Chinese Android Phones

spix

Mi recovery. Slightly different than their older phones though, when you hold down power/vol+ it brings you to a touchscreen menu where you can choose recovery,fastboot and loads of other options I have no clue about.

corwill

spix wrote: »

Mi recovery. Slightly different than their older phones though, when you hold down power/vol+ it brings you to a touchscreen menu where you can choose recovery,fastboot and loads of other options I have no clue about.

Should be fine to flash the version you want from http://en.miui.com/download-261.html.

Annoying that it didn't arrive the way it should have, though.

JTMan

I am new to purchasing Chinese Android phones and have a few novice questions, that I am hoping you experts can help with.

(1) Is there any idiots guide to buying a Chinese Android phone out there?

(2) I want to buy a high spec Chinese Android phone. I am willing a bit more. I want a 5 inch screen, 4G, stock Android 5 or the ability to side-load stock Android 5, good camera, light weight phone and Miracast. Ideally, a big brand. Can someone please recommend a phone for me.

(3) I am seeing dozens of different references here to different places to buy a Chinese Android phone. Can someone please tell the top 3 sites that are normally used?

(4) If you are caught for customs. What is the normal average cost roughly speaking?

(5) If I am willing to pay an extra few quid, am I simply best going with the One Plus One?

Thanks in advance.

spix

corwill wrote: »

Should be fine to flash the version you want from http://en.miui.com/download-261.html.

Annoying that it didn't arrive the way it should have, though.

Annoying indeed. Nothing but notification spam and on screen pop ups left right and center. How could anyone use a phone in this state.

I've already installed a multi language rom based on the latest beta, should have gone with the stable though as this one's pretty buggy. Is it possible to just reflash the stable release through recovery?

Mc Love

JTMan wrote: »

I am new to purchasing Chinese Android phones and have a few novice questions, that I am hoping you experts can help with.

(1) Is there any idiots guide to buying a Chinese Android phone out there?

(2) I want to buy a high spec Chinese Android phone. I am willing a bit more. I want a 5 inch screen, 4G, stock Android 5 or the ability to side-load stock Android 5, good camera, light weight phone and Miracast. Ideally, a big brand. Can someone please recommend a phone for me.

(3) I am seeing dozens of different references here to different places to buy a Chinese Android phone. Can someone please tell the top 3 sites that are normally used?

(4) If you are caught for customs. What is the normal average cost roughly speaking?

(5) If I am willing to pay an extra few quid, am I simply best going with the One Plus One?

Thanks in advance.

For number one, check the first post

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JTMan wrote: »

I am new to purchasing Chinese Android phones and have a few novice questions, that I am hoping you experts can help with.

(1) Is there any idiots guide to buying a Chinese Android phone out there?

(2) I want to buy a high spec Chinese Android phone. I am willing a bit more. I want a 5 inch screen, 4G, stock Android 5 or the ability to side-load stock Android 5, good camera, light weight phone and Miracast. Ideally, a big brand. Can someone please recommend a phone for me.

(3) I am seeing dozens of different references here to different places to buy a Chinese Android phone. Can someone please tell the top 3 sites that are normally used?

(4) If you are caught for customs. What is the normal average cost roughly speaking?

(5) If I am willing to pay an extra few quid, am I simply best going with the One Plus One?

Thanks in advance.

I have the ZOPO zp999.
Some have the 3x version of it. Nice phone.makes coffee

seannash

JTMan wrote: »

I am new to purchasing Chinese Android phones and have a few novice questions, that I am hoping you experts can help with.

(1) Is there any idiots guide to buying a Chinese Android phone out there?

(2) I want to buy a high spec Chinese Android phone. I am willing a bit more. I want a 5 inch screen, 4G, stock Android 5 or the ability to side-load stock Android 5, good camera, light weight phone and Miracast. Ideally, a big brand. Can someone please recommend a phone for me.

(3) I am seeing dozens of different references here to different places to buy a Chinese Android phone. Can someone please tell the top 3 sites that are normally used?

(4) If you are caught for customs. What is the normal average cost roughly speaking?

(5) If I am willing to pay an extra few quid, am I simply best going with the One Plus One?

Thanks in advance.

we need a figure, what are you willing to spend

JTMan

seannash wrote: »

we need a figure, what are you willing to spend

Circa. 300 EUR. Thanks.

spix

JTMan wrote: »

Circa. 300 EUR. Thanks.

Is 4g a must? Most Chinese phones only support the 1800mhz band which will limit coverage in some areas.

seannash

JTMan wrote: »

Circa. 300 EUR. Thanks.

Nubia z7 mini or if you can stretch the oneplus one as you said. Both have 4g but not the 1800hz band

JTMan

spix wrote: »

Is 4g a must? Most Chinese phones only support the 1800mhz band which will limit coverage in some areas.

Yes, sorry, 4G is a must.

seannash

JTMan wrote: »

Yes, sorry, 4G is a must.

What network you with

corwill

spix wrote: »

Annoying indeed. Nothing but notification spam and on screen pop ups left right and center. How could anyone use a phone in this state.

I've already installed a multi language rom based on the latest beta, should have gone with the stable though as this one's pretty buggy. Is it possible to just reflash the stable release through recovery?

I only ever used the developer's version of MiUi6 on the Mi3, but I can't think why you couldn't just download the stable ROM from the link in my post above at 18.05 and flash through Mi Recovery. Rename the downloaded .zip file to "update.zip", move it to the phone's internal memory, and then you should be set.

JTMan

seannash wrote: »

What network you with

Three.

seannash

JTMan wrote: »

Three.

Should be grand for 4g then with most of the Chinese phones.

Kenny Logins

seannash wrote: »

Nubia z7 mini or if you can stretch the oneplus one as you said. Both have 4g but not the 1800hz band

What's the camera like on this? Cheers.

seannash

Kenny Logins wrote: »

What's the camera like on this? Cheers.

Ive no real world experience but its a 13megapixel sony sensor on both with 2.0 Arperture which should give good photos.
Reviews of the Nubia camera have been positive. Also depends what your coming from/used to

Kenny Logins

seannash wrote: »

Ive no real world experience but its a 13megapixel sony sensor on both with 2.0 Arperture which should give good photos.
Reviews of the Nubia camera have been positive. Also depends what your coming from/used to

Cheers. Ditching a Moto G because of hardware failure (power button) and poor camera. Had Note before that.

horse7

Can someone list the 4G bands used in Ireland up/down. For. O2. 3. Videophone. Meteor,

spix

horse7 wrote: »

Can someone list the 4G bands used in Ireland up/down. For. O2. 3. Videophone. Meteor,

I think its like this

3 uses 1800mhz
Vodaphone uses 800mhz
Meteor/eMobile use a mix of 800/1800mhz
O2 doesn't have 4G

eamonnq

horse7 wrote: »

Can someone list the 4G bands used in Ireland up/down. For. O2. 3. Videophone. Meteor,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks

eamonnq

http://www.geekbuying.com/item/MLAIS-M9-Smartphone-MTK6592M-Octa-Core-1-4GHz-QHD-5-0Inch-Android-4-4-OS-1GB-RAM-8GB-ROM-QHD-5-0MP-3G-GPS-OTG---Black-339416.html

Octacore in my 'preferred price range'

Anyone got any experience with some of the smaller (4-4.5inch screen phones)?

Looking to get a phone for my missus and she hates the big phones (I've an LG G2 which she hates the size of) and is considering buying an iphone 4S as it's 'the right size'. I an trying to to find something in the sub €180 range that smashes the 4S out of the park, without being too big.

4G would be a massive advantage (800 or 1800 - 3 UK LTE bands), camera not a huge issue, decent storage would be useful, but if SD card supported we can add that separately (couple of cards hanging around the house).

Thanks

spix

Deleted User wrote: »

Anyone got any experience with some of the smaller (4-4.5inch screen phones)?

Looking to get a phone for my missus and she hates the big phones (I've an LG G2 which she hates the size of) and is considering buying an iphone 4S as it's 'the right size'. I an trying to to find something in the sub €180 range that smashes the 4S out of the park, without being too big.

4G would be a massive advantage (800 or 1800 - 3 UK LTE bands), camera not a huge issue, decent storage would be useful, but if SD card supported we can add that separately (couple of cards hanging around the house).

Thanks

5" or greater are the most popular sizes in China so its pretty much impossible to find any high specd compact phones. The main one to consider would be the xioami mi2s, can get the 32gb version for about 180 euro from ibuygou.com. No 4G though.

ibFoxer

Just checking my tracking there, it appears my Phone landed this morning and is gone to customs, I'm assuming I'm going to get hit for duty??

corwill

foxerv1 wrote: »

Just checking my tracking there, it appears my Phone landed this morning and is gone to customs, I'm assuming I'm going to get hit for duty??

Yup. You'll get a letter telling you to email them with proof of purchase price, they'll email you back telling what day they'll deliver and how much to give the postman.

ibFoxer

corwill wrote: »

Yup. You'll get a letter telling you to email them with proof of purchase price, they'll email you back telling what day they'll deliver and how much to give the postman.

Not a major problem, any guideline for what they charge? 23%??

spix

foxerv1 wrote: »

Not a major problem, any guideline for what they charge? 23%??

23% + handling fee which is 6 euro I think.

Next time try a different store, pretty sure some popular stores are flagged by customs. Do gearbest have their name printed on shipping labels?

ibFoxer

spix wrote: »

23% + handling fee which is 6 euro I think.

Next time try a different store, pretty sure some popular stores are flagged by customs. Do gearbest have their name printed on shipping labels?

I had intended to get it from Pandawil but it didn't work out as cheap, plus they didn't have a 32gb sd card. As I say it's not a major problem, I just happen to be in Dublin on Monday, I wonder can I pick it up?

corwill

spix wrote: »

23% + handling fee which is 6 euro I think.

Next time try a different store, pretty sure some popular stores are flagged by customs. Do gearbest have their name printed on shipping labels?

Can't remember, but the likes of nlpost is going slip past if the country of origin is printed on the label.

EDIT - "isn't ", ffs!