**** The Official Chinese Phones Thread ****
- Thread starter King4aDay
- Start date
Glad you managed to get it sorted mate, I also had the same when I got mine last week and using the pin to open the sim tray for the first time - took a good few seconds of attempting different ways with the pin and didn't seem to want to budge until the last attempt. This has been a regular occurrence with a lot of other phones I've used in the past four or so years.
Android 9.0 Pie is in Beta stages for the phone at the moment and should be fully released by April, this should also improve the performance of the phone even more.
Liam.
It's been a long afternoon- I have come to the conclusion smart phones are for the young - my arthritic hands are killing me.
I am sure my old phone had more options in the interface/android menu - or are they hidden by the EMUI
One thing that's getting to me is the menu line along the top -I can hardly see the signal strength icons and battery icons - -I have turned it up to full size text - I can see them better.
Giffgaf have managed to change my sim card and number but Orange isn't swopped over yet- I am assuming that the change in number wouldn't start till I started to use the new sim with temp number on - I need my old number.
Overall this phone is streets ahead of what I have had in past - It is very quick on WiFi downloads and installation.
My one problem is we don't have a O2 signal here - go 400 yrds in either direction and it's ok - didn't know that when bought Giffgaf cards years ago as I have always been on Orange and thought all providers signal was the same.
Cheers
I am sure my old phone had more options in the interface/android menu - or are they hidden by the EMUI
One thing that's getting to me is the menu line along the top -I can hardly see the signal strength icons and battery icons - -I have turned it up to full size text - I can see them better.
Giffgaf have managed to change my sim card and number but Orange isn't swopped over yet- I am assuming that the change in number wouldn't start till I started to use the new sim with temp number on - I need my old number.
Overall this phone is streets ahead of what I have had in past - It is very quick on WiFi downloads and installation.
My one problem is we don't have a O2 signal here - go 400 yrds in either direction and it's ok - didn't know that when bought Giffgaf cards years ago as I have always been on Orange and thought all providers signal was the same.
Cheers
You're not wrong there, with the constant development of smartphone software and the like there are so many new changes every time you come to upgrading your phone. It's similar for me despite growing up and having tech as a hobby, yet I'm only 29 haha.
Saying that though, Huawei / Honor's EMUI can take a lot to adjust to and this is coming from someone who has been using Android for years, it is one of the more complex customized OS's out there - so many options / tweak adjustments available that are only found in menus within menus. To be honest I still prefer OnePlus's OxygenOS as it's much more refined in my opinion, but over time you will find your way round EMUI just like I did and it isn't as complex as what it once was a couple of years ago.
Strangely enough I used to be with EE up until a couple of years ago but then moved over to Giffgaff as I experienced terrible signal issues with a new build that we moved into and also signal dropouts when at work. It used to drive me mad at home and at the time I simply put it down to the new area we were living in, but the Mrs who is on O2 never had signal issues. As soon as I moved over to Giffgaff - problem solved at home and at work.
That also reminds me - managed to sell on my old OP5T over the weekend, aaaaaand DHL have only gone and misplaced the parcel. They've already conducted a thorough search their end and have concluded that it's no where to be seen & have started proceedings to reimburse me... frustrating times indeed.
Liam.
Saying that though, Huawei / Honor's EMUI can take a lot to adjust to and this is coming from someone who has been using Android for years, it is one of the more complex customized OS's out there - so many options / tweak adjustments available that are only found in menus within menus. To be honest I still prefer OnePlus's OxygenOS as it's much more refined in my opinion, but over time you will find your way round EMUI just like I did and it isn't as complex as what it once was a couple of years ago.
Strangely enough I used to be with EE up until a couple of years ago but then moved over to Giffgaff as I experienced terrible signal issues with a new build that we moved into and also signal dropouts when at work. It used to drive me mad at home and at the time I simply put it down to the new area we were living in, but the Mrs who is on O2 never had signal issues. As soon as I moved over to Giffgaff - problem solved at home and at work.
That also reminds me - managed to sell on my old OP5T over the weekend, aaaaaand DHL have only gone and misplaced the parcel. They've already conducted a thorough search their end and have concluded that it's no where to be seen & have started proceedings to reimburse me... frustrating times indeed.
Liam.
Last edited:
Where are you looking to order one from? The only major thing to be concerned about is having to pay import duty etc. which isn't really a lot, however some of the known sites such as eglobal guarantee that no import duties will be added. Also ensure you go for a Global version if possible so that it'll fully work with all the Google services over here.
Liam.
I have spent a few days getting used to my 8X - things are slow but I am getting used to it especially when took it over the road to a mates wife and she sorted out a few bits and was a great help - Today I wanted to see if I could transfer pictures to my PC so connected by USB and got a box asking if I wanted to load HiSuite - did that and then I had to go in menu and get into build? I think -Clicked out as that is a bit beyond me yet - Anyway I have just gone down the menu and found I have two EMEI numbers - Is that normal ?
Ordered a leather case (mock leather) so that should be here Monday.
Then got to ring EE and find out why my number hasn't been changed- 72 hours doesn't include the weekend
All in all I quite like this phone - rubbish signals here though even Orange where I have full signal on old phone is only 2/3rds on new - Giffgaf is struggling.
Ordered a leather case (mock leather) so that should be here Monday.
Then got to ring EE and find out why my number hasn't been changed- 72 hours doesn't include the weekend
All in all I quite like this phone - rubbish signals here though even Orange where I have full signal on old phone is only 2/3rds on new - Giffgaf is struggling.
Last edited:
I'll have a look at eglobal, was initially looking on gearbest though. Had a redmi 6 a few years ago and it was a right stress with the operating system.
I would recommend either -
a) Sign up to Dropbox and turn on photo uploads. Install Dropbox on your PC and they will be available there.
b) Open (install?) Google Photos and turn on auto backup. You can just use a browser to see your photos and just download the ones you want.
If you can't cope with the poor signal with GiffGaff there are other providers similarly priced that use the EE network, so would be the same as your old Orange signal. Plusnet for example.
I picked up the X6 from gearbest, last year.
No import tax and it was delivered in 8 days.
Excellent phone, which I definitely recommend. Although be aware that it doesn't have band 20, so be sure to check that you get sims from a provider who uses 3 or 7.
Got my hands on the Xiaomi Mi A2 the other day just to finally delve into this brand and see how it performs alongside the Honor 8X. So far I'm really liking the stock Android feel, much to my expectations and runs more fluidly when compared to EMUI - also a very similar feel to what I was used to on the OP5T. The build quality as others and reviews out there have mentioned for a £200 phone is astonishing, it doesn't really get any better than this in terms of how it's been put together.
I decided to spend the first few hours using it with the older Android 8.1 which is what it came out of the box with, before then going ahead with updating it to Android Pie which is what it kept pestering me to do within 10 minutes of first turning it on - as I also mentioned previously and still up to now, I still prefer Oreo... Pie has still got some way to come yet. Pie has the nice looks but it just slips behind of Oreo in terms of real life performance. Something that did not take me long to notice with the Mi A2 was the slightly worse battery life when compared to the 8X - I'm barely lucky to get over a day's use with mine (I can easily get two days out of the 8X). Yep the 8X has the bigger battery over the Mi A2, but I had high hopes for the Mi A2 having somewhat of a battery life that was near to the 8X but it's not the end of the world.
To the other Mi A2 owners on here - did yours come with the full camera bump protection on your factory supplied cases or just the cut out for the camera bump? On the reviews I've seen on YouTube for the phone which show the case in detail - it features the stock case that has full camera protection and adds a lip to the bump's rim, though mine out of the box has a slightly different case variant where there is simply only a cut out for the camera bump and therefore if I rest the phone on my wood table at home - the phone's camera bump is practically in direct contact with it. Rather worrying and either way I'm currently looking for a different case to ensure full camera protection.
Besides the following, very impressed with this handset and will do more comparisons between the Mi A2 & my 8X.
Liam.
I decided to spend the first few hours using it with the older Android 8.1 which is what it came out of the box with, before then going ahead with updating it to Android Pie which is what it kept pestering me to do within 10 minutes of first turning it on - as I also mentioned previously and still up to now, I still prefer Oreo... Pie has still got some way to come yet. Pie has the nice looks but it just slips behind of Oreo in terms of real life performance. Something that did not take me long to notice with the Mi A2 was the slightly worse battery life when compared to the 8X - I'm barely lucky to get over a day's use with mine (I can easily get two days out of the 8X). Yep the 8X has the bigger battery over the Mi A2, but I had high hopes for the Mi A2 having somewhat of a battery life that was near to the 8X but it's not the end of the world.
To the other Mi A2 owners on here - did yours come with the full camera bump protection on your factory supplied cases or just the cut out for the camera bump? On the reviews I've seen on YouTube for the phone which show the case in detail - it features the stock case that has full camera protection and adds a lip to the bump's rim, though mine out of the box has a slightly different case variant where there is simply only a cut out for the camera bump and therefore if I rest the phone on my wood table at home - the phone's camera bump is practically in direct contact with it. Rather worrying and either way I'm currently looking for a different case to ensure full camera protection.
Besides the following, very impressed with this handset and will do more comparisons between the Mi A2 & my 8X.
Liam.
I was wondering why I had missed a few calls on my 8X and no one had left a message - First it does help to turn on ringing and second I have now found out PAYG doesn't have answering machine - On Orange it had missed call do you want to listen - seem that is not the case anymore especially on EE. Oh well no one rings me anyway.
Finally sorted out some headphones and found them very quiet - turning up volume doesn't help much as it's set not to go too loud in case it sends you deaf- I am part deaf so need to override this function - Anyone have any idea how.
Plucked up courage and binned my old one - why do we always think it might start working again ??
Finally sorted out some headphones and found them very quiet - turning up volume doesn't help much as it's set not to go too loud in case it sends you deaf- I am part deaf so need to override this function - Anyone have any idea how.
Plucked up courage and binned my old one - why do we always think it might start working again ??
Recently picked up a Xaomi Redmi Note 5 for under £100. Been used to iPhones but thought would give it a go and wouldn't break the bank if I wasn't too keen, so far so good - but I have a question; should I keep the stock ROM/OS on the device or should I be changing to the latest Android version, is it oreo?
It's currently running the latest MIUI 10.2
It's currently running the latest MIUI 10.2
Good purchase - and you're currently on the latest Android 9.0. Having read a lot into MIUI myself recently and also after having a play with with a friends Note 5, I would give a custom ROM a go - such as LineageOS, it gets a lot of positive reviews / feedback but it's up to you. It's also worth taking a look on the XDA forum for other ROM's to see what also may appeal to you more. MIUI is for some people but not others, but in my experience the custom ROM availability out there for these phones are certainly worth entertaining.
Liam.
No worries, how are you finding the overall use of the Note 5 so far? I've been an Android user for many years but in particular a OnePlus user for the past few years but more recently also decided to delve into the Chinese phone territory to give it a good go - in hindsight I've been very impressed with a few handsets I've tried out from the likes of Huawei / Honor & Xiaomi. It really goes to show that nowadays you don't need to spend upwards of £600 to get the something that is regarded as the very top.
Liam.
I'm really impressed so far, I've had the phone for a few days now and I am amazed how it goes toe to toe in terms of performance Vs my old iPhone 8 plus, not noticed any slow downs or lagging or differences yet. It's a learning curve for sure using an android but that's not the phones fault but more the software/me.
The battery on this thing is a beast, the display is way more crisper and vibrant Vs my old iPhone.
I was very sceptical about picking this thing up considering it was just under £100 but very impressed so far.