I checked needrom (website) and was amazed how many ROMs there are. Also, I thought Xiaomi has regular updates, at least for a while?
duramax - one thing worth keeping an eye out for: if you’re in the US, most of the Xiaomi (and many other Asian phones) will not work well here because most of our cellular frequencies are different than what is used around the world.
It’s a bit convoluted, but here are a couple links that might help when picking an international phone:
Thanks! I trusted Gearbest and the “international version” tag. Guess I’ll have to do more research.
I like my OnePlus 3T, but OnePlus phones have gotten a little less “budget” lately. We recently picked up a Nokia 6.1 (part of the “Android One” program with supposedly fast updates and pure Android) for my wife. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great phone for the money.
A lot of the Xiaomi and Chinese phones take 2 sim cards and can operate on most bands for travelling. It’s something I wish more phones did.
I had to get rid of my Galaxy S5 or pay $250 so I just found a lightly used Galaxy S6 for $180 iirc. I’d never pay full price for these new phones, but the phones from just 2-3 years ago are far from bad.
Really? Top end 26650 cells are half that. Seems hardly credible anything like a normal sized, even phablet phone, could have a battery that large in it.
I have the Doogee phone and it is acceptable, but not perfect. some malware was on there but it disappeared.
Xiaomi looks nice.
I bought one of these (I guess is the X5) and NEVER EVER will buy anything like that again! Due to that malware, it sent messages to “special mobile services” and made pay more than 12€ for those things. I had to ask Vodafone to block messages and I had to install antivirus or something alike to “stop” (put in stand by) those malware functions. :rage:
I will only use it again in case I don’t have any other option… :person_facepalming:
Kinda ‘dodgy’ I guess. :person_facepalming:
@MascaratumB, the Doogee X5 was known to be the dodgiest phone from Doogee to have ever been sold.
Personally, for budget phones, I would recommend these companies from my experience(and have headphones jacks :D):
- Xiaomi (mostly the Mi Max/Mi A1/Redmi Note series)
- Nubia
- Umidigi (they have slowly been getting better over the years. Slowly, but surely.)
- Nokia (specifically, the Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6.1 2018)
- ZTE (only the Axon 7, their best phone, as you could get it for 200$ once)
That is about it. Oneplus is getting too expensive to be called budget, Huawei phones can’t be rooted/install custom ROMs anymore, etc.
Too bad I only knew that after buying and using it 
I only use it now when my Nexus 5 is “out”.
I have to start thinking about a new one, though, so I’m looking to the suggestions on the thread 
Thanks for those :+1:
The Xiaomi Mi A2 (and A2 Lite) was finally announced today. It looks amazing, but as always, appears to be lacking dominant US bands.
i’m living in asia, so i’m quite familiar with cheap chinese phone
here is some advices
1: buy phone with decent brands( like xiaomi, vivo, oppo, huawei, etc), they are respectable brands here, their hardware is above OK, build quality is good for thier price, but most important is they support old phones, unlike some other cheap ass china phones
2: buy global version, some chinnese phones is only sold in China, so no Google store, no youtube app, and Chinese is default language, i know that you can install all of those easily, but sometime it’s kind of annoying
3: do your research carefully, some chinese phones are advertised to have dual cam( like DOGGEE), but the fact is the secondary cam is fake and have no effect
4: DO NOT buy fake phones, like 199$ iphone X or samsung S9, they are the worst, no OS update, full of malware and the performance is the worst of the worst, you will waste money on these
Doesn’t matter for us Canadian folks.
It has B7 and B4, so plenty for LTE 
@mrherosuper, people actually buy these as a daily driver? I thought they bought it for the wow factor.
I’m using a Samsung S4mini with Lineage OS to get the latest Androind
Is there any phone of this size with a modern display and stuff that I don’t have to charge every day which is not an iPhone SE?
I especially hate those super slim glass phones. Put a cover on it so it won’t break on the first day and it’s as fat as my old Nokia N8.
Only that that N8 has 2 weeks standby and is sturdy without any case around it so I can attach a NiteIze pocket clip.
I still use it as my alarm clock
I had a Leagoo and hated it, tons of malware and it sent data to random servers in China.
Samsung, Motorola, LG, Sony, and Nokia all offer dual SIM phones. Most of the phones sold in the US are meant for only one network. Even though the hardware is exactly the same, some phones have frequencies that are disabled by the software.
Some phones from Google and Apple work on any US network’s LTE. Some manufacturers allow you to connect to CDMA and GSM, which is almost as good as dual SIM if you are in the US. Unfortunately, there aren’t many discounts for that kind of cross-functionality.
Samsung Z4, Xperia XZ1, Nokia 1. Check gsmarena’s phone finder for more models.
Every time I see this thread pop up to the top, I hope Krono is back.
Alas, he is not :weary:
I’m using Redmi 5A from Xiaomi, got it for about $100.
Camera is good, best for outdoor.
Add few dollar to get 32GB version instead of 16GB because it will full in no time.