I really recommend Oukitel China brand. Several of them in family and some of them almost 2 years and not a single issue. They also received updates to android 7 recently.
What I do not recommend is Hom Tom company cause I bought their rugged phone and they have build slow and lagging camera in. But for 100$ some could consider that as good deal. Oukitel gives much more than Hom Tom in that price range and if you guys want to know more about China phones visit gizchina web page. They are no.1 in the business.
Get a China “premium brand” like Lenovo or Xiamoi from an online store in your country or from Amazon. For 250$ the ZUK Z2 offers awesome display, Cyanogen-OS compatible (instead of china bloatware), big and fast internal 64GB storage and impressive battery time.
I am using two Chinese phones with very low price points; one is a ZTE L5 plus, the other a Leagoo M8 Pro.
Scanned for viruses and malware, all good; the Leagoo even had a OS update OTA a few weeks back.
No issues at all so far, I use these devices when I don’t want to carry my expensive phone (mountain biking, hiking, wet/damp environments, garage, …)
We have four Xiaomi redmi note 3 pro (redmi note 4 is the replacement model) and one Xiaomi 4A in use in my family and they are all doing a real good job for the buck for about one year now (two of them). No bloatware no spying software, nothing. German language (and others) without flashing or whatsoever. The note 3 pro is easily comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S6. Even better in some points. No problems with 3G or 4G. Even band 20 (you need it in Germany) is present in the SE/international version.
All Accessories bought from Ali…. .
Read some reviews and form your own opinion and compare the prices.
I definitely agree to Lightbringer concerning warranties, but I never had any problems yet. Paying with PayPal makes things easier.
On problems it will be the same procedure as described in this forum concernig flashlight problems.
Now I would avoid cheap chinese phone brands (except Xiaomi or other premium brands).
I have bought several cheap (100 bux or less) ones in the past (Oukitel, Zopo, InFocus), they had some problems :
- factory installed malware (adups)
- buggy stock Android rom, no OS upgrades of course (no alternative custom roms with Mediatek-based phones since kernel sources are usually not released by manufacturer)
no replacements parts to be found in case something breaks (screen)
And you can also get a DOA device, or the phone dies in 3 months… not worth it.
I am using a Leagoo Elite 1 since 2 years and I am very satisfied with it. I had a problem with it once (self inflicted) but I found efficient and useful help from the AE store where I bought it.
I bought (when it was new) Xiaomi RedMi 1. It still server as my childs first phone.
Upgraded it to Cyanogen.
I upgraded to Mi5 a year ago but I made a mistake when ordering (Aliexpress, HongKond Goldway is a good seller) and took the chinese ROM. Should have taken the Global ROM.
It is possible to change it but not the easiest task.
Ordered to my friend a Xiaomi RedMi 4 pro-prime and he has been especially pleased to battery runtime after his Sony.
Recently ordered RedMi 4A to my other son and a replacement to redmi1, RedMi 4 pro to my older son.
These later times I took the Global ROM and no issues this time
Oh… They are also available locally here in Finland so warranty is possible BUT it adds 50EUR to price to buy locally a chinese 100EUR phone so I have not bothered to think about the warranty…
I’m in the market for a new phone myself so I’m also interested in peoples opinions. I use T-Mobil’s pay as you go plan and don’t have data. Presently I’m using a Microsoft 640 LTE that I bought direct from MS and have never had any kind of service warrant, and I’m okay with that. I almost never make phone calls and seldom text so those things aren’t really priorities in a cell phone. Mostly I use my phone as a camera, and for podcasts, and audiobooks. I’ve been looking at the Xiaomi’s, and most people have good things to say about those.
I’ve had my LG G5 about a year now and it’s a great phone. The “friends” that interchange are a joke, but once you are past that, it was last year’s cutting edge phone from LG with stats that matched all other providers, AND…it is dirt cheap now since L6 has been released. Available for just over $200 on eBay. I have bought 2 more just as backups. I still love the removable battery but it also fast charges to 80% in about half hour. Gets updates PDQ also.
I have been using my Mi6 for around 4 months and couldn’t be happier, apart from losing the headphone jack. (Did they really need to copy apple?)
For friends and family, I always suggest the Redmi note 4 Pro, one of the best phones under AU$200 /US$150 in my experience.
Parts like screens are easily available and not too costly, with the Redmi Note 4 Pro LCD selling for around $25.
Replacement is quite simple too.
The only downside with the Mi6 is no Band 22 LTE, however I still get full strength LTE connection on other bands.
I believe some variants of the Redmi Note 4 with the SD625 SOC do have this band.
Always check your LTE bands when buying from China.
International is not global.I was looking at Xaomi phones and then read some reviews.Only one review made it clear that for all your 4G bands,you need the global version.For France,my carrier uses 3,7 and 20.
International edition seems to mean that Android is in your chosen language without Chinese start pages etc,nothing to do with band frequencies.I learn something every day.
I use straight talk because the big phone companies pillage your wallet and I get the same services for $50 a month. Without a contract you don’t really have much of a warranty anyways so I just buy phones used. The latest flagship phones cost too much brand new, $400 and up. I just use 2 gens ago. Samsung Galaxy S6 used for $180 and it works great.
I’d try a Xiaomi, but I never knew anyone that owned one.
Dunno what that covers, whether data, too, or just voice/text.
For me, I got 2 prepaid accounts:
TMobile for 100bux/yr (100bux at 10¢/min, so 1000min and a 1yr expiration). So if all I expect to do is yak for a few min, I’ll use that. Also for texts back’n’forth when it might not be possible to talk.
AT&T at 2bux/day if there’s any activity that day (even a 1min call or 1 text counts). So if I expect to use it for more than 20min (eg, people at work bugging me), I’ll use that phone/acct instead. 25bux or more buys a 90day expiration, so that’s the same effective rate per year as the TM acct. So basically I pay 200bux/year total, for about, what?, 17bux/mo?
I’m definitely not a Phone Guy™, so people know enough not to bug me on the phone, and just send email or something. And I’m one of those who can sit right next to a phone when it’s ringing and not be inclined in the slightest to pick it up.
I wonder if anyone else has realized how the capabilities of a decent ‘smartphone’ exceeds the desktop computer from 10 yrs ago. My ageing 1+ one has a quad core 2.4GHz processor, 4GB ram, and 64GB storage. Cheaper than the core2 duo I built and overclocked to 3.6 GHz shortly before (although the desktop did have 2TB storage but I couldn’t carry it in my pocket).
