Chinese Android Phones 2 - Read First Post!

sydthebeat · 06-06-2017 11:10PM

anyone any comments on the Vernee Apollo Lite 4G+ Phablet ??

has the necessary LTE 4g bands for meteor, good price, good camera.. metal build...

fixXxer · 07-06-2017 08:03AM

Redmi Note 4 arrived yesterday morning after ordering on Friday Morning. Everything working out of the box, no needing to add play services myself. There was an update to MIUI 8.2 ready as well, so I must look in to that to see what's changed as I'll be the one providing technical support on this thing. The black model is pretty nice actually. Sleek. The back reminds me a little of the HTC One M8 from a few years back, but not as slippy.

CiDeRmAn · 07-06-2017 08:39AM

I'm due an upgrade.
After an eventful journey of brand phones, S6Edge, Chinese brand phones, Elephone, and Nexus, 6 and now 6p, I'm on the lookout for a decent replacement.
The media are trumpeting as loudly as possible about the S8 but I just can't bring myself to invest in one, I never liked the UI and who wants the the same phone as everyone else?
There's a great deal there for the Huawei Mate 9, which really pushes my buttons.
The P10 plus looks great too, but I think the the Mate 9 is better.
My biggest issue is I really love the basic vanilla Android experience, it's what I love about the Nexus range.
And the UI on the Huawei has me concerned.
Any opinions?

fixXxer · 07-06-2017 08:47AM

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I'm due an upgrade.
After an eventful journey of brand phones, S6Edge, Chinese brand phones, Elephone, and Nexus, 6 and now 6p, I'm on the lookout for a decent replacement.
The media are trumpeting as loudly as possible about the S8 but I just can't bring myself to invest in one, I never liked the UI and who wants the the same phone as everyone else?
There's a great deal there for the Huawei Mate 9, which really pushes my buttons.
The P10 plus looks great too, but I think the the Mate 9 is better.
My biggest issue is I really love the basic vanilla Android experience, it's what I love about the Nexus range.
And the UI on the Huawei has me concerned.
Any opinions?

What's your price range? Motorola and Nokia are the only non nexus phones I can think of that offer stock android. A oneplus 3/3T/5 runs Oxygen OS which is pretty close to stock.

CiDeRmAn · 07-06-2017 10:08AM

Thought about it.
Not in the position to make a big spend on a handset.
I've a new contract period beckoning, and Huawei have some nice devices.
I loved my MotoG a couple of years ago too.
Please
Do Huawei have anything else on the horizon I wonder?

fixXxer · 07-06-2017 10:33AM

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Thought about it.
Not in the position to make a big spend on a handset.
I've a new contract period beckoning, and Huawei have some nice devices.
I loved my MotoG a couple of years ago too.
Please
Do Huawei have anything else on the horizon I wonder?

The P10 Plus? They won't release any big name phones until next year as the P10 is only just out. The P9 is a year old but got good reviews at the time. Went looking for one myself on Meteor PAYG but couldn't find one anywhere.

CiDeRmAn · 07-06-2017 11:09AM

fixxxer wrote: »

The P10 Plus? They won't release any big name phones until next year as the P10 is only just out. The P9 is a year old but got good reviews at the time. Went looking for one myself on Meteor PAYG but couldn't find one anywhere.

I'm on three and they have them at the same price point as the S8

Berberis · 07-06-2017 01:27PM

Hi sorry for ask ing a question that has probally been asked before. But I have searched this thread and google and am even more confused than before I started.
What is the difference between International and Global versions of phones. Is it just that the gobal can be used straight from the box and the international does not have Ireland as a region
Which version is the best to go for

RossieMan · 07-06-2017 01:35PM

It's to do with different bands the phone supports. Always check to make sure they support the band's here, band 20 is the major one missing from some phones.

ED E · 07-06-2017 02:14PM

RossieMan wrote: »

It's to do with different bands the phone supports. Always check to make sure they support the band's here, band 20 is the major one missing from some phones.

Half right.

International, China, US - Bands, the frequencies the phone uses

Global - Global ROM, a english variant of chinese software.

Berberis · 07-06-2017 02:33PM

Right changed my mind again and think I will go for this one from gearbest.
Xiaomi Redmi 4X 4G Smartphone - GLOBAL VERSION 3GB RAM 32GB ROM BLACK
Comes in at $132 us dollars (€118) after promo and expedited shipping 3 to 7 bussiness days and shipping insurance so with customs and handling should come to around €160.
Same phone on Honorbuy with delivery is €225

CatInABox · 07-06-2017 02:37PM

914 wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback catibthebox, you might keep us posted and how you progress with the phone and let us know what the camera and battery are like?

It's not scientific or anything, but I've been messing around with it all day, and the battery is currently on 75%, so I'm liking that a lot.

Camera is incredibly fast when taking pictures, I've taken loads in quick succession and it took every one.

In comparison to my previous Nexus 5X, it's been much better with the battery and camera speed so far.

I don't know enough about picture quality to tell you much really, they seem grand to me.

Another downside is the kinda funky fingerprint scanner. It's failure rate is much worse than the 5X, sometimes it takes 5 tries to get in. Not a problem if you're not going to use it, but it is frustrating of you are.

07-06-2017 03:07PM

CatInABox wrote: »

It's not scientific or anything, but I've been messing around with it all day, and the battery is currently on 75%, so I'm liking that a lot.

Camera is incredibly fast when taking pictures, I've taken loads in quick succession and it took every one.

In comparison to my previous Nexus 5X, it's been much better with the battery and camera speed so far.

I don't know enough about picture quality to tell you much really, they seem grand to me.

Another downside is the kinda funky fingerprint scanner. It's failure rate is much worse than the 5X, sometimes it takes 5 tries to get in. Not a problem if you're not going to use it, but it is frustrating of you are.

Ye I read in a few reviews about the dodgy finger print button, most likely it's something I would bother using.

Once the camera took nice looking pictures in bright and low light id be happy. Have a Sony phone at the moment at it suffers from flash bleed which is very annoying as it makes low light and night time pictures impossible

Scotty # · 07-06-2017 04:33PM

Berberis wrote: »

Right changed my mind again and think I will go for this one from gearbest.
Xiaomi Redmi 4X 4G Smartphone - GLOBAL VERSION 3GB RAM 32GB ROM BLACK
Comes in at $132 us dollars (€118) after promo and expedited shipping 3 to 7 bussiness days and shipping insurance so with customs and handling should come to around €160.
Same phone on Honorbuy with delivery is €225

They're not the same phone at all. Ones a Redmi 4x and the other is a Redmi Note 4x. The second one is also a higher spec.

fixXxer · 07-06-2017 05:17PM

Scotty # wrote: »

They're not the same phone at all. Ones a Redmi 4x and the other is a Redmi Note 4x. The second one is also a higher spec.

Also the honorbuy phone comes to €187.67 with shipping from the EU warehouse. There won't be any customs charges to pay on it so the price you see is the price you pay.

Berberis · 07-06-2017 05:59PM

Scotty # wrote: »

They're not the same phone at all. Ones a Redmi 4x and the other is a Redmi Note 4x. The second one is also a higher spec.

Also the honorbuy phone comes to â‚¬187.67 with shipping from the EU warehouse. There won't be any customs charges to pay on it so the price you see is the price you pay.

Thanks lads I was just about to order the first one from gearbest.
Never even noticed that the honorbuy one said Note 4x.
haven't a clue when it comes to phones My current phone is a windows lumina 625 which I've had for an age so I know nothing about Androids (or phones to be honest).

So to be sure then is the Note a phone (not a tablet). Just noticed that it does not have band 20.

Edit just seen the global version of the note does have band 20.
Ah decisions
Should I keep looking around

fixXxer · 07-06-2017 06:05PM

Berberis wrote: »

So to be sure then is the Note a phone (not a tablet). Just noticed that it does not have band 20.
Should I keep looking around

Note is the name they give to the 5.5 inch phones the regular Redmi phones tend to be 5.2 inches and a little lower spec. that's not always a bad things as it depends on what you use the phone for. If its only calls/sms/whatsapp/viber then there's no reason to pay more.

No band 20 means you will have less 4G coverage outside of major population centres. Again, how you want to use your phone will tell you if that's a problem or not.

Berberis · 07-06-2017 06:15PM

fixxxer wrote: »

Note is the name they give to the 5.5 inch phones the regular Redmi phones tend to be 5.2 inches and a little lower spec. that's not always a bad things as it depends on what you use the phone for. If its only calls/sms/whatsapp/viber then there's no reason to pay more.

No band 20 means you will have less 4G coverage outside of major population centres. Again, how you want to use your phone will tell you if that's a problem or not.

Cheers fixxxer,
I usuall only use it for emails,calls/sms/whatsapp/ etc but would like to broaden my use/knowlegde of phones, so the slightly bigger screen and 4g would be nice to have. Also it might make my 17yr old a bit envious as apparently I will be buying a pig in a poke from china.
Reading the description of the note further dowm it mentions things lie flashing to make it a note 4x but theres a link for more info an it brings me to the international version for â‚¬9 more.

If I buy that one would it mean I could just use it out of the box and not have to worry abot having to flash or download stuff which I haven't a clue about.
Cheers

X6.430macman · 07-06-2017 06:21PM

Is it international or global Rom id be looking at if I want 4g but after reading last few pages im all confused again...

fixXxer · 07-06-2017 06:21PM

Berberis wrote: »

Cheers fixxer,
I usuall only use it for emails,calls/sms/whatsapp/ etc but would like to broaden my use/knowlegde of phones, so the slightly bigger screen and 4g would be nice to have. Also it might make my 17yr old a bit envious as apparently I will be buying a pig in a poke from china.
Reading the description of the note further dowm it mentions things lie flashing to make it a note 4x but theres a link for more info an it brings me to the international version for €9 more.

If I buy that one would it mean I could just use it out of the box and not have to worry abot having to flash or download stuff which I haven't a clue about.
Cheers

The one you linked is the one I got for my wife and it works straight out of the box, no flashing needed. It also gets updates no problem which Xiaomi put out fairly frequently.

For the money I would say its easily better than anything you would find here unless you go on a long contract.

fixXxer · 07-06-2017 06:25PM

X6.430macman wrote: »

Is it international or global Rom id be looking at if I want 4g but after reading last few pages im all confused again...

Its the hardware, not the software that means you can use 4G.

Have a look here http://willmyphonework.net/

Berberis · 07-06-2017 06:39PM

Cheers the international version it is so.
Thanks everyone for their help over last couple of days,

X6.430macman · 07-06-2017 07:13PM

fixxxer wrote:

Its the hardware, not the software that means you can use 4G.

Thanks a mill..that helps

Berberis · 07-06-2017 10:17PM

Changed my mind again. Thought the note would be too big fto carry around in my pocket so I ordered the
Xiaomi Redmi 4X Prime International Version 3GB 32GB Black
with a Tempered Glass Screen Protector, a Ultra-Thin TPU Gel Rubber Soft Skin Case Cover and a Flip Leather Case.
Total all in and delivery was $196 around €180.
Hopefully I'll be learning all about these android phones by middle of next week

:):):)

beans · 08-06-2017 11:43AM

'Tis a grand aul phone

BobPresto · 08-06-2017 11:48AM

Ignore. Didn't check the delivery price:o

RossieMan · 08-06-2017 12:50PM

Ordered a xiaomi note 4 4gb version yesterday. Had a note 2 for a course of years now, great phone but the battery has always been a pain in the arse. Paid 140 with free delivery. Customs possible but still worth it.

Scotty # · 08-06-2017 03:40PM

RossieMan wrote: »

Paid 140 with free delivery. Customs possible but still worth it.

Ordered my Redmi Note 4 last Friday night from Honorbuy and it arrived 9AM Tuesday morning with DHL. For €30 delivery with no chance of custom charges, I think it's well worth it.

RossieMan · 08-06-2017 04:16PM

But how much did you pay?

uck51js9zml2yt · 08-06-2017 09:27PM

My Xiaomi Note 4 arrived from geekbuying Spanish store a week after purchase.
On first use, its relatively smooth and Google play is installed.
The anatutu reading was about 75,000.

In all, it took me less than 20 minutes to get it set up and my apps reinstalled.

its comes with Miui 8.

Chinese Android Phones 2 - Read First Post!

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