Battle of the cheap Chinese Androids

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329 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1417509 31-Oct-2015 06:59

Got a Xiaomi Mi 4c yesterday, $US238 delivered from Geekbuying. The hardware seems OK but MIUI and all the installed shovelware, ai yi yi. Fortunately there's an early Cyanogenmod for it that works passably well, and I'm going to try the MIUI build from http://smiui.net/mi4c_libra.php too.

tanivula

991 posts

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#1417522 31-Oct-2015 08:23

Nice, really tempted to get a 4c but holding back for some reason! It's almost a nexus 5x internally so should be good eh.

See how it settles in, and let us know your thoughts.

P1n3apqlExpr3ss

853 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1417665 31-Oct-2015 12:36

Anyone having issues with apps syncing in background on the Redmi Note 2? I'm on 5.10.22 and I've tried changing app behaviour, particularly hangouts in particular to settings > additional settings > battery > manage apps battery usage but it won't ever sync in background

rmt38

320 posts

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#1417670 31-Oct-2015 12:41

P1n3apqlExpr3ss: Anyone having issues with apps syncing in background on the Redmi Note 2? I'm on 5.10.22 and I've tried changing app behaviour, particularly hangouts in particular to settings > additional settings > battery > manage apps battery usage but it won't ever sync in background

I turned that completely off after it imported every email address from every mailing list thread I've ever received into my phone. It's french to me sorry.

P1n3apqlExpr3ss

853 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1417704 31-Oct-2015 14:31

rmt38:
P1n3apqlExpr3ss: Anyone having issues with apps syncing in background on the Redmi Note 2? I'm on 5.10.22 and I've tried changing app behaviour, particularly hangouts in particular to settings > additional settings > battery > manage apps battery usage but it won't ever sync in background

I turned that completely off after it imported every email address from every mailing list thread I've ever received into my phone. It's french to me sorry.

No worries, I reinstalled it and seems to be back to normal so far

numfarr

329 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1422661 6-Nov-2015 23:49

So after a week with the Xiaomi Mi 4c, bit disappointed. The main problem for me is the screen: it's just not as visible as the Nexus 5 in bright sunshine, even on max brightness. Also, the touchscreen sensitivity is patchy and quite low overall, causing problems with missed taps and unpredictable/failed drags.

On the other hand the battery life is really good, especially compared to the Nexus 5. It can easily do 3.5 hours of Ingress, a notorious battery vampire, with the screen on max brightness, and the idle battery drain is quite low. It's noticeably faster at most things than the Nexus 5 too.

MIUI I really don't like. The launcher, notifications, settings, dialer, task switching, everything is poor compared to the standard Lollipop features. You can replace most of them from Google Play (e.g. it works fine with the Google Now launcher) but not the notification drawer as far as I can see.

old3eyes

9112 posts

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#1422715 7-Nov-2015 08:51

numfarr: So after a week with the Xiaomi Mi 4c, bit disappointed. The main problem for me is the screen: it's just not as visible as the Nexus 5 in bright sunshine, even on max brightness. Also, the touchscreen sensitivity is patchy and quite low overall, causing problems with missed taps and unpredictable/failed drags.

On the other hand the battery life is really good, especially compared to the Nexus 5. It can easily do 3.5 hours of Ingress, a notorious battery vampire, with the screen on max brightness, and the idle battery drain is quite low. It's noticeably faster at most things than the Nexus 5 too.

MIUI I really don't like. The launcher, notifications, settings, dialer, task switching, everything is poor compared to the standard Lollipop features. You can replace most of them from Google Play (e.g. it works fine with the Google Now launcher) but not the notification drawer as far as I can see.

I'm not a great fan of MIUI either . I tried Google Now but no widgets ..

Regards,

Old3eyes

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Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

richms

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#1422947 7-Nov-2015 20:07

I don't like how the redmi just makes up numbers in red bubbles on icons instead of the app doing it for itself.

Richard rich.ms

richms

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#1427347 13-Nov-2015 08:39

the redmi seems to get its great battery life by just not updating apps. Twitter will not refesh till I open it, same for facebook most of the time.

Constantly am finding it off wifi and on 3/4g as well. As soon as I unlock it, it will reconnect to wifi.

Richard rich.ms

mejoblogg5

24 posts

Geek

#1427406 13-Nov-2015 10:15

I'm looking at buying a XIAOMI Mi4C from here: http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_241903.html

Most likely it'll function in NZ? Anyone purchased from gearbest before?

jonb

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#1428059 14-Nov-2015 17:19

jonb: 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.

The Doogee X5 Pro arrived, was a very nice phone for the price, but unfortunately was not compatible with Spark network 850Mhz 3G. Like with a lot of these phones, there is conflicting information about what bands they have. I now know that most of the budget phones with mediatek CPUs are 900/2100Mhz only..

So instead have bought a Elephone Trunk for ~$130NZ (86USD on sale), similar phone but with a Qualcomm 410 and (fingers crossed) all NZ 3G bands, plus Band 3 & Band 7 NZ 4G. Is only slightly lower spec than a moto G 3rd gen, but $300 cheaper.
Moto G has 700Mhz 4G, waterproofing, better battery..

z2k

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#1428062 14-Nov-2015 17:24

richms: the redmi seems to get its great battery life by just not updating apps. Twitter will not refesh till I open it, same for facebook most of the time.

Constantly am finding it off wifi and on 3/4g as well. As soon as I unlock it, it will reconnect to wifi.

If you go to the battery options - > manage apps battery usage - > apps to restrict, uncheck the apps you want to update while running in the background.

jonb

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#1428243 15-Nov-2015 10:29

If I was spending a bit more the UMI eMax mini is a new 5.0" 1080p, Snapdragon 615 phone with similar specs to redmi note 2 for ~$140, and compatible with all NZ networks.

kotuku4

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#1431085 19-Nov-2015 12:58

jonb: If I was spending a bit more the UMI eMax mini is a new 5.0" 1080p, Snapdragon 615 phone with similar specs to redmi note 2 for ~$140, and compatible with all NZ networks.

I'm interested in the UMI eMax mini also, has anyone used one and give some feedback?

jonathan18

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#1431240 19-Nov-2015 16:19

P1n3apqlExpr3ss:
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

Hey there

I'm debating purchasing a Xiaomi Note 2 for my wife (as discussed on this thread), but if I do so I want to be sure I order one that is fully compatible with the NZ bands (especially Spark.

My reading of the above is that the FDD model (which is more expensive than the TDD model by a few $$) is sure to work with all NZ bands, so is a safe bet.

However, is it pretty much guaranteed that buying the TDD model and flashing the FDD ROM will ensure the cheaper model will work with all NZ bands? And is this a relatively easy task to do?

Is the safest option just to buy the FDD model to ensure it'll work out of the box?

Second, having read through this whole thread, I can see some have stuck with the Miui interace - have those that have done so found any ongoing issues with this, especially in regards to problems, eg issues with Google Play store, non-English bloatware etc?

Many thanks

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