I would question why bother replacing MIUI?

mrdrifter:

I would question why bother replacing MIUI?

https://www.dicksmith.co.nz/dn/buy/xiaomi-poco-x3-pro-8gb-ram-256gb-phantom-black-xiaomi/

X3 pro for $479, this worth a look or better to get a lower specced f3?

I pulled the trigger on the Dick Smith $488 deal earlier this week. Nowhere did it mention it was a refurb, so I trust a brand new phone will turn up sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Re X3 Pro vs F3, here's what the pocket-lint site had to say:

"It's a case of comparing apples and oranges when positioning the X3 Pro and F3 against one another. Of the two, the F3 is the higher-end device - despite no 'Pro' appendage appearing - thanks to 5G connectivity, greater processing power, a smaller scale and design, plus brighter screen and more sensible cameras arrangement.

If you want more battery life, don't care for 5G, and are looking for a more affordable handset then the X3 Pro is the more appealing option of the pair. But given how well priced the F3's starting price is, it'll surely be hard to not be tempted."

TopShelfCookieJar:

 

"I pulled the trigger on the Dick Smith $488 deal earlier this week. Nowhere did it mention it was a refurb, so I trust a brand new phone will turn up sometime in the next couple of weeks."

 

I also opted for the $488 Poco F3 on the Dick Smith site, which is being sold by Heybattery, but only after confirming that it is indeed brand new from customer support

Thanks for contacting us.
Yes, Please be advised that all products we sell are brand new, original, and sealed in a retail box.    
Please feel free to contact us if there are still any further problems, we would be glad to help.
 

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Heybattery
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From the Heybattery Shipping T&C's it says it is in stock and being shipped from Australia, but my Aramex ticket states it was loaded in Auckland...

Strangely, shortly after placing the order, I received this weird spam fishing SMS four times from different numbers in a single minute.   

Ah, good to have it confirmed they're new.

Yeah, my Aramex ticket says Auckland too, but I think that may indicate the final delivery address, rather than the origin (there's very little context to go by). The actual Aramex website for tracking (which still hasn't updated despite it being shipped on Tuesday) is for Aramex Australia, so presumably it's coming from there.

As you say, we'll see how long it takes. :)

Got the door knock from the courier this morning, so basically a one week delivery time.

Good stuff, one week is not bad for delivery with the current state of the courier service. What you think of the F3 so far?

Pretty impressed so far. Snappy, fingerprint scanner is super responsive, feels good in the hand, etc. The 120 Hz refresh is nice too.

MIUI is 'okay', but I've already started my 7-day wait for the bootloader to unlock, at which point I'll flash a cleaner AOSP rom on it.

The drop in ppi (539 to 395) coming from a Pixel 2XL isn't noticeable at a 'normal' viewing range, which had been one of my concerns before buying. It's only if I'm lying in bed (sans glasses) with the phone closer to my eyes that the lack of definition becomes more obvious.

All in all though, very happy with what I've received for just under $500!

TopShelfCookieJar:

Pretty impressed so far. Snappy, fingerprint scanner is super responsive, feels good in the hand, etc. The 120 Hz refresh is nice too.

MIUI is 'okay', but I've already started my 7-day wait for the bootloader to unlock, at which point I'll flash a cleaner AOSP rom on it.

The drop in ppi (539 to 395) coming from a Pixel 2XL isn't noticeable at a 'normal' viewing range, which had been one of my concerns before buying. It's only if I'm lying in bed (sans glasses) with the phone closer to my eyes that the lack of definition becomes more obvious.

All in all though, very happy with what I've received for just under $500!

Yeah, I'm thinking Arrow as well.

Haven't looked further than unlocking the bootloader, since that incurs a 7 day waiting period. Over the weekend I'll dig into the details.

I regularly flashed roms on my Galaxy S and Nexus 4 many moons ago. Presumably not much has changed since then... :)

Got ArrowOS 12 installed without an issue.

Once the bootloader was unlocked I simply followed the 'First Installation (Clean flash)' instructions on the ROM post - https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-12-0-0-alioth-aliothin-arrowos-12-0-official.4348617/

TopShelfCookieJar:

 

Got ArrowOS 12 installed without an issue.

 

Once the bootloader was unlocked I simply followed the 'First Installation (Clean flash)' instructions on the ROM post - https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-12-0-0-alioth-aliothin-arrowos-12-0-official.4348617/

 

Glad it went so smoothly.  I'll proceed with mine as soon as I have met all the requirements.  My only windows PC is a Ryzen based machine, which apparently can give you problems.  All other PC's are freeBSD or Linux based.

Yeah, I'm on Intel.

It was a pain in the butt to install the USB drivers in Windows last Monday, but everything today was good. Fingers crossed yours goes that way too!

Bought the F3 8/256gb version over Easter sitting sub $500 at Supero.

Thinking of flashing, but have zero knowledge on the subject currently studying the procedure. Whats the worse that can happen, will I be able to factory reset to original software if things go wrong?