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

Received my Note 5 Global yesterday - very nice indeed.

One thing I don't like is the white navigation bar. I've installed "Navbar Apps" which is great - colours the bar in a variety of customisable ways. Unfortunately though this creates an Android System notification "Navbar Apps is displaying over other apps". I found a work around to get into the notification settings for Android System (seems to be hidden by default in MIUI) - but sadly disabling these types of notifications doesn't save.

Any ideas? Or is everyone sticking with the default white?

Edit: Found a way around this - "AutoNotification" can block the notification for me. Sorted.

Now just to wait until I can unlock the bootloader to get gcam installed.
 
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haz_pro said:
Received my Note 5 Global yesterday - very nice indeed.

One thing I don't like is the white navigation bar. I've installed "Navbar Apps" which is great - colours the bar in a variety of customisable ways. Unfortunately though this creates an Android System notification "Navbar Apps is displaying over other apps". I found a work around to get into the notification settings for Android System (seems to be hidden by default in MIUI) - but sadly disabling these types of notifications doesn't save.

Any ideas? Or is everyone sticking with the default white?

Edit: Found a way around this - "AutoNotification" can block the notification for me. Sorted.

Now just to wait until I can unlock the bootloader to get gcam installed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. I'll give this a go now.
 
Can anyone recommend a decent screen protector for the redmi note 5? I bought two from AliExpress (turned out to be the same), both have dots throughout the glass and leave a weird rainbow effect due to only having adhesive on the edges.

Might just go without a protector if I can't find something better.
 
There are a few things that are annoying me about MIUI:
  • Can't expand notifications on lockscreen
  • Smart lock doesn't work (allows you to set bluetooth item as trusted device, but can't bypass the lock screen)
  • Google assistant won't work with screen off (tried this to see if I could bypass the lock screen, like i did previously on Galaxy s6).
I'm going to wait for the official Lineage to come out in the next couple of weeks and then give that a go - hopefully the above will work.

Can't have it all for £160 I guess ;)
 
I am about to buy a tablet from gb China.

For reduced chance of import tax should I choose
UK priority line
UK priority mail
Eu priority line
Eu express

Thanks
 
I would say whichever offers the quickest delivery. I'v never bought from Gearbest (I assume that's who your referring to) but I know some of the sellers do tell you if you select a certain delivery option then you don't pay customs.
 
MichaelAwkward said:
Slowest/cheapest delivery generally avoids customs. Anything with tracking increases your chances of being caught.
Click to expand...

My Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 came from AliExpress and it took over 20 days to arrive and I still had to pay customs charge. And that was with free delivery. Others on here can vouch for not having to pay customs on some deliveries that arrived a bit quicker. I believe it's with DHL you don't pay customs when it's coming from EU location. As in it goes from China/HK to EU and then from EU to UK via DHL. I think.
 
Need some advice folk. Moving on from Iphone 5s with a £250 budget. Other than the usual calls/texts I use a few apple native apps such as ical, notes and mail a lot.

Id prefer a new handset from the UK so warranty and import tax is not an issue. Assuming android will be better value for money the huawei p20 lite is now available circa £200.

Is this the best phone I can buy 'bang for buck' wise for £250 or under?

Any advice/alternatives would be very welcome.
 
CK61938 said:
My Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 came from AliExpress and it took over 20 days to arrive and I still had to pay customs charge. And that was with free delivery. Others on here can vouch for not having to pay customs on some deliveries that arrived a bit quicker. I believe it's with DHL you don't pay customs when it's coming from EU location. As in it goes from China/HK to EU and then from EU to UK via DHL. I think.
Click to expand...

That's just bad luck.

I've ordered a few Chinese phones from China and avoided customs when they were posted by Chinapost (delivered here by Royal Mail). They tend put a low value on the label of £10 and say it isn't a phone. With DHL/tracked delivery, they generally put the correct value and that's why there's a higher chance of customs catching it as well as the natural incentive for them as they get to charge their processing fee.

You'll generally be paying more for them to ship it from China to an EU warehouse and then to here, so in effect you are paying the customs charges up front. You don't pay customs on anything within the EU (for now...) regardless of who delivers it.
 
All these options are free and have similar times quoted (10-20 days)
UK priority line
UK priority mail
Eu priority line
Eu express

Just no idea what the differences are! or how to find out?
 
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