mobiles/tablets from China?

Soldato
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Would you consider buying any electronics in China?
Am thinking that maybe Oppo might be cheaper?
Tablets?
Or not worth hussle?
Thanks
 
I have an iocean x7 which im very impressed with, might make a thread about it later. If you decide to get an obscure device, be sure to check reviews, and consider mtk6589 or mtk6592 powered devices.

If you're ever in doubt, the Moto G and Nexus 7 are cheap devices that still have very good value for money.
 
Reason for asking is that I have someone on tour in China and might ask to buy me a new toy;)
Oppo No1 is cheaper there but find 5 not:)
 
Ive got a THL W11 for £170 i had a result, my next phone will be a top of the range import which will still only cost £300 at the most and perform as good as the £500 plus phones available over here, if your brave you can grab yourself a bargain just be aware there are a few duds about.
I would always buy direct from the manufacturer rather than a 3rd party.
 
Ive got a THL W11 for £170 i had a result, my next phone will be a top of the range import which will still only cost £300 at the most and perform as good as the £500 plus phones available over here, if your brave you can grab yourself a bargain just be aware there are a few duds about.
I would always buy direct from the manufacturer rather than a 3rd party.

is the front camera really 13mp or is it interpolated?
how does it compare to the rear camera?

sorry if im going off topic
 
Got a Xiaomi Mi2s from China. It's basically a 4.3 inch 720p phone with very similar innards to a Nexus 4.

Still the most powerful android phone that size available and only cost a little over £200.
 
already have Chinese phone - Lenovo and when buying again, it would be my first place to look at. previous phone was actually previous Lenovo model of the current one.

with the less known brands, I'd be a bit cautious though. (then the thing is that an unknown brand here might be a huge thing in China)

but, if it's cheap enough - why not...
 
already have Chinese phone - Lenovo and when buying again, it would be my first place to look at. previous phone was actually previous Lenovo model of the current one.

with the less known brands, I'd be a bit cautious though. (then the thing is that an unknown brand here might be a huge thing in China)

but, if it's cheap enough - why not...

I've had my eye on the Lenovo P780 for a while now because of its 4000mah battery, would you say its worth looking at?
 
I own P780. I had P770 before.

Good

Battery Life - forget about charging every night
Dual SIM
Overall Performance
Design
Easy to play with (rooting, custom ROMs), though I'm running fully updated stock Asian from day 1.

Bad

2nd SIM only 2G
Camera is just ... bad
No official Android after 4.2
You need to tweak it a little bit once you get it to get rid of useless Chinese apps etc.
not comfortable to use with 1 hand (but which 5" phone is)
 
Size is not an issue because I'm currently using a 5.7" Acer S1 which I can happily use 1 handed but the battery is far from great.

The camera can also be absolutely garbage as far as I'm concerned as I just never use it.

How is the GPS? I use Google Nav quite a bit for work so it's pretty important that the GPS gets a good fast lock and maintains it.
 
due to all the downsides i don't know why anyone would do this when you have:

moto g - £99 brand new
nexus 4 - £150 ish second hand
nexus 5 - £299 brand new
nexus 7 (2013) - £150 ish i imagine if from the states (i brought back the larger model from canada for £170 brand new before it had launched over here so it could be a lot cheaper now).


why settle for something with zero updates, etc when you could have one of the above and they are hardly expensive.


Got a Xiaomi Mi2s from China. It's basically a 4.3 inch 720p phone with very similar innards to a Nexus 4.

Still the most powerful android phone that size available and only cost a little over £200.



why would you do this when the nexus 4 its like £150 second hand and it was less than £200 brand new in their sale they had when it went EOL iirc?
 
Size is not an issue because I'm currently using a 5.7" Acer S1 which I can happily use 1 handed but the battery is far from great.

The camera can also be absolutely garbage as far as I'm concerned as I just never use it.

How is the GPS? I use Google Nav quite a bit for work so it's pretty important that the GPS gets a good fast lock and maintains it.

GPS lock on MTK SoC is lot slower than for example on Qualcomm I have on Lumia 520. It's not tragic though, it's usable, but it's not instant. Once locked, it's very accurate, also A-GPS and EPO helps quite a bit.
 
why would you do this when the nexus 4 its like £150 second hand and it was less than £200 brand new in their sale they had when it went EOL iirc?

Quite simple really. My primary requirement was a high end phone with no bigger than a 4.3 inch screen. The alternatives were the S4 mini and One mini, both of which have laughably poor specs compared with the Xiaomi. When I bought it, Google had just discontinued the N4 anyway and it was much more expensive new from 3rd parties (not to mention, it was never actually on the cards because it's just to big)..

My Xiaomi Mi2S was the best 4.3"phone on the market until Sony released the Z1 compact. That's the only phone I consider to be equivalent or better than the Mi2s, it wasn't available until recently and it's about twice the price.

Edit: oh -and I get weekly OTA updates in English.
 
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due to all the downsides i don't know why anyone would do this when you have:

moto g - £99 brand new
nexus 4 - £150 ish second hand
nexus 5 - £299 brand new
nexus 7 (2013) - £150 ish i imagine if from the states (i brought back the larger model from canada for £170 brand new before it had launched over here so it could be a lot cheaper now).

why settle for something with zero updates, etc when you could have one of the above and they are hardly expensive.

why would you do this when the nexus 4 its like £150 second hand and it was less than £200 brand new in their sale they had when it went EOL iirc?

Because I have 2 sims, 1 for home & 1 for work and don't want to carry 2 phones.

I want them both active at the same time and Samsung / HTC charge you a small fortune for the privilege while at the same time cutting the specs.

I know its a niche market but its a requirement of mine that none of the mainstream manufacturers properly cater for.
 
If they do get you something, make sure the person bringing it over takes the goods out of the boxes as you might get stung for import duty if there bags are searched.
 
Because I have 2 sims, 1 for home & 1 for work and don't want to carry 2 phones.

I want them both active at the same time and Samsung / HTC charge you a small fortune for the privilege while at the same time cutting the specs.

I know its a niche market but its a requirement of mine that none of the mainstream manufacturers properly cater for.

dual sim version of the moto g is only a few quid more, look in the moto g to find out where someone on here bought theirs from.

imo you would be mad not to get the moto g as it's ridiculously cheap for what it is compared to a lot of phones which are overpriced in comparison.


If they do get you something, make sure the person bringing it over takes the goods out of the boxes as you might get stung for import duty if there bags are searched.

iirc your allowed to bring back like £300-£500 worth of goods from any country their is a specific number but i don't know it off the top of my head. so long as the combined value of everything is below that number your fine.
 
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