Chinese Android Phones 2 - Read First Post!

Leslie91

mikeoneilly wrote: »

https://www.kimovil.com/en/where-to-buy-xiaomi-redmi-4-pro

They have a grey version, decent fone but big drop in horsepower compared to a zuk z2

Do the Chinese sellers mostly sell white and gold colors.I thought i noticed that before

There is/was a grey version but none of the shops (that I've looked at) have it.

Ended up ordering a white ZUK Z2.......... now to find a case/cover that hides the white!!.

Anyone recommend any cases... I like the original flip cover - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/For-Lenovo-original-ZUK-Z2-Flip-case-Cover-auto-wake-up-for-ZUK-Z2-smart-leather/32759252177.html?spm=2114.13010208.99999999.264.mKcOsp

But €19.99 is on pricey side.

cavan4sam

Just got my Redmond note 4x this morning. Seems a brilliant phone for the money so far . Great screen and very responsive

mikeoneilly

cavan4sam wrote: »

Just got my Redmond note 4x this morning. Seems a brilliant phone for the money so far . Great screen and very responsive

How long to arrive?

Larry Bee

Hey Folks, first I want to say thanks for a really great, informative thread - lots of people sharing some in depth knowledge most of it explained simply.
Thanks

My Huawei that I bought last year is dying a not-so-slow death and after reading the last 50-60 pages of this thread in the last day or two I've decided to buy a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Global, but I'd like to check I've everything sorted in my head before I put my hand in my pocket. Would you mind confirming what I set out below is correct?

I'm living down the sticks so 3g let alone 4g isn't much of an option. Internet will mostly done over wi-fi. GPS would be very handy but it has Snapdragon so it should be OK? It appears to be the best phone within my limit of 150. Or can someone recommend a better one?

It is compatible with Tesco Mobile so when it arrives I'll need to get a new micro sim from Tesco, and off we go.

Then, judging by the amount of languages on it, I'll need to flash the ROM. This is where things appear to get a bit messy. I've a couple of things I'm not sure about - hopefully I'm asking them in the right place....

Firstly I go to here to create & log in with my Mi a/c details and request the phone to be unlocked.
In a day or two I'll get the unlock code. Easy peasy

To unlock it I download the unlock program from here and follow the instructions from here. This should unlock the phone. But it gives the option to Enable Developer Option in MIUI 8.1 only - my phone is MIUI 8. How do I get around this?

Then to install the new ROM - I'll download the new ROM from here on my PC, connect the phone via USB, copy the unzipped file over and run the updater app, and Bobs yer uncle.

Now what? I'll have a phone with no bloatware and the playstore. What is on the phone? Software to make calls, store contacts etc? Or do all these have to be downloaded from the playstore?

Also, can anyone recoment a good cover for this phone - something to make it indestrucitble as I've a habit of dropping phones.

Thanks in advance for all your help

John

cavan4sam

mikeoneilly wrote:

How long to arrive?

Ordered Friday on Honor buy Eu site , A bit more expensive but no customs issues

cranefly

Larry bee. you have me worried now, do you have to do all that when buying a chinese phone, i thought global meant it did not have any chinese apps on it. do you have to do this with all chinese phones, even when they come from a eu warehouse, i never really thought about it before, i just thought once you charge it up and turn it on it would be the same as an irish bought phone.
Even one bought from a chinese warehouse, i thought would just have some chinese apps on it, which you could delete, and maybe a import vat charge, so my question is if i bought a letv le eco 2 say from a chinese warehouse and paid the import tax, would it work straight out of the box, or would i have to do what larry bee described, to get it to work in ireland.

Guys another question i have is, if i buy this le tv leco 2 phone from banggood in a chinese warehouse, or geekbuying with a eu warehouse, if i buy from banggood for around 170 euro i know i will have to pay a vat charge of 23% on top of the price, but the geekbuying spain warehouse is around 211 euro so their is not much difference, and i would rather the extra charge went to ireland, but are the 2 phones exactly the same, is their an advantage in going for the eu warehouse one over the chinese warehouse, i am not technically minded, and would have trouble doing what larry is suggesting he will do with his xoiami redmi note 4

Highcontrast1

anyone heard about this lot?
http://www.grossoshop.net/shipping-from-europe

ED E

cranefly wrote: »

if i buy this le tv leco 2 phone

Its called the LeEco Le 2, LeTV is the old brand that no longer exists.

paddym1

LarryBee,
You shouldn't need to do any of the things you list. I have a Mi5. I bought it with a Global ROM, charged it up, put my 2 SIM cards in it and switched it on. No weird Chinese stuff on it at all, and full phone/SMS/MMS/WiFi/Internet functionality.

None of the phones are SIM-locked, so any SIM should work (once it's the correct size, in my case 2 x micro-SIM's).

You can re-flash if you want to, but the phone should work perfectly out-of-the-box.

If you're not too familiar with the process I suggest you stick with what is supplied, at least for the first while until you are sure everything is good. If you really want to "play" with the software/ROM, you may want to get the bootloader unlocked - you have to apply to Xiaomi (at http://en.miui.com/unlock/) for this.

Hope this helps.

howdoyouknow

Larry Bee wrote:

My Huawei that I bought last year is dying a not-so-slow death and after reading the last 50-60 pages of this thread in the last day or two I've decided to buy a xiaomi redmi 4 global

Hi Larry if your not going to have 4g in your area you might be better looking at the standard version of that phone without band 20.

It is near impossible to get replacement parts for the global version should you ever need them.


The global version is only really beneficial for 4g coverage in rural areas and the phone is slightly larger 2mm or so. If your not going to have 4g its hardly worth having a phone that supports it.

k123456

Larry Bee wrote: »

Hey Folks, first I want to say thanks for a really great, informative thread - lots of people sharing some in depth knowledge most of it explained simply.
Thanks

My Huawei that I bought last year is dying a not-so-slow death and after reading the last 50-60 pages of this thread in the last day or two I've decided to buy a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Global, but I'd like to check I've everything sorted in my head before I put my hand in my pocket. Would you mind confirming what I set out below is correct?

I'm living down the sticks so 3g let alone 4g isn't much of an option. Internet will mostly done over wi-fi. GPS would be very handy but it has Snapdragon so it should be OK? It appears to be the best phone within my limit of 150. Or can someone recommend a better one?

It is compatible with Tesco Mobile so when it arrives I'll need to get a new micro sim from Tesco, and off we go.

Then, judging by the amount of languages on it, I'll need to flash the ROM. This is where things appear to get a bit messy. I've a couple of things I'm not sure about - hopefully I'm asking them in the right place....

Firstly I go to here to create & log in with my Mi a/c details and request the phone to be unlocked.
In a day or two I'll get the unlock code. Easy peasy

To unlock it I download the unlock program from here and follow the instructions from here. This should unlock the phone. But it gives the option to Enable Developer Option in MIUI 8.1 only - my phone is MIUI 8. How do I get around this?

Then to install the new ROM - I'll download the new ROM from here on my PC, connect the phone via USB, copy the unzipped file over and run the updater app, and Bobs yer uncle.

Now what? I'll have a phone with no bloatware and the playstore. What is on the phone? Software to make calls, store contacts etc? Or do all these have to be downloaded from the playstore?

Also, can anyone recoment a good cover for this phone - something to make it indestrucitble as I've a habit of dropping phones.

Thanks in advance for all your help

John

Your phone is ready to go out , you dont need to do anything out of the box. It will work

There is no need to install a new Rom

You can make life easy with the transition to a new Android
(optional on your old phone)
install google photos, it copies your existing photos to the cloud, you will see them on the cloud , using your phones , laptop etc
You will need to install google photos on the new phone , and if you have one android tablet
from a laptop, open chrome, go to settings, input your gmail/google id
and from the browser type "google photos "

and
export your contacts from Sim to Google contacts, same idea as above, all on cloud

I think for 150e, you could not have picked a better one

If you dont like the look of Miui, you could install an alternative view of your "desktop" , called a launcher
Search for google now launcher in youtube

If you upgrade your phone on a regular basis , storing things on the cloud means no copying from old device to new

cranefly

ED E wrote: »

Its called the LeEco Le 2, LeTV is the old brand that no longer exists.

Thanks for letting me know, I think i will have to start looking again, although i think their is a new letv 3 out, but i read here that this company are only interested in their american customers for ota updates. So i might give this brand a miss, i am now looking at the redmi 4x as that seems a high spec phone for a low price, although i will probably never use a high spec phone to its full potential, i should look at lower spec phones, but i suppose that is how they catch you out, everyone want the high specs for the lowest price.

Larry Bee

paddym1 wrote: »

LarryBee,
You shouldn't need to do any of the things you list. I have a Mi5. I bought it with a Global ROM, charged it up, put my 2 SIM cards in it and switched it on. No weird Chinese stuff on it at all, and full phone/SMS/MMS/WiFi/Internet functionality.

Thanks for getting back to me.

Looking at this seller on Aliexpress its due to come with the Global ROM. If it does, I'll be absolutely delighted.
But having seen the amount of ****e that comes on PC's and my last phone, I'd much rather have a clean install if it doesn't.

But I won't do for a week or two or at least until I get my head around how to turn the phone on.

Thanks
John

corkie

Larry Bee

Nice choice of phone but you should know that is NOT an official Xiaomi Store and you will probably be caught for VAT!

Larry Bee

howdoyouknow wrote: »

Hi Larry if your not going to have 4g in your area you might be better looking at the standard version of that phone without band 20.

It is near impossible to get replacement parts for the global version should you ever need them.


The global version is only really beneficial for 4g coverage in rural areas and the phone is slightly larger 2mm or so. If your not going to have 4g its hardly worth having a phone that supports it.

Ahhh...

When I compared it with the Non Global one I saw that there was a drop in reviews in the connectivity section. I thought that was for general phone usage, not the Band 20.

Thanks

Larry Bee

k123456 wrote: »

Your phone is ready to go out , you dont need to do anything out of the box. It will work

There is no need to install a new Rom

You can make life easy with the transition to a new Android
(optional on your old phone)
install google photos, it copies your existing photos to the cloud, you will see them on the cloud , using your phones , laptop etc
You will need to install google photos on the new phone , and if you have one android tablet
from a laptop, open chrome, go to settings, input your gmail/google id
and from the browser type "google photos "

and
export your contacts from Sim to Google contacts, same idea as above, all on cloud

I think for 150e, you could not have picked a better one

If you dont like the look of Miui, you could install an alternative view of your "desktop" , called a launcher
Search for google now launcher in youtube

If you upgrade your phone on a regular basis , storing things on the cloud means no copying from old device to new

Thanks very much. Looks like my current phone lost all my photos.
But I'll back up the contacts.

Thanks
John

k123456

The Photos arent lost, maybe your gallery app, cant find/dispaly them :

Larry Bee wrote: »

k123456 wrote: »

Your phone is ready to go out , you dont need to do anything out of the box.  It will work

There is no need to install a new Rom

You can make life easy with the transition to a new Android
(optional on your old phone)
install google photos, it copies your existing photos to the cloud, you will see them on the cloud , using your phones , laptop etc
You will need to install google photos on the new phone , and if you have one android tablet
from a laptop, open chrome, go to settings, input your gmail/google id
and from the browser type    "google photos "

and
export your contacts from Sim to Google contacts, same idea as above, all on cloud

I think for 150e, you could not have picked a better one

If you dont like the look of Miui, you could install an alternative view of your "desktop" , called a launcher
Search for google now launcher in youtube

If you upgrade your phone on a regular basis , storing things on the cloud means no copying from old device to new

Thanks very much. Looks like my current phone lost all my photos.
But I'll back up the contacts.

Thanks
John

install google photos, it will find them
connect phone to usb port on laptop, you will see directory structure. they will be there somewhere, most likely in a dir called "DCIM"

Larry Bee

k123456 wrote: »

The Photos arent lost, maybe your gallery app, cant find/dispaly them :

install google photos, it will find them
connect phone to usb port on laptop, you will see directory structure. they will be there somewhere, most likely in a dir called "DCIM"

I tried plugging into the pc and they are all corrupt. Most frustratingly some have a thumbnail that you can see but won't open :mad:

Larry Bee

corkie wrote: »

Larry Bee

Nice choice of phone but you should know that is NOT an official Xiaomi Store and you will probably be caught for VAT!

Thanks Corkie

I could get this one from Goldway or this orignal Redmi 4 if I didn't like the colour of the Global One and I should be unlucky to pay vat once its put on the long boat from China?

Thanks for the help
John

corkie

Larry Bee wrote: »

Thanks Corkie

I could get this one from Goldway or this orignal Redmi 4 if I didn't like the colour of the Global One and I should be unlucky to pay vat once its put on the long boat from China?

Thanks for the help
John

Goldway is a Trusted seller and doesn't put vendor roms on the devices.

At present they don't have the option of VAT free shipping, but are working on opening a Spain Warehouse!

Kavrocks

I always wonder why people try to avoid VAT instead of just building it in to the price.

Timmyr

My Le Max 2 arrived today from Banggood, €175 plus €47 VAT, very happy with it so far seems a deadly phone

ED E

Timmyr wrote: »

My Le Max 2 arrived today from Banggood, ?175 plus ?47 VAT, very happy with it so far seems a deadly phone

Protip: Dont train 3 fingers, do the same finger 3 times instead. Ends up being way more usable.

k123456

Timmyr wrote: »

My Le Max 2 arrived today from Banggood, €175 plus €47 VAT, very happy with it so far seems a deadly phone

Hi Timmy

cant see it on Banggood for 175, did u get it on sale/promotion

And is it band 20 compatible, do you pick up 4g

2thousand14

Anyone here have an UMI PLUS E? Thinking of getting it, just wondering how you are getting on with it? How is the battery life? Is the camera good for shooting videos?
Any information at all
Thanks

fixXxer

ED E wrote:

Protip: Dont train 3 fingers, do the same finger 3 times instead. Ends up being way more usable.

That what SHE said 😂

giftgrub

So I'm in the market for a new phone...the wifes got water damaged, theres a year left on her contract with Tesco and I'm thinking of going chinese as a kind of mid term replacement.

Dont have a ton of wedge right now though...can go as high as maybe 100-120. She's not a heavy user, and has a tablet so the phone doesnt need to be massive in terms of specs. Ive been looking on Amazon at stuff like THLs and UMIDIGIs, any advice would be appreciated

Kavrocks

giftgrub wrote: »

Ive been looking on Amazon at stuff like THLs and UMIDIGIs, any advice would be appreciated

My advice would be to stay away from UMi. Here's a couple of Xiaomi phones for under €130. If nothing else that site will help you narrow down the vast selection of phones.

Timmyr

ED E wrote: »

Protip: Dont train 3 fingers, do the same finger 3 times instead. Ends up being way more usable.

Yea I had read that somewhere before so I did, thanks for the advice though.

The fingerprint scanner can be a little difficult at times but from the reviews I read I'm just happy that it works, great phone though the screen is immense, even if the camera is a little bit ****

Timmyr

k123456 wrote: »

Hi Timmy

cant see it on Banggood for 175, did u get it on sale/promotion

And is it band 20 compatible, do you pick up 4g

https://www.banggood.com/LeTV-LeEco-Le-Max-2-X829-5_7-inch-4GB-64GB-Snapdragon-820-Quad-core-4G-Smartphone-p-1125233.html?rmmds=category

Still on sale I think

It has band 20 1800 but not 800, Im in Dublin this week and 4g is fine but I will be in Mayo at the weekend so I'll let you know what its like there