Will I regret buying a chinese smartphone
I know I will lose 4g network in some area’s
google play is installed

I just want a phone that works
will I be constantly installing roms and flashing and whatnot (i am not really familiar with stuff like that but not afraid to follow online guides that are widely available)
or can they be set and forget and “normal” update every once in a while

thinking of buying a xiaoMi with MIUI 8

You might find it difficult to set up of it’s in Mandarin or Cantonese. All joking aside exploding batteries would be my main worry if it’s cheap

my boss managed to get some lemons, crap GPS chips etc. best to know what you are picking up.
Whats the price/spec difference to a decent motorola on raw android?

I’d be embarrassed to order one if it has English options 8)

lookin @ this one
so price about the same as a motorola g

xiaomi mi5

Some folk rave about them, certain brands at least.

You could get a Lenovo P2 for not much more from Three. It’ll be unlocked, but you need to buy £10 of top-up with it, I think. All in, you’ll be looking at around £210.

Xiaomi are a major manufacturer, they just don’t have much presence outside of China yet.

Bear in mind if you’re buying from a grey import site that any warranty issues will be a pain in the ass, otherwise I’d have no quality concerns about the phone.

I had a Huawei Honor 5, it was fine, apart from slightly spotty 4G in some areas. It didn’t work at all in the US which is why I ended up getting a Samsung phone, but if you just wanted a phone for general use in the UK it was fine.

It was incredibly tough – the number of times it dropped out of a pocket onto some rock-strewn bike trail and survived quite happily, it should have had some kind of award.

There’s always a small risk with phones sold out of their intended market, like crapware, problems with (or non-existent) OTA updates, language, Play store not working, banking apps won’t work if you have to root it etc, it all comes down to what you’re going to do with it and how cheap it is relative to something with (theoretically) better support.

Having said all that, have you seen this one from HUKD? Looks very good value if you can get it at £130, and it’s Lenovo who I believe make the current crop of Motorolas.

The mi5 is a beast, I’m looking to get one.

I had a Huawei honor note 8. I installed Google apk etc and loved it. Far better than the Samsung 7 edge I have now.

I’ve got a Cubot X17 which is similar; the main issue I’ve had with it is occasionally random incompatibility with some apps. I’d love it if google gave a reason as to why a particular app wasn’t compatible with a particular phone, as some of the apps that won’t work on mine – the amazon app store, tesco banking, a smattering of other apps and games I can’t remember – don’t really seem to have anything in common. It’s not rooted, similar things like other banking apps work, so I’ve no idea why…

I’ve got a mi5, i think it’s brilliant. When i turned mine in for the first time all of the setup menus were in English. I just set everything up like any other android phone.

The battery is really good. Went to put it on charge yesterday and had 74% battery left after a couple of phone calls, WhatsApp messages, browsing on here, checking Twitter etc.

The only bad thing about it is how slippy the back is. You’ll need a case or it will very slowly slide off any surface that’s not EXACTLY level.

Edit: the skin over android looks a lot like iOS, but I’ve used Nova launcher (you could also use the stock Google launcher) so the phone looks and feels like ‘normal’ android.

I had a Ulefone Power.

The phone itself was fine, missed some of the features of more refined Android phones but it all worked quickly enough and seemed well built.

Apart from the screen seemed to be made of the crappiest glass in the world. It scratched if you left it in your pocket with keys, and it smashed when dropped onto carpet! The manufacturer claimed it was gorilla glass, but it definitely wasn’t! I’m not particularly clumsy, but I smashed the screen twice in 4 months.

Sound quality was pretty poor too (cheap DAC?), I can’t really tell a difference between my galaxy and a CD player when plugged into the hi-fi, but this sounded like a tape deck in comparison.

Got a Mi 5s; hardware’s good, but Xiaomi haven’t released the kernel source code contrary to the GPL, so no independent ROMs.

Xiaomi’s MIUI ROM is a bit buggy and the software is full of ads.

The Mi 5 is probably a better bet if a CyanogenMod port is available.

Anyone bought any stuff from Gearbest?

As long as you don’t mind the People’s Republic Army monitoring everything you do…

http://thehackernews.com/2016/11/hacking-android-smartphone.html

Anyone bought any stuff from Gearbest?

Yep, a few times now. Like everywhere some stuff ships by airmail overnight, some stuff takes a month on a boat and some stuff is in EU warehouses.

As long as you don’t mind the People’s Republic Army monitoring everything you do…

I’m in the camp that would be amazed if the NSA and GCHQ didn’t already have access. And would be equally amazed if they had the resources to actually use it and monitor every phone. Safety in numbers.

I’m in the camp that would be amazed if the NSA and GCHQ didn’t already have access.

Currently they would have to target you specifically to access stuff on the phone (all your calls are skimmed automatically in the core in the UK/US).

3 x Chinese smartphones in our house.

I have a Blackview BV6000 , it’s a ‘tough’ smartphone 3gb ram 32gb ROM 8 core processor. I’ve had it since July last year and it’s a brilliant piece of kit, abit chunky but so far it’s been me proof.

Mrscarlos has a Vernee Thor 2gb ROM 16gb ram 4 core. Her opinion over the last 4 months is a bit mixed but overall it’s OK.

My eldest lad has an Umi diamond x , we can’t comment on it yet cos he only got it this morning for his 12th birthday but all the reviews I read before choosing it mentioned it was a lot of phone for under £100.

Both the wife’s an sons phones were bought from via Amazon from UK suppliers so circumventing grey import problems.

Huawei Honor 7 here, had it 18 months and it’s still excellent. Got it for £200, and now it’s significantly more expensive from any legitimate source. Very little bloatware and no ads.

Currently they would have to target you specifically to access stuff on the phone (all your calls are skimmed automatically in the core in the UK/US).

To know what they know you’d have to be them, and if you were them you’d not be allowed to tell us would you?

I can sleep quite happily knowing that every superpower between Canberra and Washington (the long way around) knows my porn habits, because unlike the oft trotted “nothing to hide, nothing to fear” line, becasue I’d rather that information not be public, I just don’t see what value the personal information of 7 billion people has to the security services, they know the processing power would be better directed elsewhere, so I’m fairly sure there isn’t someone at GCHQ sat monitoring my webcam.

The only bad thing about it is how slippy the back is.

Off topic, but my work phone is a Nokia 640 Windows Phone. Both the case and glass are made of the slippiest materials imaginable, it’s like trying to make a phone call on a lightly oiled otter.

The only bad thing about it is how slippy the back is.

My Honor 8 is like this. I’m convinced it’s made from wet soap.

Apart from the screen seemed to be made of the crappiest glass in the world

Really? I’ve had two of that same model and despite daily use and no case there isn’t a mark on either screen.

I think people are crazy if they don’t buy a cheap phone from China. Well, not really but on balance it’s a no brainer for me personally.

Cougar – Moderator

……………..it’s like trying to make a phone call on a lightly oiled otter.

…and you’d know this how, exactly……? 😆

my work phone is a Nokia 640 Windows Phone. Both the case and glass are made of the slippiest materials imaginable

not limited to the 640, the 930 suffers similarly, but also manages to add in the most uncomfortable corners imaginable.

Aren’t they all Chinese?

or has Apple bought a special bit of China to make their phones which makes them less Chinese?

Had a few now, OnePlus X was good for the money, just got a Huawei mate 9, now Huawei is available in the UK they aren’t an issue.

Only thing that disappointed my about the OP was the time it took to update the OS.

Mate of mine has had a few xiaoMi with no issue.

I used to have a Chinese phone but I kept ringing the wrong number.

/PC

As long as you don’t mind the People’s Republic Army monitoring everything you do…

On this note, I was in the office to the managed apartments where I live and the police were there looking at a package (waiting for the guy to come and collect it).
Apparently they could see him accessing the tracking website to monitor the package. I don’t know if they could see the info from his phone (they certainly could see his location) or if they were getting the information from the shipper.
These guys were not super cops or anything. They were also talking about how they may have spooked him by parking their cars (full livery flashing lights the lot) in front of the office.

From displays I have seen from some defense contractors I now just assume that every bit of information on my phone is pretty much accessible to people who really want it.

Back to the OP lots of people at work have Chinese smartphones and they mostly seem to be alright.

A friend of mine bought a Xiaomi whilst on holiday. The build quality and performance seem very, very good. If I could ‘jailbreak’ one to use iOS – I would pick one up as my next phone in a heartbeat.

I can sleep quite happily knowing that every superpower between Canberra and Washington (the long way around) knows my porn habits

If there is Chinese-government installed malware on these phones, it won’t be for spying on your grot. It’ll be buried and unused/undetectable and deployed only in the event of WW3 for the purposes of disrupting communications.

/tinfoil hat

If there is Chinese-government installed malware on these phones,

I vaguely remember a hotukdeals thread about a xiaomi webcam that someone bought and monitored it’s internet access. It was repeatedly accessing IP address in Beijing and sending large volumes of data.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/original-xiaomi-xiaoyi-ants-night-vision-720p-smart-wireless-webcam-security-ip-2305841

Same thing was found with the Xiaomi Mi smart phone by monitoring IP addresses it was contacting… maybe with that AdUps thing linked to above?

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/07/30/xiaomis-redmi-note-allegedly-sending-user-data-to-china-surreptitiously

I’m very impressed with my new-ish Huawei P9 Lite. Does everything I could want, which admittedly isn’t massive amounts.

Major issue is when someone asks me what it is, I have no idea how to pronounce Huawei. And then they laugh at my attempts. Not an issue with my previous Sony.

I have no idea how to pronounce Huawei.

Hwah-way.

I have no idea how to pronounce Huawei.

Top Tip.

Korean names are nearly always two syllables.

Sam-Sung

Ki-a

Hua-wei

Hyun-dai (Probably the most miss pronounced, it’s not Hay-un-dai)

I have no idea how to pronounce Huawei.

I assume that’s why they’re using Honor for their higher end phones.

I know it might not be completely relevant, but I went into the Three shop at the weekend to have a fiddle with a Lenovo P2 – I was in town anyway & wandered past so figured it was worth 5 mins of my time.

I was very impressed. It feels solid and was lightning quick compared to my ‘getting very past it’ Xperia T.
It was very big though – I remember when I got my Xperia T it felt massive with a 4.5″ screen. The screen on the Lenovo is 5.5″.