Chinese Android Phones 3 - Read First Post!

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122817287#Comment_122817287

£269 now 😡

Nollog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122819734#Comment_122819734

They sold out of the 256gb, only 512 left.

GIMP

Two handsets I have my eye on are the Redmi Note 14 pro+ and the Xiaomi K80 pro, decent specs and hopefully a global release end of year or early 2025, pricing not confirmed obviously

Iseedeadpixels

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122821481#Comment_122821481

I can see 1 of the 256 if you wanna grab it quick

shmeee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122819734#Comment_122819734

Still showing as €227, but note delivery is down for 11th December.

jj880

https://amzn.eu/d/0eO32ba

Showing at £184.99 for me. Great spec for the money according to posters on hotukdeals.

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122817287#Comment_122817287

revolut were making a few quid on that exchange or was the euro having a bad day?

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122836944#Comment_122836944

Exchange rate wasnt great that day I think. Maybe around £1 = 1.21 euro in the revolut app when checked. Revolut are usually good for rates if you dont exchange at the weekend.

thesandeman

LONG POST INCOMING!!

I can confirm that the Redmi Note 13 from Tesco is UNLOCKED. I'm making my first post from it now using my 3 SIM.

It says on the box that it's locked to Tesco but I decided to investigate further. I asked the staff and they didn't know so they called the manager. She immediately said it was locked so I asked her how could I use it from abroad if it was locked without paying roaming charges as Tesco aren't in a lot of countries so I would need a local SIM.

That got her thinking and she said that makes sense but she had never been asked that question before. She rang somebody in head office and after a few minutes of discussion came back and said the person there had thought about it and were 99% sure it probably is unlocked for that reason. She told me I could buy it and check it out and if it wouldn't work with my SIM she would authorise a return even if I had opened it.

I agreed and it's working perfectly.

NOTE: The phone comes with a Tesco SIM already in it. I removed it and put in my 3 SIM BEFORE I powered up the phone as I've a feeling it might lock to the first one it reads. I'd suggest not powering it up with the Tesco one in it just in case.

Anyway I'm off to the pub now to play with it.

Now, a couple of questions for anyone who's already got one.

It's supposed to be dual SIM but I can only find one drawer and that only takes one card as far as I can make out. Where's the second one?🤔.

What's 4G+? That never showed up on my old phone.

Any suggestions where I can get a cheap wallet case for it? It comes with a rubber case but I prefer the wallet so I can put cards and stuff in it.

It's really fast charging btw. It's jumped 14% while I've been typing this post.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122843062#Comment_122843062

I think the phone supports esim, so that'd be the second sim.

4g+ is a faster 4g essentially. It sits between 4g and 5g (also called LTE Advanced).

GBX

Could be double sided sim slot?

POBox19

Great news that it's unlocked.

Get a wallet on Temu or Ali Express for €5 or €6.

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122843062#Comment_122843062

If you go in to Settings and select Mobile Networks it should have SIM 1 and SIM 2 if the phone is dual SIM. I believe some models have the dual SIM coded out of them as requested by the network provider to limit you putting in SIMs from other networks.

thesandeman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122843255#Comment_122843255

I don't think so. I'll take it out again later.

thesandeman

I'll have to Google the esim. I've heard something about them before.

thesandeman

No, it's got the two SIMs in the settings. I'm not pushed about it anyway, just curious.

thesandeman

Also, anyone know how to get rid of the floating notification thingy at the side? I can't find anything in settings so far.

GBX

Looks like some sort of accessibility shortcut. Check settings again

Iseedeadpixels

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122843372#Comment_122843372

Try long pressing it see if any options pop up.

thesandeman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122843810#Comment_122843810

I tried that. It just zooms the page by about x20 and an orange band goes around the whole screen. It doesn't seem to serve any purpose. It won't let me screenshot while it's like that and the only way to reduce it seems to be to close the phone and then open it again.

I'll do some proper study even I get home.

CoBo55

Tesco use the 3 network don't they? Pity you didn't try a SIM card from Eir or VF to see if it's completely unlocked.

thesandeman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122843998#Comment_122843998

I wouldn't even dream of it. I'm on a legacy plan with 3 which I've no intention of ever giving up. I get as much free stuff as I want and charities get all my left over credit every month.

I reckon it should still work with those once you take out the Tesco SIM before powering up.

Nollog

Any good phones on prime day?

I saw the Xiaomi note 13 4g for 112 pounds, seems a decent phone (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CNKGWRTN)

thesandeman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122868327#Comment_122868327

For the sake of 3 or 4 Euro you're probably as well off getting it from Tesco.

Muahahaha

Thinking of getting a new phone. Bought a Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 around about this time last year and it hasnt been great for me. Battery degraded about the 6 month mark and it could barely get through a day of light use (texting and maybe 3 hours of playing music) without being at 15% by midnight. Scrolling the screens was also clunky at times. Surprised me as I had the Redmi Note 10 before it and loved that phone and its battery was excellent, lasted me near on two days a lot of the time.

Anyway looking for recommendation on some models I should look out for that have decent battery life. Hoping to get a Black Friday deal for about €150 so maybe something that is normally priced about €200 or so.

CoBo55

Any recommendations for a replacement for my OnePlus 9? Battery life is starting to take a dip unfortunately.

are you serious

Upgrading from Realme Gt2 pro.

I have this about a year ,always had to put up with overheating, awful battery life.

Before I had this I had Realme 6 pro.which had a great battery life for almost 3 years.

Looking for recommendations, spending up to 400.

Battery life, performance and camera all top my list

GIMP

The Redmi Note 14 pro and pro plus are due to be released in Jan/Feb, look up the specs,

Andrea B.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122843062#Comment_122843062

Hi,

On lookout to upgraded from my Redmi Note 10 5G. (Little workhorse).

If you get chance, how has your 13 performed to date?

thesandeman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123008186#Comment_123008186

Hiya.

Very good so far. Very fast (except for Boards because of the jumping pages). My last couple of phones were Redmis as well so navigation is simple. WiFi, Bluetooth and Hotspot work immediately. Good sound from the speakers the couple of times I've used them. It fully charges in less than 40 minutes.

I've only used the camera for point and shoot and pics are fine but there's loads of extra settings.

It even upgraded itself to Android 15 last week.

It's only 4G+ but that doesn't affect me as 5G is patchy around here anyway.

Only downside is some notifications don't come through while the phone is sleeping but that was the same with my last phone and apparently is a thing with Redmi phones in general.

I'd give it 8/10 overall so far anyway.

It's better than €140 worth. Not sure if Tesco are still doing the deal though?