Chinese Android Phones 2 - Read First Post!

RIchieNouveau

Ryback wrote: »

Lovely phone although it does feel very light.

I was also struck by how light my wife's redmi 2 was. I actually didn't like it, although I think the majority like lighter phones so maybe I'm an oddball.

Mr_Muffin

Ryback wrote: »

Got a Mi5 from Top One last week, cost €250 including delivery. Price has now gone up to around €340.

Lovely phone although it does feel very light. Performance is great though. Requested the stock ROM and was very easy to sideboard Google services

Got one as well.

If anyone is buying this phone do NOT forget to buy a case as well.

This thing is a slippery little bugger and its made of glass. It's like a fish out of water. Cracked the back on mine already.

Ryback

RIchieNouveau wrote: »

I was also struck by how light my wife's redmi 2 was. I actually didn't like it, although I think the majority like lighter phones so maybe I'm an oddball.

I'm with you, I prefer a bit of heft in a phone so it doesn't feel like it will bend in my pocket.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good case. As mentioned above it's incredibly slippery.

jozi

I've been thinking about getting the mi5 to but I can't find a black 64gb model for a good price from a reliable seller.

Anyone know if eglobal ok for phones and if they put roms on them or not¿

peaceboi

Ryback wrote: »

Got a Mi5 from Top One last week, cost €250 including delivery. Price has now gone up to around €340.

Lovely phone although it does feel very light. Performance is great though. Requested the stock ROM and was very easy to sideboard Google services

Hi... from where did you buy?
Thanks

Ryback

peaceboi wrote: »

Hi... from where did you buy?
Thanks

I bought if from the store Top One on Ali Express. They were very good, ordered on the 17th and arrived on the 24th, had no expectation it would arrive by Christmas. Paying for DHL delivery only costs €20 and this means no customs charges as its routed through the UK.

The problem you have with them is that the prices of everything seems to have been jacked up by an extra €100. My Mi5 cost only €230 before delivery,now it's running at around €330

WhiteMemento9

Has the search function on Aliexpress been heavily limited? If I search for a certain phone lets say "Redmi 3s". I get no results for the actual phone itself just a load of accessories stuff. It is the same even if I search with incognito mode.

CantGetNoSleep

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Anyone any thoughts on the Zuk Z2? Looks like very good specs for the price, under 200 quid from Oppomart...


http://www.oppomart.com/zuk-z2.html

I'm thinking of going for this too, although I think it is cheaper elsewhere

wiz569

WhiteMemento9 wrote: »

Has the search function on Aliexpress been heavily limited? If I search for a certain phone lets say "Redmi 3s". I get no results for the actual phone itself just a load of accessories stuff. It is the same even if I search with incognito mode.

Same here m8,not sure whats going on

Ryback

WhiteMemento9 wrote: »

Has the search function on Aliexpress been heavily limited? If I search for a certain phone lets say "Redmi 3s". I get no results for the actual phone itself just a load of accessories stuff. It is the same even if I search with incognito mode.

Try using the app, I did a search for the redmi 3s and it came back with a rake of options to buy the phone

Glen_Quagmire

CantGetNoSleep wrote:

I'm thinking of going for this too, although I think it is cheaper elsewhere

Let me know if you see it cheaper somewhere. Thanks

wiz569

Ryback wrote: »

Try using the app, I did a search for the redmi 3s and it came back with a rake of options to buy the phone

Yeah the app is working fine,strange that

CantGetNoSleep

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Let me know if you see it cheaper somewhere. Thanks

It was about 155 on Banggood with a code but the code is expired, it is 170 now

jozi

Ryback wrote: »

I bought if from the store Top One on Ali Express. They were very good, ordered on the 17th and arrived on the 24th, had no expectation it would arrive by Christmas. Paying for DHL delivery only costs €20 and this means no customs charges as its routed through the UK.

The problem you have with them is that the prices of everything seems to have been jacked up by an extra €100. My Mi5 cost only €230 before delivery,now it's running at around €330

Was that for the 32 or 64gb model?

Glen_Quagmire

CantGetNoSleep wrote:

It was about 155 on Banggood with a code but the code is expired, it is 170 now

Does that include delivery and custom charges?

What are banggood like to order from do you know?

CantGetNoSleep

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Does that include delivery and custom charges?

What are banggood like to order from do you know?

Includes delivery but not customs. You might not get caught for them with free shipping.

They are ok, I've ordered a few times from them and nothing has went wrong. But as with all Chinese retailers if something does go wrong you won't really get any comeback

Ryback

jozi wrote: »

Was that for the 32 or 64gb model?

32gb

Glen_Quagmire

CantGetNoSleep wrote:

Includes delivery but not customs. You might not get caught for them with free shipping.

CantGetNoSleep wrote:

They are ok, I've ordered a few times from them and nothing has went wrong. But as with all Chinese retailers if something does go wrong you won't really get any comeback

I would prefer to have it delivered from an EU warehouse to avoid customs and faster delivery but I've checked a few different sites and they are all out of stock.

peaceboi

Looking to order the Xiaomi mi Max 32gb with global ROM. Can someone point me to few good websites with EU stock? My previous orders were from oppomart. But they don't have this model in stock.

wiz569

peaceboi wrote: »

Looking to order the Xiaomi mi Max 32gb with global ROM. Can someone point me to few good websites with EU stock? My previous orders were from oppomart. But they don't have this model in stock.

Check all the stores in the first post m8,Honorbuy have it in stock in their EU warehouse

g0g

I'm guessing here is probably the best place to post about Xiaomi phones rather than start a new thread. Made the move from Windows Phone (Lumia 930) to Android (Nexus 5X) a few months ago. Loving the experience so far, but getting frustrated with space running out all too often. I have a few pretty big apps and like to keep a few games for the kids on it as well as videos/pics (which auto-delete I think after 30 days to avoid clogging things up). Bottom line is I think I need at least 32GB or else the option of memory card which the 5X doesn't give me.

I'd love to be able to "trade up" to a better spec phone without too much cost, so I'm guessing "going Chinese" might be my best bet. I have lots of other Xiaomi products so am a fan and believe they make decent quality stuff.

So what I want is Android, 4G (Meteor - I know some of these Chinese phones have issues with bands?), fingerprint scanner (I'm a convert!), Play Store, NFC (loving Android Pay!), 5.5" max and ideally a decent enough camera for pics/videos (lower night quality I could live with as mainly family pics/videos). It would also help if it was USB-C now that I've bought a load of charger cables! I'm guessing I might get near enough to € 200 for the 5X which has had front/back covers from day one, so that would roughly be my budget including customs if applicable.

Can anyone recommend my best bet? I'm struggling a bit understanding the difference between the Redmi Note and Mi series. I read through this but got confused and indicated most aren't available or won't work well outside China.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

ED E

g0g this will tick pretty much every box for you:
https://www.kimovil.com/en/where-to-buy-xiaomi-redmi-note-3-pro-special-editionl-3gb-32gb

Add a 64GB MicroSD and you're off to the races.

Only buy the special edition, the normal one has incomplete 4G.

Ryback

g0g wrote: »

I'm guessing here is probably the best place to post about Xiaomi phones rather than start a new thread. Made the move from Windows Phone (Lumia 930) to Android (Nexus 5X) a few months ago. Loving the experience so far, but getting frustrated with space running out all too often. I have a few pretty big apps and like to keep a few games for the kids on it as well as videos/pics (which auto-delete I think after 30 days to avoid clogging things up). Bottom line is I think I need at least 32GB or else the option of memory card which the 5X doesn't give me.

I'd love to be able to "trade up" to a better spec phone without too much cost, so I'm guessing "going Chinese" might be my best bet. I have lots of other Xiaomi products so am a fan and believe they make decent quality stuff.

So what I want is Android, 4G (Meteor - I know some of these Chinese phones have issues with bands?), fingerprint scanner (I'm a convert!), Play Store, NFC (loving Android Pay!), 5.5" max and ideally a decent enough camera for pics/videos (lower night quality I could live with as mainly family pics/videos). It would also help if it was USB-C now that I've bought a load of charger cables! I'm guessing I might get near enough to € 200 for the 5X which has had front/back covers from day one, so that would roughly be my budget including customs if applicable.

Can anyone recommend my best bet? I'm struggling a bit understanding the difference between the Redmi Note and Mi series. I read through this but got confused and indicated most aren't available or won't work well outside China.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

The Redmi Note series tend to be lower specced phones. The processors wouldn't have the same grunt and the camera would be weaker. On the other hand they tend to have better battery life as the Mi5 and Mi5s have a 3000Mah battery compared to 4000Mah on the Redmi Note 3 & 4.

In terms of reception, 3g won't be an issue but 4g might be a little patchy as the Xiaomi phones only cover band 3 but not band 20. There may be some versions that cover both though. I think there is a global version of the note 3 that has both band 30 and 20

Based on budget I'd say the note series would be up your street.

g0g

ED E wrote: »

g0g this will tick pretty much every box for you:
https://www.kimovil.com/en/where-to-buy-xiaomi-redmi-note-3-pro-special-editionl-3gb-32gb

Add a 64GB MicroSD and you're off to the races.

Only buy the special edition, the normal one has incomplete 4G.

Thanks that one actually seems pretty decent as an alternative. Only thing I'd lose is NFC right? Will have a root around the various stores linked from that site - don't see any immediately with EU shipping.

Glen_Quagmire

I'm struggling to find a Zuk Z2 in a European warehouse. Can get it from banggood through their Hong Kong warehouse for €170 which is a good price. Am I best off waiting for one of the reputable dealers to have them back in stock in a European warehouse?

Never ordered anything from China before so I'm not familiar with expected delivery times or potential custom problems but looks like a lot on here have done so with no issues

g0g

ED E wrote: »

g0g this will tick pretty much every box for you:
https://www.kimovil.com/en/where-to-buy-xiaomi-redmi-note-3-pro-special-editionl-3gb-32gb

Add a 64GB MicroSD and you're off to the races.

Only buy the special edition, the normal one has incomplete 4G.

Just had a look around. Maybe Xiaomi official store on Aliexpress is my best bet and use normal shipping?

corkie

g0g wrote: »

Just had a look around. Maybe Xiaomi official store on Aliexpress is my best bet and use normal shipping?

No such thing as Xiaomi Official Store on aliexpress, although a few sellers would like you to think that!


Edit: - The store used to be called Xiaomi Authorized store before they change the name.

Also you may get caught for VAT!


Edit 2: - Try Goldway with "Sellers Shipping Method" to avoid VAT!

DANNY2014

g0g wrote: »

Just had a look around. Maybe Xiaomi official store on Aliexpress is my best bet and use normal shipping?

Bought two of these just b4 Xmas off that particular store (as last poster said there is no official xiaomi store on Ali) on the 11/11 event... Make sure if you purchase get the special edition for the 4g it's 2mm bigger than the original redmi note 3...went with dhl for quicker delivery so got caught for customs but had phones on 10 december but 200 all in it worked out for one and 180 for the other...working a dream super fast for what I need plus great battery life... Camera is a little grainy at times but it's not the worst out there,plus no NFC so contactless payment won't be working...

g0g

DANNY2014 wrote: »

Bought two of these just b4 Xmas off that particular store (as last poster said there is no official xiaomi store on Ali) on the 11/11 event... Make sure if you purchase get the special edition for the 4g it's 2mm bigger than the original redmi note 3...went with dhl for quicker delivery so got caught for customs but had phones on 10 december but 200 all in it worked out for one and 180 for the other...working a dream super fast for what I need plus great battery life... Camera is a little grainy at times but it's not the worst out there,plus no NFC so contactless payment won't be working...

Do any Xiaomi more expensive models feature NFC and if so are we talking much more? Any other brands at this spec level worth considering?

DANNY2014

g0g wrote: »

Do any Xiaomi more expensive models feature NFC and if so are we talking much more? Any other brands at this spec level worth considering?

Best off put what you need into kimovil and compare to what you need