Recommend an upper midrange plain Android phone

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#2409376 28-Jan-2020 21:10

Now I've decided to get the 9T, after thinking about it for about six months, my patience to wait for a sale is approaching zero 😉

I'll buy the 9T 128GB from PB Tech for $648. They have a physical store near me so if anything goes wrong I can walk in. Their model should have band 28, but I'll have to double check that as they don't list it.

robingeek

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#2410073 30-Jan-2020 11:02

A bit late to the party but...

Have you looked at https://www.umidigi.com/

I got a F2 for NZ$280. tookmonths to arrive becaus of Hong Kong riots, they appologise and sent a free smartwatch.

Very happy with the phone, excellent cameras (4 of), stock Android 10 . Have ordered another for the other daughter.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000287960788.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.4a614c4dQhtUVo

Very good value for the features/quality

timmmay

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#2410089 30-Jan-2020 11:32

Umidigi looks like a fantastic midrange phone, fairly good performance. I purchased the Xiaomi 9T this morning from PBTech for $650 (they wouldn't give me the weekend deal on the pro at that price), and seems good so far - just doing updates. I'll do a review at some point :)

Thanks to @mrdrifter for the suggestion!

timmmay

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#2410468 31-Jan-2020 05:55

In case anyone else is interested, a place with the "best gear" (unsure why that word is banned) has an "email only" sale of the 9T global version for NZ$408 including economy shipping, or about $420 with faster shipping. That might go up to NZ$490 if you get caught for GST, which could also delay things. That's a fantastic deal. Not sure how to get that deal given it says "email only" but if anyone is interested PM me and I'll send you the link to try - hopefully it doesn't log you into my account...

Mi A3 (plain Android) is US$175 / NZ$270 ex GST. I had a quick play with it in PB, it seems fairly good, 4000mah battery, screen resolution kinda low, but for that price it's a great deal. Xiaomi Note8 is also on sale for US$140 to $170.

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#2410504 31-Jan-2020 08:23

The other great thing about the 9T series is the rom support. If you don't mind rooting etc, you can install the pixel experience rom and you'll have what's basically a pixel. With updates for years and no bloat.

timmmay

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#2410512 31-Jan-2020 08:31

Echoe: The other great thing about the 9T series is the rom support. If you don't mind rooting etc, you can install the pixel experience rom and you'll have what's basically a pixel. With updates for years and no bloat.

Bonus. Right now I'm liking MIUI 11 just fine. There's a few oddities like it's difficult to change wallpapers without using a theme, but maybe I just haven't worked it out yet. Great hardware so far, except the in-screen fingerprint reader is only ok - but I'm getting used to it. Battery life is MILES better than the old P9, and the charge speed is double the other phones - getting 3500mah or so while the battery is quite low - but I'll slow charge on a standard charger as it's better for the battery.

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#2410864 31-Jan-2020 17:34

The Mi9T is a cool piece of kit. I have been a fan of MIUI since the early days of flashing it to HTC devices before Xiaomi made their own phones, and you can tell it was built with enthusiast input thanks to all the fun tinkering that's possible. The gesture system in particular is by far my favourite of any Android vendor thanks to the long-swipe to switch apps, Oppo picked this implementation up too because a good idea is a good idea.

Fun tip for MIUI - install the Poco Launcher from the Play Store. Originally made for the Poco F1, it is now a standalone launcher for any Android device, but gets granted some pretty cool extra features on Xiaomi phones. Adds:

Double tap to sleep
An app drawer - the stock MIUI launcher does not have one (present in alpha builds of the stock launcher)
Retains the dynamic icons from the stock MIUI launcher (calendar etc)
Retains the feature wherein the status bar clock is hidden when using a stock clock widget (Xiaomi still the only vendor to have this, good design)

You can of course unlock the bootloader and install a custom ROM on it should MIUI not be to your tastes / you want a breath of fresh air, I can confirm that unlocking the bootloader does not void local hardware warranty. Quite fond of the Xiaomi.eu version of MIUI myself, adds in some nice extra features.

Product Manager @ PB Tech

Smartphones @ PB Tech | Headphones @ PB Tech

timmmay

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#2410876 31-Jan-2020 18:38

I haven't even discovered the gestures yet. I might root it, but I want the regular updates as well, and no real need to root right now. Happy with MIUI for now at least - i've configured it for mostly black to reduce battery, but it still has some nice animations and such.

nzkc

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#2410897 31-Jan-2020 19:45

robingeek:

A bit late to the party but...

Have you looked at https://www.umidigi.com/

I got a F2 for NZ$280. tookmonths to arrive becaus of Hong Kong riots, they appologise and sent a free smartwatch.

Very happy with the phone, excellent cameras (4 of), stock Android 10 . Have ordered another for the other daughter.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000287960788.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.4a614c4dQhtUVo

Very good value for the features/quality

Sorry for the thread hijack. I'm curious - do you receive regular updates for it? Ive always looked at their devices (on Ali Express) and been amazed at what you get for the price. But I've shied away from a purchase with the view of "if they're that cheap - they mustn't put effort into updating their software".

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#2410914 31-Jan-2020 20:43

timmmay:
Echoe: The other great thing about the 9T series is the rom support. If you don't mind rooting etc, you can install the pixel experience rom and you'll have what's basically a pixel. With updates for years and no bloat.

Bonus. Right now I'm liking MIUI 11 just fine. There's a few oddities like it's difficult to change wallpapers without using a theme, but maybe I just haven't worked it out yet. Great hardware so far, except the in-screen fingerprint reader is only ok - but I'm getting used to it. Battery life is MILES better than the old P9, and the charge speed is double the other phones - getting 3500mah or so while the battery is quite low - but I'll slow charge on a standard charger as it's better for the battery.

A little tip in regards to the fingerprint reader is to scan your thumb on 3 different entries. I don't have a problem anymore

I've just tried poco launcher and do like quite a lot so far. Thanks for the tip

timmmay

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#2410946 31-Jan-2020 21:44

Thanks for the thumb tip :) I use Nova Launcher Prime (paid version), like I have on my other phones, so it feels quite familiar.

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#2410948 31-Jan-2020 21:52

No worries. Only thing poco doesn't have which I want is Google News feed/discover. Nova launcher does though. Hmm

timmmay

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#2410951 31-Jan-2020 22:02

I don't do feeds or anything fancy with Nova, I just use it as a configurable decent launcher. Shortcuts to call / my wife with a single click are handy, and widgets to add reminders to my various TickTick lists.

timmmay

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#2411727 2-Feb-2020 21:33

A couple of things are slightly annoying on the 9T.

1) No smart unlock. One Android 10 you can have your phone stay unlocked if you're on a known WiFi network. That's not in MIUI11. The phone is locked as soon as the screen is turned off, so you have to unlock it every time you want to use it.

2) The in-screen fingerprint reader is significantly slower and less reliable than a proper hardware reader. Sometimes it takes only a fraction of a second longer than a dedicated fingerprint reader, sometimes it takes 1-3 seconds, sometimes it takes a few goes over 10 seconds. It's usually ok. I expect I'll get better at using it. It's a gimmick / marketing led rather than a benefit to have an in-screen fingerprint reader when they're not great.

Those two problems go together to be annoying. If I knew those limitations before I purchased, I would probably still buy it, but I might have looked around a bit more to find other options. Hopefully they add smart unlock at some point, that would fix the problem. Maybe someone will work out a way to add it if Xiaomi don't.

NikT

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#2411923 3-Feb-2020 14:59

timmmay:

A couple of things are slightly annoying on the 9T.

1) No smart unlock. One Android 10 you can have your phone stay unlocked if you're on a known WiFi network. That's not in MIUI11. The phone is locked as soon as the screen is turned off, so you have to unlock it every time you want to use it.

2) The in-screen fingerprint reader is significantly slower and less reliable than a proper hardware reader. Sometimes it takes only a fraction of a second longer than a dedicated fingerprint reader, sometimes it takes 1-3 seconds, sometimes it takes a few goes over 10 seconds. It's usually ok. I expect I'll get better at using it. It's a gimmick / marketing led rather than a benefit to have an in-screen fingerprint reader when they're not great.

Those two problems go together to be annoying. If I knew those limitations before I purchased, I would probably still buy it, but I might have looked around a bit more to find other options. Hopefully they add smart unlock at some point, that would fix the problem. Maybe someone will work out a way to add it if Xiaomi don't.

Glad you didn't bite on a phone with an older generation of optical fingerprint scanner, they were...not very good. The likes of the Galaxy A50 and A70 still use these. Not a fan of the ultrasonic implementation in the S10 series either. From comparisons with ~every major smartphone to use an in-display solution, I'd rank the P30 Pro generation alongside the OnePlus 7/7T and Oppo Reno 10x as the best, with Xiaomi's Mi 9 / Note 10 / Mi 9T / Pro gen below that, and almost everything else in the market borderline unusable. I'd suggest registering the same finger (or thumb) twice, and screen protectors will of course make unlocking a hassle.

Google's Bluetooth smart unlock should be present and accounted for with BT peripherals (car kit or wearable), I've never used the WiFi-based one so can't report on which brands do and don't have that feature.

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Smartphones @ PB Tech | Headphones @ PB Tech

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