Chinese Android Phones 2 - Read First Post!

GBX

Have a look on here .. http://www.needrom.com/category/xiaomi/redmi-note/

Páid

Old Jim wrote: »

Got a Xiaomi Redmi 2 from DX. It has a half Chinese, half English version of Android 4.4.4. Anyone know how to get a full English version with the play store and google apps installed? I downloaded a global ROM from the Xiaomi website and got the phone booted into recovery mode hoping to recover using the global ROM but everything was in Chinese when in recovery mode. Anyone know where I go from here?

Use the English version of the Xiaomi Pc Suite to do the upgrading - http://pcsuite.mi.com

Edit: If you hold down the Volume - and Power on you should get a menu asking you to select a language for the Recovery mode.

In an event you just need to get into Fastboot mode to use the Pc Suite.

CyberDave

I currently have a Samsung S4 in a 24 month contract, which ends in October. I'm not upgrading, as I will be stuck in another 24 month contract, so thinking of buying this BLU Studio 6.0 LTE. Can be got for around €200. The reason is, I can return to Pay As You Go and save money on bills. I generally use the phone for texting/messaging/web. Has anybody got one and if so what are their experiences? Thanks.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

is this a good phone? A lad was commenting on it about 512mb being crap & 4gb being crap too.. I had it in my watched ads... http://www.adverts.ie/other-mobiles/new-cheap-quad-core-5-5-hd-jiake-g7-smartphone-mobile-android-4-4-dual-sim-4gb-unlocked/7939092?notification=fde5b14d88011e6bc14e25fc4ecd6587-1438782078#comment_53678165

Digital Solitude

Techmaster wrote: »

is this a good phone? A lad was commenting on it about 512mb being crap & 4gb being crap too.. I had it in my watched ads... http://www.adverts.ie/other-mobiles/new-cheap-quad-core-5-5-hd-jiake-g7-smartphone-mobile-android-4-4-dual-sim-4gb-unlocked/7939092?notification=fde5b14d88011e6bc14e25fc4ecd6587-1438782078#comment_53678165

It's a piece of crap

GBX

I wouldnt think it is. as you said, 512mb ram is not enough for a start. If I was buying currently 2gb RAM minimum would be a requirement.
4gb Rom is tiny. It would fill up with apps and the OS quickly.

Iseedeadpixels

"I'm an android developer I know more than you" Hahahahahahaha ah lads we have to troll this thick.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Iseedeadpixels wrote: »

"I'm an android developer I know more than you" Hahahahahahaha ah lads we have to troll this thick.

I saw that myself, got a good laugh from it :rolleyes:

Curb Your Enthusiasm

I sold off my S5 today - quick question - a factory reset clears everything obviously, but does it also sign out of all the apps ? e.g. gmail, facebook. The button I clicked on the S5 was 'erase everything'

Just don't want people reading my emails!!

Digital Solitude

Yeah it does

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Yeah it does

Perfect, many thanks.

Iseedeadpixels

Techmaster wrote: »

I sold off my S5 today - quick question - a factory reset clears everything obviously, but does it also sign out of all the apps ? e.g. gmail, facebook. The button I clicked on the S5 was 'erase everything'

Just don't want people reading my emails!!

Don't worry those "emails" cough pics cough are well gone :P:D

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Iseedeadpixels wrote: »

Don't worry those "emails" cough pics cough are well gone :P:D

:pac: Phew!

corwill

GBX wrote: »

4gb Rom is tiny. It would fill up with apps and the OS quickly.

Even with a SD slot, I'd recommend 16gb minimum for internal memory, OS and app data requirements are only going in one direction. You'd get away with 8gb, but 16gb is always worth the extra outlay, IMHO.

clancger

clancger wrote: »

I posted a link to a Spanish site yesterday that had the K3 in stock, and wouldn't you know when I went back a bit later to do the deal they were sold out. I hope someone here bagged them at least ;-)

Anyway I tracked down another Spanish site with local stock too and ordered from there last night. It was €181 delivered to Spain from local stock, or €151 ex China.

What is interesting though is that on the devices coming from China, there are a bunch more options available like pre-rooting for an extra €1.80.

I'll report in the next days on how this site works out. As it's all in Spanish, prob best to open in Chrome / Google Translate if in doubt.

The devices located in Spain have the icon "Almacén de España"

http://www.alegrecompra.com/almacen-es-lenovo-lemon-k3-note-amarillo-64-bit-octa-core-cpu-2gb-ram-smartphone.html

I ordered from the site above 6pm Irish time on Monday evening, got a shipment notification early this morning, and the phone was delivered about 11am in Spain.
There was an anxious moment when it wouldnt boot up or show any sign of life at first, but we discovered there was a plastic tab between the battery contacts keeping it from running down.
Looks good so far, Missus is happy

Iseedeadpixels

corwill wrote: »

Even with a SD slot, I'd recommend 16gb minimum for internal memory, OS and app data requirements are only going in one direction. You'd get away with 8gb, but 16gb is always worth the extra outlay, IMHO.

He said its good for people who dont use apps.....eh why have a smartphone then.

corwill

Iseedeadpixels wrote: »

He said its good for people who dont use apps.....eh why have a smartphone then.

Maybe he'd like to buy a raincoat from me that's perfect for the Gobi Desert.

Some awful spoofers on adverts.ie.

dedaw

clancger wrote: »

I ordered from the site above 6pm Irish time on Monday evening, got a shipment notification early this morning, and the phone was delivered about 11am in Spain.
There was an anxious moment when it wouldnt boot up or show any sign of life at first, but we discovered there was a plastic tab between the battery contacts keeping it from running down.
Looks good so far, Missus is happy

Could she start playing with it straight out of the box? (Ahem!)
No need to custom it?

stevenmu

dedaw wrote: »

Could she start playing with it straight out of the box? (Ahem!)
No need to custom it?

I got a K3 last week, and from reading around it's always recommended to flash a new ROM. Apparently the default Chinese ROMs come with some malware built in, and many shops load their own on top of that too.

I flashed it to the latest international ROM (ROW) which is supposedly malware free, and it works great.

Really is an amazing phone for €150.

clancger

dedaw wrote:

Could she start playing with it straight out of the box? (Ahem!) No need to custom it?

Apparently she's struggling to install WhatsApp, which I'm reading that has caused problems for others too.
First impression reports were good, she was picking up wifi easily where her Nexus4 wasn't even seeing a signal.
I sense a bit of remote troubleshooting in my future

clancger

Turns out WhatsApp is part of the K3 preinstall software, but had expired. It wouldn't update cos expired nor uninstall as part of the system software.

The trick was to set the clock back a few weeks to a date WhatsApp thought was ok, then update, and reset the date.

JoeOD1998

CyberDave wrote: »

I currently have a Samsung S4 in a 24 month contract, which ends in October. I'm not upgrading, as I will be stuck in another 24 month contract, so thinking of buying this . Can be got for around €200. The reason is, I can return to Pay As You Go and save money on bills. I generally use the phone for texting/messaging/web. Has anybody got one and if so what are their experiences? Thanks.

I dont have one but i was looking at one recently and the lte dosent work as they use a different band from the ones in Ireland and from watxhing a review it seems to lag when just scrolling through the menus

JoeOD1998

has anyone ever used zetfone.com?

Digital Solitude

JoeOD1998 wrote: »

has anyone ever used zetfone.com?

Never even heard of it. They don't have very much stock and prices don't seem overly competitive. Nightmare to get around the site too

digitaldr

stevenmu wrote: »

I got a K3 last week, and from reading around it's always recommended to flash a new ROM. Apparently the default Chinese ROMs come with some malware built in, and many shops load their own on top of that too.

I flashed it to the latest international ROM (ROW) which is supposedly malware free, and it works great.

Really is an amazing phone for €150.

I was thinking of getting one of these. Where did you order it from and could you link to flashing instructions? Thanks. Any cons so far?

RossieMan

Anyone have anywhere to get the lenovo k3 note for less than 190 delivered including vat?

corwill

RossieMan wrote: »

Anyone have anywhere to get the lenovo k3 note for less than 190 delivered including vat?

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/In-stock-origianl-2015-lenovo-K3-Note-k50-t5-5-5-Inch-1920-1080-Octa-Core/32336450262.html

Or

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/In-stock-origianl-2015-lenovo-K3-Note-k50-t5-5-5-Inch-1920-1080-Octa-Core/32336450262.html

Both sellers say they can deliver to EU addresses from within EU via dhl.

At your own risk, mind, nuffink to do with me!

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Best Chinese phablet out there right now? €200-€250?

EDIT: How does this look, and price-wise how good is it? http://www.pixmania.ie/smartphones/meizu-m2-note-grey-4g-16-gb-dual-sim-smartphone/22696943-a.html

Ships from Europe too.

corwill

Techmaster wrote: »

Best Chinese phablet out there right now? €200-€250?

EDIT: How does this look, and price-wise how good is it? http://www.pixmania.ie/smartphones/meizu-m2-note-grey-4g-16-gb-dual-sim-smartphone/22696943-a.html

Ships from Europe too.

I'd go for the Lenovo K3 Note or even the Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 and pocket the change, but the reviews I've seen of the M2 Note have all been pretty positive. I've seen it for a bit cheaper than pixmania.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Ultra 6 looks great alright - have one arriving tomorrow as an upgrade for the father, will play around with it myself for a while and see what I think! I don't know if its just me, but I always find touch sensitivity on these phones to not be very good at all..