Chinese Android Phones 2 - Read First Post!

Iseedeadpixels

Got my tracking code for the note 3.....now to watch it every few hours

RIchieNouveau

I bought my wife a Xiaomi Redmi 2 the other week from Gearbest.com EU warehouse. Came up to around 130 euro after the exchange rate and delivery was taken in to account. Arrived around 5 days after shipping which was 2 days after I'd ordered, as the site said it would be.

First impressions were mixed. The device looked great for the price which everything being as expected except one thing. It's shipped with the same vendor rom a lot of you will be familiar with which includes the Google play store. However, the Google play store wasn't working. It couldn't connect to the servers despite internet being fine. I'm technically competent for the most part, but I'm no whizz and have never rooted or flashed a new rom. I found a solution that meant it would need rooting that was meant to be guaranteed. Unfortunately, when buying from GB if you root the phone or flash a new rom your warranty is void, which is a major PITA because Xiaomi themselves don't mind if you root or flash.

I spent a few hours updating the Google play store to different versions and trying other things I found online. One such tip was to change the date to 4 years in the future (Wtf.) This didn't work initially, but eventually I found someone with an identical problem that had found a solution in downloading a specific version of the play store (not the latest one) which he linked. This didn't work until I then put the date 4 years forward again. It worked, I connected, I changed the time back and all was right with the phone. Thankfully. Frustrating experience but alls well that ends well.

On to the actual phone. For the price, it's bloody amazing. I use a Galaxy S5 and I previously bought my wife a moto G. It was the 5 inch one that wasn't 4G capable, I can't remember what version that is but these will be my benchmarks. She smashed the moto G to smithereens and it cost me 175 euro before the price bizarrely went up to 250 on Tesco site, so I was looking for something that cost less in the likely event that she smashes it.

The Redmi 2 having 2gb of Ram and 16g of storage is double what her moto g had. The screen is as good looking, it's .3 inches smaller which doesn't bother her at all. The camera is ****e, as expected. A little better than her Moto G but obviously not a patch on my S5. She's an awful photographer anyway and doesn't take pics ever so that's not problem for her.

The OS, I'm not a particular fan of. Impartially, it's good but it's very very like IOS which I'm not a fan of. I'm not sure how much of this is due to the vendor ROM. If the phone was for me I'd have it rooted and reflashed with either Lollypop or Marshmallow. Maybe I'd gave tried cyanogenmod but my wife is happy so I haven't bothered.

Conclusion or TL/DR: I'd really recommend it if you're looking for a very capable and fast phone with 2gb ram and 16gb storage (IIRC there were around 13gb of storage actually available which isn't bad) with the option for an SD card and don't mind a bad camera. Obviously, the problems I had were a PITA but now that I know how to fix that I don't think it would take that long to sort out again. If anyone does buy one and has a similar issue to me these are the instructions that worked for me copied from miui forums:


"This post was edited by kuki77 at 21:52, Jan-02-2016

I had here the same problem with a new Mi 2 (bought from GearBest).

The solution was to download and install: Google Play services 6.5.85 (1589008-036)

- edit -
As additional information: I downloaded it here: http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/goo ... droid-apk-download/ "

However, I had to change the date to 4 years in the future after downloading that Google play version and change it back afterwards. Link to miui thread:

http://en.miui.com/thread-198024-1-1.html

Hope that helps someone!

RossieMan

You need to flash a proper ROM, its probably one full of bloatware and crap that'll only slow the phone down and have random pop ups. I'd look on xda, loads of different toms now, on cyanogen now and finding it grand.

RIchieNouveau

There's a bit of bloat on there but a lot less than ny Vodafone S5 came with (unless you mean hidden bloat rather than visible apps?). A couple of the preinstalled apps are actually useful which was a shocker. I'm going to leave it for now because my wife doesn't care about these things and I'd be worried about bricking it and it will void the warranty. If there are issues with it slowing down or similar in the future then I'll look in to that.

RossieMan

Warranty from gearbest is about as much use to now as knowing the lotto numbers from last week. I wouldn't but off them if it was 20 euro dearer from a reliable seller.

It'd be the last of my worries I haven't seen a bricked phone in years

RIchieNouveau

I didn't realise GB were considered unreliable. I've never had a problem with them but I haven't had to return anything. It's my first jaunt in to the Chinese phones market, I checked out coolicool.com and geekbuying.com and GB was the only one with it in the EU warehouse which swung it for me.

fixXxer

RIchieNouveau wrote:

I didn't realise GB were considered unreliable. I've never had a problem with them but I haven't had to return anything. It's my first jaunt in to the Chinese phones market, I checked out coolicool.com and geekbuying.com and GB was the only one with it in the EU warehouse which swung it for me.

You'll often find adware installed by places that put Google services on for you.

RIchieNouveau

fixxxer wrote: »

You'll often find adware installed by places that put Google services on for you.

Would rooting and flashing a new rom wipe the apps she's currently got installed? Thanks in advance.

wiz569

RIchieNouveau wrote: »

Would rooting and flashing a new rom wipe the apps she's currently got installed? Thanks in advance.

You would need to root it first then use titanium backup to backup all of her apps,including their data,

Then flash a recovery image like TWRP,then use that to flash a new rom,then install titanium again to restore her apps plus data


Phew

Iseedeadpixels

The Etotalk rom is always handy, removes the bloat etc.

Kavrocks

RIchieNouveau wrote: »

Would rooting and flashing a new rom wipe the apps she's currently got installed? Thanks in advance.

Yes.

MightyMandarin

I received my redmi note 2 on friday but haven't used it much since then as I've been busy. As I'm used to iOS I actually like MIUI but there's a good few bloatware apps which are pretty useless and must've been installed by the provider as they stuck play store on it too.

As I'm somewhat new to android I'm not 100% sure on the process of rooting a device and flashing a new rom on it, but is it basically flashing twrp on from somewhere like http://en.miui.com/thread-152550-1-1.html

and then a new MIUI rom on it from somewhere like http://en.miui.com/thread-157254-1-1.html?

Just wanted to double check in case I f*cked it up.

wiz569

MightyMandarin wrote: »

I received my redmi note 2 on friday but haven't used it much since then as I've been busy. As I'm used to iOS I actually like MIUI but there's a good few bloatware apps which are pretty useless and must've been installed by the provider as they stuck play store on it too.

As I'm somewhat new to android I'm not 100% sure on the process of rooting a device and flashing a new rom on it, but is it basically flashing twrp on from somewhere like http://en.miui.com/thread-152550-1-1.html

and then a new MIUI rom on it from somewhere like http://en.miui.com/thread-157254-1-1.html?

Just wanted to double check in case I f*cked it up.

Yep thats pretty much it tbh,this rom might be better as it has GApps included

http://en.miui.com/thread-176879-1-1.html

fixXxer

wiz569 wrote:

You would need to root it first then use titanium backup to backup all of her apps,including their data,

wiz569 wrote:

Then flash a recovery image like TWRP,then use that to flash a new rom,then install titanium again to restore her apps plus data

wiz569 wrote:

Phew

If you're going to start switching ROMs, Titanium Backup is your bestest friend. Just don't use it system apps.

spongerobinson

RIchieNouveau wrote: »

I bought my wife a Xiaomi Redmi 2 the other week from Gearbest.com EU warehouse. Came up to around 130 euro after the exchange rate and delivery was taken in to account. Arrived around 5 days after shipping which was 2 days after I'd ordered, as the site said it would be.

Thanks for the honest opinion. This the Redmi Note 2 your talking about ye? Same phone I'm thinking of getting soon.

MightyMandarin

wiz569 wrote: »

Yep thats pretty much it tbh,this rom might be better as it has GApps included

http://en.miui.com/thread-176879-1-1.html

Ok so I tried installing twrp but kept getting same 'error signature failed' problem. I checked the rom I have and it's a stable version. Is this what's causing the error? If so how do I override it?

wiz569

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Ok so I tried installing twrp but kept getting same 'error signature failed' problem. I checked the rom I have and it's a stable version. Is this what's causing the error? If so how do I override it?

If TWRP is not installing then try a different version m8, I had same problem,

RIchieNouveau

Thanks for the advice everyone.

spongerobinson wrote: »

Thanks for the honest opinion. This the Redmi Note 2 your talking about ye? Same phone I'm thinking of getting soon.

No problem, it's actually the Redmi 2 Pro/Prime. It's smaller than the note, only 4.7 inches. The Note 3 looked great though, great specs for the price. Specs don't always tell the whole story but the smaller Redmi is very quick and nice to use so I'd say it's big brother should be good.

spongerobinson

RIchieNouveau wrote: »

Thanks for the advice everyone.

No problem, it's actually the Redmi 2 Pro/Prime. It's smaller than the note, only 4.7 inches. The Note 3 looked great though, great specs for the price. Specs don't always tell the whole story but the smaller Redmi is very quick and nice to use so I'd say it's big brother should be good.

Thanks for letting me know. They make it quite confusing with their different models having similar names!

Páid

I installed this rom on the Redmi 2 Pro after struggling to get Google Play working with the default rom - wt86047_images_V7.0.12.0.KHJCNCI_20151016.0000.3_4.4_cn_1865d38881

You will need to use the Mi Flash tool with this rom.

I then used the MiUi PC Suite to install the Google apk's.

Ardennes1944

I was all for waiting for the MI5 but now the Redmi 3 has been released and the specs7price is so good I might go for that instead

Iseedeadpixels

Note 3 arrives today, feckin customs was 30.

RIchieNouveau

I always thought I wouldn't get a phablet but this Elephone Vowney just looks amazing.


http://www.etotalk.com/elephone-vowney-gold_p10879.html

EoinMcLovin

Iseedeadpixels wrote:

Note 3 arrives today, feckin customs was 30.

Who did you buy it from as I bought mine through oppomart and didn't get caught for customs at all as they sent it to their France warehouse first before sending to me

Iseedeadpixels

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

Who did you buy it from as I bought mine through oppomart and didn't get caught for customs at all as they sent it to their France warehouse first before sending to me

Etotalk, how much was yours with delivery?

EoinMcLovin

Iseedeadpixels wrote:

Etotalk, how much was yours with delivery?

Around 230 and took eight days to deliver. Still waiting on cover I ordered from them before Christmas though

RIchieNouveau

Iseedeadpixels wrote: »

The Etotalk rom is always handy, removes the bloat etc.

I think I've just realised that this was a reply to me, I hadn't actually heard of etotalk until last night. Can you explain how ordering a phone from them with their rom works? Like, if ordering a Xiaomi is it still on whatever MIUI Xiaomi intended but with root and all bloat removed? Or is it a specific version of Android. I can't work that out from the info on their site. Thanks.

Iseedeadpixels

RIchieNouveau wrote: »

I think I've just realised that this was a reply to me, I hadn't actually heard of etotalk until last night. Can you explain how ordering a phone from them with their rom works? Like, if ordering a Xiaomi is it still on whatever MIUI Xiaomi intended but with root and all bloat removed? Or is it a specific version of Android. I can't work that out from the info on their site. Thanks.

They add playstore etc remove any chinese stuff, its based off xiaomi's european mod I think, tbh paying the extra few quid for it is ok to me, I know some on here hate etotalk.

RossieMan

In fairness their rom should be free, makes no sense charging customers for it. Then again, they charge to install Facebook.

Iseedeadpixels

RossieMan wrote: »

In fairness their rom should be free, makes no sense charging customers for it. Then again, they charge to install Facebook.

They got rid of that I like them because I get my item within days and sometimes miss customs.