Hi there quick questionif anyone can help I'd be so so grateful.
1:So I know a lot of this is subjective, but I'm in the very fortunate position of having an HTC One M8 and the Mate 7. I like them probably equally in terms of all of the things I have access to now, but I'm someone who is on Android for control and support (from XDA!)
I've noticed there's very very little about the Mat e7 on XDA, and Huawei in general to be honest. is this because they're still relatively new? Would it be fair to expect new roms/kernels lollipop etc to eventually come to this device? Or is the mate 7 a far more niche and limited device, and I'd be better off with my HTC in that respect? (For example, it feels like developers rush to make things work for popular devices, eg when the HTC M9 comes out Cyanogenmod, Carbon Rom etc will all be working on a veri=sion for that straight away, but the Mate 7 might not get that kind of attention?)
I'm very happy with the M8, it's just the fingerprint scanner and mega battery life are lovely on the Mate 7. I suppose basically the question is, is this a phone I can put my faith in enough to sell my HTC? I've barely even heard of Huawei :s If someone is either able to reassure me OR tell me I've got plenty to be worried about, either would be fantastic!
And maybe if anyone is able to comment on which phone they would choose, that might help me even more!
Cheers
For dev support, you can always rely on big names as samsung, lg, sony, motorola and htc. What you said is true -- there is little to no dev attention to the likes of huawei, lenovo, etc.
That said, I came from samsung tab and samsung note 2. The dev support was overwhelming. I flashed differnt custom rom every week just for the fun and thrill of using something new. But I got tired too.
Then I got the lenovo vibe z2 pro-- a relatively new monster of a phone too! But it does not even have a separate thread here in xda, and I could not even get a phone case locally! Lucke enough, my brother got my vibe z2 pro coz he loves the aluminum build so much and he will just continue to pay for it.
I have been eyeing the mate 7 since it was announced. Loved the unibody design, the humongous battery and the fastest fingerscanner in android! So when it was launched in the philippines about 2 weeks ago, I preordered and was the first owner officilaly in thr philippines! Thats how excited I am!
I was looking to have the silver color though, but only the gold one was released locally. Also the silver one is the 16gb/2gb combo. So for the future, its nice to get the 32gb/3gb combo.
I think it is somewhat guaranteed that the mate 7 would receive the loliipop update considering its the new flagship of huawei. I just dont know when.
Do I miss my old note? You bet I am! Inspite of touchwiz being bloated, there is so much you can do with it! Plus the spen has a while wide use and functionality I have never found in any phone!
For now, I am contented with my mate 7, unlocked and unrooted. I guess its the thrill of using something new. And for its many features, its definitely value for you rmoney.
Related
I love all of these phones but can't decide which one, can anybody help?
I´ll go for Leo
orb3000 said:
I´ll go for Leo
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I second that.
Dell streak is tooooooooo big, N900 is tooo old (and a dying os), Leo is the best of your options. But, maybe you are considering other phones like the desire or Nexus One maybe????
Get the Samsung Vibrant(unless u care about front facing camera and flash get EVO). Galaxy S series is the smoothest Android phone in the market.
akbisw said:
Get the Samsung Vibrant(unless u care about front facing camera and flash get EVO). Galaxy S series is the smoothest Android phone in the market.
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Nah, the i9000 is Samsung, remember the others???? I just don't think I'm ready to trust samsung with phones yet, plus the design looks tacky to me. I also hear bad things about the software and limits to custom ROMS....
i am not really intrested in samsung phones tbh (I don't like there visual appearance)
I also don't like the desires look.
And the nexus one is to expensive as i can get these devices for quite a bit cheaper.
less talk, more HD2. $250 on CL right now. If the explosion in Android development recently hasn't proven to you, people who matter love this phone. I haven't seen any phone get this much Android love so fast. Hell some native android phones don't get this much android love. The people we have working on the HD2 are amazing. They went from won't even boot to semi stable in like a week. There doing stuff people predicted 6 months to complete overnight. I'm very excited for the HD2 at the moment and see it living on for many years since all the phones from here out will be new gen locked down iphoney OS's. So HD2 may really be the last of the mohicans.
Hello All. I am just wondering about how developers feel about the bootlock from Motorola versus the lack of support from Samsung, and the battery woes of HTC. What kind of phone are you guys planning on getting?
My personal view seems that Samsung makes a pretty good phone, and who cares if they don't support it because DEVs make better roms anyway. What do you all think? What is the phone of choice?
I'm curious about this as well. I'm looking at all the next gen stuff and wondering which tablets and phones will end up being supported by devs and most of all CM. I'd like to get an xoom or a galaxy tab 10", but if all the devs are planning on buying the HTC flyer I'd go that way just to ensure I have the the dev's device of choice. I guess the best bet is to wait for everything to be released and see what happens?
Bump ........
Well I'm no dev, but I'm planning on sticking with Samsung more than likely. You're totally right- even though Samsung doesn't support it, devs do (better than Samsung ever could), and the hardware is better than anything out there.
Anyways, why do we all root and use custom ROMs? Because we're dissatisfied with stock software. So company support doesn't matter much to me.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
You asked about phones. IMO, tablets are a different topic entirely (different use cases, different pocket! ), so all I'll say is that when I get a tablet, I'll just get the best one for the best price I can afford
As for my next phone: I'm kinda bummed. I'm VERY happy with my Desire HD, but NFC has caught my attention, so my next phone will be:
-slightly smaller than the DHD
-have NFC
-have the best screen (outdoor visibility) I can find
-last a full day with heavy usage (my DHD fits the bill after using JuiceDefender and SetCPU)
As for who makes it: I don't care, as long as it's rootable (and everything seems to get rooted ). But my last couple of phones have been HTC, as they seem to jibe with my upgrade curve
wow... Guess Devs aren't reading my lowly post. haha
Hi, I need a replacement for my girlfriends ZTE Blade's, she needs two phones. I have been looking for something similar in size, and the ONE S looks to fit the bill. It's not hugely bigger. Although a handset with a 3.7 screen would be ideal.
I have no desire to root the phone etc. I just need to give her something reliable and dependable. The specs of the ONE S would suit her fine. But I'm thinking there may be a caveat. Such as, HTC are as bad as LG when it comes to OS software updates. Or the battery life sucks big time. Or sense really slows everything down.
The iPhone would be perfect in terms of size, specs and performance. But we are an ANDROID family, so I would like to keep our investment in Tablets and software.
My sincere apologies for the hugely general question. My current handset a Galaxy NEXUS which was such an easy choice, I'm running official Jelly Bean. But, choosing for a petite lady, something that works and won't become outdated in 12 months is super hard.
She has a 10" Galaxy Tab which recently got ICS, and I want to keep the devices running comparable versions of the OS.
I would be very grateful for any insights, or other handset recommendation's. Many thanks. Anil
Addition: I thought I would point out after user Ollaz's response below, I plan on only buying an unlocked retail version of any handset.
Why not the HTC One S. The updates are also affected by the carrier as they need to be approved, but as HTC said a few months ago, that they will be focusing on the One series and will not release new phones all the time, which means that these devices will get updates. But of course, buying any new product has the problem of eventually getting old and it will be just cut off. The way it has to be.
Also, in the same range there appears to be the ASUS Padfone (which is one hell of a device, but I didn't buy it because god knows if or when ASUS will update their devices). The LG Optimus 4X kinda seems like a beast and is in the same price range.
Ollaz said:
Why not the HTC One S. The updates are also affected by the carrier as they need to be approved, but as HTC said a few months ago, that they will be focusing on the One series and will not release new phones all the time, which means that these devices will get updates. But of course, buying any new product has the problem of eventually getting old and it will be just cut off. The way it has to be.
Also, in the same range there appears to be the ASUS Padfone (which is one hell of a device, but I didn't buy it because god knows if or when ASUS will update their devices). The LG Optimus 4X kinda seems like a beast and is in the same price range.
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Hi Ollaz, thanks for the info on HTC devices. I plan on buying a retail version of any handset, not locked to any one carrier etc. I appreciate technology moves on and some devices get left behind. My recently retired Optimus 2X still only has an official Ginger Bread release, even though the hardware is more than capable of running ICS.
I have an ASUS Transformer and it received an ICS update early this year. So in my book ASUS are pretty good whereas software updates are concerned. If Google made a sub four inch handset I would buy that without hesitation. Beast hardware is only as good as the software. And LG have a terrible software update record.
Thanks. Have fun. Anil
First off, the Asus Transformer is a different case. Since it's a tablet, it doesn't have to go through the extra step of carrier testing that a phone does for an update.
My came from a 3.7" HTC Incredible and really wanted to stick with a smaller form factor she could use with one hand (typing being the biggest issue). She is very happy with the One S, she just had to get used to using two hands for typing, but its thinness made it an easier transition from the old phone.
FWIW, HTC has already promised Jelly Bean will be coming within a few months, and I wouldn't necessarily expect the Transformer to get it.
radar5 said:
First off, the Asus Transformer is a different case. Since it's a tablet, it doesn't have to go through the extra step of carrier testing that a phone does for an update.
My came from a 3.7" HTC Incredible and really wanted to stick with a smaller form factor she could use with one hand (typing being the biggest issue). She is very happy with the One S, she just had to get used to using two hands for typing, but its thinness made it an easier transition from the old phone.
FWIW, HTC has already promised Jelly Bean will be coming within a few months, and I wouldn't necessarily expect the Transformer to get it.
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Hi radar5, thanks for sharing your experiences. I have to disagree with the point regarding "carrier testing". I always buy stock retail devices, with no ball & chain 12-24-36 month contracts. My LG O2X came completely stock, there are no carrier hurdles for LG to jump. Yet their handset is two years behind the OS release curve. The worlds first dual-core phone, and it's still on Gingerbread. Nothing to do with carriers.
I would buy another ASUS product, they have provided 5 updates since I bought the Transformer Tablet. Two of those have been major OS updates. I wouldn't go near LG with a very long stick. HTC looks as if it is learning this lesson of keeping your hardware reasonably up to date with the latest OS.
Apple do an excellent job in this area, they're not perfect, but better than most ANDROID OEM's. Hopefully HTC is getting their **** together, and their simpler hardware line up is a sign of the future. Resulting in timely OS updates. And easier consumer hardware choices.
At the moment HTC's One S is my current choice for my girlfriends next handset. I did see something today which made me pause for thought. ACER's Liquid Glow, a truly terrible name, but it's a 3.7" handset running ICS. And the slated European price is €179.99. The One S in Italy cost's €485 from AMAZON. A big difference.
Thanks. Have fun. Anil
I see where you're headed with this, but keep in mind you can't comprare that ACER and the One S. The specs are way too off for that.
Ollaz said:
I see where you're headed with this, but keep in mind you can't comprare that ACER and the One S. The specs are way too off for that.
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Hi Ollaz, my girlfriends current handset's the ZTE Blade's are great, except they only run Gingerbread. Switching between Gingerbread and ICS does become a little annoying. Gmail is a great case in point. The ICS version is way better than the Gingerbread version.
So horsepower specs are not that important. And anyway, my retired Optimus 2X has great specs, but still only has old software. Some of the newer HTC phones have better specs than my Galaxy NEXUS. But my GNEX is running a stock version of Jelly Bean 4.1.1, now, today. Not some marketing quarter in the future which invariably gets moved.
I love having a fast phone, but my girlfriend needs stability and OS device parity. Thanks for your thoughts, they have been helpful in making me decide what I need to buy.
I must admit I was a little shocked when I discovered the price of the One S in Italy. HTC want iPhone 4s money, they are crazy! No wonder their sales revenue has dropped 60%. Selling purely on hardware specs has a really limited shelf life. Sooner or later you have to innovate in software. All HTC and most ANDROID OEM's do, is a few custom apps and skins. Google writes the OS for free!
Many thanks. Anil
I'm deciding if I should make the trade. The main reason is the battery. I found the S6 Edge battery is not enough for me (getting 3 SOT max and it does not last more than 10 hours). So I want to install a Stock ROM on it (is it possible?) and have "infinite" battery life with a good phone.
Any feedbacks on this decision?
Go for P8 Max. It also has 6inch screen, 4000mAh and 16mp camera. The specs are better than Mate 7.
I admit Mate 7 is a good phone but why settle for an old model when there is a new one. Plus, P8 Max has a more updated software, and can be upgraded to Marshmallow in the future.
Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-TL10 using Tapatalk
The only advice I can think of is that if you like custom roms and rooting then you can't go wrong with samsung phones, i had a note 2 for 3 yrs and then got a mate 7 and i am a bit sorry as trying to root the phone has been a nightmare and i am VERY worried about bricking this phone..
the note 2 is ALMOST impossible to brick and the support for samsung is brilliant on this forum where as the mate even after one year is still iffy.
please don't get me wrong the Mate 7 is a fantastic phone but i am still very uncomfortable to root it as there are SO may opinions and different ways ... (
Mine runs rock solid rooted, still on kitkat.
Rooting is the best for it as you can strip out the google bloat from /system/app.
I've kept most of the Huawei extras but the launcher is rubbish and I installed Smart Launcher Pro. I also installed Viper4Android for awesome sound, poweramp for quality music playback UE. For convenience of screen use, kinscreen, and to help the battery and keep data use under control, leandroid. I also flashed in the Xperia kitkat keyboard through CWM and removed google keyboard.
An older version of xposed is installed with some modules.
All up, it runs well, battery lasts well and it's set up to suit me better. The hardware is good for the price. Connectivity is great.
Apart from the poor Huawei launcher, the Huawei software is actually quite good and even has built in tools to manage permission and memory residence.
The launcher is no big deal when you can just install another and set it as default even if not rooted.
Happy I got mine.
Not for the Mate 7. I have had nothing with issues with the screen on mine. Replaced 2 times by service center. There were lines across the screen that were brighter than the rest of the screen. Got the S6 a week ago.
XenSA said:
The only advice I can think of is that if you like custom roms and rooting then you can't go wrong with samsung phones......
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i agree, while i love the build quality of the mate 7 i cant stand the software. i "upgraded" from a nexus 5 and it just isnt the same. if the mate 7 came with a snapdragon soc rather than the huaweis proprietary soc it would truly be the best phone around. i suggest you wait, zte and other Chinese manufactures will be coming out with snapdragon 820 phablets this year.
droidbot1337 said:
i agree, while i love the build quality of the mate 7 i cant stand the software. i "upgraded" from a nexus 5 and it just isnt the same. if the mate 7 came with a snapdragon soc rather than the huaweis proprietary soc it would truly be the best phone around. i suggest you wait, zte and other Chinese manufactures will be coming out with snapdragon 820 phablets this year.
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What do you find so annoying about the software? I quite like the look and feel, very very stable and in my case it has even made up for the urge I normally have to flash roms, simply because there is no need. I appreciate that some may have had issues with the device but I guess you'll find that with every other device on the market.
I've had samsungs for quite a while before switching to the mate 7 and to be honest after so many years I got tired of Touchwiz with degrading performance or a CM alternative with poorer camera quality.
Instead of flashing one ROM after the other I find myself spending more time using the device enjoying its massive 6" screen [emoji1]
Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Tapatalk
kta said:
What do you find so annoying about the software?........
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i find it annoying that i cant fully control what i do with my phone. on my nexus 5 i was able to do many things that i now see is not possible with my mate7. yes, i as well love the massive screen but after playing with a few nexus 6p's i have become very jealous. this is how the mate 7 should be. all custom ui stuff should be an optional addon "feature". what makes things worse is that companies spend alot of time building this stuff which many often end up not liking.
look at motorola and sony. they have converted to damn near stock android. whatever customization is present fits nicely into aosp android. last night i installed the stock firmware for my mate 7 (B328) and its honestly..... meh! huawei really bastardized what is the best visual android update. they even managed to completely screw up the recent apps view. huawei should really consider this.
for now im just going to get over it and keep using my mate 7 as is. not fully happy but whatever. thankfully there will be a few full metal phablets with snapdragon 820 chips being released this year. i cant wait!
droidbot1337 said:
i find it annoying that i cant fully control what i do with my phone. on my nexus 5 i was able to do many things that i now see is not possible with my mate7. yes, i as well love the massive screen but after playing with a few nexus 6p's i have become very jealous. this is how the mate 7 should be. all custom ui stuff should be an optional addon "feature". what makes things worse is that companies spend alot of time building this stuff which many often end up not liking.
look at motorola and sony. they have converted to damn near stock android. whatever customization is present fits nicely into aosp android. last night i installed the stock firmware for my mate 7 (B328) and its honestly..... meh! huawei really bastardized what is the best visual android update. they even managed to completely screw up the recent apps view. huawei should really consider this.
for now im just going to get over it and keep using my mate 7 as is. not fully happy but whatever. thankfully there will be a few full metal phablets with snapdragon 820 chips being released this year. i cant wait!
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True, the Nexus 6p is very nice with an even better screen, although tiny smaller.
Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Tapatalk
Just switched my mate 7 out for a Nexus 6p - like many people on this thread while I thought the hardware was great (especially the battery life!), the iffy software and half assed updates got to me in the end (I came to the mate from a Nexus 5).
The 6p is spot on - shows what huawei can do when running Android as its meant to be. Battery life not so good as the mate 7, but plenty good enough. If you are coming from a high end phone like an s6 edge I'd say the 6p would be a better bet. As regards screen size... I'm not really noticing any reduction in what I can see on the 6p, but going down to 5.7 with a slim width does really help with holding the phone one handed.
I sold my note 5 and for the huawei mate 7, it hasn't arrived yet...I paid 250 for it, however I'm a tad concerned now , have I made a unwise decision .I did it so I could give huawei a chance and I'm seeing and hearing negatives.
psn1819 said:
I sold my note 5 and for the huawei mate 7, it hasn't arrived yet...I paid 250 for it, however I'm a tad concerned now , have I made a unwise decision .I did it so I could give huawei a chance and I'm seeing and hearing negatives.
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Well, all phones have their negative sides. I love this phone because of the big screen and long battery life. It has a decent camera. It doesnt lag when playing games.
Give it a chance and I hope you will love this phone too. If ever your Mate 7 still runs on KK just leave it be. Lots of bugs in LP.
Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-TL10 using Tapatalk
I'm confused ...is the stock lollipop rom buggy ...how can that be lol? Did I jump the gun a bit selling the note 5? Are they're any stable cutom roms you could recommend. I just want it to last me a while and be a wise investment is all...I'm usually fine but this will be my first huawei anything and now a bit ehh lol
psn1819 said:
I'm confused ...is the stock lollipop rom buggy ...how can that be lol? Did I jump the gun a bit selling the note 5? Are they're any stable cutom roms you could recommend. I just want it to last me a while and be a wise investment is all...I'm usually fine but this will be my first huawei anything and now a bit ehh lol
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To each his own I guess, but Lollipop is running super stable on my Mate 7.
Custom ROMS are not really an option on this device, there's pretty much no development going on, just have a quick look at the development sub forum and you can easily tell there's not so much going on there.
Make sure that if yo need to upgrade your device try following the official path first, allowing the phone to update itself to LP 5.1.1. If for some reason you don't get the updates just make sure you follow the instructions properly to update with an official ROM from Huawei's website and you should be just fine [emoji6]
Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Tapatalk
psn1819 said:
I'm confused ...is the stock lollipop rom buggy ...how can that be lol? Did I jump the gun a bit selling the note 5? Are they're any stable cutom roms you could recommend. I just want it to last me a while and be a wise investment is all...I'm usually fine but this will be my first huawei anything and now a bit ehh lol
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I did have lollipop running on mine for a while, and to be fair it was OK. However, it did seem to be missing some things that were included in KK - the carrier aggregation toggle, and after a hard reset it lost the motion control gesture settings etc.
Hence my point about it being glitchy. The other things that I found annoying is the EMUI customization made it difficult to access some of the underlying android screens (such as data usage etc). Also, I found that Google Voice when used in the USA would not dial out with the correct caller ID and number due to Huawei dialer I couldn't change. The other thing is that it is a bit laborious to change ROMs - you've got to download this, incremental update that, flash this to go back to the start etc.....a bit of pain really and one I couldn't really work out why it was necessary - again points to Huawei releasing all sorts of different confusing updates worldwide some of which were not complete.
Don't get me wrong, fundamentally there's nothing wrong with the phone - its just not a good tinkerers phone, nor is is well supported - none of the ported over more 'pure android' roms have yet been able to make the fingerprint sensor operate and can have iffy result with bluetooth etc.
My faithful nexus have served me well but it needs to be replaced soon
What phone is the spiritual successor of the nexus line with the following characteristics:
Many developers for the phone. (AOSP port within weeks without official support)
5-6 inch
<500$
Is it correct that most devs wants snapdragon?
I see OnePlus as a candidate, is there more not counting Pixel.
Nothing stands out to me as outstanding this year. I am considering a LG G5
Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk
OnePlus 3 would be your best bet for sure.
I think the Xiaomi 5s is the best option.
I know you're probably dismissing the Pixel because of the price, but it really is a great phone. My sister just got one on Sunday since her S3 died a horrible death (eMMC card gave in for some unknown reason). The ad really wasn't lying with regard to having a great camera and charging extremely quickly (she got it at around 85% battery mid-Sunday and didn't have to charge it until 6 PM on Monday).
Yeah you're stuck in a sort of dead period between now and Mobile World Congress in Feb when the next wave of phone announcements come. As ppl have said, OnePlus3 (or rumoured OnePplus3T is your best bet in the flagship-specs-for-cheap segment. Mi5 or Mi5S would be the other option - maybe slightly prettier but bit more of a hassle to unlock and likely to have less good custom ROM support than the OnePlus.
Other than that wait til Feb/Mar for the next wave. In the meantime you could pick up a low end $150 device (take your pick of the Chinese vendors - I use a RedMi3) to tide you over and then use it as a backup phone?
Thanks for the replies.
I am not in a hurry as my old nexus is working fine
I had a look at mi5 page here at xda and saw that it hasen't got nougat yet so that's disqualifying.
Maybe I should formulate the question as: What brand do you think that CM,AOKP etc. will develop mainly on?
Even i have the same thoughts as yours and this is what I planned to do when im switching my Nexus 5.
- Look for a spiritual replacement: Right now I can only see One plus 3, which gives good hardware and dev support for under $500. Other phones are Axon 7 and Zen Phone Deluxe. They have good hardware but you need to research on the development part. Pixel is a good phone but not worth the price and im against such products.
- Look for a cheaper phone till I find a spiritual replacement: Xiaomi products are really good for $200. If you get bored in a year or so, can replace it with another cheaper phone till you find the replacement. Few Xiaomi phones have AOSP rom's which can be installed. I have not come across any other $200 phone with good hardware and little bit of dev support. One of the phones around $200 is Redmi Note 3. It has a Nougat AOSP ROM - http://forum.xda-developers.com/red...cyanogenmod-14-0-xiaomi-redmi-note-3-t3459382
johnnydue said:
Thanks for the replies.
I am not in a hurry as my old nexus is working fine
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Oh. If you're not rushing wait til OnePlus4 (or whatever the successor is) launches in spring.
johnnydue said:
Thanks for the replies.
Maybe I should formulate the question as: What brand do you think that CM,AOKP etc. will develop mainly on?
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Pixel will be the leading brand open platforms develop on!
Otherwise OnePlus is probably a good bet. I heard from someone that many googlers use them now for all the reasons discussed above.
Otherwise your best bet for support is the device which has the largest installed base in the non-Chinese speaking world. Largest installed base = more users = (all things equal) more devs. Maybe you can get a Samsung device for cheap!!