Xiaomi Mi2 and Mi2S

Uriel

Uriel

Uriel

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Joined
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So it came to upgrade time and I was a little underwhelmed by what was on offer. I was on a 300 mins, 300 texts, unlimited internet (3GB fair usage) deal for £15.50 a month with T-Mobile. My Motorola Defy+ is getting pretty tired and slow when it comes to running newer apps.

So - looking at contract deals I was pretty disappointed. Lots more money for unlimited internet these days and what I consider to be sub-par specs on phones with screens less than 4.3" (which is about the maximum I prefer). Decided from my usage that there are some pretty decent SIM only deals, leaving money for a handset.

So I did a little digging and found this:

www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-xiaomi-mi2-review

http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_2s-5397.php

4.3" 720p Android phone with pretty much the same spec as the Nexus 4 under the hood. 1.5GHz or 1.7GHz Quad core, 2GB RAM and 16MB or 32MB storage and just slightly bigger than an iphone 5.

It's a bit of an experiment but I decided to bite the bullet and order from the site in the review at $399 US for the MI-2S 1.7GHz, 32GB version.
 
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That looks a nice phone. I hope you told them to put "sample phone" and under £40 on the parcel?
I think there is an official MIUI rom that updates OTA every Friday afternoon, let us know how you get on with it.
 
Well, I've had an update to say the phone shipped before the Chinese national holiday. Fingers crossed

However, just a word of caution on the place I ordered from (as per the Eurogamer review). I happened to use the same email address and password that I use for a social networking site to place my order. Within 48 hours the social networking account had been compromised and was sending private messages with links about single mothers working from home to all my contacts. Thankfully the account (and user-name or password) isn't linked to any payment details. First time I've had a compromised account.

It could be a coincidence - but that's some coincidence.
 
Im also looking at picking up the MI-2S but also later this month they are announce/release the MI-3 so a toss up between the 2.

Really looks promising for power to price point at the moment
 
The main reason I've gone for the 2S is it being a small size for a powerful phone. Not much else comes close yet.

The Mi-3 looks decent but obviously doesn't appeal to me in the same way.

Still waiting for delivery of mine.
 
has it been delivered yet, i recently bit the bullet and bought a Chinese phone direct was just wondering how you got on?
 
Sayso said:
has it been delivered yet, i recently bit the bullet and bought a Chinese phone direct was just wondering how you got on?
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What phone you got coming and what site did you order from? this may help other people.

I get mine from merimobile.
 
deuse said:
What phone you got coming and what site did you order from? this may help other people.

I get mine from merimobile.
Click to expand...

I got a THL W11 Monkeyking 2Gb/32GB version(£175) from Antelife (which ive since read some bad things about) i got a shipping number today so hopefully a week until it gets here, will update the thread when it does.
 
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Have you checked its not sitting in customs mine was...i had to pay VAT or some sort of tax on top before it was released, should arrive today.
 
Strictly speaking I should have to pay VAT (I think it applies to any electronic item worth over about £30-40 that isn't a gift). If VAT is to be applied, they have my contact details.

As it happens, I've never had to pay VAT for electronic items bought from the far east so far and they have all been correctly labelled by the suppliers. I think it's about time customs asked me for a payment on something!
 
VAT is payable on items over £15 not marked as a gift. Gifts are allowed up to £36 is my limited understanding. This is for items outside of the EU.

Fish
 
I had to pay VAT but my phone arrived today :) Its nothing amazing but seems good so far (i have rooted it but im not going to load a custom ROM yet) for £170 you would struggle to find an unlocked/sim free phone with the same specs, the build quality isnt as high as the top market phones as you would expect. Will report back after a few days use.
 
And did you have to pay any customs on it?

Ive got a tablet on the way from China as we speak, was shipped today via DHL! Hope I manage to swerve the customs charges!
 
No customs. I wouldn't say the label was entirely accurate though.

So far, installed the xiaomi.eu international ROM for UK english and google apps (standard is Cantonese, Mandarin or US English). It didn't behave until I'd done a data reset.

It's imported my google contacts fine. Tomtom not compatible in Google play though, so I'm currently messing with transferring .apk files from my old phone.
 
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