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

Associate
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Do any of these cheaper phones from the likes of Xiaomi, Poco etc actually have decent cameras? Got a Redmi Note 10S last year when my Samsung S9 died, and for me it's the perfect balance of cost, performance, battery life, screen size. But, the camera is just terrible. Has anyone got a sub £250 phone which actually has a decent camera, or should I just accept that I need to go for a more expensive phone if I want a reasonable camera?
 
Associate
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Do any of these cheaper phones from the likes of Xiaomi, Poco etc actually have decent cameras? Got a Redmi Note 10S last year when my Samsung S9 died, and for me it's the perfect balance of cost, performance, battery life, screen size. But, the camera is just terrible. Has anyone got a sub £250 phone which actually has a decent camera, or should I just accept that I need to go for a more expensive phone if I want a reasonable camera?
To be fair, the software and processing is more important than the physical hardware.
Samsung have the advantage in that respect.

I have a Poco phone and have found the images taken are acceptable.
 
Man of Honour
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Anyone have any comments on buying direct from the Mi Store in the UK.

There's some decent deals on at the minute, but having never had a Chinese phone or used the Mi Store, I'm very unsure.

Last three phones have been Moto G4, G6 and G8. So the on paper specs of the Poco X4 pro are head and shoulders above say a Moto G62, 82 or 200, but for similar or less money.
 
Soldato
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Anyone have any comments on buying direct from the Mi Store in the UK.

There's some decent deals on at the minute, but having never had a Chinese phone or used the Mi Store, I'm very unsure.

Last three phones have been Moto G4, G6 and G8. So the on paper specs of the Poco X4 pro are head and shoulders above say a Moto G62, 82 or 200, but for similar or less money.
What problems are you expecting? Xiaomi is massive and buying direct is fine.
 
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I have bought a couple of phones from them, no issues, the phones have also been trouble free so can't comment about returns side of things but sales were just fine.
 
Man of Honour
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What problems are you expecting? Xiaomi is massive and buying direct is fine.
Well I did order a phone yesterday (Redmi note 11 pro) but changed my mind before it was dispatched and cancelled (looking to order Poco X4 Pro 5g instead) Refund is still pending nearly 24 hours later, although my card hasn't been charged it's showing as pending.

And as usual when I looked at reviews on Trustpilot I only focused on the one star reviews and that puts doubts in your mind.

Then there's comments on UKHD regarding the phones and intrusive adverts and other UI niggles.
 
Soldato
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Well I did order a phone yesterday (Redmi note 11 pro) but changed my mind before it was dispatched and cancelled (looking to order Poco X4 Pro 5g instead) Refund is still pending nearly 24 hours later, although my card hasn't been charged it's showing as pending.

And as usual when I looked at reviews on Trustpilot I only focused on the one star reviews and that puts doubts in your mind.

Then there's comments on UKHD regarding the phones and intrusive adverts and other UI niggles.

that's normal, the money is often allocated from your account and not taken until dispatch. Similar practice by most companies.

in regards to reviews, you need to keep in mind that people having good experiance will rarely go and post about it. People mostly go and complain about bad experiance.

Adverts is also a thing on the cheaper phones, it is their way of reducing the price of the phone, something a few chinese brands do. There are always ways of blocking them of course.
 
Man of Honour
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Ra
that's normal, the money is often allocated from your account and not taken until dispatch. Similar practice by most companies.

in regards to reviews, you need to keep in mind that people having good experiance will rarely go and post about it. People mostly go and complain about bad experiance.

Adverts is also a thing on the cheaper phones, it is their way of reducing the price of the phone, something a few chinese brands do. There are always ways of blocking them of course.
Thanks.

I realize I'm probably over thinking it and should just buy the phone. I think my biggest thing is coming from three Motorola phones running almost stock Android to something different.
 
Soldato
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Ra

Thanks.

I realize I'm probably over thinking it and should just buy the phone. I think my biggest thing is coming from three Motorola phones running almost stock Android to something different.
I personally avoid xiaomi etc. Simply put, they release too many phones and software updates etc are not as high priority for them as they are for other manufacturers. Depending on your budget I'd get a google pixel, motorola, samsung etc phone. They focus on software a lot more and that alone is a huge selling point.
 
Man of Honour
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I personally avoid xiaomi etc. Simply put, they release too many phones and software updates etc are not as high priority for them as they are for other manufacturers. Depending on your budget I'd get a google pixel, motorola, samsung etc phone. They focus on software a lot more and that alone is a huge selling point.
Motorola G82 is more or less the same as the Poco X4 pro (although double the RAM and storage on the Poco), but with current offers the G82 is £70 more. Trying to keep budget at around £200.

Or just buy the Moto G60s that I bought my wife last week and spend £179 and basically only loose 5g (not a problem really) and 2GB of RAM.
 
Soldato
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Motorola G82 is more or less the same as the Poco X4 pro (although double the RAM and storage on the Poco), but with current offers the G82 is £70 more. Trying to keep budget at around £200.

Or just buy the Moto G60s that I bought my wife last week and spend £179 and basically only loose 5g (not a problem really) and 2GB of RAM.
5g is overrated anyway in my opinion. If you're planning to keep the device for a while then go motorola for stockish android and better software support which will result in the phone lasting longer. Android is decent with memory managment anyway. There's nothing wrong with chinese brands but you have to go in with your eyes open for obvious reasons and I found that software support, updates etc often far outweight the extra ram or a better cpu for e.g.
 
Man of Honour
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After all the faffing around doing comparisons and watching and reading reviews, ended up ordering a Moto G60s from Amazon for £179.


Hopefully there's no problems regarding my cancelled Mi Store order.
 
Associate
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Starting to get the phone itch again. Still got a few months until I might dive in but I'm not currently seeing much that is truly tempting. Currently on a Poco F2 pro 8gb/256gb. The last and current version of this phone don't seem much of an upgrade. If anything the X4 GT is more appealing with the dimensity 8100 but I prefer oled/amoled screens as they (at least they used to) more power efficient.
 
Associate
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Has this been discussed?

 
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