Chinese Android Phones

Kristopherus · 03-09-2014 8:25pm

mayogal2014 wrote: »

haha no dg800

Welcome to Boards. You'll learn all you'll ever need to know about Android on these forums.

mayogal2014 · 03-09-2014 8:34pm

Kristopherus wrote: »

Welcome to Boards. You'll learn all you'll ever need to know about Android on these forums.

Thank you

Digital Solitude · 03-09-2014 9:24pm

spartan5397 wrote: »

The Mi3 is very expensive for a phone with no 4g and been a year old, anyone know if they are going to lower the price at all?

Mi2S is roughly the same price as the Mi3....so I'd be doubtful

Digital Solitude · 03-09-2014 9:30pm

Found this solution to low app storage on MTK devices, repartitions the internal ROM! Currently rocking 2.5gb of app storage

www.china-devices.com/Thread-Tool-App-for-repartitioning-MTK-6589-Memory

rickyjb · 03-09-2014 10:01pm

I've been looking at the THL 5000 on chinavasion, it looks like great value. The battery life and the op-amp are great features plus the screen, processor, RAM and ROM are all fairly decent.

Any opinions, it's around EUR200, is there something better I could get for that price?

Also has anyone ordered from chinavasion, will I get hit for customs?

03-09-2014 10:08pm

rickyjb wrote: »

I've been looking at the THL 5000 on chinavasion, it looks like great value. The battery life and the op-amp are great features plus the screen, processor, RAM and ROM are all fairly decent.

Any opinions, it's around EUR200, is there something better I could get for that price?

Also has anyone ordered from chinavasion, will I get hit for customs?

Around €205 here with Dutch post which won't be hit by customs.

rickyjb · 03-09-2014 10:12pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Around €205 here with Dutch post which won't be hit by customs.

Thanks. Any thoughts on the phone itself, are THL a decent manufacturer?

Is there anything else I should be looking at in that price bracket?

Digital Solitude · 03-09-2014 11:01pm

rickyjb wrote: »

Thanks. Any thoughts on the phone itself, are THL a decent manufacturer?

Is there anything else I should be looking at in that price bracket?

I've only gotten crap off Chinavaison in the past, don't like them at all. ThL are decent enough, pretty new though, small hardware faults in some phones. There's someone here with a 5000 iirc

03-09-2014 11:55pm

Guys, any recommendations for something from China for between 100 & 160 for a spare phone? I was going to take a Motorola moto 4g from bricks and mortar but is there anything better to be had from China?

unaaine · 04-09-2014 12:18am

spartan5397 wrote: »

The Mi3 is very expensive for a phone with no 4g and been a year old, anyone know if they are going to lower the price at all?

I'm new here too and am so far away from being an expert, but I've recently ordered an Mi3 and yes it did work out expensive enough in the end up. I ordered from Xiaomishop eu (I hope!) but you could get it cheaper on etotalk.com or aliexpress.com or ibuygou.com. But I wanted it a little quicker than they could deliver and I didn't want to take a chance on hidden customs and courier handling charges. My budget was €250 and after a lot of research, ticking the boxes of the various specs that were important to me, incl. quality screen, high picture quality, fast processor, good camera (and maybe I was overly swayed by good reviews/owner satisfaction ratings), it seemed the best in comparison with other phones in that price range and many others in higher price ranges too. 4g is not really an issue for me - yet anyway. I don't think the 4g service by Irish phone operators is as good as it should be an certainly with my provider 3 - it's practically non-existent in the city centre when I tried it. The probability of additional data charges would be a factor too. But this forum is the place to be for quality advice on chinese phones and where to buy. There is an Xiaomi forum tool boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057275344&page=7. Happy shopping

Kristopherus · 04-09-2014 12:20am

5500 wrote: »

Guys, any recommendations for something from China for between 100 & 160 for a spare phone? I was going to take a Motorola moto 4g from bricks and mortar but is there anything better to be had from China?

Have a look at aliexpress.com. There are literally thousands of phones there. Be sure to read the reviews. Also it would be a good idea to look at suppliers that use DHL for free and/or Netherland, Swedish, German or Swiss postal services. That will help you avoid the dreaded customs.

seannash · 04-09-2014 8:12am

spartan5397 wrote: »

The Mi3 is very expensive for a phone with no 4g and been a year old, anyone know if they are going to lower the price at all?

Its really not expensive for the specs you get to be honest.

eamonnq · 04-09-2014 8:18am

5500 wrote: »

Guys, any recommendations for something from China for between 100 & 160 for a spare phone? I was going to take a Motorola moto 4g from bricks and mortar but is there anything better to be had from China?

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

Xiaomi Redmi 1S

This ? Have one on the way, should be delivered to me today. Can be got cheaper from Aliexpress etc., but if you are ordering from the place above, make sure you choose EU shipping (no customs) but the delivery charge is approx €36. Ordered on Monday 1st and should have it today.

seannash · 04-09-2014 8:28am

Just saw this one in the bargain alerts.
Its actually not a bad wee phone. Obvious downside is the screen and rear camera but apart from that it has very similar specs to the Redmi (Snapdragon 400 processor, Igb Ram)
It also has 4g

if you move your number over to vodafone you can get it for 79euros I believe.

http://shop.vodafone.ie/shop/phones/vodafone-smart-4-turbo-pay-as-you-go-black

MidlandsM · 04-09-2014 10:57am

WHAYYY HEY - my phone has arrived in Ireland, its in Dublin mail centre going by the tracking no -

An Post No. Sender No. Status Location Date Receiver Name Country of Origin Delivery Record?
ITEM SENT TO CUSTOMS DUBLIN MAIL CENTRE, DUBLIN 12 04-Sep-14
10:01 SINGAPORE

I guess its time to get the vaseline out .......Grrrrr.......customs......how long for them to look at it?
whats the norm here, do they write to me, or instuct an post to collect duty or wha?

.

eamonnq · 04-09-2014 11:19am

eamonnq wrote: »

Race you!! :P

Just received my Redmi 1S from Xiaomishop.

I win !!

eamonnq · 04-09-2014 12:45pm

MidlandsM wrote: »

WHAYYY HEY - my phone has arrived in Ireland, its in Dublin mail centre going by the tracking no -

An Post No. Sender No. Status Location Date Receiver Name Country of Origin Delivery Record?
ITEM SENT TO CUSTOMS DUBLIN MAIL CENTRE, DUBLIN 12 04-Sep-14
10:01 SINGAPORE

I guess its time to get the vaseline out .......Grrrrr.......customs......how long for them to look at it?
whats the norm here, do they write to me, or instuct an post to collect duty or wha?

.

email them with the tracking reference and they will get back to you about it.

dmc@revenue.ie

MidlandsM · 04-09-2014 2:52pm

eamonnq wrote: »

email them with the tracking reference and they will get back to you about it.

dmc@revenue.ie

Thanks Eamonn, what the craic with them usually? How long, how much? etc?

Kenny Logins · 04-09-2014 3:52pm

They send a letter requesting an invoice/receipt. You can email that in to them. Posty collects cash.

Fabio · 04-09-2014 7:55pm

eamonnq wrote: »

Just received my Redmi 1S from Xiaomishop.

I win !!

Got mine today too

jodaw · 04-09-2014 7:57pm

For comparsion sake there is a vodafone smartphone over on the bargain alerts forum for 99euro and 79 if number changed over

http://shop.vodafone.ie/shop/phones/vodafone-smart-4-turbo-pay-as-you-go-black?icmp=HP-Banners-Pos2-PAYG-4g-turbo-image

Snapdragon processor
Screen ??? IPS
Camera 5mp meh

but still cheap at 79 euro

spix · 04-09-2014 8:15pm

jodaw wrote: »

For comparsion sake there is a vodafone smartphone over on the bargain alerts forum for 99euro and 79 if number changed over

http://shop.vodafone.ie/shop/phones/vodafone-smart-4-turbo-pay-as-you-go-black?icmp=HP-Banners-Pos2-PAYG-4g-turbo-image

Snapdragon processor
Screen ??? IPS
Camera 5mp meh

but still cheap at 79 euro

Pointless phone imo. Sure it has 4G, but lets be real, nobody really needs 4G. So why would someone who wants it settle on a phone that's sub par in every other aspect.

Screen is an el cheapo low res TFT. Poor camera. Internal storage is too low as well at 4gb. What's the point in a decent processor if you can't even install big games.

Still good value but you can get much better balanced phones from China for the same price, and significantly better for just a bit more.

seannash · 04-09-2014 8:55pm

spix wrote: »

Pointless phone imo. Sure it has 4G, but lets be real, nobody really needs 4G. So why would someone who wants it settle on a phone that's sub par in every other aspect.

Screen is an el cheapo low res TFT. Poor camera. Internal storage is too low as well at 4gb. What's the point in a decent processor if you can't even install big games.

Still good value but you can get much better balanced phones from China for the same price, and significantly better for just a bit more.

For 79euros. I'm not sure there's much out there that's much better.

RossieMan · 04-09-2014 9:04pm

The Moto E gives it a good run to be fair. As long as 4G isn't important.

spix · 04-09-2014 9:11pm

seannash wrote: »

For 79euros. I'm not sure there's much out there that's much better.

But you have to move your number to vodaphone which for the majority of people probably isn't worth it. Their pre pay plans don't look too impressive compared to meteor.

Say you really want 4G, here's a better option from China (providing you don't mind large screens) for 107 euro.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-5-5-Coolpad-8730L-4G-FDD-LTE-Phone-Qualcomm-Quad-Core-CPU-Android-4-3/1945981020.html

IPS screen, better cameras, 8gb internal storage, unlocked

RossieMan · 04-09-2014 9:26pm

spix wrote: »

But you have to move your number to vodaphone which for the majority of people probably isn't worth it. Their pre pay plans don't look too impressive compared to meteor.

Say you really want 4G, here's a better option from China (providing you don't mind large screens) for 107 euro.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-5-5-Coolpad-8730L-4G-FDD-LTE-Phone-Qualcomm-Quad-Core-CPU-Android-4-3/1945981020.html

IPS screen, better cameras, 8gb internal storage, unlocked

having looked at that quickly its for the chinese market.

you'd have almost no ROM support here.
Wouldn't be worth it for most, too troublesome if you run into any trouble.

spix · 04-09-2014 9:36pm

RossieMan wrote: »

having looked at that quickly its for the chinese market.

you'd have almost no ROM support here.
Wouldn't be worth it for most, too troublesome if you run into any trouble.

Isn't this the Chinese Android Phone thread? :P I doubt people buying such cheap phones would care about rom support and I'd be shocked if the vodaphone smart 4 turbo has any either.

RossieMan · 04-09-2014 9:45pm

correct. but some phones are designed to use only in China.

Its got decent specs to be fair for the price.

eamonnq · 04-09-2014 9:56pm

RossieMan wrote: »

correct. but some phones are designed to use only in China.

Its got decent specs to be fair for the price.

But that one is not ONLY for the Chinese market ( or am I missing something ). They also have it listed with FREE DHL SHIPPING ( at 112 euro ), so not FREE but if you were in a hurry for it (and don't mind paying VAT and DHL handling fee) it might be worth it.

No gyro so would not work with my Google Cardboard, but the screen might be too big to fit into it anyway!!:D

RossieMan · 04-09-2014 9:58pm

eamonnq wrote: »

But that one is not ONLY for the Chinese market ( or am I missing something ). They also have it listed with FREE DHL SHIPPING ( at 112 euro ), so not FREE but if you were in a hurry for it (and don't mind paying VAT and DHL handling fee) it might be worth it.

No gyro so would not work with my Google Cardboard, but the screen might be too big to fit into it anyway!!:D

they just tell you not to do anything to the ROM as its the only one with English.

might suit some people i suppose.

Chinese Android Phones

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