Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Pro - Where to buy>

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boland

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#205561 17-Nov-2016 20:30

I've done quite some research, and I want to get the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Pro. It is sold on ebay for about $250, free shipping from China. See e.g. here.

I've also found some New Zealand sites, which are (I guess) dropshipping them for about $350-$400... But $250 sounds better of course :)

Is the one on Ebay usable in New Zealand? Is it the "real" Xiaomi, not a copy? Anything else to think about? It seems to have the right bands:

2G: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz;

3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz; CDMA2000/1 BC0

4G: FDD LTE B3:1800/B1:2100/B7:2600/B5:850/B8:900 MHz TD LTE B38:2600/B39:1900/B40:2300/B41:2555-2655MHz

tanivula

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#1673159 17-Nov-2016 21:17

www.ibuygou.com have them for about the same price ~ US$ 208 for the 64gig / 3gb model. They were one of the original Xiaomi resellers (back in the day I bought a Mi2a many moons ago).

Otherwise the Goldway guys on Aliexpress are pretty good.

In terms of can you use it, yes, it'll work. But as per most 'chinese' phones, they lack band28 4g support so you may only get 3g speeds in some areas (particularly outside urban areas).

openmedia

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#1673251 17-Nov-2016 23:59

No B28 on that model. Anyone got a recommendation on a Xiaomi phone with B28?

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

tanivula

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#1673329 18-Nov-2016 08:10

openmedia:

No B28 on that model. Anyone got a recommendation on a Xiaomi phone with B28?

The new Mi Note 2 (not RedMi) has a premium model that has 'global LTE support' ie pretty much everything). This is one of Xiaomi's announcement slides:

boland

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#1673347 18-Nov-2016 08:51

openmedia:

No B28 on that model. Anyone got a recommendation on a Xiaomi phone with B28?

Sorry, is that bad? I don't really care about 3G vs 4G; 3G is fast enough for what I'm doing.

boland

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#1673349 18-Nov-2016 08:54

tanivula:

www.ibuygou.com have them for about the same price ~ US$ 208 for the 64gig / 3gb model. They were one of the original Xiaomi resellers (back in the day I bought a Mi2a many moons ago).

Otherwise the Goldway guys on Aliexpress are pretty good.

In terms of can you use it, yes, it'll work. But as per most 'chinese' phones, they lack band28 4g support so you may only get 3g speeds in some areas (particularly outside urban areas).

Thanks! Goldway is cheapest, looks good. See here. One thing however; this is in the description which worries me a bit:

we will open the original box to check the phone and install Multi-language ROM and Google play store,If you have special requests about the original box,please leave us a message.And Many Multi-language ROM not support OTA Update.The custom rom may not perfect,translation may does not cover all the menus,pls understand.We may update the custom ROM,so the OS version may different as the screenshots.

This would mean I'm dependent on them to get updates later on? I thought the stock MIUI would have English; why do they install a custom ROM? I see that the same happens on Ebay.
I know that Google is not allowed in China, but I just don't want to be locked to some Chinese shop for my updates :)

jonb

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#1673354 18-Nov-2016 09:12

It's very to install the official Miui rom, if you find you don't get OTA updates. I just got a Mi4 from gear best, and was annoyed to see it wouldn't update to Miui 8. Wasn't a problem to use the miflash tool to install official global rom though.

I'm also of the opinion (although in a minority on geekzone) that band 28 isn't important for most users, especially if you live in urban area and not a massive data user. Can always get a new phone in a couple of years if you find it is an issue not having Band 28.

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jonb

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#1673357 18-Nov-2016 09:14

I've had no troubles buying from AliExpress for phones. Either the Goldway store or any other other larger stores there with lots of feedback.

askelon

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#1673362 18-Nov-2016 09:22

If they are opening it up first they are using the Chinese version and reflashing it with the global rom.

I used this store for my last couple of Redmi phones. https://www.aliexpress.com/store/2133067 They were pretty quick, cheap etc.

Seems they have both the MTK and Snapdragon versions - I would get the snapdragon one personally. Thats what I got when I got my Redmi Note 3 Pro - amazing battery life & quicker than my Xperia Z1.

boland

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#1673414 18-Nov-2016 10:24

askelon:

If they are opening it up first they are using the Chinese version and reflashing it with the global rom.

I used this store for my last couple of Redmi phones. https://www.aliexpress.com/store/2133067 They were pretty quick, cheap etc.

Seems they have both the MTK and Snapdragon versions - I would get the snapdragon one personally. Thats what I got when I got my Redmi Note 3 Pro - amazing battery life & quicker than my Xperia Z1.

AFAIK Note 4 = MTK; Note 3 = Snapdragon.

In reviews the Note 4 got slightly higher ratings, so I'm going for the Note 4 :)

Thanks everyone!

tchart

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#1673420 18-Nov-2016 10:32

jonb:

I've had no troubles buying from AliExpress for phones.

+1 for AliExpress. Got my Mi Max from there. Like others have said make sure you get a global ROM otherwise no OTA updates...

HowickDota

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#1673451 18-Nov-2016 11:01

openmedia:

No B28 on that model. Anyone got a recommendation on a Xiaomi phone with B28?

Currently only the Redmi Note 3 Pro Special/Global Version supports B28. Note that it does carry quite a price premium over the non global edition and that it is different from a regular Note 3 Pro with the "Global" rom. https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Redmi-Note3-Pro-Global/2178148_32717858702.html

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askelon

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#1673559 18-Nov-2016 12:55

Pretty sure there's two variants of the Note 4 - one with the MTK 10 core and one with the Snapdragon 625 which as far as I can tell is a 6 core.

jonathan18

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#1673578 18-Nov-2016 13:42

My experience with updating a Xiaomi product is a bit different to the more positive stories above - I bought my wife a Redmi Note 2 back in January, and found the process of updating it a complete horse's rear. This was one with a global ROM purchased from Goldway off eBay - selected based on the basis it should have provided a relatively easy path to upgrading!

In the end, back in Jan I managed to get the ROM upgraded, but have never been able to do any OTA updates since; and any attempt to download and install them manually have failed part-way through.

Personally, this was my one and probably last foray into the world of purchasing phones directly from China; sure they're cheap and offer great value for money but I'm not that skilled in this area and have better things to do with my time. The reality is there are now really good value Chinese phones that can be purchased in NZ - ideally NZ-sourced models (such as the Huawei Mate 8 I bought this week for $439) or if not that at least ones brought in by an NZ retailer that has done some due diligence on the product. Either way, at least you've got CGA cover if something goes wrong... (and, for example, I ended up having to buy my wife a new phone as the Note 2 had a frustrating intermittent fault - no come-back from that, having it purchased it from China...)

CamH

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#1673588 18-Nov-2016 13:52

Buy it off Goldway and ask them not to flash it. It's what we did and it works great.

I'm not overly sure what the benefit of the Global ROM even is - the Chinese ROM works perfectly for us.

boland

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#1673635 18-Nov-2016 15:14

CamH:

Buy it off Goldway and ask them not to flash it. It's what we did and it works great.

I'm not overly sure what the benefit of the Global ROM even is - the Chinese ROM works perfectly for us.

Does the Chinese ROM have English?