Chinese Android Phones

Thargor

2014 update: These phones in the OP are obsolete now, read the quoted guide and ask for advice or browse Merimobiles, Mixieshop and other vendors for the latest stuff.

Octacore/Kit-Kat phones are coming onstream now and you should aim for 2GB of RAM.

Also check reviews for GPS functionality and watch out for battery life.

Pay with Paypal if at all possible otherwise credit card, never use money transfers/escrow services.

Everybody loves mobile devices, phones, tablets, smart watches – there’s just something about mobile electronics that gets geek’s like us oozing with anticipation the moment newer and better devices are unveiled. There is unfortunately one slight problem with this techno obsession, that is unless your fortunate enough to be a very wealthy individual then the cost of keeping up with the latest in mobile goodness can often be a real barrier which is why inevitable we’ll be fund scouring the deal websites, calculating the cashback incentives and eating dried cardboard just to afford the latest gadget. That’s not the only solution however and since you’ve joined us here we’ll assume you know exactly what were talking about; buying from china.

Now for a novice the thought of buying from anything from overseas is a daunting prospect, no less from a country shares little similarities with the west and is at best, a bit of mystery really. So common concerns? import duty, quality, delivery time, scams to name but a few, but persevere and there are some truly brilliant value devices to be had and with these handy steps I’ll show you to make your first china device purchase go swimmingly!

1. Picking a quality brand

The first thing to note when starting your search from the perfect china mobile or tablet is the sheer range of brands available, most if not all of them you’ll never have heard of before, so right off the bat thing’s are quite daunting. To ensure you pick one of the better brands a simple but often accurate barometer of brand quality is it’s popularity so look and how many sales their products have had, many many ratings and that should give you a decent idea. Another measure is price, generally speaking the higher priced products are from brans who have earned the right to charge more than the lesser known brands.

Here are some quality brands to get you started:

Android phones

HUAWEI
Lenovo
CUBOT
Xiaocai
Zopo
THL
UMI
JIAYU
ZTE
iOcean
Cube
Tablets
Lenovo
PIPO
JXD
Onda
CUBE
Ainol
Ployer
Freelander
CHUWI
AMPE
Ramos

All that being said, new brands are constantly popping up and not all of them will be bad so don’t write them off until you’ve checked out some reviews from their products!

2. What to Look For:

Next up you’ll be wanting to pick a device, whether that be phone or tablet there are a few thing’s to look out for to ensure you end up with a product that’s really going to meet your expectations.

Build quality

This is difficult to decipher without having the device in hand but choosing the right brand is a good start, from there on you’ll want to check reviews and in particular, check out hands-on videos on Youtube which should give a better idea of the overall quality of the device. Mostly chinese devices these days are supringly well built, especially those from the bigger brands so this shouldn’t be too big an issue.

Fake features:

Unfortunately some products, particularly clone products will be advertised with features that they don’t have or are otherwise mis-advertised. Look at for features which seem too good to be true and be sure to check the specification across many different websites. If in doubt then contact the seller.

Poor quality cameras:

If there’s one spec where numbers don’t tell the whole story it’s the camera specs. Often you’ll see phones and tablets advertised with decent sounding camera’s, sometimes with unrealistically high mega pixel counts – if this looks to be the case then walk away, mostly likely the device in question will use some poor quality software trickery to interpolate a lower quality image to a higher resolution giving nothing like the quality stated. In this area there really is no substitute for impartial, third party hands-on write-ups and camera samples so you can see for yourself the actual quality on offer.

Under performing chipset’s

One of the first thing’s you’ll notice when comparing china phones is that they are most often powered by Mediatek in phones and Allwinner or Rockchip for tablets, rather than the usual Qualcomm or Exynos chipsets often found in western phones. This is primarily due to cost as these other chipsets are cheaper and don’t quite offer the same levels of performance you get from a top of the range Qualcomm or Exynos processor, in most cases though they are more than enough for 90% of people.

The best chipset’s to look out for other than the establish Qualcomm and Exynos ones are currently:

Phones

Mediatek MTK6582
Mediatek MTK6592
Tablets

Rockchip Rk3188
Rockchip Rk3066
Allwinner A31

If in doubt, check out some benchmark scores to get an idea of performance, bearing in mind that multi-core processors may appear more potent than their true, real world performance – this is especially true of new octa-core proccesors so bear this in mind.

Also be aware that each chipest has its limits so for example the Rockchip Rk3066 is a great chipest for up to 720p resolution but any more than that and you’ll see it struggle, so for want of a better phrase – “courses for courses”.

3. Where to Buy From

Broadly there are two types of place you can purchase your device, marketplace type websites or traditional online retailers.

Marketplace sites

These are websites that essentially act as a platform allowing you direct access to wholesalers and maybe even direct to manufacturers in some cases.

The two best known of these types of websites are:

http://uk.alibaba.com/
http://www.aliexpress.com/

Now these marketplaces have a wide range of products with some very appealing prices but the trade-off is the question marks over the dependability of the individual sellers listed and whilst these platforms do their best to ensure quality and security there will be scammers on these types of sites so look out for prices that look too good to be true, check seller ratings and use Paypal where possible for your protection. If your willing to take a risk however, these sites can offer up some real bargains!

Traditional Retailers

The second type of place to buy from is the traditional online retailer, of which there are many! Most offering free delivery which will usually result in your goods arriving in 2-3 weeks. Picking a store to purchase from is a case of trail and error or asking around for opinions but here are the ones that I’ve found to be amongst the better ones:

Banggood - http://www.banggood.com/

Pandawill – http://www.pandawill.com/

Dealextreme – http://www.dx.com/

BuySKU – http://www.buysku.com/

I personally use ‘Banggood‘ as I’ve found their prices to be very competitive, the site is pleasant enough and their service has been decent in terms of replacing any faulty products or cancelling orders.

4. Making Payment

Now you’ve picked yourself that perfect tablet, phone or whatever it is that takes your fancy you’ll be wanting to actually buy the thing! Now naturally you might be concerned about where your money is actually going, especially when using a new site from overseas.

My one piece of advise here is to use Paypal where possible, this gives you protection if anything does go wrong. Failing that use good old fashioned card payment as you may be covered by your bank if you do come in to any trouble.

If the only payment methods offered are western union and escrow services then walk away, whilst they can and are often legitimate payment methods they can also be used by scammers and when they only other this means of payment its probably not worth taking the risk!

5. Avoiding Import Duty

Your nearly there! If your just about to click that final payment confirmation button but start having palpitations thinking about the import duty then don’t worry, too much.

Most retailers will mark down the value of goods and/or declare them as ‘gifts’ to avoid you paying any import duty at all! In my experience importing over 20 products of value over £100 I have not be asked to buy any import duty, perhaps I’m lucky but generally speaking it seems that people are seldom charged any duty for personal products.

It has to be said though that my experience comes from having products shipped via the free economy services offered which to my knowledge are less likely to be checked and duty charged, so bear this in mind if you opt for one of the express services as you may find an additional charge levied.

The formula is (phone price in € times 1.23) and then +€6 through An Post or +€15 through a courier

Check out this great import duty calculator if your nervous and incorporate any charges in to the purchase price so you know what the worse case scenario is.

Wrap-up:

And that’s it! easy peasy. Buying from china doesn’t have to be a worrying experience, embrace it and its really quite exciting to enter a new mysterious land of magical new devices you’ve never heard of before, just have this handy guide to hand and you’ll be just fine – enjoy your new China phone, tablet or whatever!

bidiots

I bought the G3 before christmas from Mixeshop(very good to deal with,emails answered promptly), so here's a run down on it from my update on another forum:

Jiayu G3:
I've had a Galaxy S3 before this so will use that as a bench if it helps

A new S3 will cost you about €430.
The G3 cost me about €195 with a 32gig SD Card.

Firstly, its big. Its chunkier than the S3 but I didn't expect it to be as sleek anyway.
The screen is very impressive in terms of resolution and responsiveness.
The Dual Sim option works very well. Easy to manage and was the main reason I got this phone.
The Stock Rom does everything it needs to for 4.0. It's a bit laggy at times but this doesn't affect performance a great deal.
The Camera is passable, not bad but no where near as good as the S3.
Although the battery is a 2750, I was expecting a lot better results from it. Moderate usage would get a day and a half maybe. The smaller battery on the S3 would get 2 days easy.

After using it for a week or so, I decided to Root and ROM with the Needrom version which is a JellyBean ROM.
So far on the JB Rom, its much sleeker in terms of performance. No obvious lag issues and the battery life seems to have improved.

Summary:
For a phone roughly half the price of an S3, its very impressive.
It is not as sleek or responsive as the S3 nor is there much support for it yet in the Mod community.
That said, for a good touch screen phone with a really good screen, improving battery, under €200, I'm not sure what could beat it at this stage.

After a couple of weeks:
I've been using mine for a couple of weeks now. As I've said before, I've had a Samsung s3 prior to this.
In my opinion, the s3 is one of the best phones on the market at the moment, especially now as it can be got for a little over 400 euro now!
The battery life is on average, one day at best. I'm using two Sims, average usage of calls and browsing, but not excessive. For the size of the battery,I expected a lot more.
I've tried different roms but have come back to the stock Rom as there are too many bugs in the others, that I just can't bear.
If you want a great phone for a great price, get the s3.
If you want to spend under 200 Euro, then buy the g3, but be prepared for the short comings.


Helpful Links:
To help root http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1981634
http://www.modaco.com/topic/359590-jiayu-g3-rooted-permanent-recovery-ics-spell-check-fixed/

bidiots

The G2 is the popular version. There are actually a few 'instances' of the G2 which have varied processors, screen resolution and camera's, so be careful what you order.

The G2S is barely out of production and from what Dan_Solo alluded to in another thread, there are problems with the first batch, which also happened with the G3. It would make sense to hold out until they iron out the bugs, seems to be some screen issues.

This G2 is the most popular version and should have more ROM's available than the G3 has at this stage http://www.mixeshop.com/original-jiayu-g2-dual-core-mtk6577-512mb1g-ram-4g-rom-40capacitive-screen-8mp-camera-wifi-gps-tablet-pc_p1655.html

The G2S is available on some sites but I doubt it would be delivered promptly as there is not much stock around http://www.mixeshop.com/jiayu-jyg2s-mtk6577-dual-core-40inch-ips-960540-qhd-1g-ram-80mp-camera-smart-phone_p1859.html
It seems like a fantastic piece of kit, with the faster 6577 processor, better screen resolution and stock Jellybean.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Mixeshop, whatsoever. I found them the cheapest online and they provide a terrific service. When ordering from Shanghai, this confidence might help you in your purchase.

Dan_Solo wrote: »

From what I read the G2 was very high quality, so for the price the G2S should be good.
http://bbs.ejiayu.com/forum-47-1.html
"about the first batch G2S phone jump screen solutions" is the topic where people are saying there's a problem.

Thargor

Great replies Bidiots thanks for that, exactly what I was looking for

Im going to take a punt on the G3 I think, I want the bigger screen for reading books and browsing on the move, if anything goes wrong at that price its not much of a hit anyway and it really does sound like a great phone.

Does the battery make you regret buying it at all though? Maybe a battery manager app would help?

bidiots

Biggest issues I had with the G3 are the battery and lack of Jellybean stock rom.

Now, if you buy it, get the spare battery and seat charger so it would take care of power consumption. Its a standard micro usb charger but the phone comes with a chinese plug so get your hands on a english usb plug or just use a computer to charge.
I'm sure Juice Defender could help with it but there is definitely a batt drain on the stock rom. The Rom's I tried were JellyBean and the performance was much better compared to Gingerbread, but all the Roms available have issues. No LED notification, Corporate email connectivity, charge hangs, spell check issues among other niggly tit bits.

It is not straight forward to Root or Rom, I've years of experience with a LOT of android phones and this was by far, the most difficult to experiment with. When buying any of these phones from China, (although all bloody phones are made there, but you know what I mean), there will not be a big development environment like the mainstream phones, especially an english development community. This might scare off some people, and rightly so in my opinion.

Although these phones may be cheaper, as my example said, an S3 can be got on Amazon.es for about 435. By the time you buy the G3 with all bells and whistles, you will have spent on average, 230(spare batt,charger,case). So, for just over half the price you are getting a decent phone. But it will never match the S3. If you can live with the short comings like terrible battery life for a 2750, screen lag issues with Gingerbread, GPS problems, extra bulk, chinese plug...then by all means, go for it. Despite the shortcomings, I don't see as good a phone for the money anywhere.

I hope this helps, I think people need to see both sides of the argument to help make the decision.

Thargor

Looks like there are workarounds for many of the issues you mention with more being posted all the time like this from that thread you linked up there:

Woah guys! Latest Jiayu G3 OS on Needrom!

This time it's a LeWa OS based on latest official 4.0.4 Jiayu G3 so there are almost no bugs.

No notification LED problem.
No camera problem.
No charging problem.
Faster.
Smoother.
Looks way more awesome.

For those of you who like the Lewa look u guys can download it here!

http://www.needrom.com/mobile/jiayu-g3-6/

Enjoy~~

Im going to chance it, I like tinkering with Android anyway, will let you know how I get on, thanks a million Bidiots!

Thargor

Ordered one, will review in a couple of weeks time.

bidiots

Mixeshop and DHL? They are surprisingly quick usually. Best of luck with it, I'll keep an eye on the thread if you need pointers....

positron

Thargor - what did it cost you in total, G3 + shipping? Thanks.

Also, is there a big enough user group / development community around G3?

Thanks!

Thargor

I ordered from Merimobiles even though I see it slightly cheaper on other sites, Merimobiles has provided me with excellent service on 2 occasions now including replies to emails so I went with them:

http://www.merimobiles.com/JIAYU_G3_Dual_core_4_5_inch_IPS_Screen_1280x720_An_p/meri5684.htm

Mixeshop that Bidiots ordered from is around $20 cheaper but as I really need a new phone soon I went with the ones I trust:

http://www.mixeshop.com/jiayu-jyg3-mtk6577-dual-core-45-inch-gorilla-glass-ips-1280-x-720-pixels-retina-screen-1g-ram-android-40-3g-gps-wifi-smart-phone_p1652.html

My total came to 173 Euro delivered, that includes the second cheapest (cheapest was free 14-20 business days) postage because I always get a tracking number when shipping from china if possible.

Also because of a slightly odd ordering interface where you're adding extras like a case, charger, screen cover etc before you pay Im not sure if I ordered a spare battery or just told them to put a battery in the box (implying the phone was going to ship with no battery), Ive emailed for confirmation and will post when I get it so you can knock a tenner off that price if theres a battery included and I accidentally told them to put a second one in the box.

There is a G4 version also for $100 more but like I said, I just want a nice big screen for browsing and ebooks so I went with the G3 (G2S is a 4" screen, G3 is 4.5", makes a huge difference that extra .5 imo), no sign of anyone rooting or even reviewing the G4 yet anyway:

http://www.merimobiles.com/jiayu-g4-gorilla-glass-4-7-hd-1280-x-720-ips-lcd-1-2ghz-android-4-1-dual-sim_p/meri7664.htm

The development community is not large but it is active, mainly in that thread I linked at 23:28 and on XDA-Developers.com, new roms every few days it seems like, it is early days yet. The next official Jiayu Jellybean rom is out soon though so the company seems to be supporting it which is always a plus.

Bear in mind from my research it looks like you will have to root this phone and choose another ROM though as there is a power drain issue with the stock ROM (Could be your problem Bidiots? A lot of people reporting 48 hours use from the battery on theirs?), maybe that was just an issue with the first batches and has been fixed in newer versions because a lot of people havent encountered it seemingly, I always overwrite stock ROMs anyway so not bothered.

bidiots

I just got an update from the supplier I use, about the G2S.

the G2s has the black color in stock, the leather case and the car charger is 5usd/pcs
it hasnot upload on the website, u can order via paypal directly
194usd for JY G2s + 5usd for leather case + 5usd for car charger + 26.84usd for dhl + 4%paypal =240usd

This works out at about 185 euro, which is one hell of a deal imo. Again, this is the early batch so it may be prudent to wait a few weeks for all kinks to be ironed out.

Bid

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

positron

I looked into a few reviews of G3 - all good in general, but I am a bit iffy on how thick the phone looks. I am a sucker for wafer-thin phones.. G4 that was mentioned above looks much thinner..!

PS: I hate my current phone too - it's one of the old favourites of boards - San Fran-fecking-cisco. This is possibly the last of those in service between all boards users....!!

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

bidiots

positron wrote: »

I looked into a few reviews of G3 - all good in general, but I am a bit iffy on how thick the phone looks. I am a sucker for wafer-thin phones.. G4 that was mentioned above looks much thinner..!

PS: I hate my current phone too - it's one of the old favourites of boards - San Fran-fecking-cisco. This is possibly the last of those in service between all boards users....!!

Melendez wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

The G3 is big, its not sleek in anyway compared to an S3, but it still fit in my pocket perfectly.

Check above posts to learn how to root and rom, plenty of reading to be had;)

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

bidiots

Its micro usb so you might have a plug that suits already(Kindle for example)

Thargor

positron wrote: »

I looked into a few reviews of G3 - all good in general, but I am a bit iffy on how thick the phone looks. I am a sucker for wafer-thin phones.. G4 that was mentioned above looks much thinner..!

PS: I hate my current phone too - it's one of the old favourites of boards - San Fran-fecking-cisco. This is possibly the last of those in service between all boards users....!!

10.8mm thick is nothing really, my Xperia Play is 16mm, that includes a slide out control pad for games, got it as a great Bargain Alert a while ago for €130 but really started to dislike it once the novelty wore off.

Melendez wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

It doesnt sound like a catastrophic fault or anything and you probably wouldnt have even noticed if we hadnt mentioned it but I always put a custom rom from one of the dev communities on any android phone for maximum efficiency, Stock roms from the seller always have some annoyance and someone nearly always releases a tweaked ROM for better battery life.

Like has been said you're better off learning yourself and then its a breeze on every phone, read the links that have been posted, you have to root the phone first which is basically breaking security and gaining access to all the behind the scenes stuff first, then you download another ROM and flash it over the phones stock ROM, a ROM in this case is a modified version of Android, I like Cyanogenmod and install that wherever possible on any Android phone I can but I doubt they'll do a specific release for this G3, wait until you get the phone anyway and post where you're stuck, it seems impossible starting out but its really very easy.

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

Thargor

Sounds like its as generic as they get, I dont know though:

http://www.merimobiles.com/big-capacitive-generic-battery-for-jiayu-g3_p/meri7890.htm

bidiots

I'm not sure if it would need a specific 'seat' for this battery. It's as standard a battery as any. I didn't order the seat charger with the G3 btw, if I buy the G2S, I will definitely get it.

P.S. If you bought it through Mixeshop, just send them an email saying you want to include the seat charger(or whatever). They are very good at responding to questions, just bear in mind the time difference.

Pop'n'Fresh

I'm interested - Do Chinese phones not need to be rooted and custom rom installed to gain access to the full Play store just like tablets?

I bought a YuanDao II tablet as a gift in October last year and had to root and flash a custom ROM to gain access to apps such as Facebook and Twitter which are banned in China.

€200 sounds like a great price for a phone. I wanted to buy the old man a Nexus 4 for Christmas but long story short I should have used my Visa Debit instead of my CC and I missed out. This could be a perfect replacement for his age old HTC Desire!

Thargor

PopnFresh wrote: »

I'm interested - Do Chinese phones not need to be rooted and custom rom installed to gain access to the full Play store just like tablets?

I bought a YuanDao II tablet as a gift in October last year and had to root and flash a custom ROM to gain access to apps such as Facebook and Twitter which are banned in China.

€200 sounds like a great price for a phone. I wanted to buy the old man a Nexus 4 for Christmas but long story short I should have used my Visa Debit instead of my CC and I missed out. This could be a perfect replacement for his age old HTC Desire!

Ive never been able to relax and use a stock rom on any Chinese Android device, problems with the Android Market/Google Play usually the number one fault (although it does sound like the Market runs fine on the G3s stock rom), theres always something that annoys if not flat out ruins the experience especially on those tablets like Ainol etc of which Ive had to flash a lot for family and friends, this is the first time Ive ever gone for a generic Chinese phone and it sounds like rooting it and another ROM is a must tbh, you'll be using it every hour of every day unlike a tablet and any little niggle will drive you mad. If your fathers not very tech-savvy you might be better off keeping an eye on Bargain Alerts for an 'English' phone from samsung or LG or whoever.

BTW you'll get this for 160 delivered easily if you shop around not 200...

bidiots

PopnFresh wrote: »

I'm interested - Do Chinese phones not need to be rooted and custom rom installed to gain access to the full Play store just like tablets?

I bought a YuanDao II tablet as a gift in October last year and had to root and flash a custom ROM to gain access to apps such as Facebook and Twitter which are banned in China.

€200 sounds like a great price for a phone. I wanted to buy the old man a Nexus 4 for Christmas but long story short I should have used my Visa Debit instead of my CC and I missed out. This could be a perfect replacement for his age old HTC Desire!

A lot of the tablets come with a 'flavor' of android which doesn't include the basics like the Play store. In general, the phones will have the full Android version with an English language option.

Just like Thargor, I have rooted and rom'd all phones I've ever had. Usually to get rid of the bloatware that is pre-installed and install a system that is improved upon the stock version in terms of performance. A casual user may not ever feel the need to do this and the phone should work fine regardless.

Bid

Thargor

I wonder if theres a large capacity generic battery out there like the ones these guys sell for the high end phones?

http://www.mugen-power-batteries.com/

Although 2750 should be pretty good as long as the ROM isnt draining it, I heard it takes a couple of charge cycles to get really good on one of those threads from last night aswell.

positron

Thargor wrote: »

10.8mm thick is nothing really, my Xperia Play is 16mm, that includes a slide out control pad for games, got it as a great Bargain Alert a while ago for €130 but really started to dislike it once the novelty wore off.

Is that all, that's not too bad at all, because I just looked up and my ZTE San Fran is 11.8 mm..!!

ThunbergsAreGo

Good thread and information, thinking of taking a plunge as well, im a sucker for a toy to tinker with

Any issues with set up, play store etc for those who have bought it?

positron

Also I wonder how does the G3 compare against the old favourite Huawei Ascend G300? Can't find many direction comparisons online.

Thargor

512 RAM instead of a gig, half the storage, smaller screen that reviewers say is only okay (crap resolution aswell) compared to the big 4.5" screen that always get praised on the G3, tiny battery and a 5MP instead of 8 camera aswell.

Most important though is its a ugly looking cheap plastic phone compared to the sleek metallic looking G3.

nw1dqsv7amx026

positron wrote: »

Also I wonder how does the G3 compare against the old favourite Huawei Ascend G300? Can't find many direction comparisons online.

I haven't seen the Jiayu G3 but the G2 is far superior to the Ascend from every point of view, spec, performance, look and build. The G2 comes with gorilla glass and dual core now. But to be fair to the Ascend G300, it has been out a while. There are far better Huaweis out there now but G300 does not compare to either G2 or G3. If you want slim, the UMI X1 has the same spec as the g3 but is really thin and to me looks better. Of course the battery is much smaller so that's the price.
Most of these phones are well supported for rooting, and upgrading to jelly bean. Has jellybean been released by Samsung for the S2 yet?

positron

Yep, I was close to ordering a G3 an hour ago, but debating between G3 and UMi X1 now, I think I'll sleep over it and decide tomorrow. (Thanks to Google for cancelling my Nexus 4 order )

Thargor

Id say go for the best battery you can and still expect to be disappointed tbh. 1750 mA on the X1 vs 2670 mA on the G3.

No phone mentioned here will beat the Nexus 4 by the way, not a hope.

Dan_Solo

Not sure if I'm ready for a 4.5 inch phone. I'm a jeans pocket type. The Umi's battery looks like the killer for me. Very poor. "Scratch proof" doesn't stop it shattering either! The problem I have is even if there's a new batch of G2S with the kinks ironed out, you never really know if you're going to get one of them when you order, do you.

Dan_Solo

Dan_Solo wrote: »

Not sure if I'm ready for a 4.5 inch phone. I'm a jeans pocket type.

My 7 inch tablet fits in my jeans pocket so don't let that put you off!

Dan_Solo

Gah, there was some dust between the LCD and digitizer on my N97 mini and, when I took it off, I was so intent on keeping the digitizer's cable in the socket I managed to snap the other end off! While I'm waiting for a new one (which will be it's second replacement, last one due to scratches), I think I might upgrade...
So, I guess my choices here are:

Huawei G300 from Vodafone = €150
Jiayu G2 Dual Core 1Gb +32Gb card €138 + 21% = €167
Jiayu G2S Dual Core 1Gb +32Gb card €165 + 21% = €199

If I could be certain the G2S had that mentioned screen problem ironed out, it'd be straight in there as a Retina IPS for €200!

vin33

Dan_Solo wrote: »

Nomoret sure if I'm ready for a 4.5 inchI phone. I'm a jeans pocket type. The Umi's battery looks like the killer for me. Very poor. "Scratch proof" doesn't stop it shattering either! The problem I have is even if there's a new batch of G2S with the kinks ironed out, you never really know if you're going to get one of them when you order, do you.

I have the UMI X1 which I rooted and upgraded to jellybean. The phone looks great, better than the s2. it's fast and the battery lasts all day. The screen is good and hasn't scratched after 1 month use. I did have to make a system change to get deep sleep. The phone does not feel too big in hand or pocket.
The build quality is not as.good as a Samsung. The back cover is not a great fit. I have 2 white dots on the screen but you only see them with a white background. This is a known problem with Ips screens and could happen to an Apple. Also there is an issue with earlier versions and GPS but that can easily be fixed with a tiny modification.
I also had the Jiayu G2 which is a great build but not as good looking.
If you want slim and good looking go for UMI, if you want solid and chunky go for the Jiayu.

I will keep the Uni for a few more months then go for whatever is new then.

Dan_Solo

vin33 wrote: »

I have the UMI X1 which I rooted and upgraded to jellybean. The phone looks great, better than the s2. it's fast and the battery lasts all day. The screen is good and hasn't scratched after 1 month use. I did have to make a system change to get deep sleep. The phone does not feel too big in hand or pocket.

That's interesting, because I can't find anywhere about the Umi's screen, while the G2 is often listed as "gorilla glass" (whether that's true or not). The Umi is a beautiful phone alright...

vin33

Dan_Solo wrote: »

That's interesting, because I can't find anywhere about the Umi's screen, while the G2 is often listed as "gorilla glass" (whether that's true or not). The Umi is a beautiful phone alright...

Try gizchina for reviews and specs. As far as I recall its not Corning gorilla glass but their Japanese competition, I don't remember the brand. Whereas Jiayu use corning both for the g3 and the dual core g2. Standard g2 does not have gorilla glass. Either way Umi screen doesn't scratch.
It's very well supported, see xda-developers. I have already installed 2 different ROMs both on jellybean which is very fast and I'm happy with battery performance. But I use only one sim and don't play games. As I said the GPS does not work without a modification which I have not done as it will invalidate warranty. Some have got gps working with config changes.

I hear that the g3 battery performance is not great considering the size of it but I assume that has to be s/w related. I do like the look of the g3 and I may still buy the g3. It reminds me of HTC phones.

The main two points with Chinese phones, choose brand carefully and if you have issues which require warranty it's a long way to China. But one third the price for the same specs probably made in the same factories as the premium brands.

vin33

Dan_Solo wrote: »

That's interesting, because I can't find anywhere about the Umi's screen, while the G2 is often listed as "gorilla glass" (whether that's true or not). The Umi is a beautiful phone alright...

Japan AGC tempered glass versus Corning Gorilla glass.

Dan_Solo

I'm probably still leaning more G2/G2S than Umi X1/G3 to be honest. I'm coming from an old phone with a 3.2 inch screen. I'll be easily impressed.
I don't mind the G2 being a little bit fatter, as at least some of that volume seems to have gone into the battery.
Has anyone here got a G2S on order? I'd wait for a few reviews to help me decide if anybody's waiting on one.

Stormington

Huawei G300 from Vodafone = €150
Jiayu G2 Dual Core 1Gb +32Gb card €138 + 21% = €167
Jiayu G2S Dual Core 1Gb +32Gb card €165 + 21% = €199

I'm in the hunt for a phone in around the same bracket myself. I was going to buy one a few weeks ago but the missus got herself a free Android via Cherry Points so I took the opportunity to mess around and get familiar with it.

I've narrowed it down to the Huawei G330 from Meteor (same price as Vodafone but Dual core with a Facing camera for Skype too), the Alcatel 997D (200 squid from Germany or the UK) and the G2S. There are pros and cons for all (not least of which is the G330's 512 mb of Ram compared to the other's 1 gb) but I'm tempted by the Huawei solely on the basis of being able to return it to a retailer here if anything goes wrong with it. I take it that would be a moot point if I decide to root the phone, yes?

At least when I order from the EU I'm covered under distance selling regulations whereas if I get a phone from China I might be left on my own or waiting a very long time for a repair. Anyone know if Huawei have plans for a cheap Dual Core 1 gb Ram phone later this year?

Thargor

At least 1 GB or RAM required these days imo, 512 doesnt cut it anymore.

vin33

Dan_Solo wrote: »

I don't mind the G2 being a little bit fatter, as at least some of that volume seems to have gone into the battery.

I know that the G2 battery performance is really good with lots of usage ie games etc. My daughter is using it mostly for games & music.
I assume the G2S will be just as good although I hear the G3 has issues with battery leakage. See threads on xda-developers.

Personally I would go for G3 over G2S. I had planned to buy the G3 but got impatient and bought the UMI. Although both might seem chunky after having the UMI.

Thargor

G3 has power drain issues in the ICS stock rom only, move to Jellybean and its fixed apparently, will be testing in a week or 2.

Thargor

Bidiots I keep forgetting to ask, what is the FM Radio feature like on these? Is it an actual piece of the phones hardware or just some sh1tty radio streaming app?

Dan_Solo

Thargor wrote: »

Bidiots I keep forgetting to ask, what is the FM Radio feature like on these? Is it an actual piece of the phones hardware or just some sh1tty radio streaming app?

If it's FM then it has to be an FM antenna, separate from the internet connection I would've thought.

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

vin33

Thargor wrote: »

G3 has power drain issues in the ICS stock rom only, move to Jellybean and its fixed apparently, will be testing in a week or 2.

UMI X1 was the same with battery leakage with ICS and first jellybean rom
plus it needed an update to /system/build.prop to enable deep sleep.

Also bugs with SIMs swapped on first jellybean.

vin33

Dan_Solo wrote: »

If it's FM then it has to be an FM antenna, separate from the internet connection I would've thought.

I had never used the FM radio before but just tried it on UMI X1 and its fine.
I assume the Jiaju's would be the same. Certainly I've never heard of an issue.

positron

Okay, I've ordered a black G3 with mixeshop as well, delivery with DHL.

1 of. JIAYU JY-G3 MTK6577 Dual Core 4.5 Inch Gorilla Glass IPS 1280 x 720 Pixels Retina Screen 1G RAM Android 4.0 3G GPS WiFi Smart Phone

Accessories: Screen protector
SD card: 32GB
Accessories: Seat charger
Colour: Black

Sub-Total : US$213.00
DHL 3-5days: US$26.84
paypal fee: US$8.52

Grand Total : US$248.36 approximately €187

Fingers crossed it comes quickly and lives up to my expectations..!

Thargor

Here's hoping we're not disappointed alright, if this works out I could see myself sticking to the best of the Chinese generics every year or two from now on and never buying Samsung again, Id love a decent 5 inch screen without having to spend 600 on a note 2.