Advice on Xiaomi Poco F3

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PANiCnz

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#293577 31-Jan-2022 08:49

I'm getting tempted to grab a Xiaomi Poco F3 but have a few questions I'm hopeful someone will be able to answer.

Any advice on the best place to buy the phone? Deals keep popping up on OzBargin but they're at Banggood who don't appear to be shipping to NZ. Any other options besides Aliexpress?
There are reports of the phone doing VoLTE on the stock firmware, has anyone managed to get VoLTE working once running a custom rom like LineageOS?
Similarly, once running a custom rom like LineageOS has anyone had any success running work apps like O365 and Teams where they're managed by Intune?

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Max
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#2858988 31-Jan-2022 08:57

Poco F3 user here.

I will encourage you to immediately free it from MIUI as soon as you can. Yes you keep VoLTE and 5G when you go AOSP.

Don't use LineageOS as it's severely out of date and does not pass safety net on this device specifically. Try ArrowOS 12 which is much more up to date(less customization though :( ) but you'll get weekly ish updates and OTA updates too(they take a long time to actually build and install on the phone itself, better off to side load it).

You can get it from Supero like I did but some folks have had mixed and poor experiences, I got mine from Supero just fine after a week and a bit.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

PANiCnz

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#2858990 31-Jan-2022 09:02

MaxineN:

You can get it from Supero like I did but some folks have had mixed and poor experiences, I got mine from Supero just fine after a week and a bit.

Thanks for the tips. I assume Supero are drop shipping and aren't hold stock locally?

MaxineN

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#2858993 31-Jan-2022 09:06

PANiCnz:

MaxineN:

You can get it from Supero like I did but some folks have had mixed and poor experiences, I got mine from Supero just fine after a week and a bit.

Thanks for the tips. I assume Supero are drop shipping and aren't hold stock locally?

Ships direct from Hong Kong.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

Lenbok

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#2875908 27-Feb-2022 22:39

MaxineN:

Don't use LineageOS as it's severely out of date and does not pass safety net on this device specifically. Try ArrowOS 12 which is much more up to date(less customization though :( ) but you'll get weekly ish updates and OTA updates too(they take a long time to actually build and install on the phone itself, better off to side load it).

Hi Maxine, can you elaborate on this a bit about LineageOS being out of date? I recently got my F3, and have two more days to wait until the bootloader unlock blessing (I was expecting a 7 day wait, but Xiaomi gave me 14 days :-(). I was planning on going for Lineage OS, mostly because I've used it before and I have reasonable confidence it'll be around for the long term. (I'd never heard of Arrow OS before).

Cheers,

Len.

MaxineN

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#2875916 27-Feb-2022 23:10

So from the very limited testing I did before moving fully to ArrowOS 11 and then 12 which I'm currently posting from now.

Lineage is still on A11.
Does not pass safety net(so no gpay and anything else that requires safety net and it still will not now, they made it pretty clear they will not on A11)
Was behind on security patches
Also does not play nice with any 3rd party kernels

ArrowOS does pass safety net.
ArrowOS 12 is getting weekly updates that brings almost everything from the pixel side of software with a more stock feel
Isn't behind on security patches
Does play nice with 3rd party kernels

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

rb99

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#2878315 3-Mar-2022 13:31

Any thoughts on Poco F3 vs X3 Pro please. $5 difference in price depending where you look.

EDIT - couldn't care less about cameras.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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MaxineN

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#2878426 3-Mar-2022 17:19

rb99:

Any thoughts on Poco F3 vs X3 Pro please. $5 difference in price depending where you look.

EDIT - couldn't care less about cameras.

Hmm

for $5 extra you get 5G support, WiFi 6(that will actually do 1 gig), SD 870(which is basically a overclocked SD865+ and has the integrated 5G modem, not external so power savings to be had), AMOLED display.

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rb99

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#2878455 3-Mar-2022 17:58

I know, I know, but less ram and storage for the price difference. And I haven't got WiFi 6. But I don't care as I'm a sucker for those 'flagship for half the price' headlines. So I ordered one anyway 😀

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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Lenbok

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#2881405 8-Mar-2022 22:38

Just a follow-up from my message above. I unlocked the bootloader and installed Lineage OS 18.1 plus their recommended MindTheGapps package.

Positives:

- With Magisk + Universal Safetynet Fix + MagiskHidePropsConf the phone passes safetynet, play store says it's certified, and my banking apps (BNZ / ANZ / and Google Pay NFC payments) all work fine.

- Camera seems perfectly fine to me (I've installed GCam BSG with a Poco F3 config)

- Battery lasts me two days (dead battery was one of the main reasons I moved from my OnePlus 6).

Negatives:

- I can't work how to get "Hey Google" voice match working. The option to turn it on in settings is disabled and says it isn't supported on this device

- The phone has a propensity to activate/unlock while in my shorts pocket - seems to happen whenever the phone wakes for notifications, calls, and double-tap-to-wake false positives. Once that happens the random thigh screen pressing is happy to reject calls, start punching numbers into the emergency dialler, activate apps etc. As a result Aliexpress thinks I'm in a mood to buy hawaiian shirts (I guess it could have been worse). I never had a problem with this with my OnePlus 6, even with double-tap-to-wake.

I'm pretty happy overall, but I've got to admit, I'd probably give the Arrow OS a whirl if those two negatives went away.

MaxineN

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#2881443 9-Mar-2022 08:10

Hey Google works in arrow os
ArrowOS A11 has tweaks to fingerprint reader whilst it's A12 brethren does not yet.

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sJBs

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#2885516 13-Mar-2022 10:39

The best price I could find in with DickSmith (Eclipse BT Technology) for $486 incl delivery, but now contacting their helpdesk to confirm it is indeed a new unit, and not a "refurbished" device

https://www.dicksmith.co.nz/dn/buy/xiaomi-poco-f3-dual-sim-5g-6gb-ram-128gb-black-free-delivery-06934177737008/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product_listing_ads&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhZeX1qy_9gIVdZVLBR3Ziw5bEAQYASABEgKa2PD_BwE

Linux Mint 19.3 (Yes upgrade is overdue) with ZFS and multiple replicating XigmaNas servers (BSD with ZFS) for storage, all connected via Mikrotik Routerboard (firewall) to a Huawei 618 for Spark Wireless Broadband...

Dell

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

sJBs

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#2885517 13-Mar-2022 10:43

MaxineN: So from the very limited testing I did before moving fully to ArrowOS 11 and then 12 which I'm currently posting from now.

Lineage is still on A11.
Does not pass safety net(so no gpay and anything else that requires safety net and it still will not now, they made it pretty clear they will not on A11)
Was behind on security patches
Also does not play nice with any 3rd party kernels

ArrowOS does pass safety net.
ArrowOS 12 is getting weekly updates that brings almost everything from the pixel side of software with a more stock feel
Isn't behind on security patches
Does play nice with 3rd party kernels

So I take it that the recommendation is to go for ArrowOS 12.

Can you confirm that it works well with your banking apps and the fingerprint scanner?

MaxineN

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#2885520 13-Mar-2022 11:10

sJBs:

MaxineN: So from the very limited testing I did before moving fully to ArrowOS 11 and then 12 which I'm currently posting from now.

Lineage is still on A11.
Does not pass safety net(so no gpay and anything else that requires safety net and it still will not now, they made it pretty clear they will not on A11)
Was behind on security patches
Also does not play nice with any 3rd party kernels

ArrowOS does pass safety net.
ArrowOS 12 is getting weekly updates that brings almost everything from the pixel side of software with a more stock feel
Isn't behind on security patches
Does play nice with 3rd party kernels

So I take it that the recommendation is to go for ArrowOS 12.

Can you confirm that it works well with your banking apps and the fingerprint scanner?

Well I haven't rooted(and I don't feel the need to root) so certainly passing safety net, westpac and anz works fine and finger print performance works great.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

sJBs

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#2885576 13-Mar-2022 14:39

MaxineN:

Well I haven't rooted(and I don't feel the need to root) so certainly passing safety net, westpac and anz works fine and finger print performance works great.

Did you follow the official installation instructions on Arrows website and downloaded the files from google drive

or used one of the numerous Poco F3 with ArrowOS Youtube videos using TWRP?

The TWRP method seems easier, but what is unclear is if the TWRP installation requires a rooting device.

MaxineN

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#2885580 13-Mar-2022 15:05

TWRP does not require root

There is a TWRP built for the device but there's no decryption. Also haven't tested it so I just use the ArrowOS recovery.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-12-0-0-alioth-aliothin-arrowos-12-0-official.4348617/

Full instructions are here for the device specifically.

You also need to flash updated firmware which you can get from here https://xiaomifirmwareupdater.com/firmware/alioth/stable/V12.5.6.0.RKHMIXM/ (this is just an adb sideload job)

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

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