Well, I did it, I did what I said I wouldn't do again and got an Android. I looked at the options for cheap Chinese phones but decided to get one locally.
I bought the Honor 6 due to the huge hardware spec it offers for the money ($414 inc gst at PB.).
A Kirin 920 octacore in a BIG.little configuration 3 GB RAM, a 16GB internal drive with MicroSD expansion and a 1080 screen.
Good:
Fast, cheap, nicely made, good camera, excellent screen, big battery, EMUI adds some nice features, Microsoft apps are better on Android than their Windows Phone counterparts. 4g is fast and WIFI is good.
Bad
EMUI, pretty ugly, overly sharp corners, very slippery back. No Lollipop yet and only Huawei promises of soon, No band 28 (700mhz) 4g.
A case solves the aesthetic issues. Despite Android having all the apps, I find Windows phone had some far better designed ones. Particularly Imgur and Reddit clients. Not found anything better than Grin for Imgur and Readit for Reddit. ASB app on Windows phone is superior too.
The custom ROM scene is practically non existent for this phone. Codeworkx has had one bought for him and has got CyanogenMod onto the phone, but only CM11. Without Lollipop sources CM12 and 12.1 are out of the question at this point. The Chinese forums apparently have a lot of Roms but most are Huawei stock rom based like patchrom MIUI.
I mostly liked Android for notification actions but EMUI has hobbled that as it makes apps ask to display notifications. Also sometimes they do the notification in the notification shade, but sometimes pop up a floating window. Its really inconsistent.
There is a really interesting option I have not seen before to drop the phone down to 720x1280 to save battery. Even on a 5" screen, its barely noticeable compared to 1080. Still I like the pin sharp 1080 so I am keeping it at that.
Anand tech has a good review here. I have not noticed any issues with Wifi bought up in the review.
Overall I really like it. it is fast and smooth. EMUI is mostly hidden by Nova Launcher and it even adds some nice features. If you can't stretch to the $500+ Bracket needed for last years flagship phones like the Galaxy S4 and S5, HTC ones, Nexus 5 etc live then it is a great choice. In the same budget you can get an Asus Zenphone 2 which is big, really big, and the Moto G 2nd gen which doesn't have 4g and is a lot lower spec hardware wise. The Huwaei Ascend P7 is upper $400's too but again lower spec.
Anyone else got one? What do you think?