Chinese Android Phones 2 - Read First Post!

Cantona's Collars

pajor wrote: »

But I wanna bluuuuuue one.

Meh just gotta wait.

Eternal Team on Aliexpress has the Chinese and 'our' version for sale but only in white.

RossieMan

Will wait for the xiaomi to become more widely available and reviews to show up before deciding. So many choices now for around 200.

daytob

Initial review of the Umi Iron after a day

loving the phone, buttons on it mean I lose some screen space but its not too bad, icons are bigger than on my 1+1, battery life is crazy good, no issues with wifi or data * im on tesco so havent tried it with 4g yet from 3.
camera is phenomenal. flip case is ****, but ill order a back just to protect it, came with a case and tempered screen, I havent put that on it yet.

sound out is not as loud as the 1+1 but its loud enough. put the eye scanner lock on yesterday and cos I blew a blood vessel in my eye it means I cant open it using my eyes for the time being, but it allows you to put in a pin code as well, so its not fully locked.
havent connected it to my crappy chinese watch. phone calls are clear both to and from me. loud speaker from a phone call I havent tried yet.
power button and volume on the left side * the flip side of the case is a bit annoying but that will be solved with a new case. the screen is not as bright as my 1+1 but you can still see it in the sunlight. thats it for the time being. 200e and gotta say I am quite happy

Trond

Anyone used this phone? The battery life is very appealing. 6000mah:eek:

http://www.coolicool.com/innos-d6000-qualcomm-snapdragon-615-octa-core-52-inch-fhd-screen-android-50-4g-lte-smartphone-g-39644#disqus_thread

djr15

Help.

Thinking of buying the Lenovo K3 Note as I made bits of my 1+1 and am looking for a change also.

The specs are good considering the price and I haven't heard anything majorly bad about it either.
That being said I what to make sure I am making a good decision and am seeking advice......

1. I see people have said about rooting this phone due to bloatware. Is this really necessary and hard to do?
2. Best place to get? Price / Quick delivery?
3. Any thing to know before buying? Advice? Tips?

Are there any other phones I should really consider?

I don't like the way the Meizu M2 only has one capacitive button so I'm disregarding that.

The other one I looked at was the Umi Iron- Should I take a closer look at this?

Any other phones I should really consider before purchasing.

Any advise or suggestions appreciated.

Cheers

RasTa

Got the Umi Emax, great little phone. On Tesco mobile. Anyway to stop it telling me I'm roaming all the time?

Trond

Trond wrote: »

Anyone used this phone? The battery life is very appealing. 6000mah:eek:

http://www.coolicool.com/innos-d6000-qualcomm-snapdragon-615-octa-core-52-inch-fhd-screen-android-50-4g-lte-smartphone-g-39644#disqus_thread

After further reading ive decided to order the Elephone Vowney. Its specs are great. Cant see a downside...

anyone manage to get one already?

http://www.elephonestore.com/elephone-vowney-2k-screen-ram-4gb-phone-nfc.html

Mezcita

RasTa wrote: »

Got the Umi Emax, great little phone. On Tesco mobile. Anyway to stop it telling me I'm roaming all the time?

On my trusty THL4000 4.4 it's:

Settings.
Sim Management.
Scroll down to General Settings.
Select Roaming.
Set "Show roaming reminder" to never.

digitaldr

djr15 wrote: »

Help.

Thinking of buying the Lenovo K3 Note as I made bits of my 1+1 and am looking for a change also.

The specs are good considering the price and I haven't heard anything majorly bad about it either.
That being said I what to make sure I am making a good decision and am seeking advice......

1. I see people have said about rooting this phone due to bloatware. Is this really necessary and hard to do?
2. Best place to get? Price / Quick delivery?
3. Any thing to know before buying? Advice? Tips?

Are there any other phones I should really consider?

I don't like the way the Meizu M2 only has one capacitive button so I'm disregarding that.

The other one I looked at was the Umi Iron- Should I take a closer look at this?

Any other phones I should really consider before purchasing.

Any advise or suggestions appreciated.

Cheers

I bought a Lenovo K3 note for my son to replace his knackered iPhone 5 - he's well pleased with it. Ordered from this seller on Aliexpress. Be sure to chose the DHL delivery option as he ships from China to his agent in the UK who then ships to Ireland so no customs charges/vat etc. I ordered on 06/08/15 and received the phone on 15/08/15 (a Saturday!).

When you place the order they send you a message:

Please leave us message if you want a sealed box.Otherwise we will unseal the box to do "Quality Control",flash the Multi-language ROM and install google play!

I let him go ahead and flash the ROM which came with only a few of bloatware apps. I rooted it and tried flashing the ROW ROM I found on xda developers but it was the same as the one it shipped with except for much more bloatware - similar story with Limoncello so in the end I reverted back to the ROM it shipped with (I restored this from a backup I'd made). Ideally I would have liked to flash one of the vanilla (ie ASOP) ROMs but I would lose double tap to wake which is a cool feature.

I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to flashing ROMs so I used this video. This video is good to for uninstalling bloatware. Since then I came across another video which I suspect is probably a better way of doing things.

Lots of good info on reddit.

Having said all that if I was buying now I would probably get the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 instead although its probably going to be in short supply.

Cantona's Collars

Damn you Xiaomi,you bring out a brilliant new phone and now announce that it'll have an even better chipset in a couple of months......To buy now or wait? That is the million dollar question.

Mezcita

zerks wrote: »

Damn you Xiaomi,you bring out a brilliant new phone and now announce that it'll have an even better chipset in a couple of months......To buy now or wait? That is the million dollar question.

Feck it. Buy it now I say. For the money it looks like a great piece of kit.

Ten Pin

Does JIAYU S3 allow 4G LTE on both SIMS at the same time?

Has anyone bought from Amazon or ebay? Are they overpriced compared to aliexpress, gearbest etc?

eamonnq

digitaldr wrote: »

I ordered on 06/06/15 and received the phone on 15/08/15 (a Saturday!).

Over 2 months with DHL ?? That must be a new low for them!!

digitaldr

eamonnq wrote: »

Over 2 months with DHL ?? That must be a new low for them!!

Typo - obviously

eamonnq

zerks wrote: »

Damn you Xiaomi,you bring out a brilliant new phone and now announce that it'll have an even better chipset in a couple of months......To buy now or wait? That is the million dollar question.

Wait and there will be something else along to wait for by the time it is available.

Trond

Ive gone full circle now. Think im going to stump up the extra cash and get the Moto X play.

Its a bit more than id planned to pay but being familiar with the brand, set up and given the specs I reckon its the best option for what I want.

Ten Pin

After much research I’ve settled on the Jiayu S3 (in black).
After looking at a lot of the online shops it’s not as easy as it looks (prefer to get an EU warehouse seller):

Coolicool have stock but only in white in UK (white costs more than black)
DX are sold out
Antelife don’t ship here from Spain (message at checkout)
Banggood only stock is outside EU


Anyone had any better luck? Is there any site that sells an “add-on” to cover the VAT etc?

Digital Solitude

Ten Pin wrote: »

Anyone had any better luck? Is there any site that sells an “add-on” to cover the VAT etc?

If they do its bullcrap.

Try the two aliexpress sellers in the OP

pajor

Ten Pin wrote: »

After much research I’ve settled on the Jiayu S3 (in black).
After looking at a lot of the online shops it’s not as easy as it looks (prefer to get an EU warehouse seller):

Coolicool have stock but only in white in UK (white costs more than black)
DX are sold out
Antelife don’t ship here from Spain (message at checkout)
Banggood only stock is outside EU


Anyone had any better luck? Is there any site that sells an “add-on” to cover the VAT etc?

Mixeshop have EUEXP shipping. No VAT to pay with it. Usually costs €30+ but gives peace of mind. Have bought from them twice myself. Once to Ireland and once to NL. Took 10 days from ordering to receiving in Ireland, Jiayu phone too. Have been looking at the Jiayu S3 from them too.

Or else just go with either of the Aliexpress sellers.

GBX

Ten Pin wrote: »

After much research I’ve settled on the Jiayu S3 (in black).
After looking at a lot of the online shops it’s not as easy as it looks (prefer to get an EU warehouse seller):

Coolicool have stock but only in white in UK (white costs more than black)
DX are sold out
Antelife don’t ship here from Spain (message at checkout)
Banggood only stock is outside EU


Anyone had any better luck? Is there any site that sells an “add-on” to cover the VAT etc?

I got both mine and a 2nd one for my gf from Etotalk and it shipped from Asia. Didnt have any problems.

Ten Pin

Tried the aliexpress stores and mixieshop but when I was asked to enter address, the web page wasn’t secure (was “http” in address bar instead of “https”), a bit wary of proceeding, did anyone else notice this?

Digital Solitude

Has anyone used a 720p 5.5" phone? Coming from a 1080p 5" I can't imagine it'll be nice

pajor

Ten Pin wrote: »

Tried the aliexpress stores and mixieshop but when I was asked to enter address, the web page wasn’t secure (was “http” in address bar instead of “https”), a bit wary of proceeding, did anyone else notice this?

When purchasing? I used Paypal.

T-Bird

Ten Pin wrote: »

Tried the aliexpress stores and mixieshop but when I was asked to enter address, the web page wasn’t secure (was “http” in address bar instead of “https”), a bit wary of proceeding, did anyone else notice this?

Good catch.

Ten Pin

pajor wrote: »

When purchasing? I used Paypal.

Yep, no paypal option (that I can see) on aliexpress. Mixieshop has paypal but did a google search on them and there’s a few not so glowing reports about them regarding returns etc…anyway, the search continues

Digital Solitude

Ten Pin wrote: »

Yep, no paypal option (that I can see) on aliexpress. Mixieshop has paypal but did a google search on them and there’s a few not so glowing reports about them regarding returns etc…anyway, the search continues

Use the ESCrow method on aliexpress

connemara man

I'm currently using the elophone p6000 and am having charging issues. I'm starting to use my phone really heavily so the battery can't keep up. So I'm looking for something new.
My main requirements are good camera and battery and the ability to put a protective cover on it. I've asked for a oneplus 2 invite but if anyone knows of anything that could be as good could you let me know and I'll give them a look

Digital Solitude

connemara man wrote: »

I'm currently using the elophone p6000 and am having charging issues. I'm starting to use my phone really heavily so the battery can't keep up. So I'm looking for something new.
My main requirements are good camera and battery and the ability to put a protective cover on it. I've asked for a oneplus 2 invite but if anyone knows of anything that could be as good could you let me know and I'll give them a look

I'm looking at the ZUK Z1, 4100mah battery, released sometime in September

connemara man

Digital Solitude wrote: »

I'm looking at the ZUK Z1, 4100mah battery, released sometime in September

It looks good is it available now? I'll go search for it if so.

Digital Solitude

connemara man wrote: »

It looks good is it available now? I'll go search for it if so.

There's no release date for the International version yet