Chinese Android Phones 2 - Read First Post!

Digital Solitude

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

I wasn't saying you could get them for 200 quid, I was confirming the point made by Digital Solitude that the Z3 is up there with the best Chinese phones

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

So what would yous recommend for around the 200 mark?

I've a Sony Z3 so it would have to be better phone than that.

You seem to be asking for one here?

A misunderstanding regardless, do you want a high end ass kicker or a good €200 phone?

If you put them in percentiles, the top Chinese androids would be above 95-100, probably with the Z3 falling into the 90-95 bracket. For €200 you're looking at something in the 75-80th percentiles of androids. So they're still damn good phones.

That's obviously super rough but I'm trying to put it into perspective.

Glen_Quagmire

The 200 euro mark came from others suggesting they wouldn't buy phones above that price hence why I asked them what would they recommend for around the 200 mark.

I'm interested in a top of the range phone, something better than the Z3

kazper

Hi all, my husband is heading to China soon and I'm in need of a new phone, have had iPhones since they first came out but willing to change for something cheaper, can he go into a bricks and mortar store and buy unlocked phone that will work for me here, will I be able to have access to google play store? Any recommendations for around €100-€150?

Allyall

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

The 200 euro mark came from others suggesting they wouldn't buy phones above that price hence why I asked them what would they recommend for around the 200 mark.

I'm interested in a top of the range phone, something better than the Z3

Yeah, that was me and someone else.
The OnePlus 2 is an excellent phone.
The OnePlus 3 is out soon (not as soon as first thought, apparently, but should be out before May).

The Mi5 as mentioned will be a monster, but that's going to be up around €500. (I think it's starting price is around €400).
One of the main issues I have with that, is the price and warranty/returning.
Xiaomi and Meizu may both be entering Europe but they're not (fully) here yet.
Meizu Pro 5 starts around €300 I think and goes up to €500+, which is more realistic, and they already have support setup in France. I think the nearest Xiaomi is Poland (I may be wrong).

They would probably be the three I would go for, if I was spending that much and wanted a higher end Chinese phone.

But the other known brands gaining more attention, and filling the gap Xiaomi and Meizu are leaving, are still reasonably priced and for example, the Bluboo Xtouch X500 gets decent reviews at less than €200.
Umi, Doogee, Bluboo, oppo, elephone, zte etc.. (huge list)

They all have phones with good spec for a decent price. Some mightn't have the best firmware though.

kazper wrote: »

Hi all, my husband is heading to China soon and I'm in need of a new phone, have had iPhones since they first came out but willing to change for something cheaper, can he go into a bricks and mortar store and buy unlocked phone that will work for me here, will I be able to have access to google play store? Any recommendations for around €100-€150?

Yep, he will be spoiled for choice over there, and even if they get more than they want, it'll be a steal. There are iPhone clones, but pointless imo.
They will give him an EU phone over there. Would have to be very unlucky or a misunderstanding to end up with something that doesn't work here for a good price with good spec.

PeteSco

Not worth the update, imho. You can keep the OnePlus One for another year and then buy an S7 Edge or whatever comes out in the while.

EDIT: Where's the guy? Lol.

myshirt

Seems to have deleted his post, yes.

So has anyone here successfully bought from Oppo Mart? Looks like you can bundle a range of things and get them all covered in the $19.99 EU Expedited Shipping Charge that covers shipping & customs.

A good feature if you were buying 2 or 3 phones for the family, or some accessories with a phone for yourself.

myshirt

@AllYall (what a name by the way!)

On your concerns about warranties and all that jazz, note that both manufacturers and your more reputable suppliers are teaming up with TomRepair service for warranty claims.

Elephone for example will pay both ways shipping for claim in first 3 months, then tapers off into you covering the shipping for balance of warranty. Call it 30 quid to get the phone fixed in that instance. Not too shabby.

Allyall

myshirt wrote: »

@AllYall (what a name by the way!)

On your concerns about warranties and all that jazz, note that both manufacturers and your more reputable suppliers are teaming up with TomRepair service for warranty claims.

Elephone for example will pay both ways shipping for claim in first 3 months, then tapers off into you covering the shipping for balance of warranty. Call it 30 quid to get the phone fixed in that instance. Not too shabby.

You can apply for Tomrepair service anyway, all the suppliers/manufacturers are doing, is adding it to the product in the hope that it will draw more people.
It is a good idea but not sure how efficient it will be.
I know they've opened in the UK and Spain (Under Elephones repair service) .

UK may be just over a week returned if they have the parts and do a quick job. If you have any other issues though, you are back dealing with Xiaomi/Meizu etc..
It's still not ideal by any means.

myshirt

Xiaomi/Meizu wouldnt deal with you as you are outside their market, no?

I think it's a positive that these retailers are giving a warranty through TomRepair. The customer service level re turnaround times and ease of access are never going to be Apple-like where it's as ideal as ideal can ever be in this world, but for what it is, it's not shabby at all. An Elephone P9000 at $228 by DHL with customs covered, and a Tomrepair warrantt. That's good.

Did you get your Wiko Highway Star yet? What you think of it?

Allyall

myshirt wrote: »

Xiaomi/Meizu wouldnt deal with you as you are outside their market, no?

I think it's a positive that these retailers are giving a warranty through TomRepair. The customer service level re turnaround times and ease of access are never going to be Apple-like where it's as ideal as ideal can ever be in this world, but for what it is, it's not shabby at all. An Elephone P9000 at $228 by DHL with customs covered, and a Tomrepair warrantt. That's good.

Did you get your Wiko Highway Star yet? What you think of it?

I know it won't be a high level support (Apple etc.) but that's half my point. Why pay €500+ for a Xiaomi without that support?
I don't get what you mean in the first question.

I definitely agree this is a positive thing, but it's still a learning curve for them, and still needs to be seen what happens when they are dealing with higher numbers.

No, cancelled the Wiko. It was an impulse after watching it for a bit. Cancelled it that night.
I think I'm going for the Meizu MX4 pro, and try ubuntu on it.

To answer your question from earlier. I've bought a few phones from Oppomart, not the quickest of shipping for phones (I think it's 8 - 11 days), but they are decent, A screen protector and case didn't arrive with one phone and they posted it out that day. It arrived within the week.

GBX

A mate of mine wants to get the Redmi note 2 for his wife - she is on Meteor. I see there are 2 different versions. one will work with 3g/4g and the other wont. Has anybody got any experience with this phone on meteor? And if so where would you suggest buying the correct one from?

Allyall

I bought mine from here - http://www.oppomart.com/xiaomi/redmi-note2/xiaomi-redmi-note-2.html

CarFan100

Hi all
What's the best rom atm for the redmi note 2, I'm using aosp 1.61

Any news on marshmallow?

Satriale

GBX wrote: »

A mate of mine wants to get the Redmi note 2 for his wife - she is on Meteor. I see there are 2 different versions. one will work with 3g/4g and the other wont. Has anybody got any experience with this phone on meteor? And if so where would you suggest buying the correct one from?

Search back my posts on this thread. Jenno gave me a link to an Aliexpress shop . I ordered for a meteor sim, it works perfectly.

PeteSco

GBX wrote: »

A mate of mine wants to get the Redmi note 2 for his wife - she is on Meteor. I see there are 2 different versions. one will work with 3g/4g and the other wont. Has anybody got any experience with this phone on meteor? And if so where would you suggest buying the correct one from?

You can use this website to check it: http://willmyphonework.net/
It says that the FDD LTE version supports 4G on meteor.

mightyreds

Can the bloatware on the redmi note 3 be easily gotten rid of?

EoinMcLovin

mightyreds wrote: »

Can the bloatware on the redmi note 3 be easily gotten rid of?

There are roms that remove all Chinese bloatware available on the miui forums
http://en.miui.com/forum-86-1.html easy enough to install

mightyreds

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

There are roms that remove all Chinese bloatware available on the miui forums
http://en.miui.com/forum-86-1.html easy enough to install

cool thanks! what would I be looking for to keep phone as is, but get rid of the annoying speed up app thats always on screen

EoinMcLovin

mightyreds wrote: »

cool thanks! what would I be looking for to keep phone as is, but get rid of the annoying speed up app thats always on screen

When you install a rom you lose everything unless you back it up. Not sure what speeding up app you are on about. Also is the phone snapdragon or MTK as there is a global rom for the snapdragon version.

Allyall

mightyreds wrote: »

cool thanks! what would I be looking for to keep phone as is, but get rid of the annoying speed up app thats always on screen

Try rooting it and downloading Adaway. But as stated above, you are probably better off with a different Rom.

CarFan100

Allyall wrote: »

Try rooting it and downloading Adaway. But as stated above, you are probably better off with a different Rom.

My redmi note 2 came with a highly irritating timebomb ad popup

The only app that detected (and dealt with it), was CM security, I tried them all

Allyall

CarFan100 wrote: »

My redmi note 2 came with a highly irritating timebomb ad popup

The only app that detected (and dealt with it), was CM security, I tried them all

Well, yep, clean it with security apps and cleaners first.

There's a rom comparison thread for the Redmi Note 2 on the miui forums - http://en.miui.com/

I can't find it at the minute, but it's there.

Justwinginit

Redmi note 2 arrived today, now tomorrow I have to cut down sim to fit.....Google play installed and doesn't seem to be bloatware. Will have a good nose at it tomorrow...

mightyreds

Allyall wrote: »

Try rooting it and downloading Adaway. But as stated above, you are probably better off with a different Rom.

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

When you install a rom you lose everything unless you back it up. Not sure what speeding up app you are on about. Also is the phone snapdragon or MTK as there is a global rom for the snapdragon version.

It says its mt6795 would that be right, might chance a new rom, the app is DU speed boost it has this floating icon like facebook messenger that i cant seem to get rid of off the screen

CarFan100

mightyreds wrote: »

It says its mt6795 would that be right, might chance a new rom, the app is DU speed boost it has this floating icon like facebook messenger that i cant seem to get rid of off the screen

Put TWRP custom recovery on it first anyhow

EoinMcLovin

I installed a miuipro rom from the miui forums which roots the phone and removes MI apps store along with bloatware. Uses flash sp tool to install rom

myshirt

On the Mi4c - that comes with supplier installed multi language rom. Has anyone successfully flashed an official MIUI chinese rom and side loaded google play on this?

Supplier rom buggy.

Or what's the best rom to flash for this?

smilerf

Lads I'm thinking about ordering the Ulefone Power from Amazon.

Will it have Google play installed?

Justwinginit

Hi guys, should I sync contacts to miCloud? Is it ok?

fixXxer

Justwinginit wrote: »

Hi guys, should I sync contacts to miCloud? Is it ok?

Its no different to syncing with Google except your numbers will be stored in china. It's handy if you think your next phone or two will be a Xiaomi but otherwise you can turn it off with no ill effects.