Chinese Android Phones

corwill · 11-05-2015 09:40PM

90sBla wrote: »

"The smartphone however features a smaller 5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display than the ZTE Nubia Z9 Max. It sports Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection and offers a pixel density of 441ppi. The handset is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (quad-core 1.5GHz + quad-core 1GHz) processor coupled with 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM" taken from press release .:cool:

It's a lot of phone for the money. I've been looking for something for the War Department to replace her Moto G with a 5" screen and a good camera, looks like I've found it!

Hayezer · 11-05-2015 10:33PM

Thinking of picking up IUNI U2, anybody have any experience with this phone? Seems like one of the best sub 5 inch screens which is what I'm looking for!

http://www.pandawill.com/iuni-u2-smartphone-3gb-32gb-47-inch-sharp-fhd-screen-quad-core-22ghz-160mp-green-p94945.html

90sBla · 12-05-2015 12:10AM

corwill wrote: »

It's a lot of phone for the money. I've been looking for something for the War Department to replace her Moto G with a 5" screen and a good camera, looks like I've found it!

Ordered mine today, coming via DHL, will throw up a quick review !

90sBla · 12-05-2015 12:13AM

Hayezer wrote: »

Thinking of picking up IUNI U2, anybody have any experience with this phone? Seems like one of the best sub 5 inch screens which is what I'm looking for!

http://www.pandawill.com/iuni-u2-smartphone-3gb-32gb-47-inch-sharp-fhd-screen-quad-core-22ghz-160mp-green-p94945.html

friend of mine has that one. Make sure to ask the seller can they install the playstore on it before you buy. He ended up just installing stock vanilla kitkat on it in the end and it fixed pretty much every single problem the phone had.

Ardennes1944 · 12-05-2015 09:38AM

If anyone sees the White z9 mini in stock for close to the price from Aliexpress above let me know please

spix · 12-05-2015 10:13AM

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

If anyone sees the White z9 mini in stock for close to the price from Aliexpress above let me know please

It's not even released in China yet

Ardennes1944 · 12-05-2015 11:26AM

The white version? Really??

Hayezer · 12-05-2015 01:05PM

90sBla wrote: »

friend of mine has that one. Make sure to ask the seller can they install the playstore on it before you buy. He ended up just installing stock vanilla kitkat on it in the end and it fixed pretty much every single problem the phone had.

Asked the people on Pandawill could the Playstore be installed and they said they can't and the phone doesn't support it! Do you think I'd be better off going down Aliexpress route?

dubby1978 · 12-05-2015 05:05PM

Anyone have the Redmi 1s? Still worth it for around €100? Any issues with it at all? Mother needs a new phone.

90sBla · 12-05-2015 11:09PM

Hayezer wrote: »

Asked the people on Pandawill could the Playstore be installed and they said they can't and the phone doesn't support it! Do you think I'd be better off going down Aliexpress route?

I'd go with something else to be honest as you'll have to do a lot of messing about with the u2 to make it work the way you want it to. in the current state they sell it, it has heating problems and touch responsiveness problems.

it may be a 4.7 inch screen but the dimensions still make it close enough to some of the 5inch phones so you'd be just as well heading for one of those with a larger battery, newer processor , regular updates etc.

Just look for something with a battery above 2500mah, 2gb ram, if you want gps almost as good as the snapdragon processors, aim for the mtk 6752, 32,33 and personally i'd avoid elephone due to their horrible software and interpolated cameras. Maybe they've gotten better but I still wouldn't bother. mlais m52 would be the best value if you don't mind screens of 5.5 inch. My friend has that and I must say it's class! I'm awaiting on a nubia z9 mini from dhl

Phibsboro · 13-05-2015 11:25AM

90sBla wrote: »

mlais m52 would be the best value if you don't mind screens of 5.5 inch. My friend has that and I must say it's class! I'm awaiting on a nubia z9 mini from dhl

After weeks of lurking here I finally decided I couldn't decide on a high end phone and ordered the M52 as a standby to get me through to 2016. Ordered it from the site that is banned for shilling in Bargain Alerts (not sure I can mention the site here!). Found a code (GBM52 I think i used) that brought it down to $133 then they had a sale on expedited shipping so all in $144 (€128) and should have it next week hopefully. Will presumably get hit for customs on that.

RossieMan · 13-05-2015 11:29AM

with chinese phones, you really do get what you pay for.
these cheap octa core phones can't be decent, can they?

Phibsboro · 13-05-2015 11:38AM

RossieMan wrote: »

with chinese phones, you really do get what you pay for.
these cheap octa core phones can't be decent, can they?

With the M52 for example, it is butt ugly, wide bezels, 720p and presumably a mediocre camera. And the bloody menu key is actually for the menu instead of recents, even with the lollipop update. So those are the downsides. But it has a great little processor, 2GB of ram, takes an SD Card, replaceable battery, has an official lollipop update out alreadyand is generally well liked by users online.

So its horses for courses really - I'd love an S6 edge for example, but really can't justify to myself spending €700+ on something I might drop or leave behind me in a pub. The sweet spot is something like the 1+1 at around the 350 mark, but I just couldn't make my mind up this time. Talk of the a new LG built Nexus 5 and the 1+2 both due before end of year caused me to try out a cheap and cheerful option and the M52 looks like the best of those...

RossieMan · 13-05-2015 11:52AM

Great reasons really. The downsides of that phone really rules it out for me.
With Chinese phones, i'd be really looking at community development before i'd buy again.
Some brands are truly terrible for updates and you end up with a half working phone.

Its great to see some of the phones coming out though, some serious quality out there.
Just waiting for the wages to come in and i'll be jumping on something new.

90sBla · 13-05-2015 12:43PM

RossieMan wrote: »

with chinese phones, you really do get what you pay for.
these cheap octa core phones can't be decent, can they?

It all depends on the maker and amount of ram vs screen resolution and the type of octacore etc. This is my second one in 2 years. I would never ever go back to buying normal phones. If you find the right ones, they're miles above and you save literally hundreds vs buying in shop at a ridiculously inflated price.

dubby1978 · 13-05-2015 01:30PM

RossieMan wrote: »

Great reasons really. The downsides of that phone really rules it out for me.
With Chinese phones, i'd be really looking at community development before i'd buy again.
Some brands are truly terrible for updates and you end up with a half working phone.

Its great to see some of the phones coming out though, some serious quality out there.
Just waiting for the wages to come in and i'll be jumping on something new.

The only phone brand I would chance importing from China would be Xiaomi because of the huge community of fellow owners. Any other Chinese phone brand is a no-go for me personally.

Do-more · 14-05-2015 09:12AM

Dropped my 1st. Gen Moto G during the week and smashed the screen so I need to get a new phone ASAP.

Would like to get something with a 5"-5.5" screen preferably 1080P but not essential.

4G LTE is a must.

Normally put my phone on charge overnight so battery life should be OK but doesn't need to be the very best.

Camera should be fairly decent, Moto G has been useless. Video rarely used.

A reliable alarm is essential as I get up for work at 3.40am during the week. The Moto G let me down a few weeks back by changing its time zone to the Midway islands for no apparent reason, been setting two alarm clocks ever since which is a bit of a pain.

Was all set to get a One Plus One but they seem to be having their fair share of problems lately. lack of sd card slot is also a bummer.

Elephone P7000 seems like a prospect but too new to get any user feedback.

Asus Zenfone 2 also is a bit new and has its share of teething problems from reading its thread on here.

One Plus 64 Gb and Asus are right at the top of my budget if not slightly over, would prefer to keep it under €300 and closer to €200 if possible.

Given that I would like to get it quickly, buying from a European warehouse would be attractive.

Have seen the ECOO E04 EU stock for $230 delivered but it is not a very well know quantity.

Can anyone please recommend a phone for me?

jacksie66 · 14-05-2015 09:14AM

This post has been deleted.

Wang King · 14-05-2015 09:17AM

jacksie66 wrote: »

Oneplus one. You can't really go wrong..

Too pricy for some at €365

eamonnq · 14-05-2015 09:37AM

Do-more wrote: »

Given that I would like to get it quickly, buying from a European warehouse would be attractive.

Have seen the ECOO E04 EU stock for $230 delivered but it is not a very well know quantity.

Can anyone please recommend a phone for me?

Their quick delivery 2-5 days needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Have a TCL M2U that I think is an excellent phone, and have to get another couple of them too.

horse7 · 14-05-2015 09:44AM

I can't fault the jaiyu s3 3gb, I bought mine from China jaiyu shop,but there is a jaiyu shop in Germany for quicker post,see jaiyu.de.

Phibsboro · 14-05-2015 10:14AM

Do-more wrote: »

Have seen the ECOO E04 EU stock for $230 delivered but it is not a very well know quantity.

Can anyone please recommend a phone for me?

I was literally just about to press the button on this one in my recent search for a cheap stopgap phone that I needed quickly, but the fact I could only get it in white from coolicool EU stopped me - the blue looks lovely and the white looks dreadful in my opinion

So basically I would say go for it if you are ok with white, I spent weeks comparing models etc and that one seemed like a winner in the 1080p/lollipop/2gb sector. One thing is that if you thought the Moto G cam was not good, you are unlikely to like any of these cheap phones, the one consistent thing about them appears to be that the cam is mediocre. If cam is a big issue, you might consider going last gen flagship, though that would up the price (or try the Nubia model mentioned earlier in the thread, again expensive enough though)

eamonnq · 14-05-2015 10:37AM

Phibsboro wrote: »

the one consistent thing about them appears to be that the cam is mediocre. If cam is a big issue, you might consider going last gen flagship, though that would up the price (or try the Nubia model mentioned earlier in the thread, again expensive enough though)

Some of the phones use the Sony sensors on their cameras, the TCL M2U has the IMX214, the THL2015 uses the IMX135.

Phibsboro · 14-05-2015 12:24PM

eamonnq wrote: »

Some of the phones use the Sony sensors on their cameras, the TCL M2U has the IMX214, the THL2015 uses the IMX135.

IF you read around the reviews, the sensor doesn't seem to definitely equate to a good cam experience. It looks like there are a few reasons for this:

1. The manufacturer is lying about the part. This has been relatively common in the past but a couple of big name exposes over the last while has hopefully reduced the likelihood of this.

2. The hardware is only as good as the software that drives it - there are numerous examples of high end phones whose cam experience has nosedived when users have installed custom ROMs. The Samsungs of this world are investing heavily in software to maximise the cams in their phones.

3. The sensor is only one part of the hardward - in particular the lens is a separate part again and an area where the cheaper phones tend to skimp.

eamonnq · 14-05-2015 12:38PM

Phibsboro wrote: »

IF you read around the reviews, the sensor doesn't seem to definitely equate to a good cam experience.

I have a TCL M2U at the moment and am very happy with the camera on it.

tadcan · 14-05-2015 12:40PM

Another option would be a second hand nexus 5 on ebay. Not 5.5, but meets the other requirements. It's still a decent phone and gets regular updates.

handofdog · 14-05-2015 02:23PM

fixxxer wrote: »

I installed MIUI from here:
http://www.needrom.com/category/umi/umi-zero/

I see there is a lollipop update now, but as my wife is happy with how the phone is running, she won't let me tinker further with it

Just curious - can you run XBMC (or Kodi, TVMC, SPMC etc.) using MIUI on the Umi Zero?

I have a Umi Zero with stock 3.06 and none of the XBMC apps will allow user input. I think this is an issue with the firmware but I'm wary of flashing without knowing if a different firmware will work.

Thanks in advance

Hayezer · 14-05-2015 06:52PM

Just made an order on Aliexpress and I dunno what I did but it seems like I ordered double as the phone and case are in 'My Orders' twice. Thankfully I was able to cancel the ones that said "Awaiting payment" and it says the payment is being verified for the other two.

This happen to anyone else?

Muahahaha · 14-05-2015 11:20PM

Found the Xiaomi Redmi Note from this ebay seller at a pretty decent price of £110 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-8GB-5-5-inch-4G-MIUI-V5-MSM8928-Quad-Core-1-6GHz-White-Phone-/351367524490?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item51cf22f08a Just wanna make sure this will be compatible with Irish networks? Also do they typically come loaded with the Google Play store or would I have to do something myself?

Digital Solitude · 14-05-2015 11:23PM

Muahahaha wrote: »

Found the Xiaomi Redmi Note from this ebay seller at a pretty decent price of £110 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-8GB-5-5-inch-4G-MIUI-V5-MSM8928-Quad-Core-1-6GHz-White-Phone-/351367524490?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item51cf22f08a Just wanna make sure this will be compatible with Irish networks? Also do they typically come loaded with the Google Play store or would I have to do something myself?

Should be grand on the network. Xiaomis don't come with Play Store but its easy to install

Chinese Android Phones

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