Chinese Android Phones 2 - Read First Post!

howdoyouknow

Bahanaman wrote:

Have decided on a xiaomi phone for my 12 year old daughter. The only problem is the sheer choice of phones available! Even at my €150 budget. My head is melted with redmi 3, 3s, prime, pro, note, etc.... There are so many. Anyone who has a xiaomi, are there traces of their Chinese origin in the operating system eg chinese characters on screens or menus that would make the phone more difficult to operate?

No trace on my redmi 3 pro. Fantastic phone.

Thecageyone

Bahanaman wrote: »

Have decided on a xiaomi phone for my 12 year old daughter. The only problem is the sheer choice of phones available! Even at my €150 budget. My head is melted with redmi 3, 3s, prime, pro, note, etc.... There are so many. Anyone who has a xiaomi, are there traces of their Chinese origin in the operating system eg chinese characters on screens or menus that would make the phone more difficult to operate?

I just got a Redmi Note 3 Pro this evening, though I did buy it used locally, the guy i bought from got it from China. I've gone through most of the menus now testing, and not seen any Chinese yet! I was expecting at least some. The seller more than likely deleted any Chinese apps if there was any, but all menus and text i'm seeing is English

wozza

Bahanaman wrote: »

are there traces of their Chinese origin in the operating system eg chinese characters on screens or menus that would make the phone more difficult to operate?

same as any phone you buy

when you select your native tongue as the operating language, that will be the default language on the phone, they won't still use or revert to mandarin or cantonese

ifeelstupid

Bahanaman wrote: »

Have decided on a xiaomi phone for my 12 year old daughter. The only problem is the sheer choice of phones available! Even at my €150 budget. My head is melted with redmi 3, 3s, prime, pro, note, etc.... There are so many. Anyone who has a xiaomi, are there traces of their Chinese origin in the operating system eg chinese characters on screens or menus that would make the phone more difficult to operate?

I'm guessing Pokemon might be one of her must haves, I don't have it on my phone but read on another forum that you may need to be a little tech savvy to get it to work.

Thecageyone

wozza wrote: »

same as any phone you buy

when you select your native tongue as the operating language, that will be the default language on the phone, they won't still use or revert to mandarin or cantonese

Not exactly the case, some of the Chinese manufacturers install some sticky apps in their tongue, I've heard of apps that were impossible to remove and all in Chinese. Doesn't seem to be the case with the Note 3 pro at least. Thankfully

Bahanaman

ifeelstupid wrote:

I'm guessing Pokemon might be one of her must haves, I don't have it on my phone but read on another forum that you may need to be a little tech savvy to get it to work.

Ha ha. Pokemon not on her radar at all! Thank God!

Bahanaman

Lucas Hood wrote:

I think this is a great phone for just over a 100. Gf uses it every day and I've ordered a 2nd one as a spare for myself.

Looks like a great option for my daughter. Did you have to pay customs?

MrDiyFan

Hi
Is anyone using a device to 'cast' from a xiaomi to tv

Looking for something off aliexpress or similar site

Thecageyone

I just use an Android box for the tv. I guess something like Chromecast?

howdoyouknow

MrDiyFan wrote:

Looking for something off aliexpress or similar site

MrDiyFan wrote:

Hi Is anyone using a device to 'cast' from a xiaomi to tv

Chromecast 1st generation is pretty hard to beat. If you look on the bargain alerts forum I believe there's a thread on them at the moment. Tesco NI doing them very cheap

nkay1985

Pulled the trigger on a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 for my wife two nights ago. Went with Top One on AliExpress due to positive experiences from a few friends in the recent past.

Found it so much more difficult to make a decision this time around as opposed to two years ago to make a decision. Would prefer if Xiaomi narrowed their range a little. It's gotten so expansive and it's not very clear where you should be going. Either way, I'll post back here with her feelings once she gets it.

Thecageyone

nkay1985 wrote: »

Pulled the trigger on a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 for my wife two nights ago. Went with Top One on AliExpress due to positive experiences from a few friends in the recent past.

Found it so much more difficult to make a decision this time around as opposed to two years ago to make a decision. Would prefer if Xiaomi narrowed their range a little. It's gotten so expansive and it's not very clear where you should be going. Either way, I'll post back here with her feelings once she gets it.

They are a bit head wrecking when it comes to their range. When I was searching for a phone I felt like I was on some weird merry-go-round, had to keep double checking I was looking at the right model. They have the Redmi 3, Redmi 3 pro, there's also a prime! then the Redmi NOTE 3, Redmi note 3 Pro, and now the Redmi note 4 - AND one named just Redmi Pro!! not to mention their Mi range.

In the end I had decided on the Redmi Note 3 Pro, and was lucky to find one used local, got the 3 GB/32GB one for actually less than it would have cost from China and got it right away

The 4 looks to be much the same thing with a slightly faster processor, and i can say after just 2 days use, it is an impressive phone for the price. She won't be disappointed.

mightyreds

I see the OnePlus 3 mentioned alot here does anyone know if there is a difference in the UK version to the Irish expect being cheaper

StereoSound

They are identical

mightyreds

Cool thanks! didn't want to risk it being locked to a UK network or different bands think I'll pick it up this week

sderref

Hi there,
does anyone has some experience with Cubot Dinosaur/Cubot phones general and Letv phones? Many thanks if anyone could post some first hand experience.
Regards

Digital Solitude

Never had a cubot but there's a few of us here with LeTVs, which are you looking at?

sderref

Saw this one, and I was thinking to get it to my gf, for a try after her iphone 4...
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Original-Letv-Le-2-LeEco-X620-Helio-X20-MTK6797-Deca-Core-Mobile-Phone-5-5-2GB/311331_32670678083.html
Personally I liked the above mentioned Xiaomi Mi4c, as well, and just have no idea the Letv would worth the extra euros(even with that much higher specs) compare to the Cubot Dino/Xiaomi Mi4c roughly 110 prices..

PJOH

sderref wrote:

Hi there, does anyone has some experience with Cubot Dinosaur/Cubot phones general and Letv phones? Many thanks if anyone could post some first hand experience. Regards

I have a Cubot X15 , 5.5in screen , 3gb ram, 32 GB storage. Got it in July thru Ali express , shipped from UK , $129 plus $10 postage with DHL 3 day delivery. Love the phone, never had a problem.
Got Cubot Max for my wife 3weeks ago. 6in screen ,3gb ram,32gb storage from aliexpess from China. Didn't have to pay any tax. My wife had a 4.5 in screen before this phone . She thought it was huge when she first got it but loves it now. It takes longer for the phone case to be delivered than it did for the phone. Cubot seem to be a good phone , have not had a problem with either of them yet. Hope this is of some help.

Thecageyone

sderref wrote: »

Saw this one, and I was thinking to get it to my gf, for a try after her iphone 4...
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Original-Letv-Le-2-LeEco-X620-Helio-X20-MTK6797-Deca-Core-Mobile-Phone-5-5-2GB/311331_32670678083.html
Personally I liked the above mentioned Xiaomi Mi4c, as well, and just have no idea the Letv would worth the extra euros(even with that much higher specs) compare to the Cubot Dino/Xiaomi Mi4c roughly 110 prices..

The Letv Le 2 will blow the others out of the water when it comes to powerful apps or games, the Mi4c looks pretty good too. The Cubot isn't in the same league as the other 2

Kerry_2008

I've just got a CUbot Dinosaur yesterday.Delvicer from UK seller. Phone is great except I can't seem to get Vodafone 4G. I think it supports the bands used by Vodafone but I can't seem to get a 4G connection. Had 4G on my old phone in same location using same SIM before. Has any one any ideas? I ran thru some tutorial I found online to go into developer settings and enable LTE but it didn't make any difference.

BobbyPropane

Kerry_2008 wrote: »

I've just got a CUbot Dinosaur yesterday.Delvicer from UK seller. Phone is great except I can't seem to get Vodafone 4G. I think it supports the bands used by Vodafone but I can't seem to get a 4G connection. Had 4G on my old phone in same location using same SIM before. Has any one any ideas? I ran thru some tutorial I found online to go into developer settings and enable LTE but it didn't make any difference.

Firstly try turning roaming on and then go to preferred network settings (should be set to 4G) and select 3G then select 4G again and wait a few mins.

That's what got 4g working on my phone.

Try restart phone if waiting doesnt work

Iseedeadpixels

Anyone with the Umi Super notice its very buggy after the update?

Thecageyone

I can only get H+ at best on my redmi not 3 pro

Not really a big deal, I've tested it and it's pretty fast and smooth anyway

BobbyPropane

Iseedeadpixels wrote: »

Anyone with the Umi Super notice its very buggy after the update?

Update sent my fingerprint scanner mad. I had to disable it.

Otherwise no other issues to report

allthedoyles

This 4G was discussed about 6 pages back .
Some cheap phones can get 4G and some expensive ones are only 3G .
There were some websites to check your phone . One is frequencycheck and another is willmyphonework

RossieMan

It's all about checking the bands before you buy.

That's why you have to be careful and do your research.

Andy From Sligo

allthedoyles wrote: »

This 4G was discussed about 6 pages back .
Some cheap phones can get 4G and some expensive ones are only 3G .
There were some websites to check your phone . One is frequencycheck and another is willmyphonework

you know on MTK phones you can go into a secret service menu and i thought I saw in one setting you can set the 'Bands' on the phone and it has like some check boxes. So if you got a phone and say the 3G or 4G didnt work could you not go into that secret menu and tick the boxes if they are blank to get it to work on other bands?

Iseedeadpixels

BobbyPropane wrote: »

Update sent my fingerprint scanner mad. I had to disable it.

Otherwise no other issues to report

Reboot fixes that

Thecageyone

RossieMan wrote: »

It's all about checking the bands before you buy.

That's why you have to be careful and do your research.

I did, and it was a mixed bag tbh. Many Redmi note users claim they get 4G no issues, others said they couldn't. It's not a must for me personally to have 4G as 99% of the time I'm on wi-fi. When out and about I'm really only using the net on the phone to kill time. H+ actually seems fast enough, plays youtube smoothly for example. That's about as intense as my outside net usage gets really. Plus, i bought the phone used locally, got a good deal on it, so happy enough.