Xiaomi Phones from Bangood

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MikeAqua

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#295386 24-Mar-2022 21:38

Has anyone had recent experience of buying a Xiaomi Redmi phone from Bangood specifically: -
- Accuracy of claimed specs
- UI experience (compared to Samsung)
- Compatibility with NZ networks
- Any issues with Malware/Bloatware?

I was super impressed by the only other Xiaomi product I've bought (a MiBox). However, the prices of these phones are almost too low to believe.

Any advice appreciated.

Mike

MaxineN

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#2891751 24-Mar-2022 21:48

Okay so I can comment on everything but the buying experience from Bangood itself.

Specs are legit(we have 2 Poco F3s in the house and they're absolutely fantastic flag ship killers and yes VoLTE and 5G work)

MIUI for me was a buggy mess and a battery hog for me. You can free it by requesting to unlock the bootloader(there is an entire guide and process for this online) and you can flash complete stock android.

Most of them support all of our bands but be careful with some Redmi branded ones. You will want to make sure that they are the global variant and not the India or China ones are you will lack B28.

No malware but some of them come with a crap ton of bloatware.

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

Wakrak

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#2891754 24-Mar-2022 22:10

I can fill in some of the void when it comes to the buying experience with Banggood.

My purchases over the past year have been Blitzwolf charger cables, a Xiaomi screwdriver set & Blitzwolf USB3.2 flash drives. No issues whatsoever. Real good if you can get things shipped from their Australian warehouse.

tieke

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#2891806 25-Mar-2022 08:08

I've bought a number of Redmi Notes via Banggood over the years for both myself and various family members - no issues with either the site or the phones. I think the last one I got was a cheap 64GB Global Redmi Note 9 for my son at the start of last year, which cost about $170 delivered and has performed without issue.

I don't bother changing the OS, but as I've used the same custom Nova Launcher theme on all my phones for many years (including my current pixel 4a), I'm not as exposed to interface differences as I would be if I was on stock versions.

The only reason I went with my Pixel 4a instead of getting another Xiaomi is that I wanted a smaller form factor and decided my main phone priority this time would be the camera - Xiaomi phones are great, but cameras are not one of their strengths.

rb99

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#2891823 25-Mar-2022 09:04

Whenever I look at Banggood at the F3 all I get is Cannot be shipped to New Zealand.

“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

rb99

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#2891879 25-Mar-2022 10:46

re Bangood.

5+ years of (often) monthly purchases from them
I now will NEVER buy from them again .

Warranty issues, issues with non delivery ......
If the purchase is over $100 , they can make things very hard for any sort of warranty, broken goods, lost by couriers. From experience .

Broken goods (literally broken) , they literally ignored all my support requests , via email, website chat etc
So I had to put in a paypal claim , BG then told Paypal that I had to send the goods back to them for any warranty claim.
Sending faulty goods back to BG , I know of the dirty tricks the use. They sometimes simply refuse to accept the delivery , or give a bogus adress .

Another example. The goods ends up in UK, and were stuck there over a month. Courier issues.
BG werent interested , forcing me to make another paypal claim.

So, in general with Ch sellers
most of the Ch sellers are as bad as each other. Its not just BG
dont spend more than you are willing to loose
Just because it says in stock , doesnt mean there are any in stock . (Ive had that many times)
factor into the cost all the headaches with warranty/lost goods .
If they send the wrong thing (it happens) ,it could be a fight you wont win

usually not an issue with BG, GB etc. But when there are issues....

And ALLWAYS use Paypal. And NEVER close a paypal claim when the seller asks you to .

MikeAqua

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#2892116 25-Mar-2022 14:21

Thanks for the feedback. I've ordered a few woodworking bits and pieces from Banggood, so we'll see how they go. Most people seem to have a good experience but there is the odd horror story. I saw one reviewer had a ruler turn up bent like a banana. I didn't (don't) use paypal. So I'm on my own if something goes wrong.

Mike

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IronH

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#2896921 4-Apr-2022 19:27

A few years ago when I was running a tech channel on youtube I had dozens of phones sent to me for review each month from Banggood, Geekbuying, Chinavasion etc (pic below was 1-2 months worth). Xiaomi were always one of the better Chinese phone brands, decent & consistent quality, reliable/stable performance, and good value, just make sure when buying from China to get ones listed as "global version", the main differences between a global and non-global version were the default language, the pre-installed apps and more importantly the supported network bands. Non-global ones were often for Chinese Networks. Not sure what it's like now as it's been a few years since I've been in the loop but might pay to double check. Also back then even the global versions usually didn't support all NZ bands but usually supported enough that they were usable, but maybe with some limitations, eg they often supported LTE 1800 and 2600 but not 700 as an example (this was before 5G was a thing so it may have changed). Check the supported bands of the device you are looking at and compare it to your network providers bands.