**** The Official Chinese Phones Thread ****

tigerstyle said:
Do you not think through their built in backdoors they are getting data back anyway? As are Google etc...
If you didn't want to support them you wouldn't be buying their phones period. You can't have one without the other.
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The difference is huge. Google requires your permission for many sensitive apps and instructions. The working assumption in China is: no need to ask.
 
sesevans said:
The difference is huge. Google requires your permission for many sensitive apps and instructions. The working assumption in China is: no need to ask.
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Actually, Google are great at hiding what data they collect, there have been many instances of people being shocked by things like location history or the kind of information Android Pay collects compared to other similar services like Apple Pay.

Do you work for Google? All of your posts here seem to be either promoting or defending Google products.
 
Em3bbs said:
Actually, Google are great at hiding what data they collect, there have been many instances of people being shocked by things like location history or the kind of information Android Pay collects compared to other similar services like Apple Pay.
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Surprised when they find it as it's visible to them whenever they want?
 
AndyCr15 said:
Surprised when they find it as it's visible to them whenever they want?
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Surprised as in they didn't know Google were tracking their every move. There have been loads of articles about it.

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/google-history-search-tracking-data-how-to-delete

I think this part of the article sums it up well "Google doesn't make a huge song and dance about its in-depth knowledge of its users, but at the same time it doesn't keep it a secret either. "

(For what it's worth, I leave everything turned on as I find it useful/interesting)
 
my case has arrived, and I thought they would be identical, but i think the SMTR one, seems more robust to me, feels a little better in quality (from what i can tell whilst still in its packaging bag
so i think i'll use this one (the one i paid for) and keep the other (which i got refunded on) as a spare
 
Ordered an Mi A1 for my brother who needed a new phone after his other one had an accident. Anyway, ordered the black on the 15th from eglobal @ £177 and it arrived today for me to play with... erm i mean set up.

It's a nice device, a really nice device for the price. Comparing it to my pixel xl, there is a little performance difference but unless you have a high end device to compare with, you won't be able to tell the difference.

Did the hardware test, just to make sure no issues crop up and it passed with no issues.

It feels really nice in hand and i'll keep an eye on xiaomi in the future if i need a well build budget device.
 
Em3bbs said:
.......

Do you work for Google? All of your posts here seem to be either promoting or defending Google products.
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No. And my original post a couple of days ago was in relation to a particular Chinese phone, OnePlus, a subsidiary of Oppo and which in turn has the same parent as Vivo, that rather egregiously and openly collected user data without any consent needed from the user.

OnePlus decided to include code in OxygenOS (a customised version of Android developed in China) that captured and uploaded: IMEI, serial number, MAC addresses, IMSI and WiFi network data in addition to which apps were being opened and what the user was doing in those apps. The data was being uploaded and analysed by OnePlus without the knowledge and consent of users. This is completely egregious by Western country standards. I further mentioned that this was the normal course of business in Communist China where the authorities watch every move you make both online and offline.

One reply asked Google did the same to users on Android and I replied a firm no.

A flagrant disregard for the users' privacy can and should sink a product like OnePlus. I questioned in my original post why so many contributors to this thread seemed to either ignore or were oblivious to this difference between what is acceptable in Communist China and what is acceptable in the West.

Do contributors to this thread care about this issue or have they resigned themselves to a norm that I understand was accepted only in China? Is price their main concern and privacy be damned?
 
sesevans said:
No. And my original post a couple of days ago was in relation to a particular Chinese phone, OnePlus, a subsidiary of Oppo and which in turn has the same parent as Vivo, that rather egregiously and openly collected user data without any consent needed from the user.

OnePlus decided to include code in OxygenOS (a customised version of Google Android developed in China) that captured and uploaded: IMEI, serial number, MAC addresses, IMSI and WiFi network data in addition to which apps were being opened and what the user was doing in those apps. The data was being uploaded and analysed by OnePlus without the knowledge and consent of users. This is completely egregious by Western country standards. I further mentioned that this was the normal course of business in Communist China where the authorities watch every move you make both online and offline.

One reply asked Google did the same to users on Android and I replied a firm no.

A flagrant disregard for the users' privacy can and should sink a product like OnePlus. I questioned in my original post why so many contributors to this thread seemed to either ignore or were oblivious to this difference between what is acceptable in Communist China and what is acceptable in the West.

Do contributors to this thread care about this issue or have they resigned themselves to a norm that I understand was accepted only in China? Is price their main concern and privacy be damned?
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Tuvoc said:
To answer your question, in today's connected world privacy is largely a myth. I have nothing to hide, so I'm not bothered.
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Exactly. I'm a big fan of Android and Google have made a living from farming data and I understand that's the price I pay in return for "free" services.

Whilst One Plus should have been more.open about their data collecting policies, the data they did collect was aggregated. Google aren't entirely innocent of collecting data people didn't get them permission to collect either, let's not forget they farmed wireless network MAC addresses with their street view cars.
 
Em3bbs said:
I think this part of the article sums it up well "Google doesn't make a huge song and dance about its in-depth knowledge of its users, but at the same time it doesn't keep it a secret either. "
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Personally I wouldn't day that's "Google are great at hiding what data they collect". As I said, you ask and they'll give it to you. I think I even get an email each month letting me know how far I've travelled, how many new cities I've been to etc. If they're trying to hide that from me, I'd go as far as saying they're terrible at it.

Back on topic, I picked my Xiaomi Mi A1 up this morning and just finally got home to unbox. Wow. First impressions are this thing is pretty amazing for £170 phone. (Unboxing video coming in the morning)

Obviously I'll give it a few days use, but it feels really well made, is nice and snappy, the screen looks great, speaker seems pretty good and the camera... might not be awful. :)

Some budget phones I review I dread using and even stop short and just do the review on a few days use so I can get back to my daily (I know, not good, I try not to) but this one I'm kinda looking forward to. I'm going to do a few 'how much do you think this is worth' tests on people too.
 
@kona786 If you go through TCB and AliExpress and buy via Xiaomi MC you can get the Xiaomi MI A1 for £163. It took three weeks to get delivered but didn't get hit with import duties.

Worth having a look.

I've had the device for a couple of weeks and I'm using it as my daily driver, it's pretty decent for the price.
 
stoosh said:
@kona786 If you go through TCB and AliExpress and buy via Xiaomi MC you can get the Xiaomi MI A1 for £163. It took three weeks to get delivered but didn't get hit with import duties.

Worth having a look.

I've had the device for a couple of weeks and I'm using it as my daily driver, it's pretty decent for the price.
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Cheers stoosh will do. My sister is after a sub £200 handset.
 
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