lot more, which is the point I was trying to make. I normally just roll my eyes at the mention of a Moto G here, but when its going to be your first android then you're probably better getting something you'll be able to carry into a shop if you do have a problem.

Else JONJO, a Xiaomi Redmi is a very nice phone! You can get it without worry of customs if you order from www.xiaomishop.com and choose the European warehouse

*EDIT* Link www.xiaomishop.com/100-xiaomi-redmi-1s-quad-core-16ghz-1gb-8gb-47-inch-ips-8mp-camera-dual-sim-wcdma-version-smartphone-black.html

Comes to 166 euro if you can stretch 15 out :pac:

JONJO THE MISER

Says on some sites that you wont have to pay customs, if i do get caught how much would they add on?

Digital Solitude

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Says on some sites that you wont have to pay customs, if i do get caught how much would they add on?

If you order from a European Warehouse then you'll be fine! But from Hong Kong its more than likely.

You'll want to pick Dhl I'd say, generally best courier around, they charge 20 for delivery, 10 for handling or something? And then 23% of the items value, so you could be looking at the price of the phone +60 delivered

If you go free delivery from Hong Kong, it takes roughly 3 weeks, An Post take the customs money in cash when its delivered, plus a 6 euro handling fee

michael999999

Go the parcel motel route. I find it halves the delivery time at least. Well worth the 4 euro!

Digital Solitude

michael999999 wrote: »

Go the parcel motel route. I find it halves the delivery time at least. Well worth the 4 euro!

On the free delivery option?

Iseedeadpixels

corwill wrote: »

Samsung's 4.3 "update" for S3 and S4 was absolute poison, particularly for battery life. Any ROM you replace it with, whether stock or custom, should be an improvement.

Good stuff ill give it a bash

michael999999

Digital Solitude wrote: »

On the free delivery option?

Ya. They seem to ship directly to the UK, but going to Ireland seems to go via other country's.

I've gotten stuff in 9 days using the free delivery and parcel motel route.

corwill

Iseedeadpixels wrote: »

Good stuff ill give it a bash

You should be able to get stock 4.4.2 from Samsung's website. Surprised it hasn't been pushed to you OTA. If it was me, I'd flash Cyanogenmod to it, but you may have warranty concerns.

Iseedeadpixels

corwill wrote: »

You should be able to get stock 4.4.2 from Samsung's website. Surprised it hasn't been pushed to you OTA. If it was me, I'd flash Cyanogenmod to it, but you may have warranty concerns.

Read up on 4.4.4 its coming next month apparently

CiDeRmAn

Damn, just got the Elephone P8 working the way I like and something seems to have failed properly
I'm getting no sound from the main speaker unless the main USB port at the bottom of the device is jostled a bit.
Initially I thought it might be software, did a restore, reset, reinstall and so on but the issue persists.
Very unhappy as the phone has been minded like a baby since purchase

It may be simply a dry piece of solder, easy fix for someone, everything else is working a treat, on 4.4.2 custom ROM.

I'll probably stick it on Adverts, see if someone wants a bargain.

So long Chinese phone adventure, and off to Moto G land I go

richardjack67

All are waste...

Iseedeadpixels

richardjack67 wrote: »

All are waste...

Much like your post buddy.

CiDeRmAn

Actually, I'm definitely going to open her up, I have a feeling it might be that the speaker isn't connected to the mother board properly.
Then it'll be ready to go.
Fingers crossed as there don't seem to be any tear down videos of the Elephone P8 anywhere.

Simi

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Actually, I'm definitely going to open her up, I have a feeling it might be that the speaker isn't connected to the mother board properly.
Then it'll be ready to go.
Fingers crossed as there don't seem to be any tear down videos of the Elephone P8 anywhere.

Go for it. I had a Chinese tablet that the loudspeaker broke on. Took me a while to build up the courage, but I finally opened it up to discover one of the cables had become detached. 10 seconds of soldering later & sound was restored. It never sounded as good again, but it still worked.

Kenny Logins

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Actually, I'm definitely going to open her up, I have a feeling it might be that the speaker isn't connected to the mother board properly.
Then it'll be ready to go.
Fingers crossed as there don't seem to be any tear down videos of the Elephone P8 anywhere.

Pics of the part here - http://www.banggood.com/Original-Elephone-P8-Speaker-Repair-Part-p-934892.html

Barr

Etotalk have this on special


Looks decent for the price. Very few reviews around though.



http://www.etotalk.com/blackview-crown_p6180.html

Iseedeadpixels

Barr wrote: »

Etotalk have this on special


Looks decent for the price. Very view reviews around though.



http://www.etotalk.com/blackview-crown_p6180.html

Tiny battery would put me off.

Barr

Iseedeadpixels wrote: »

Tiny battery would put me off.

Its removable though , if only others were the same.

mr.noobie

What's the best of these Chinese smartphones at the moment for 150 euro or less?

A little over 150 but this looks good to me: http://www.etotalk.com/jiayu-g4s-octa-core_p4739.html

Digital Solitude

mr.noobie wrote: »

What's the best of these Chinese smartphones at the moment for 150 euro or less?

A little over 150 but this looks good to me: http://www.etotalk.com/jiayu-g4s-octa-core_p4739.html

Xiaomi Redmi is 166, there's a link from a Euro warehouse back a page...

The best is subjective but its definitely up there amongst them

mr.noobie

Digital Solitude wrote: »

The best is subjective but its definitely up there amongst them

I know yeah, I suppose what I meant was the most recommended in the price range, I'll take a look at the Xiaomi phone

Iseedeadpixels

Barr wrote: »

Its removable though , if only others were the same.

Yeh but switching batteries just to get a days usage is a deal breaker for me but specs wise and price are decent.

Iseedeadpixels

mr.noobie wrote: »

What's the best of these Chinese smartphones at the moment for 150 euro or less?

A little over 150 but this looks good to me: http://www.etotalk.com/jiayu-g4s-octa-core_p4739.html

Its a great phone and a great battery bit small at 4.7 inches though.

CiDeRmAn

I had a quick look in the Elephone P8 but to no avail.
I'm not terribly good at these things and it must be something small, literally and figuratively, that is the matter, as the "give" in the USB port of the phone is less than a mm, and the speaker contacts are located right next to it and move by about the same amount.
Otherwise it's running fine with 4.4.2.
Dammit, and I had it running just perfect and all!

I'll stick it up on Adverts for a more technically minded individual to fiddle with.

Thanks for you help here

Thargor

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I had a quick look in the Elephone P8 but to no avail.
I'm not terribly good at these things and it must be something small, literally and figuratively, that is the matter, as the "give" in the USB port of the phone is less than a mm, and the speaker contacts are located right next to it and move by about the same amount.
Otherwise it's running fine with 4.4.2.
Dammit, and I had it running just perfect and all!

I'll stick it up on Adverts for a more technically minded individual to fiddle with.

Thanks for you help here

Bring it in to any of the Chinese or Pakistani lads around Moore/Parnell St and they'll probably do it for 20 quid.

mcg1987

the THL 5000 finally arrived on Friday. told me 7 day shipping took 20. Pretty impressed with it so far apart from the fact that it won't charge now??

Fully charged it when I opened it no bother but now it's at 11% and won't charge tried like 4 chargers kinda baffled!

Thargor

Tried a reboot? Does it connect to the pc when you plug it in? Does the charging icon appear when you plug in the charger?

mcg1987

Thargor wrote: »

Tried a reboot? Does it connect to the pc when you plug it in? Does the charging icon appear when you plug in the charger?

Yeah been rebooted a few times today. No not showing up on PC anymore even or any icons at all when plugged in. There was some wireless update yesterday that went on it dunno would that be anything to do with it

Thargor

If its a removable battery remove it for 10 minutes and try again, really should have sorted this before it got down to 10% though, going to be a lot harder to figure out once the battery is dead.

mcg1987

well how was i to know it wouldnt charge ! like i say only got it on friday charged it fully and using it since. naw battery cant be taken out. turned it off there and plugged it in and it lit up not sure if it's charging now but loos like it could be. but weird how it'll only charge when it's turned off if it is

Iseedeadpixels

mcg1987 wrote: »

well how was i to know it wouldnt charge ! like i say only got it on friday charged it fully and using it since. naw battery cant be taken out. turned it off there and plugged it in and it lit up not sure if it's charging now but loos like it could be. but weird how it'll only charge when it's turned off if it is

Had a funny problem like that with a tablet when I done a quick reboot, try a full reboot see if that lets you charge while turned on.

mcg1987

mcg1987 wrote: »

well how was i to know it wouldnt charge ! like i say only got it on friday charged it fully and using it since. naw battery cant be taken out. turned it off there and plugged it in and it lit up not sure if it's charging now but loos like it could be. but weird how it'll only charge when it's turned off if it is

Iseedeadpixels wrote: »

Had a funny problem like that with a tablet when I done a quick reboot, try a full reboot see if that lets you charge while turned on.

Aw jeeze what a handling this has been!

Phone eventually charged but ONLY when it was turned off. Doesn't do anything when it's turned on.

Then when it was charged it keeps shutting down and trying to restart then it doesn't and I have to hold the power button and volume up/down to force a reboot and even then it still doesn't work sometimes! The SD Card hasn't worked since I got it too...as soon as I put back cover on it says damaged SD Card and sometimes gives the option to format t but does nothing then.

And when the phone was eventually working this morning after a lot of messing with it well then it keeps going to a lock screen of a clock then either not waking up again or just switching off again!

Need help lads. Should I put a new ROM onto it and if so how in the hell do I do it? and what's the best one to use?

This will drive me crazy otherwise!!

eamonnq

mcg1987 wrote: »

Need help lads. Should I put a new ROM onto it and if so how in the hell do I do it? and what's the best one to use?

This will drive me crazy otherwise!!

Check with the supplier if putting a NEW rom on will invalidate your warranty, or report the problem to them and see what they suggest.

mcg1987

eamonnq wrote: »

Check with the supplier if putting a NEW rom on will invalidate your warranty, or report the problem to them and see what they suggest.

It's some guy on aliexpress just

Thargor

http://www.needrom.com/category/thl/thl-5000/

Theres the roms and instructions, have a read of the reviews and the discussion threads for instructions.

XDA-Developers is the best place to ask a question:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/thl-5000-octacore-mtk6592t-root-recovery-t2835857

mcg1987

Thargor wrote: »

http://www.needrom.com/category/thl/thl-5000/

Theres the roms and instructions, have a read of the reviews and the discussion threads for instructions.

XDA-Developers is the best place to ask a question:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/thl-5000-octacore-mtk6592t-root-recovery-t2835857

Cheers for this. Was on that xda yesterday looking for a solution. hope to get it sorted asap

Iseedeadpixels

New rom will sort it

eamonnq

mcg1987 wrote: »

It's some guy on aliexpress just

Different that is so.

mcg1987

the seller has now asked me to post it back via "post air mail" ??? So I took 3 weeks to come instead of a week and now I've to send it back! what the heck is post air mail?? He wants a tracking number just

mcg1987

Iseedeadpixels wrote: »

New rom will sort it

why do you say this?

Should I just try this before posting it back then? Any suggestions?

Thargor

Just flash a new rom to it, that sorts software problems 99% of the time, obviously if your problems are related to a dodgy bit of hardware it probably wont do anything and then ship it back, go into a Post Office and ask for the cheapest option with a tracking number.