Battle of the cheap Chinese Androids

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320 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 55
Inactive user

#1381041 7-Sep-2015 11:59

moxpearl: So I installed MIUI android as suggested on this thread.

Fixed every issue I had and the phone is amazing :)

What's better and how much is it better than before?

How much nonsense did you have to go through to install it?

moxpearl

125 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#1381162 7-Sep-2015 14:38

I was having issues with Chinese Bloatware/Crapware popping up, Playstore Download Size errors as well as the phone doing the odd strange thing once the screen turned off.

Now everything appears to be good. 3 days now and its running perfect.

Pretty easy process, took around 10 minutes :)

P1n3apqlExpr3ss

853 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 31

#1397822 1-Oct-2015 11:26

Moxpearl how are you finding it a month later? How is the battery life holding up with the xiaomi.eu builds? Any annoying bugs/glitches?

It has also been discovered that the cheapest version of the Redmi Note 2, the supposedly TDD SKU does in fact work on WCDMA and FDD networks, meaning you can grab it for around $250

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Original-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-2-TD-TDD-Mobile-Phone-MTK6795-Octa-Core-5-5-1920X1080P-2GB/311331_32455806291.html

Also the Xiaomi Mi4C has been announced recently which looks awesome but I find it hard to justify the extra $100~ USD

richms

29107 posts

Uber Geek
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#1397839 1-Oct-2015 11:37

If it supports both china and other 3/4g then it is an interesting phone to get. Problem I had when in china was that my phones all would only roam or work with a local sim onto one network (cant recall which), and that was hugely conjested till about 4am as a result. People were actually getting 4g hotspots on the other network to use.

Richard rich.ms

z2k

321 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 24

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#1397840 1-Oct-2015 11:39

P1n3apqlExpr3ss: Moxpearl how are you finding it a month later? How is the battery life holding up with the xiaomi.eu builds? Any annoying bugs/glitches?

It has also been discovered that the cheapest version of the Redmi Note 2, the supposedly TDD SKU does in fact work on WCDMA and FDD networks, meaning you can grab it for around $250

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Original-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-2-TD-TDD-Mobile-Phone-MTK6795-Octa-Core-5-5-1920X1080P-2GB/311331_32455806291.html

Also the Xiaomi Mi4C has been announced recently which looks awesome but I find it hard to justify the extra $100~ USD

I got mine about a week after Moxpearl. Flashed the latest weekly MIUI 7 roms from xiaomi.eu.

Battery life is great. Off the charger around 7.30am, roughly 1 hour SOT throughout the day with brightness set at automatic 40%, and 2 email accounts on push. I end up with about 81% remaining by 6pm.

With use, I average around 5 hours of SOT.

I do make full use of the permissions feature in MIUI and prevent any non messaging/email apps from autostarting and most apps aren't allowed to access location while in the background.

rmt38

320 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 55
Inactive user

#1397929 1-Oct-2015 13:02

P1n3apqlExpr3ss: It has also been discovered that the cheapest version of the Redmi Note 2, the supposedly TDD SKU does in fact work on WCDMA and FDD networks, meaning you can grab it for around $250

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Original-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-2-TD-TDD-Mobile-Phone-MTK6795-Octa-Core-5-5-1920X1080P-2GB/311331_32455806291.html

Hmm. What does custom firmware mean? Does that mean if you update with xiaomi.es or whatever it is, it'll clobber it? Or are those known to be safe?

New World

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P1n3apqlExpr3ss

853 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 31

#1398027 1-Oct-2015 14:12

rmt38:
P1n3apqlExpr3ss: It has also been discovered that the cheapest version of the Redmi Note 2, the supposedly TDD SKU does in fact work on WCDMA and FDD networks, meaning you can grab it for around $250

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Original-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-2-TD-TDD-Mobile-Phone-MTK6795-Octa-Core-5-5-1920X1080P-2GB/311331_32455806291.html

Hmm. What does custom firmware mean? Does that mean if you update with xiaomi.es or whatever it is, it'll clobber it? Or are those known to be safe?

Not sure. I think I read that it is still okay after flashing different ROMsl; would have to look it up on their forums or XDA to confirm

@z2k, sounds pretty awesome. How does the camera hold up and does it feel alright in hand for such a large phone?

rmt38

320 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 55
Inactive user

#1398167 1-Oct-2015 17:18

P1n3apqlExpr3ss:
rmt38: Hmm. What does custom firmware mean? Does that mean if you update with xiaomi.es or whatever it is, it'll clobber it? Or are those known to be safe?

Not sure. I think I read that it is still okay after flashing different ROMsl; would have to look it up on their forums or XDA to confirm

Hmm. I haven't had much luck googling for difference between "firmware" and roms. The most relevant XDA thread I can find, has no progress besides a link to a post by someone who bought the cheaper version and found it unlocked for the additional frequencies (and the mediatek source code which is no help). Most of the experiments involve installing roms for different devices and seeing if they open up new channels, which seems somewhat of a warning sign that firmware most likely equals rom and installing a xiaomi.eu rom may clobber the non-chinese channels.

z2k

321 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 24

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#1398266 1-Oct-2015 20:01

P1n3apqlExpr3ss: @z2k, sounds pretty awesome. How does the camera hold up and does it feel alright in hand for such a large phone?

Camera is ok. Can't compare with the latest flagships but it does the job.

I don't have any problems with holding the phone, a little finger juggling is needed to pull down the notification tray but MIUI has a 1 handed mode that minimizes the screen into a 4 or 4.5 inch screen area.

rmt38

320 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 55
Inactive user

#1398416 2-Oct-2015 07:01

Asked if doing a new rom would clobber the networks, answer doesn't really answer:

HongKong Goldway: hi friend,

1. the link in 145.99usd is China mobile version, which only mention about GSM and TD-SCDMA network in the box, but as we tested, it is also with WCDMA and FDD LTE network, just doesn't mention it in the box.

2. the link in 169.99usd is China unicom verison, which mention about GSM, WCDMA and FDD LTE network on the box.

3. both of them will be with below networks, you can check whether it is ok for you:

2G:GSM 900/1800/1900MHz

3G:WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz

4G:FDD LTE B3:1800/B1:2100/B7:2600MHz

thanks

P1n3apqlExpr3ss

853 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 31

#1399391 3-Oct-2015 15:10

rmt38: Asked if doing a new rom would clobber the networks, answer doesn't really answer:

HongKong Goldway: hi friend, 1. the link in 145.99usd is China mobile version, which only mention about GSM and TD-SCDMA network in the box, but as we tested, it is also with WCDMA and FDD LTE network, just doesn't mention it in the box. 2. the link in 169.99usd is China unicom verison, which mention about GSM, WCDMA and FDD LTE network on the box. 3. both of them will be with below networks, you can check whether it is ok for you: 2G:GSM 900/1800/1900MHz 3G:WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz 4G:FDD LTE B3:1800/B1:2100/B7:2600MHz thanks D

This thread seems like its worth keeping an eye on. Someone posted a link to the rom/firmware/baseband/who knows what that the retailer flashed

http://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-note-2/general/try-to-unlock-lte-bands-t3198232

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rmt38

320 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 55
Inactive user

#1399610 4-Oct-2015 11:10

P1n3apqlExpr3ss:

This thread seems like its worth keeping an eye on. Someone posted a link to the rom/firmware/baseband/who knows what that the retailer flashed

http://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-note-2/general/try-to-unlock-lte-bands-t3198232

Yes, I linked to it above. But the answer you got there was ambiguous. The firmware is in the rom which gets installed, but it would be persistent if you installed another rom.. What I'm getting is that at this stage, if one wants to get a Redmi Note 2, they should pay the extra and forget the chinese bands.

P1n3apqlExpr3ss

853 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 31

#1401352 6-Oct-2015 21:38

rmt38:
P1n3apqlExpr3ss:

This thread seems like its worth keeping an eye on. Someone posted a link to the rom/firmware/baseband/who knows what that the retailer flashed

http://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-note-2/general/try-to-unlock-lte-bands-t3198232

Yes, I linked to it above. But the answer you got there was ambiguous. The firmware is in the rom which gets installed, but it would be persistent if you installed another rom.. What I'm getting is that at this stage, if one wants to get a Redmi Note 2, they should pay the extra and forget the chinese bands.

Doh, didn't realise it was the same thread. From more recent posts it seems it's basically the same hardware, the only difference is the price tag after flashing software. One user says they bought the TDD model, flashed the FDD rom and all was well

Can someone please comment on using two SIMs? From what I can tell both can run on 3G/4G but only one can be active a time? Do you select in software which is active or is that handled automatically? How does it decide what SIM to use for data?

jonb

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#1404109 12-Oct-2015 09:24

At a lower budget level, I've just ordered a DooGee X5 Pro for $75USD ($115 NZ). Seems to be excellent specs for the price (except for camera) 2GB RAM, 16GB ROM, 4G, Android 5.1 etc - will do a quick review once it arrives in a week or so.

dman

956 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 33

#1407908 16-Oct-2015 14:39

P1n3apqlExpr3ss: Moxpearl how are you finding it a month later? How is the battery life holding up with the xiaomi.eu builds? Any annoying bugs/glitches?

It has also been discovered that the cheapest version of the Redmi Note 2, the supposedly TDD SKU does in fact work on WCDMA and FDD networks, meaning you can grab it for around $250

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Original-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-2-TD-TDD-Mobile-Phone-MTK6795-Octa-Core-5-5-1920X1080P-2GB/311331_32455806291.html

Also the Xiaomi Mi4C has been announced recently which looks awesome but I find it hard to justify the extra $100~ USD

Is the extra fifty bucks or so for the 2.2GHz version worth it? Mainly I'm thinking 16gig vs 32gig internal storage should be worthwhile.

https://www.youtube.com/c/SoundSpeeding

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