Chinese Android Phones 2 - Read First Post!

Digital Solitude

Bahanaman wrote: »

I've been looking at this thread over the last few days and people seem to be having problems with the software on their phones eg pop ups, chinese characters etc. I'm beginning to wonder if it is worth the hassle with these phones with the little or no customers service that you're bound to have. I'm getting my daughter a phone for christmas and am wondering would I be better off going with the usual providers here in Ireland?

Xiaomi are most definitely the best manufacturer to choose, they've the biggest user base afaik so have the most help available. If you have a seller Rom, you'll run into trouble, which is what most of the problems are, and there are tutorials to getting back to a stock Xiaomi, which is sound, and 100% English

lapua20grain

Danger781 wrote: »

Don't know. They are looking for a receipt / advertisement print out.

sounds a bit weird, ordered mine a week ago so will cross the fingers, hope you get it sorted and get your phone.

wiz569

irishchris wrote: »

I personally now use the 9€ deal which is 450 minutes and 450 texts as you get massive data at min just for topping up

I see that deal onsite but it doesn't mention any data? How much do you get?

irishchris

wiz569 wrote: »

irishchris wrote: »

I personally now use the 9 deal which is 450 minutes and 450 texts as you get massive data at min just for topping up

I see that deal onsite but it doesn't mention any data? How much do you get?

If you top up by 10 you will get 10gb free or top up 15 and get 15gb free.
http://www.lycamobile.ie/en/bonus-data-offer

bazwaldo

I had pretty much decided to take a punt on Leeco Cool 1 until I noticed that the OS is "EUI 5.6 (Android 6.0 Marshmallow)" and I have no idea what EUI is. Also I did a search around the web and couldn't see where I could download the manufacturer rom in case the rom on the phone is a vendor rom with dodgy popups and Trojans etc.

For the price the spec is great and reviews have the camera as being really good (it uses dual rear cameras). But a little concerned about ROM and if I'll ever receive any security updates or OTA updates.

wiz569

irishchris wrote: »

If you top up by 10 you will get 10gb free or top up 15 and get 15gb free.
http://www.lycamobile.ie/en/bonus-data-offer

Ah ok so top up by at least €10 to get the data and then buy the €9 bundle from that

ED E

bazwaldo wrote: »

I had pretty much decided to take a punt on Leeco Cool 1 until I noticed that the OS is "EUI 5.6 (Android 6.0 Marshmallow)" and I have no idea what EUI is. Also I did a search around the web and couldn't see where I could download the manufacturer rom in case the rom on the phone is a vendor rom with dodgy popups and Trojans etc.

For the price the spec is great and reviews have the camera as being really good (it uses dual rear cameras). But a little concerned about ROM and if I'll ever receive any security updates or OTA updates.

I'm waiting on a Max 2 to ship now.

EUI is a fork of MIUI as I understand it, mostly just a skin. Margins have to be really low so I'm expecting little to no official support. For years Sony have been taking €600 for a handset and providing one update, at this point I'll pay half and go straight to the custom ROM community.

XDA has some back and forth over development, seems one of the Chinese devs is a bit of a stroppy teen and has retreated to posting builds only in private groups so mirrors are sporadic.

OTOH LeEco do want to break into the US so they'll need to provide a certain level of software support. I wouldnt recommend them to any novice users until a track record is developed.

Digital Solitude

bazwaldo wrote: »

I had pretty much decided to take a punt on Leeco Cool 1 until I noticed that the OS is "EUI 5.6 (Android 6.0 Marshmallow)" and I have no idea what EUI is. Also I did a search around the web and couldn't see where I could download the manufacturer rom in case the rom on the phone is a vendor rom with dodgy popups and Trojans etc.

For the price the spec is great and reviews have the camera as being really good (it uses dual rear cameras). But a little concerned about ROM and if I'll ever receive any security updates or OTA updates.

I don't like EUI, too MIUI and iOS similar. It does the job, very snappy and looks nice I just prefer AOSP. Last I checked there weren't many ROM options for my phone, a different LeEco, there were defintely security updates though.

gerard2210

Danger781 wrote:

Don't know. They are looking for a receipt / advertisement print out.

They are looking for the invoice so they know how much you paid, often packets from China will have the cost as 8 dollars or something silly like that, customs want to see what you actually paid so they can hit you for a few quid.

mcgiggles

Bahanaman wrote:

I've been looking at this thread over the last few days and people seem to be having problems with the software on their phones eg pop ups, chinese characters etc. I'm beginning to wonder if it is worth the hassle with these phones with the little or no customers service that you're bound to have. I'm getting my daughter a phone for christmas and am wondering would I be better off going with the usual providers here in Ireland?

Tbh I love my Xiaomi, it has a seller ROM but the only issue I have even with that on it is the Chinese pop-ups like once a week maybe. I'm going to follow the threads advice and flash a new ROM onto it but for what I paid for it (157ish euro) it's ten times the phone I've ever had for half the price! (I've had iPhone, Samsung, Sony!)

El Tarangu

Hi folks,

Cautionary tale: I bought a Ulefone Future, and had it about a month. Dropped it from my bedroom locker (onto a carpeted floor) and is hasn't powered up since. It vibrates and gives the charging light when you plug it in, and doing the power/volume down button makes it vibrate a bit, but nothing beyond that.

Just wanted to chip in my 2c on this phone.

Thargor

Might be worth opening and making sure the screen assembly is still connected to the board, or else disconnect and recoonect it and make sure everything else is seated properly aswell.

Digital Solitude

Do have a look, be very unusual for a phone to stop that easily, Ulephones are reasonable aren't they? I've had cheaper crap take harder knocks

El Tarangu

Thanks for the advice, will look into it

It was lovely phone otherwise, hope I can it up motoring again.

ED E

El Tarangu wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, will look into it

It was lovely phone otherwise, hope I can it up motoring again.

Connect it with USB to a computer. If the computer detects it then its very likely just the display has come away.

BannerBoy1

I've read that when using DHL people are usually caught by customs, but when i looked at 'top one' from aliexpress it says that if you are in the EU you will not be charged by customs when you use DHL on most of their phones (including the phone i am planning to buy). So i was just clarifying is this definitely true? Am I 100% safe to not be caught by customs when choosing DHL with top one?

thanks

Missymoohaa

BannerBoy1 wrote: »

I've read that when using DHL people are usually caught by customs, but when i looked at 'top one' from aliexpress it says that if you are in the EU you will not be charged by customs when you use DHL on most of their phones (including the phone i am planning to buy). So i was just clarifying is this definitely true? Am I 100% safe to not be caught by customs when choosing DHL with top one?

thanks

Banner I bought a xiaomi last Thursday week from top one had it delivered the following Tuesday by dhl no customs. When I looked at the tracking on Friday morning after buying it was registered as check in at Gatwick airport London so I reckon it didn't come from China. I ordered of the spanish site, the link is below

http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=61111X1383796&site=boards.ie&xs=1&isjs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aliexpress.com%2Fitem%2FOriginal-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-4-MTK-Helio-X-20-Deca-Core-3GB-RAM-64GB-ROM-Mobile%2F32720790752.html&xguid=a57a4def915c05eba532cd9dd2c35077&xuuid=0f190703df287bfc328284ee05747a01&xsessid=e8ce2c39c30d40a95951cb3e6d5dab68&xcreo=0&xed=0&sref=http%3A%2F%2Ftouch.boards.ie%2Fthread%2F2057438440%2F420%2F%23post101455866&pref=http%3A%2F%2Ftouch.boards.ie%2Fsearch%2F%3Fuserid%3D579707%26sort%3Dnewest&xtz=0

Just use the translator and make sure you click on the shipping method and select dhl, it's about €20 and worth every penny.

Sono

What's the after sale support like for these Xiaomi phones?

RossieMan

You'll have very little directly, if that's what you mean.

Great community around most of their phones, plenty of roms to chose from.

Miui is crap if you've not used it.

RossieMan

You'll have very little directly, if that's what you mean.

Great community around most of their phones, plenty of roms to chose from.

Miui is crap if you've not used it.

Sono

RossieMan wrote: »

You'll have very little directly, if that's what you mean.

Great community around most of their phones, plenty of roms to chose from.

Miui is crap if you've not used it.

No never used it, it's for the missus, oneplus3 a safer option you reckon?

irishchris

RossieMan wrote: »

You'll have very little directly, if that's what you mean.

Great community around most of their phones, plenty of roms to chose from.

Miui is crap if you've not used it.

Just for balance- For years I have used cyanogenmod and other roms but this is first phone i haven't as software is perfect and it is miui 8 os on my redmi now 3

SteoL

El Tarangu wrote: »

Hi folks,

Cautionary tale: I bought a Ulefone Future, and had it about a month. Dropped it from my bedroom locker (onto a carpeted floor) and is hasn't powered up since. It vibrates and gives the charging light when you plug it in, and doing the power/volume down button makes it vibrate a bit, but nothing beyond that.

Just wanted to chip in my 2c on this phone.

Hope you get this fixed. I got a Ulefone Metal last week and love it so far. Dropped it yesterday getting out of the car outside The Square, straight onto concrete. Expected screen to be smashed but not a scratch on it thankfully.

Did you do the OTA update last week? This is my 3rd Chinese Android but the first that actually did any updates so thrilled that there will be some sort of after support.

RossieMan

SteoL wrote: »

Hope you get this fixed. I got a Ulefone Metal last week and love it so far. Dropped it yesterday getting out of the car outside The Square, straight onto concrete. Expected screen to be smashed but not a scratch on it thankfully.

Did you do the OTA update last week? This is my 3rd Chinese Android but the first that actually did any updates so thrilled that there will be some sort of after support.

i highly doubt hes done the update, seeing as he mentions the phone doesnt work.

SteoL

RossieMan wrote: »

i highly doubt hes done the update, seeing as he mentions the phone doesnt work.

Ah but he has it a month and the update is out since 24th Oct....

howdoyouknow

irishchris wrote:

Just for balance- For years I have used cyanogenmod and other roms but this is first phone i haven't as software is perfect and it is miui 8 os on my redmi now 3

I was very impressed with MIUI also maybe its because of the large 3gb of ram but I didnt find it laggy and quite liked it. It has some nice features and works well. I thought when I bought my phone I wouldn't like it as I've previously always ran CM. I would still be running MIUI except for one of the apps I regularly use wouldn't work with it.

Missymoohaa

howdoyouknow wrote: »

I was very impressed with MIUI also maybe its because of the large 3gb of ram but I didnt find it laggy and quite liked it. It has some nice features and works well. I thought when I bought my phone I wouldn't like it as I've previously always ran CM. I would still be running MIUI except for one of the apps I regularly use wouldn't work with it.

Which app was that, if you don't mind me asking? It wasn't Snapchat by any chance?

howdoyouknow

Missymoohaa wrote:

Which app was that, if you don't mind me asking? It wasn't Snapchat by any chance?

Ulster bank app

BannerBoy1

Missymoohaa wrote: »

Banner I bought a xiaomi last Thursday week from top one had it delivered the following Tuesday by dhl no customs. When I looked at the tracking on Friday morning after buying it was registered as check in at Gatwick airport London so I reckon it didn't come from China. I ordered of the spanish site, the link is below

http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=61111X1383796&site=boards.ie&xs=1&isjs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aliexpress.com%2Fitem%2FOriginal-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-4-MTK-Helio-X-20-Deca-Core-3GB-RAM-64GB-ROM-Mobile%2F32720790752.html&xguid=a57a4def915c05eba532cd9dd2c35077&xuuid=0f190703df287bfc328284ee05747a01&xsessid=e8ce2c39c30d40a95951cb3e6d5dab68&xcreo=0&xed=0&sref=http%3A%2F%2Ftouch.boards.ie%2Fthread%2F2057438440%2F420%2F%23post101455866&pref=http%3A%2F%2Ftouch.boards.ie%2Fsearch%2F%3Fuserid%3D579707%26sort%3Dnewest&xtz=0

Just use the translator and make sure you click on the shipping method and select dhl, it's about €20 and worth every penny.

ok thanks very much. will order this tonight. Glad to know that I dont have to worry about customs with DHL. (well i hope anyway)

melon_collie

I want to purchase a Oneplus 3 but I see that there are none available on the website at the moment. Why is this? Can anyone recommend another website or would I be better of waiting until after the xmas rush??