Chinese Android Phones

bluestripe93

I'm just about to buy a Jiayu G3s, I've been looking on different websites to find the cheapest one, and its down to these two

Mixeshop is going to be €159.48 for the phone and DHL shipping + €46.22 if it gets caught for customs, most likely will so €202.16 total.

Hongkongeek is going to be €174.88 for the phone and DHL shipping + €46.22 if it gets caught for customs, so €221.10, but they say they pay back the customs so €174.88 if they do.

Any comments, opinions on which one to go for, I was thinking of going with Hongkongeek, it could be €27.28 cheaper or €19 more expensive thank Mixeshop

jimjamcoolio

I think that depends on how lucky you're feeling. It might be hard to get that money off HongKongGeek, I don't know, never had any experience with them.

I'm stuck between choosing the Jiayu GS3 or the UMi X1s. It's pretty much battery life that's the deciding factor for me right now. I can't find anything about the UMi's battery. Can someone help me please?

tallaghtmick

A830 was shipped........... I wait

uck51js9zml2yt

tallaghtmick wrote: »

A830 was shipped........... I wait

just don't break this one

tallaghtmick

Blaine Fancy Stockpile wrote: »

just don't break this one

Ill try not to drop it this time :P

seamey beag84

So I've decided on the G4 basic, can't really wait for the advanced to be released. Anyone know of anywhere reliable to get one?. I've seen some sites that claim to be selling the newest version but the spec isn't matching up so must be selling the youth version. Don't want to take my chance with one of those.

Went for SPEMALL.com (looks legit with the right spec) and payed for the express delivery. Hopefully i can add some info to this in a few days.

irishproduce

Has anyone bought the G4?
Is it worth waiting for a revised edition or should I jump right in and get it now?

davidom2513

Ordered a G4 youth from Spemall.com just over a week ago. It was shipped out by DHL from Hong Kong yesterday morning at 4am, and I had it in my hands today at 12.10.

Really nice phone, feels very sturdy, reminds me a bit of the Iphone looks wise, very bright screen.

Id say to go for the youth model because it could be months before the advanced versions see the light of day

The phone seems to think that I'm roaming whenever I make a call/text/ use 3G. Not sure how to fix this, has anyone had any experience with that.

At work at the moment, so I haven't done much with the phone as of yet, so I'll have to test it out more when I get home

bluestripe93

davidom2513 wrote: »

Ordered a G4 youth from Spemall.com just over a week ago. It was shipped out by DHL from Hong Kong yesterday morning at 4am, and I had it in my hands today at 12.10.

Really nice phone, feels very sturdy, reminds me a bit of the Iphone looks wise, very bright screen.

Id say to go for the youth model because it could be months before the advanced versions see the light of day

The phone seems to think that I'm roaming whenever I make a call/text/ use 3G. Not sure how to fix this, has anyone had any experience with that.

At work at the moment, so I haven't done much with the phone as of yet, so I'll have to test it out more when I get home

Nice you got it so fast without having to pay customs, What was the final price for it?

davidom2513

It was about €195 including delivery by DHL.

Yeah, I was lucky not to get hit for customs. I was hoping Spemall.com would have EMS, as less chance of customs charges, but luckily it got through with DHL

bluestripe93

I wasn't sure if I should get a G3S or G4 youth,
I'm just about to buy a G3S from Hongkongeek in the next few days for around €175 with DHL, they pay back the customs if you get caught so I should have it in the next couple of weeks

davidom2513

Not a huge amount of difference between the two phones by the looks of it

I decided to take the punt on the G4 for the sake of 20 euro, could be a lottery whether you evade customs or not though

Customs would work out around 40 quid with an post on these phones. Pity HongKongGeek don't have the G4

uck51js9zml2yt

davidom2513 wrote: »

Not a huge amount of difference between the two phones by the looks of it

I decided to take the punt on the G4 for the sake of 20 euro, could be a lottery whether you evade customs or not though

Customs would work out around 40 quid with an post on these phones. Pity HongKongGeek don't have the G4

read my earlier post on the differences thagor pointed out to me.^^^^^^

_Kaiser_

Hi guys,

Haven't had a chance to read through all the thread yet but some quick questions..

- I'm liking the look of the Lenovo linked to above... what's the battery like in real world usage?

- All the specs talk about quad cores etc, but again.. are they really equivalent to Samsung versions

- The Dual SIM functions.. are they simultaneously active, or do you haver to switch between them manually?

I have a Note 2 at the moment but liking the idea of a cheaper, dual-sim phone as a backup/possible replacement

Cheers

tallaghtmick

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Hi guys,

Haven't had a chance to read through all the thread yet but some quick questions..

- I'm liking the look of the Lenovo linked to above... what's the battery like in real world usage?

- All the specs talk about quad cores etc, but again.. are they really equivalent to Samsung versions

- The Dual SIM functions.. are they simultaneously active, or do you haver to switch between them manually?

I have a Note 2 at the moment but liking the idea of a cheaper, dual-sim phone as a backup/possible replacement

Cheers

Im waiting on mine to leave Hong Kong, Merimobiles said it shipped 4 days ago I honestly thought it would have been at least in europe by now

tallaghtmick

Phone arrived today while im stuck in work until 8

Ardennes1944

Updates Mick Updates Man!

tallaghtmick

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

Updates Mick Updates Man!

its BIG!!!! pretty much like the A820 but seems quicker,also the power/lock button comes out a little higher so I wont have the problem of the 1st one, only downside ive noticed is it wont sync my contacts with google so I had to put them in manually Ill post about the battery later on see how it goes

uck51js9zml2yt

tallaghtmick wrote: »

its BIG!!!! pretty much like the A820 but seems quicker,also the power/lock button comes out a little higher so I wont have the problem of the 1st one, only downside ive noticed is it wont sync my contacts with google so I had to put them in manually Ill post about the battery later on see how it goes

How big is big? can you put up a picture of it against a standard phone(i'm sure you've a few of those lying around )

tallaghtmick

Blaine Fancy Stockpile wrote: »

How big is big? can you put up a picture of it against a standard phone(i'm sure you've a few of those lying around )

I think ive old Nokias there but no camera to use ha its 5 inches but its very light to hold.

Ballyv24

tallaghtmick wrote: »

its BIG!!!! pretty much like the A820 but seems quicker,also the power/lock button comes out a little higher so I wont have the problem of the 1st one, only downside ive noticed is it wont sync my contacts with google so I had to put them in manually Ill post about the battery later on see how it goes

Get this stuff so you won't crack the screen again.

I got sick of waiting for the version of the Jiayu G4 that I wanted so I got the Sony Xperia Z from tesco mobile. It has not arrived yet, but I will add those Sugru bumpers to it if I can without blocking the camera and ports

emo72

hurry up mick. get some photos up for us impatient bastids.

tallaghtmick

emo72 wrote: »

hurry up mick. get some photos up for us impatient bastids.

Im in work until 8 and I dont know how I can take pics without my phone ive no cam!!!!:pac:

tallaghtmick

Battery is good was 65% after 12 hours, seems to be only half rooted as titanium backup cant get root rights but Google play is on it so must have been a half assed job

Thargor

Google Play is no gurantee its been rooted, everything comes with Play these days practically.

davidom2513

I charged the Jiayu G4 sunday night, used it all day Monday and Tuesday, and still had 47% battery Tuesday night.

I set the screen brightness to automatic, so depending on amount of light it adjusts screen brightness.

Had WIFI, GPS turned off most of the time, but was listening to music about 1-2 hours a day, and small amount of gaming

Edit: One thing to note however, is that I currently have no 3G connection running on the phone, which would eat a lot of battery. I am running on a standard sim card, and data connection is only available through the micro sim card slot on the G4. I'm requesting a switch over today to my new micro sim card. So I'll see how the battery copes with a constant 3G connection then

Justin10

davidom2513 wrote: »

I charged the Jiayu G4 sunday night, used it all day Monday and Tuesday, and still had 47% battery Tuesday night.

I set the screen brightness to automatic, so depending on amount of light it adjusts screen brightness.

Had WIFI, GPS turned off most of the time, but was listening to music about 1-2 hours a day, and small amount of gaming

How you find the performance? Any lag or anything like that?

davidom2513

No lag at all. With no apps running there is usually about 500mb of RAM available. When I'm not running a memory hungry app I make sure to end it in the task manager, otherwise memory would run out fast.

Everything is very snappy, excellent camera, very bright screen. Very happy with it.

Only downsides I can find:

- Capacitive buttons under screen are not backlit
- Would be nice to have 2GB RAM, but not worth waiting a few months for the G4 advanced for this alone
- GPS takes ages to lock on

tallaghtmick

Thargor wrote: »

Google Play is no gurantee its been rooted, everything comes with Play these days practically.

I thought the Chinese phones needed to be rooted to have play installed?

Thargor

Nah Ive seen Play on loads of cheap tablets before I rooted them, Id assume phones are the same. If Titanium backup says you're not rooted then you're not.