The UMi Plus Thread

54and56

I just pre-ordered on of these from http://www.geekbuying.com/item/UMI-PLUS-5-5inch-Helio-P10-4GB-32GB-Smartphone---Gray-372264.html for €175. The pre-order price of €175 ends Monday Sept 19th.

I'm hoping they will be popular enough to support a dedicated thread on here for users to share experiences, tips and tricks etc.

Specs:

- 5.5inch SHARP LTPS (2.5D Arc screen) capacitive screen, FHD 1920x1080 pixels

- CPU:Helio P10 MTK6755 Octa Core; GPU: Mali-T860

- Android 6.0 OS, SAMSUNG eMMC5.1+LPDDR3 4GB RAM + 32GB ROM,can extend to 256GB vis Micro SD Card

- Dual SIM card dual standby Or 1 Micro SIM Card and 1 TF Card(Both SIM slots are compatible with 4G.

- Dual Cameras, 5.0MP GalaxyCore GC5005 front camera, 13.0MP SAMSUNG 3L8 camera, 5-element lens, Continuous shooting Panorama PDAF auto-focus Two-tone flash.

- Metal unibody,

- Sony 4000mAh battery,fast charge,notification LED

- Support FDD LTE/4G/3G/GPS/Wifi/Bluetooth/TOUCH ID

- Type-C usb charger.

- 2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz

- 3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz

- 4G: FDD LTE: 800/1800/2100/2600MHz

I expect to receive mine in the next 2-3 weeks as it's coming from China via snail mail in "dropship" packaging so I'm hoping it'll slip through the customs net. If it does it'll be a bonus, if not I'm happy to pay whatever's due.

Once I get it I'll post first impressions etc.

The attributes which made me purchase it are:-

1. Great specs for the price.
2. Vanilla Android 6.0.
3. Clean stylish design.
4. Quality components.
5. 4,000mAh battery.
6. Rapid front facing fingerprint reader.

I'd like this thread to be about the phone, good points, bad points, where to get cases for it, custom ROM's if any are developed etc. I would strongly request that the thread doesn't become bloated by people asking where the best place to buy is or how long it's taking for delivery etc.

Cheers.

polaris68

I have the UMI Super which they released back in June. This looks pretty much the same except for the fingerprint scanner on the front?

Good phone for the price but the software on the Super wasn't brilliant. There are issues with the camera and, in particular, with the GPS (known problem with the Mediatek chip which is also in this) . They released a couple quick OTAs which provided some minor improvements but nothing since early August.

martineatworld

Ordered from geekbuying as well, has anyone's shipped yet?

ryaner777

Still waiting for shipping confirmation

54and56

Fired Geekbuying a query today asking for confirmation of when these will ship. Ordered mine on Sept 12th still not shipped. I'll update here if I get a response.

ryaner777

Opened up a paypal case today and received a tracking number about an hour later.

No info comes up when I try and track the parcel so. Going to give another 48hrs and then escalate case to a claim

54and56

ryaner777 wrote: »

Opened up a paypal case today and received a tracking number about an hour later.

No info comes up when I try and track the parcel so. Going to give another 48hrs and then escalate case to a claim

$h1te, posted this in the wrong forum (The general Chinese phone forum) as I knew I'd promised to post an update but I got an email confirmation of shipping earlier so it's on it's way.

I'd be very confident that if they say they've shipped it they've shipped it. I've bought stuff off Geekbuying before and never had any hassle with them. The issue this time is the product is brand new and they obviously had problems getting stock.

Fingers crossed it arrives reasonably quickly and lives up to the specs!!

54and56

Good hands on review here

Super phone, great battery life but weak GPS and he couldn't get 4G working in Canada.

Will be interesting to see if the same issues are experienced here and if they are what we can do to fix or workaround them. Hopefully an OTA update will fix any initial bugs.

irishchris

Was about to pull trigger and then realised it doesn't do ac wifi

54and56

irishchris wrote: »

Was about to pull trigger and then realised it doesn't do ac wifi

What's ac WiFi?

irishchris

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

What's ac WiFi?

3 times faster wifi transfer speed

54and56

irishchris wrote: »

3 times faster wifi transfer speed

Cheers.

Turns out it's not a problem for me anyway. Routers at home and at work are 802.11n connected to 100MB fibre so even at the (theoretical) N limit of 450Mbps it's faster than anything the phone could ever require. Can't see that changing much over the 2 or max 3 years this phone will be in use.

Out of interest, what applications/uses require speeds in excess of 450Mbps to function?

Good explanation of the N and AC standards and their day to day use here

irishchris

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Cheers.

Turns out it's not a problem for me anyway. Routers at home and at work are 802.11n connected to 100MB fibre so even at the (theoretical) N limit of 450Mbps it's faster than anything the phone could ever require. Can't see that changing much over the 2 or max 3 years this phone will be in use.

Out of interest, what applications/uses require speeds in excess of 450Mbps to function?

Good explanation of the N and AC standards and their day to day use here

I have to transfer several files daily of 20+GB to my local system from my work phone.this takes 10 mins via ac or 40+ mins via n

54and56

irishchris wrote: »

I have to transfer several files daily of 20+GB to my local system from my work phone.this takes 10 mins via ac or 40+ mins via n

In fairness that's a serious requirement. Massively high level/niche but if I had to do it I'd defo want an AC router and and AC phone.

ryaner777

Has anyone received this phone yet ?

54and56

ryaner777 wrote: »

Has anyone received this phone yet ?

Still waiting. Tracking info says it arrived in Holland a couple of days ago and is en route to Dublin but man it's been frustrating and most frustrating of all is that my son's old phone finally packed up tonight and we're off for a break over the weekend so unless it arrives tomorrow (more likely Friday or Tuesday) he'll be without a phone for the weekend which for a 15/16 year old is a bit of a challenge in this day and age.

Dravokivich

Tell him "It'll be an adventure"

martineatworld

Mine is in the "country of destination" since the 24th, I can imagine it's perhaps stuck with customs.

Bloody phone better be worth it!

GatsbyGal

What websites do ye use to track your packages? I've tried 17track and China post but they tell me my tracking number doesn't exist. Aliexpress tracking shows no activity since october14th after leaving Hong Kong.

54and56

GatsbyGal wrote: »

What websites do ye use to track your packages? I've tried 17track and China post but they tell me my tracking number doesn't exist. Aliexpress tracking shows no activity since october14th after leaving Hong Kong.

I'm using that 17track site you referenced. It's hit and miss but does seem to have updated info albeit the info isn't what I want to see i.e. the package left the Dutch sorting office and "The item is on transport to the country of destination" since Oct 25th. They must be walking it here :mad:

54and56

martineatworld wrote: »

Mine is in the "country of destination" since the 24th, I can imagine it's perhaps stuck with customs.

Bloody phone better be worth it!

Hi Martin,

Did your phone arrive yet? Mine is still en route apparently. Very frustrated.

ryaner777

I contacted an post and they confirmed it's not yet in their system despite stating in country of residence since the 24th .

So don't think it's a customs issue.

PayPal claim time for me

martineatworld

ryaner777 wrote: »

I contacted an post and they confirmed it's not yet in their system despite stating in country of residence since the 24th .

So don't think it's a customs issue.

PayPal claim time for me

Mine's the exact same - in country of destination since the 24th and then it errors.

Frustrating.

ryaner777

Here's the email I got from an post today - I've forwarded a screen shot to paypal to add to my case also

Customer Services

08:45 (5 hours ago)

to me

Good morning, the mail item has not been scanned into our network for processing yet. Sorry for any delay or inconvenience.











Kind Regards





Keith

An Post, | Customer Services| An Post |Ground Floor | GPO, Lower O'Connell Street | Dublin 1, D01 F5P2 Ireland |
T: 1850575859 | f: 353 1 8090900

54and56

ryaner777 wrote: »

I contacted an post and they confirmed it's not yet in their system despite stating in country of residence since the 24th .

So don't think it's a customs issue.

PayPal claim time for me

I'll give it another week before I start making a claim as I don't think GeekBuying are a dodgy outfit, I just think there was a long delay between pre-ordering and when they came into stock and the tortuously slow snail mail delivery they use.

tommydublin

i got my umi plus last friday from everbuying.net does not read the sim cards on the phone and there was no home botton may be 2nds goin to send the phone back this week not happy

Dravokivich

tommydublin wrote: »

i got my umi plus last friday from everbuying.net does not read the sim cards on the phone and there was no home botton may be 2nds goin to send the phone back this week not happy

Hi, I'm not too sure what you mean by this?

Also, the phone you received, does it look like the videos posted earlier in this thread? I'm surpirsed it'll be missing a home button. And the Sims don't work. I've had a UMI before myself and didn't have any issues with it connecting to Vodafone and 3 (except for 3's issues themselves).

martineatworld

Update on my tracker - sent to customs in Dublin 12 today.

54and56

martineatworld wrote: »

Update on my tracker - sent to customs in Dublin 12 today.

Mine stuck on "The item has arrived in the country of destination" since last Friday. If it doesn't appear today or Monday or the status doesn't change to "sent to customs" by Tuesday morning I'm requesting a PayPal refund.

GatsbyGal

Got mine yesterday after being with customs since the 28th.

54and56

GatsbyGal wrote: »

Got mine yesterday after being with customs since the 28th.

Your post gives me hope!

What was the customs bill? Did you pay online and then they released it for delivery by An Post or how did it work for you?

Are you happy with it so far?

ryaner777

GatsbyGal wrote: »

Got mine yesterday after being with customs since the 28th.

How are you finding it ?

GatsbyGal

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Your post gives me hope!

What was the customs bill? Did you pay online and then they released it for delivery by An Post or how did it work for you?

Are you happy with it so far?

Hi. Yes I really like it but I am upgrading from a Samsung SIII so keep in mind that I had a dinosaur of a phone. :-). Feels nice and sturdy in the hand and so fast compared to my SIII. Really easy to setup also and the battery is stellar. By lunchtime on my old phone I'd be down to 50%, I still have 80% left on it after fairly heavy usage.

The customs charge was €45 which included an post handling fee. Gave the cash to the postman when he delivered it.

Nonoperational

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Cheers.

Turns out it's not a problem for me anyway. Routers at home and at work are 802.11n connected to 100MB fibre so even at the (theoretical) N limit of 450Mbps it's faster than anything the phone could ever require. Can't see that changing much over the 2 or max 3 years this phone will be in use.

Out of interest, what applications/uses require speeds in excess of 450Mbps to function?

Good explanation of the N and AC standards and their day to day use here

Bizarre omission all the same. Your wifi will be slower than your WAN connection any distance at all from the router.

54and56

FYI my UMi Plus has finally surfaced. It arrived into An Post on Oct 28th and yesterday I got a letter to say customs have it and wanted proof of purchase. I emailed that to them straight away and they reverted later to say €47 had been levied (including their handling charge) which will be collected when the device is finally delivered to me on Monday or latest Tuesday.

Inc the customs charge that take to landed cost of the phone to €222 so it better live up to expectations!!!

Anyone else get their UMi Plus and have any feedback on it?

54and56

So the UMi Plus finally landed and first impressions are very positive.

Next challenge is to get a decent case for it.

Any suggestions?

54and56

Ordered this case from Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M32NO1V/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 We'll see how it works out.

Ref the USB-C cable. It does seem that the UMi port and cable are slightly longer than "standard" making charging with a standard (Anker in this case) cable a bit tricky. You can do it but if you don't do it right the cable can lose connection and you could wake up or return to a phone which hasn't been charged which would be annoying. UMi support recommends these as being the best after market cables to use for the UMi plus.

For those reading this thread and thinking about ordering a UMi Plus you might want to avoid the slow delivery and customs hassle by ordering from GeekBuying's Spanish Warehouse which costs €224 but if it arrives quicker than from Hong Kong (it couldn't possibly be slower) and you avoid the hassle and delay (10 days in my case) of dealing with customs it'll work out the same as buying from Hong Kong for €175 and then paying €48 in customs charges.

So far the phone is totally living up to expectations which is a relief. Its seriously fast, is as close to vanilla Android 6.0 as you're likely to get anywhere and the fingerprint/home button works incredibly well. You just touch the home button and in less than 0.5 of a second you're unlocked. No messing around with patterns or PIN's etc.

€225 for some serious high end hardware and €15 a month for all you can eat calls and data from Lycamobile. That's about as good as it gets right now as far as I can see.

D'Peoples Voice

Either of the issues listed earlier in this thread being replicated in your device?

tommydublin wrote: »

i got my umi plus last friday from everbuying.net does not read the sim cards on the phone and there was no home botton

polaris68 wrote: »

I have the UMI Super which they released back in June. Good phone for the price but the software on the Super wasn't brilliant. There are issues with the camera and, in particular, with the GPS (known problem with the Mediatek chip which is also in this).

54and56

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

Either of the issues listed earlier in this thread being replicated in your device?

100% not. The sim card was read straight away (there's two slots, so make sure you put it in the one marked "SIM 1" and your SD card in the other slot) and the finger print reader/home button works amazingly well.

I can only guess the previous poster was sent the wrong phone or inserted the sim card incorrectly.

istvangy

Hi folks,
I got two UMI Plus, one of them is up for sale, brand new, never used, 260 EUR (includes import VAT), negotiable a bit, Dublin 6.
If you have any question please do not hesitate to contact me.

54and56

Anyone got any feedback on the GPS performance of the phone being used in car for Google Maps navigation?

Wombatman

Would love to get clear word on the GPS performance also. Can one of you guys do some testing. Thanks.

Thread on GPS issues.
http://community.umidigi.com/thread-4941-1-1.html

Bandito909

Lads, could some geek in the know help me out?!

Whats a better phone? The umi super or umi plus?

Cheers

54and56

Wombatman wrote: »

Would love to get clear word on the GPS performance also. Can one of you guys do some testing. Thanks.

Thread on GPS issues.
http://community.umidigi.com/thread-4941-1-1.html

I bought the Umi Plus for my son and asked him to test the GPS performance on the bus from Stillorgan to Dun Laoghaire. He said it jumped all over the place

I have a OnePlus One which is still going strong after 2 years including great GPS performance as I use it in my car all the time so that's very important to me.

Despite that I'm very tempted to get the new UMi Plus Extreme with 6GB RAM, 64 GB ROM and the new P20 MTK6757 2.3GHz Octa Core chipset which should make it a serious weapon of a phone and serious value at €205 + customs of circa €50.

There must be a way to get the GPS performance to an acceptable level.

ellobee

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

I bought the Umi Plus for my son and asked him to test the GPS performance on the bus from Stillorgan to Dun Laoghaire. He said it jumped all over the place

I have a OnePlus One which is still going strong after 2 years including great GPS performance as I use it in my car all the time so that's very important to me.

Despite that I'm very tempted to get the new UMi Plus Extreme with 6GB RAM, 64 GB ROM and the new P20 MTK6757 2.3GHz Octa Core chipset which should make it a serious weapon of a phone and serious value at €205 + customs of circa €50.

There must be a way to get the GPS performance to an acceptable level.

Has he any other issues with the phone, I'm just about to buy one of these, the gps is not an issue for me, I want it for the battery life and the 4gb of ram, did he think it was fast.

54and56

ellobee wrote: »

Has he any other issues with the phone, I'm just about to buy one of these, the gps is not an issue for me, I want it for the battery life and the 4gb of ram, did he think it was fast.

He absolutely loves the phone. It's lightening fast, great screen, vanilla Android 6.0 (no bloatware), the battery lasts forever and the fingerprint home button works perfectly. He couldn't be happier with it and like you GPS isn't an important function for him (Luas, bus's etc) so for him it's perfect.

ellobee

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

He absolutely loves the phone. It's lightening fast, great screen, vanilla Android 6.0 (no bloatware), the battery lasts forever and the fingerprint home button works perfectly. He couldn't be happier with it and like you GPS isn't an important function for him (Luas, bus's etc) so for him it's perfect.

Excellent, I'm definitely going to order over the weekend, thanks for the feedback!

GatsbyGal

Has anyone successfully updated to nougat 7.0?I've tried to but when it reboots trying to go into recovery mode to finish the install it will not reboot so the install/update doesn't go ahead. Not too fussed though yet as I'm happy with current version.

MJ434

Would people recommend buying the UMI PLUS E , about 215 euro ?

ellobee

I would definitely recommend this phone, I bought the plus for my daughter and she loves it, battery life is amazing, and the plus E has even higher specs, the only downside is that it doesn't have NFC and on the plus the gps is reportedly pretty bad I dont know what its like on the plus e, also that price of €215 you are quoting is probably from China so be prepared to wait and also pay import duty of approx 50 euro but even at 260 euro I think its very good value

Randomfriend

Hi Guys, got the UMI P-lus E myself. Tis a beast of a phone for the price, The charger cable has given out on me after a month thou.. Any advice where I could get one asap, or would there be any stores in Ireland I could walk in to and pick one up do you reckon?