**** The Official Chinese Phones Thread ****
- Thread starter King4aDay
- Start date
Caporegime
So almost a day with the Elephone S8.. coming from a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus which I borked the screen on.
Feels very solid, slightly weighty (but then so am I so this doesn't bother me) I went for blue, which is a nice colour actually. Bit of a fingerprint magnet, but not too bad. Elephone include a clear silicon case that covers the rear of the handset.
Screen is wonderful, I was worried coming from an SAMOLED, and whilst the atypical Samsung colour saturation isn't present, it certainly is a nice screen.
Battery seems pretty good and my Samsung was starting to crap out after less than a year's use. Strangely after charging all night it was on 91% this morning so will keep an eye on that. I generally use my phone an awful lot and was plugging the Galaxy in 2-3 times per day.
Compatibility with apps seems good, Natwest, Paypal etc work ok, although do not support my fingerprint scanner. The fingerprint scanner on the Elephone however seems much more useable than the Samsung on I had.
Speaker volume is ok, but sound is hollow. It's not like I use the speaker much anyway personally but you might.
CPU performance seems on a par with the Galaxy, it's apparently similar to the Galaxy 7 and I've found most apps open and refresh at the same or quicker than my S6 Edge +
The camera is the let down at the moment, whilst it's certainly capable of taking good images, the delay in focusing and actually capturing an image is like a solid second which means unless you've got ideal lighting conditions, images are soft. I hope this will improve with software, I've tried a couple of different camera apps off the play store and one or two perform better than stock.
So far, I'm impressed and if this lets me get to a 9.99 a month sim only deal rather than £50 a month I've paid for years to get a new handset, it's worth a try!
Not fair! I swear I ordered mine first
Underboss
so whats special about the mi A1 over the note then i just ordered ?
similar price, but the note has a better battery ?
similar price, but the note has a better battery ?
Soldato
The 4 is on an official ROM. My 3 isn't and fine.
You did, it was your posts that I first read about the S8 in lolNot fair! I swear I ordered mine first
Caporegime
You did, it was your posts that I first read about the S8 in lol
I am really looking forward to it, especially seeing the screen in person.
Basically 3 differences
1) A1 is stock Android while Note 4 has MiUI.
2) The cam is better in A1
3) The battery is better in Note 4. 4000 vs 3000 mah.
Underboss
ok thanks
So almost a day with the Elephone S8.. coming from a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus which I borked the screen on.
Feels very solid, slightly weighty (but then so am I so this doesn't bother me
Screen is wonderful, I was worried coming from an SAMOLED, and whilst the atypical Samsung colour saturation isn't present, it certainly is a nice screen.
Battery seems pretty good and my Samsung was starting to crap out after less than a year's use. Strangely after charging all night it was on 91% this morning so will keep an eye on that. I generally use my phone an awful lot and was plugging the Galaxy in 2-3 times per day.
Compatibility with apps seems good, Natwest, Paypal etc work ok, although do not support my fingerprint scanner. The fingerprint scanner on the Elephone however seems much more useable than the Samsung on I had.
Speaker volume is ok, but sound is hollow. It's not like I use the speaker much anyway personally but you might.
CPU performance seems on a par with the Galaxy, it's apparently similar to the Galaxy 7 and I've found most apps open and refresh at the same or quicker than my S6 Edge +
The camera is the let down at the moment, whilst it's certainly capable of taking good images, the delay in focusing and actually capturing an image is like a solid second which means unless you've got ideal lighting conditions, images are soft. I hope this will improve with software, I've tried a couple of different camera apps off the play store and one or two perform better than stock.
So far, I'm impressed and if this lets me get to a 9.99 a month sim only deal rather than £50 a month I've paid for years to get a new handset, it's worth a try!
I'll be interested how this app works with the camera if you get a chance?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera&hl=en_GB
It has an option to tap to focus which is useful as you can control the point of interest and exposure quickly.
It also unlocked higher resolution on my lenovo P2 (non 16:9 shaped sensor) which has improved low light snaps.
It's open source and widely recommended so it shouldn't contain nasties. Off to check my delivery status...
According to Kimovil top selling phones right now are:
1. RedMi Note 4
2. Mi A1
3. RedMi Note 4X
4. RedMi 4X
https://www.kimovil.com/en/
Is really Xiaomi that popular these days. Although from what I understand Xiaomi hardly can be found in stores.
1. RedMi Note 4
2. Mi A1
3. RedMi Note 4X
4. RedMi 4X
https://www.kimovil.com/en/
Is really Xiaomi that popular these days. Although from what I understand Xiaomi hardly can be found in stores.
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Associate
- Joined
- 8 Jun 2007
- Posts
- 1,827
You cant buy them in stores here they only sell them officially in China and India.
They might do a Huawei at some point and start selling them here but beware the price increase.
They might do a Huawei at some point and start selling them here but beware the price increase.
Caporegime
Have any of the Xiaomi phones got Oreo yet?
Associate
- Joined
- 8 Jun 2007
- Posts
- 1,827
None but the Mi A1 is due to get it.
Associate
I've managed to resolve one of the problems I was having with an App not autostarting and correctly displaying a notification in the notification area on MIUI 8.5.8.
I had to go to Settings>Battery & performance, select Manage apps battery usage, turn off Power saving mode and reboot. After the reboot the App should now Autostart and if you then go back and turn on Power saving mode again and reboot the App will still continue to Autostart after every reboot. However it's not quite perfect in that if you go into the App to change a setting then close the app the notification also closes until the next reboot.
After reading a lot of the MIUI development logs and forum complaints it looks as though the developers have stuffed up on Notifications more than they normally do in this release. It also looks as though this has been a problem area for a while that seems to get worse on every release.
I had to go to Settings>Battery & performance, select Manage apps battery usage, turn off Power saving mode and reboot. After the reboot the App should now Autostart and if you then go back and turn on Power saving mode again and reboot the App will still continue to Autostart after every reboot. However it's not quite perfect in that if you go into the App to change a setting then close the app the notification also closes until the next reboot.
After reading a lot of the MIUI development logs and forum complaints it looks as though the developers have stuffed up on Notifications more than they normally do in this release. It also looks as though this has been a problem area for a while that seems to get worse on every release.
Man of Honour
Yodel are right. Gearbest are Yodel's customer, you need to go to Gearbest so they can deal with Yodel. You won't get far with Yodel as you aren't their customer.
Man of Honour
She's right, the camera is almost always the main letdown on cheaper Chinese phones.
The A1 has a better camera than the 4x. Xiaomi market it as being the same as their flagship models, but it isn't really. It's not too bad though, plenty of videos on Youtube.
No That's not even like what I said, I'm telling them that Gearbest are their customer!
I'm not Yodels customer Gearbest are, if Gearbest have paid for a consignment but failed to deliver it to Yodel it has absolutely nothing to do with me.
Still I think that some reviews are to harsch. The camera in RedMi Note 4 is very good imo.
Just because some cameras are great doesn't mean that the very good cameras ain't very good. Unless you are taking photos professionally you have no use for a better camera.
I mean, if you would give a RedMi Note 4 in the hands of anyone just a few years ago, people would ask where you got this amazing phone from. These days it is just amazing considering the price because there are even better phones out there. The only problem with those even better phones is that it will cost you at least twice as much, and still you will hardly notice a difference.
A friend of mine has iPhone 7 plus. His phone is slightly faster and his cam is better. Still I have much better battery life and he paid 6 times what I paid.
Elephone S8 and Mi A1 är interesting competitors in the budget segment through. All great phones it seems where it is more about personal taste. Elephone might be a little less safe choice though.
Want great battery life? -> Redmi Note 4
Want best camera in budget phones? - Mi A1
Want it bezelless? -> Elephone S8
Want it small or cheap? -> RedMi 4x
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