Chinese Android Phones 2 - Read First Post!

aaronm13

Ordered the Meizu MX5, not many reviews out so fingers crossed it's not a dud. Have reservations about the mediatek processor but all other specs are fantastic. Went for no duty eu shipping with DHL so might have it by the weekend or early next week.

corwill

Iseedeadpixels wrote: »

Got an email from Merimobiles the now have a customs free delivery option

Not a whole pile in it so far - http://merimobiles.com/europe-warehouse.htm

They could at least stock the up to date Piston 3s!

NATLOR

corwill wrote: »

Not a whole pile in it so far - http://merimobiles.com/europe-warehouse.htm

They could at least stock the up to date Piston 3s!

I don't think the OP meant the Euro warehouse, if you look on the main site they have a new shipping option called Euroline offering delivery within 15 days and no VAT or customs payable. It's costing an extra $22 on a phone delivery

Blankety

Blankety wrote: »

Yes Kimovil is very good, not sure who posted it but very useful website - Thanks.

I went for the JIAYU S3, I'm on Vodafone who use Band 3 and Band 20 (1800 MHz and 800 MHz) the S3 supports both, most Chinese phones only support band 3, I believe Band 20 will get rolled out on Vodafone later this year and gives better indoor reception. I expect the phone to be delivered today/tomorrow, I'll post a review.

Thumbs up for the Jiayu S3, looks like a great phone, easy to use, has a simple option to root the phone in the menu but no bloatware at all to remove, wifi excellent, battery looks decent..... I don't see anything bad to report at all.

Bought from this guy on Aliexpress late on Wednesday and delivered 6 days later VAT free as advertised (they pay it in London). You get a DHL AWB, this is the London to Ireland number that won't be active for a few days, then about 24 hrs later you get another DHL number that is the Hong Kong to London AWB, you can track your phone inbound HK to London, through Heathrow customs and over to Gatwick for dispatch to Ireland.

€213 delivered with the "useful gifts" pack, I also asked for an extra screen protector which they added free of charge.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-NEW-Phone-JIAYU-S3-FDD-LTE-4G-WCDMA-MT6752-Octa-Core-1-7Ghz-2GB-3G/32255381752.html
deadly.:)

Wintergreen

Hey guys I was thinking of getting a Nubia Z9 Max as I've seen some really positive reviews. I was wondering about the frequencies it operates at though. Could any one tell me if they are compatible with Irish networks?

4G: TD-LTE B38/39/40/41; FDD-LTE B1/B3/B7
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100; TD-SCDMA B34/39; CDMA EVDO 800
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900

I'd really appreciate any help as I haven't done this before so am not very familiar!

Blankety

Wintergreen wrote: »

Hey guys I was thinking of getting a Nubia Z9 Max as I've seen some really positive reviews. I was wondering about the frequencies it operates at though. Could any one tell me if they are compatible with Irish networks?

4G: TD-LTE B38/39/40/41; FDD-LTE B1/B3/B7
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100; TD-SCDMA B34/39; CDMA EVDO 800
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900

I'd really appreciate any help as I haven't done this before so am not very familiar!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks_in_Europe

scroll down to Ireland O2 isn't listed maybe it is under 3 already, they are all Band 3 and Band 20 for 4G in Ireland. I'm no expert maybe someone else has better input but this Wiki page was enough to convince me to go to the Jiayu S3 it's on of the few with B3/B20 support.

Mick Murdock

Blankety wrote: »

Thumbs up for the Jiayu S3, looks like a great phone, easy to use, has a simple option to root the phone in the menu but no bloatware at all to remove, wifi excellent, battery looks decent..... I don't see anything bad to report at all.

Bought from this guy on Aliexpress late on Wednesday and delivered 6 days later VAT free as advertised (they pay it in London). You get a DHL AWB, this is the London to Ireland number that won't be active for a few days, then about 24 hrs later you get another DHL number that is the Hong Kong to London AWB, you can track your phone inbound HK to London, through Heathrow customs and over to Gatwick for dispatch to Ireland.

€213 delivered with the "useful gifts" pack, I also asked for an extra screen protector which they added free of charge.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-NEW-Phone-JIAYU-S3-FDD-LTE-4G-WCDMA-MT6752-Octa-Core-1-7Ghz-2GB-3G/32255381752.html
deadly.:)

Do you know how much they paid? I'd imagine it's easy for them to under declare their cost price?

Blankety

Mick Murdock wrote: »

Do you know how much they paid? I'd imagine it's easy for them to under declare their cost price?

No - it is not visible to the purchaser what VAT is paid. the inbound shipment HK - London was split into 4 pieces under the same AWB and then combined into a single piece London to Dublin, so probably only the phone attracted VAT at entry point London, the rest individually would have been under the limit for VAT/Duty. Probably these sellers are shipping multiple shipments every day with DHL so they have a fairer customs clearance rate. It really doesn't matter, most important is to get a good phone to suit your needs in a timely manner with no surprise charges.

Mick Murdock

Thanks. I'm just wondering how to do it.

eamonnq

Mick Murdock wrote: »

Thanks. I'm just wondering how to do it.

How to do what ? Track the parcel ?

Mick Murdock

I'm more interested in their VAT declarations.

jayo26

Hi guys does anyone that has the elephone p7000 know where i would get a cm 12.1 custom rom that is a flashable zip file? Any of the roms i have found are all just update that need be done via pc id prefer to just do it the recovery method.

Digital Solitude

jayo26 wrote: »

Hi guys does anyone that has the elephone p7000 know where i would get a cm 12.1 custom rom that is a flashable zip file? Any of the roms i have found are all just update that need be done via pc id prefer to just do it the recovery method.

They need to be done over adb do you mean? I think they're one and the same.

Try needrom.com

jayo26

Digital Solitude wrote: »

They need to be done over adb do you mean? I think they're one and the same.

Try needrom.com

Yeh i think thats what i mean ha, i was on need rom thats where i seen them, are they the same file to flash both ways? I understood that they were different.

Edit: sorry no the roms i found need to be flashed by the sp flash tool you have to install drivers ect for it.
Adb is just or sending a custom recovery rom to your phone

CantGetNoSleep

Anyone recommend something about the 100€ mark to use as my second phone? At the moment I'm leaning towards the Smart 6 Ultra, but at 169€ that is already top end of my budget, will only use it the odd weekend when I'm home and it will sit at home otherwise

smilerf

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Anyone recommend something about the 100€ mark to use as my second phone? At the moment I'm leaning towards the Smart 6 Ultra, but at 169€ that is already top end of my budget, will only use it the odd weekend when I'm home and it will sit at home otherwise

Galaxy core prime . Chinese phones are not worth it at that price

corwill

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Anyone recommend something about the 100€ mark to use as my second phone? At the moment I'm leaning towards the Smart 6 Ultra, but at 169€ that is already top end of my budget, will only use it the odd weekend when I'm home and it will sit at home otherwise

Hard to look beyond the Smart Prime 6 for €90, with that budget. I'd certainly take it ahead of a cheap Samsung which is liable to keel over and die under the weight of their Touchsnooze excrescence.

Digital Solitude

Has anyone ever heard of Vertu? They make Ultra Premium phones, titanium bezels with alligator skin and sapphire glass displays! Regular enough specs, Snapdragon 801, 4.7" 1080p display

For €17,500 you'd think they'd include Lollipop at least

http://www.vertu.com/ie/en/collections/signature-touch/shop-collection/

daytob

Vertu have several phones for sale in Harrods.
its worth checking out this one though
http://www.gizchina.com/2015/07/24/doogee-titan-t3-boasts-dual-display-and-vertu-inspired-styling/

Doogee are taking a plunge in to the luxury phone market once again, this time with the Titan T3 with dual display, and metal leather construction.

When it comes to luxury phone design, I really like to stand well back and not really get involved. Personally I love the look of a regular well made smartphone like the Xiaomi Mi Note, or LeTV range, but others like the added luxury of stainless steel, leather and odd angular shapes.
To cater for the luxury phone jetset, Doogee are releasing the Titan T3, a phone that they feel can become a rival to cell phone maker Vertu!

The Titan T3 has a very distinctive design which features a leather rear panel which wraps over at the front bottom edge and polished metal sides and highlights.
The front of the phone features a 5-inch HD display and front facing camera with support for Iris security scanner, while the top edge of the phone boasts a second smaller display for showing the time and notifications.
2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory and a Mediatek MT6735 should offer mid-range levels of performance, and the body is even claimed to be waterproof too!
Doogee will release the Titan T3 sometime in October.

abarkie

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Has anyone ever heard of Vertu? They make Ultra Premium phones, titanium bezels with alligator skin and sapphire glass displays! Regular enough specs, Snapdragon 801, 4.7" 1080p display

For €17,500 you'd think they'd include Lollipop at least

http://www.vertu.com/ie/en/collections/signature-touch/shop-collection/

I hope you noticed they are doing complimentary shipping until 3rd August 2015

moneyman

My Letv Le One arrived on Tuesday (extremely fast shipping, I ordered it on Friday morning). It's a beast, bigger than I expected and pretty much perfect. If anyone has any questions about it, I'd be happy to answer. It's a gorgeous phone.

Digital Solitude

moneyman wrote: »

My Letv Le One arrived on Tuesday (extremely fast shipping, I ordered it on Friday morning). It's a beast, bigger than I expected and pretty much perfect. If anyone has any questions about it, I'd be happy to answer. It's a gorgeous phone.

What's the battery life like?
How's the stock Rom?
GPS?
Does it drop signal at all?
Screen quality, strength, brightness etc?
Can you try to use it with wet or sweaty (preferably sweaty) hands/fingers and tell me how that goes?
How does it feel, and is it as sexy in real life?

That should suffice for now.

daytob

moneyman wrote: »

My Letv Le One arrived on Tuesday (extremely fast shipping, I ordered it on Friday morning). It's a beast, bigger than I expected and pretty much perfect. If anyone has any questions about it, I'd be happy to answer. It's a gorgeous phone.

How much was the final price and from where did you order?

moneyman

Digital Solitude wrote: »

What's the battery life like?

Pretty good. Usually when I go to bed it's at about 25-30% after a full day or moderate/heavy use.

How's the stock Rom?

About 25GB I think, so significantly less than the advertised 32GB.

GPS?

Only used it a couple of times but it was spot on. No problems whatsoever.

Does it drop signal at all?

Not that I've noticed, my signal is always good. Sound quality on the phone is fine too.

Screen quality, strength, brightness etc?

It's pretty spectacular. Great screen, plenty bright and very responsive. I haven't experienced any problems at all with the screen.

Can you try to use it with wet or sweaty (preferably sweaty) hands/fingers and tell me how that goes?

I haven't done that yet, don't want to work up a sweat just to test it either!

How does it feel, and is it as sexy in real life?

Feels great, it's very big and has some weight to it. Looks amazing, great build. Looks even better in real life in my opinion.


If I have any complaint it's that the texting/writing is a bit hard to get used to. Also a couple of the symbols are Asian and if there's a way to change them, I haven't found it yet (granted I haven't really tried much). There's a few Letv apps which you can't remove, but it's not really a big deal.

moneyman

daytob wrote: »

How much was the final price and from where did you order?

It was 335 delivered from honorbuy.com, and it came with a free protective case. Shipping was extremely fast.

Camera is excellent also. Has slow-mo video too which is quite cool.

Digital Solitude

I'd very much appreciate if you could test the wet hands at some point, it drives me totally mental on the Mi3

Thanks for the answer though, I'm 90% sold on one....

Digital Solitude

daytob wrote: »

How much was the final price and from where did you order?

moneyman wrote: »

It was 335 delivered from honorbuy.com, and it came with a free protective case. Shipping was extremely fast.

Camera is excellent also. Has slow-mo video too which is quite cool.

E295 here

moneyman

Digital Solitude wrote: »

E295 here

Same price on honorbuy. Shipping was €40, bringing it to €335. I think there was a cheaper option for shipping, something like €15/20, but I'm impatient!

aaronm13

moneyman wrote: »

My Letv Le One arrived on Tuesday (extremely fast shipping, I ordered it on Friday morning). It's a beast, bigger than I expected and pretty much perfect. If anyone has any questions about it, I'd be happy to answer. It's a gorgeous phone.

How do you find the processor? Ordered the Meizu MX5 on Monday and it has the same Helix 10. Bit worried about the Mediatek. Paid extra for the DHL express shipping in the hope I'd have it by yesterday but when I track it on the DHL site it still just says "tracking information received" hasn't changed this state since Tuesday. Can't wait to get it now as my phone is driving me nuts.

stuchyg

Quick question for you fine folk. Bought an meizu mx4 today from a chap on done deal. Phone is great except it wont recognise mine or my wife's sim. I have had my sim in a THL and IPhone before that. Wife's is in an s5 ATM. Anyone else experience same problem