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[Q] Chinese Budget Mid-Range phones - Help me to choose ! ;)

Hey guys,
I would like to start a discussion that would aggregate meta-data available on the Chinese budget phones under £200 with mid-range specs, firstly in order to help me ,but also others to decide the correct one as there is scarcity of reviews and lots of them are paid for stubs and contain lots of misleading data.
I have spent last two weeks researching on my leisure the best possible option for the chinese budget mid-range purchase. I have been hoping to get a device priced well under £200 that would field a solid camera, 4G (800mhz) ,superb hardware perf. CPU, GPU and GPS, have solid battery 2700mh+ (ideally with quick charge function) have appealing design and ideally max up to 5" of display size with the Lollipop upgradeability.
I have seen and read lots of reviews including yours and concluded on following:
- Mediatek did really break out of its shackles and these new 64bit SoCs ARM A53 Cortex with 6732 and 6752 are real deal breakers, so I have found a plenty of quad core 5" phones that satisfy my hunger for the performance stuffed by features - >
- Kingzone N3 Plus , Elephone P6000 (and possibly P3000s) , Lenovo P70 and also a bit more expensive Zopo ZP920 magic.
--- > now from what I have seen about these devices they are united under one oblivious problem that I cannot simply overlook despite being on low budget. And that is the overall quality of their cameras. Here we can easily conclude that they generally suck, although Zopo Zp920 is one of the favourites together with ZTE Blade S6 ,but here had battery life really swept all my hopes into oblivion. One of the issues I ve found here is that almost every budget manufacturer simply loves to overstate the resolution capability of these phones, I have been digging deeper just to find out that Elephone and Kingzone simply equip their devices with a lower quality Omnivision or Sony (ElE has even issued two different sensors for the same phone due to shortage of stock) that are really just 8Mpx interpolated to 13 MPx. I have not seen many useful reviews for N3 Plus despite it's appealing design and functions comparable to P3000s, but I assume the camera problem will be exactly the same (as it is with the alleged overstated battery capacity). Despite this problematic, I have found out that the camera on P6000 is kind of controversial.
P6000 is slacked as most of the same priced phones for underperformance in low light situations., however, I have found several contrasting reviews that even claim that its low light/night images are even better that on the famous Xiaomi Mi4. From pics I ve seen I wonder whether the varying quality can be a result of different sensors used or for example that pictures have been taken on its native 8MPx res rather then extrapolated 13MPx . I am writing this really because, P6000 seems to be after all my best choice together with its 32bit brother P3000s. I have tried to look out for some comparison between these two especially camera wise (talking about rear cameras, as I am not really that concerned about the front ones), but I failed. Problem is that Ele nor reviewers really state what sensors are these phones using. But P6000 seems (at least from some outdoors pictures) quite sharper and with better dynamic range, but I am still undecided.
Is camera on these phones also fixable software wise as I am not really into vanilla camera apps.
Now first questions on you. Firstly, do you know about any device currently priced under £200 that would match my criteria or at least that would have really exceptional camera for this price range ? Is Elephone P6000 superior to P3000s in terms of performance and camera or are they pretty much comparable ? Also how much of difference we talking in terms of GPU between Mali T450-M4 and T760 M2 ? It seems that finding a solid camera that would boast at least with pretty standard Exmor 214 sensor with a solid battery life is almost impossible, or I have largely overlooked something.
I also understand that if camera wise my 5" quest would prove unsuccessful I will have to go phablet wise and I am although kinda reluctantly to do so. Here I have researched my field on comparable level.
My finalists are Jiayu S3 , Kingzone Z1 and Eco E04 Aurora (P7000 and M1 are excluded as they re not supporting my LTE band 20) On E04 side I am quite baffled as it initially looked as a superb device , but many responses pointed out its inaccurate GPS and also camera seems to be exaggerated as 16MPx with unknown sensor model. I have seen some really great shots, but also some not very good - again probably due to extrapolation perhaps. Also it only comes with 2GB at the moment and without NFC support. So in phablet side S3 seems to be the king - yet, I have seen some really crap videos took on this devices, where reviewer admitted that this is a firmware error and that fix is on its way, so the S3 leaves me with the only really big concern and that is the battery recharge time that is apparently the slowest around here (up to 4hrs !!! ) which again made my enthusiasm cease. And then we have here Kingzone Z1. Apart from only HD display, it is stuffed with features and seems to be a direct competitor for all 5.5s of its price range. However, despite being out there are no reviews that I can hold on, so for me this device also represents a great unknown.
Equally, I have been checking camera comparison for the upper-midrange flagships like Meizu Mx4 and OnePlusOne just to find out that not even these guys despite their renown are capable of great shots under low-light conditions.
Also I am in a preference of 64bit processors especially the new Mediatek 6732 and 6752. I am ready for your tips and advices, also if you can bring in links to some camera comparisons among these phones and more in depth reviews I d be glad. Also will happy if you bring up some real data about camera sensors and other modules that are under suspicion to be lies presented by manufacturers.
And if you own any of the phones mentioned, state a brief overview about their pro/cons.
Waiting forward to your responses
Thanks
Six

HUAWEI fanboy here. :thumbup:
Sent from my HUAWEI Y536A1 using XDA Free mobile app

I recently discovered Xiaomi and think I will never go back! Good quality and low prices
I have RedMi Note 4G which is a fairly perfect phone for its price range. Never had a problem. It hasn't 800 MHz LTE though, but it's worth checking out other Xiaomi phones too.
---------- Post added at 01:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:03 AM ----------
Also, I would reccomend avoid mediatek devices if you can. They are generally poorer in video performance than Qualcomm / Intel ones. I had a huawei G700, while specs say it's a great phone in my experience it was not. Lags and slowness was frequent issues.
Mediatek also has a bad reputation in open source community, modding/upgrading/installing recovery and custom ROMs would be impossible or at least harder.
I am very happy with my Xiaomi and maybe you could be too!

udda90 said:
I recently discovered Xiaomi and think I will never go back! Good quality and low prices
I have RedMi Note 4G which is a fairly perfect phone for its price range. Never had a problem. It hasn't 800 MHz LTE though, but it's worth checking out other Xiaomi phones too.
---------- Post added at 01:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:03 AM ----------
Also, I would reccomend avoid mediatek devices if you can. They are generally poorer in video performance than Qualcomm / Intel ones. I had a huawei G700, while specs say it's a great phone in my experience it was not. Lags and slowness was frequent issues.
Mediatek also has a bad reputation in open source community, modding/upgrading/installing recovery and custom ROMs would be impossible or at least harder.
I am very happy with my Xiaomi and maybe you could be too!
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I got a Xiaomi Mi Note (Dual Sim and dual 4G) from China recently, which is fast (3G RAM), smooth (iphone style ROM) and good quality and just a little over £200.
But please bear in mind that it only supports FDD-LTE B3/B7, which means if your carrier is Vodafone UK (I'm in the UK by the way) you can not use LTE outside of London,Manchester and Birmingham.
(I don't have permission to post an outside link yet, but if wiki 'LTE-Advanced' you can see Vodafone UK is using B20 throughout the UK and B7 in 3 cities an the moment)
Only 3 and EE use LTE B3/B7.

GeorgeZZzz said:
I got a Xiaomi Mi Note (Dual Sim and dual 4G) from China recently, which is fast (3G RAM), smooth (iphone style ROM) and good quality and just a little over £200.
But please bear in mind that it only supports FDD-LTE B3/B7, which means if your carrier is Vodafone UK (I'm in the UK by the way) you can not use LTE outside of London,Manchester and Birmingham.
(I don't have permission to post an outside link yet, but if wiki 'LTE-Advanced' you can see Vodafone UK is using B20 throughout the UK and B7 in 3 cities an the moment)
Only 3 and EE use LTE B3/B7.
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In the end I went with Jiyau S3 Advanced, bout £160 and I cannot complain. Flashed it into Flyme OS and man this machine rocks the socks ! The resurrection of Mediatek - this 64bit M6752 Octacore smites Snapdragon 610 with an easy apparently.
Also camerawise - Sony Exmor IMAX 214 RS really delivers the promise - Removable battery makes it a dream. After 2 weeks of research, I am only happy I did not fell for anyother device, - plus supports Band 20 /800 Mhz @4G so it's GiffGaff & O2 ready.

Xiaomi phones are pretty good in many aspects. I'm planning on getting one in the near future. Some of my friends have Xiaomi devices and so far they haven't had any complaints.

sixtheninth said:
In the end I went with Jiyau S3 Advanced, bout £160 and I cannot complain. Flashed it into Flyme OS and man this machine rocks the socks ! The resurrection of Mediatek - this 64bit M6752 Octacore smites Snapdragon 610 with an easy apparently.
Also camerawise - Sony Exmor IMAX 214 RS really delivers the promise - Removable battery makes it a dream. After 2 weeks of research, I am only happy I did not fell for anyother device, - plus supports Band 20 /800 Mhz @4G so it's GiffGaff & O2 ready.
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Good for you. I'm still looking for the solution to unlcok LTE B20 on my Xiaomi MI Note LTE...
This post is not working for me...:crying:

yea, i'd look into the xiaomi options. it's surely gonna be my next purchase, although im also a bit of a lenovo fan.
now i have a jiayu g2f, i spent about 100 dollars on it at the time. i can say that it beats the quality of my previous(samsung) phones. In speed it is definately similar to my tab4 10.1. only thing is that it heats a bit more.
so like was mentioned, i'd also look into the jiayu s3 if i was you.

You can choose Huawei
I am a chinese and now i am in china ,I think Huawei is a good choice.Huawei have many patents and their devices is so good.Now i am using Huawei honor 6.(my english is so bad,if i had a misspelling,please pardon me)

Choosing developer friendly, reliable smartphone for a person with poor vision

Hi all.
I am a developer (mostly web, just occasional mobile) with poor vision since birth and I'm looking for a smartphone which should meet the following criteria:
- budget under 350 EUR
- has no problems installing custom launchers; I'd like to install Launcher WP8 style . I have used Xperia Neo V and Lumia 920, and my eyes really enjoy minimalistic WP tile interface. I seriously consider to develop my own launcher some day for special needs of my eyes (and other people like me). I know that there is a magnifier built-in but I'd like to avoid using it, if possible - it's just simpler, if I can get text sizes, colors and usability without using those somewhat inconvenient triple tapping gestures
- has an upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow available or planned for sure (rumored does not count)
- at least 16GB RAM (have heard complaints that 8GB is too little space for Android today)
- screen size - 5" seems to be the sweat spot
- other features - like any midrange phone - 13MPx camera, microSD is mandatory
- solid build quality. I don't change phones more than once in three years, so I'd like the phone to last and survive normal everyday use.
- no glass back (I've heard bad reports of Sony Z being too fragile). Strong plastic or aluminium is good
- has repair services in Europe (and also in my country, Latvia). I'll be using the phone as my main "work horse", so I want to get repaired it fast and hassle-free, in case if...
- has not locked out normal development support (with "normal" I mean remote debugging and installing self-compiled apks )
- can be rooted and flashed with custom ROM and has reliable and stable ROMs available (most probably, I won't need this in next 2 years, anyway, but who knows... I just want to be sure)
So, I looked through the options available, and now I have three candidates:
HTC One M8s
Asus Zenfone 2 Laser ZE500KL Dual 16GB
Huawei P8 Lite ALE-L21
I intend to buy the phone from a reliable local shop, which means that I might receive a model which is definitely not locked to any carrier, but it might be not meant for my country (Latvia) Most probably, it will be some European model. However, my current Lumia model was targeted at Saudi Arabia, but it had no problems with installing European updates on it. I hope that Android won't disappoint me and I won't be stuck with something totally Arabic or Chinese, but from the other hand I've heard that sometimes those regions get updates even faster that Europe
So, the main question for the time being is:
Is it worth paying for HTC One M8S instead of buying Asus Zenfone 2 or Huawei P8 Lite?
M8S seems really attractive, but I'm not sure if it won't turn out to be PITA to install and develop custom launchers, considering deep SenseUI integration into the core Android. And there might be other factors, unknown to me which might make Asus Zenphone or Huawei P8 Lite a better choice for my requirements.
I'd really appreciate your feedback, especially from owners of the mentioned devices and developers who know HTC, Asus and Huawei ecosystem and their attitude to developers (support, ignore or fight against unauthorized software).
There where some attractive models which matched specs-wise and price-wise but unfortunately I had to neglect them because of unknown Marshmallow upgrade or because of glass back:
SAMSUNG G903F GALAXY S5 NEO 16GB
Samsung A500FU Galaxy A5 16GB
Huawei Ascend P7 Black
Sony E5603 Xperia M5
Sony Z2
Sony C6603 Xperia Z Black
Sony D6603 Xperia Z3

So, as nobody tried to convince me otherwise, I'm going to order HTC One M8s. I just hope that it won't turn out to be less development friendly than ZenPhone 2.

how does The Honor 8 stands against this ??

Hey , I'm about to buy a new smartphone and I'm wondering which smartphone will be the best for 300 bucks.
So what I want is a solid build smartphone ,weight doesn't bother me .A powerful CPU and sufficient RAM for Browsing internet,Watching Youtube, Social Media(Multitasking) and playing occasionnaly some games (asphalt,..) .A good Camera I don't care about low light or recording 4K videos I just want some Good Pictures ,more details and sharpness and accurate autofocus since I will use it for social media. And a durable Battery at least one day without charging !!! ; and a loud speakers not the loudest as the Axon 7 but at least audible.
After many searches I found that the Mi 5s is the best, but I heard that some users have encountered some problems with the fingerprint scanner , 4G connectivity , and battery draining too fast, and Problems with multitasking as the phone had to reload apps everytime , I dunno if it's a problem of some units or general.
But I also found these Smartphones : Leeco Le Pro 3, Leeco Le Max 2, Zuk Z2 , Honor 8 , ASUS Zenfone 3, Meizu Pro6, Huawei Honor V8 , Xiaomi Mi 5 , Zte Nubia 11 ,..., if u know something else in this price range please tell me.
So My Priorities are Performance , Camera , Solid Build , Battery , Audio .
Please Guys , tell me which smartphone can handle my needs ? is Mi 5s better than those listed above ?
PS: My Provider 4G bands are 800/1800/1600 Mhz
Could please answer to the pool below
Thanks in advance.

The vote will be undoubtedly biased in favor of the Honor 8

That's a whole lot a phones you're inquiring about... why don't you do your own research by reading the threads that already been created in the various phones forums you listed.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

shook187 said:
That's a whole lot a phones you're inquiring about... why don't you do your own research by reading the threads that already been created in the various phones forums you listed.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I know but most of the reviews are kind of sponsored or presented by fanboys !! So I need help with the community to help me choose the best for me.
I have reduced the list to 4 devices
Honor 8 (4gb) , huawei P9 (3gb) , Oneplus 3 , Axon 7 (4gb) !
I want best performance in day to day tasks , good battery , good daylight camera stills , good display , and acceptable sound

HONOR 8 <3

I did my own research but with the following devices: S7 Edge, ZTE Axon 7, ASUS Zenfone 3 Laser, Moto Z Play, OnePlus 3T and HTC 10.
I ended up getting Honor 8 as the EMUI skin is much better (and smoother) than other OEMs skins. Device just looks so much better than other devices of it's range like Axon, OP 3T etc., Looking forward to the dual cameras as well. I don't listen to music via speakers so lack of front facing speakers was not an issue for me.
Also figured while I wait for S8 Unlocked (which could take probably the end of next year in the USA), I can enjoy Honor 8 until then. The company also recently revealed that Honor 8 will receive updates for 2 years.
The only frustration I had was dealing with notifications but after playing around with it, I have set it to work the way I want.
Hope this helps.

I previously had a Galaxy S7 and wasn't impressed with their variant of Android. Overall I've been impressed with the Honor 8. Despite technically being slower specs wise than the Snapdragon 820, this phone is far more fluid than most other phones I've used. Typically in my experience when manufacturers customize Android and skin it to their liking it seems the end result is a bogged down mess but it's different with the Honor 8.
After having the Honor 8 for a couple of weeks as my daily driver here are my impressions of it.
Pros:
1. The CPU is extremely efficient and performs great.
2. The design is very impressive and sleek. I really enjoy that the phone is completely linear and flat. It feels very balanced in the hand and using it is comfortable.
3. The fingerprint sensor is accurate and quick. I've never seen a fingerprint sensor as fast as this one is.
4. Despite being iOS themed everything is efficiently placed in the UI and fits together very well in my opinion.
5. There is very little bloat that needs to be removed unlike other phones.
6. It only cost me $300 with a case, extra cable and charger.
Cons:
1. The stock launcher should be replaced with something like Pixel or Nova launcher.
2. If you decide on the Honor 8 then I will advise a case, but definitely get a clear one so you can still see the beautiful glass back
Since you can get this phone for less then when it first came out it's really a power house with practical features that make using this phone a dream.
As far as the lack of development... Unless you get a Nexus phone, nowadays there isn't much to gain from going to custom roms. You tend to lose features and functionality on phones like these when using custom. Truthfully, I believe the age of needing custom roms is coming to an end because of this. Huawei is also an excellent manufacturer in which they seem intent on making sure their phones get updated properly.

I own a honor 8, and I am surprised that it beat S7, G5...etc in performance.
Plus when you set it on smart mode, the SOT is just crazy (7-8h usually). And it multitasks very well for me (some apps, chrome, youtube and a game) without reloading

I'd go for the Honor 8 as the HiSIlicon Kirin 950 SOC used in it, is a very powerfull SOC.

Hey.
I got an Honor 8 without looking at all the specs (I got offered it on a good contract)
Since I got it I had fallen in love with it.
I'm on the UK beta N programme and it's the first phone I have ever had that I hadn't rooted and put custom ROMs into.
I have found that with the options for using themes and fonts that I can customise it as much as i want and the EMUI 5 is nothing like the EMUI 4 (IOS)
The battery life ain't what I thought it was gonna be but then it's still a beta program..
I know Honor have invested in a development scene both on XDA and MoDaco so they must be up for releasing thier source code.
I'm not sure about the specs for gaming etc but I would say that it's a great phone.
John
Sent from my Honor 8 using XDA Labs

le pro 3, better rom support and has a snapdragon. or honor 8 if youre not bothered with flashing roms

jkccl9 said:
le pro 3, better rom support and has a snapdragon. or honor 8 if youre not bothered with flashing roms
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Have you had played with both phones, who's better?! (Apart from ROM support)

Aside from 3D gaming the Kirin 950 seems to be faster than the Snapdragon 820 at basically everything...

evilpaul13 said:
Aside from 3D gaming the Kirin 950 seems to be faster than the Snapdragon 820 at basically everything...
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Yes, youtube videos proved it. Plus I've put my honor 8 against a LG G5 and S7 edge, both were slower than my honor 8

Last Kirin Standing - An Upgrade Dillema

I guess I'm not the only one around with an old good Mate 20x waiting patiently for this year's new phones revelation firmly determined to upgrade.
And I did some research. I don't want to replace the phone for something worse. I'm not into such a big screen anymore, I prefer something lighter and more ready for one hand manipulation.
There is not much available or coming to the higher class. According to reviews, Galaxy S20 has problems with the main camera, besides Exynos for non-US markets lags significantly behind Qualcomm and it is overpriced. Note is not substantially different. Oppo seems to finish this year's production, its Find X2 pro is currently the best choice but it still has software problems. There is an interesting new kid in the block - Vivo X50 pro plus, but Vivo is so slow regarding system upgrades that is wise to forget it. Otherwise there is another mighty product in the market - Xiaomi Mi 10 pro, its's really ugly according to today's standards and the global software is buggy.
Sure, there are bunch of Huawei phones from Mate 30 pro 5g to P40 pro+, they are still actual and reliable. And a new pair Mate 40 and 40 pro are coming. It's now confirmed and some of their characteristics are known already:
1. Both phones are coming wth curved screens, Mate 40 pro with a waterfall 1080p OLED 90Hz display in dimensions between 6.7 to 6.8 inches, which is just right for my new orientation. The displays of the Chinese manufacturer BOE have been chosen by Huawei for its next high-end smartphone, namely the Mate 40 . The most powerful version of the terminal, the Mate 40 Pro , will have three companies as official suppliers: Samsung Display, LG Display and the aforementioned BOE.
2. They might have 24 and 32MP selfie snappers and Mate 40 phone might have triple settings in the back camera with main 50MP RYBY, 16MP ultra-wide, 3x optical zoom lens respectively, while the Mate 40 Pro version comes with 4 sensors main and wide 50MP RYBY, 5X periscope and a ToF sensor.
3. The battery of phones will have the capacity of 4500-5000 mAh with the support of 66W fast charging technology, and 40W wireless charging.
4. As we already expected both phones come with EMUI 11 on the base of Android 11 (without GMS) and are rumoured to round late September/ Chinese language Nationwide day which falls on October 1, 2020.
5. There are more improvements already speculated as outstanding performance, 5G capabilities, system optimization, ID design, unique features like remote thermometer.
https://www.telefonino.net/notizie/huawei-mate-40-mate-40-pro-display/
https://www.igeekphone.com/huawei-mate-40-series-leaked/
https://sparrowsnews.com/2020/07/24/huawei-mate-40-pro-tempered-film/
https://gadgetfam.in/huawei-mate-40-frame-screen-details-leak-online/
https://www.saudi24news.com/2020/07...-the-upcoming-mate-40-series-of-phones-5.html
All these are good news but there are bad too. Both models supposed to be equipped with the new 5 millimeter SoC dubbed as Kirin 1000/1020. But we know that the producer of this chip TSMC stopped receiving orders on May 15 and all due Kirins must be taken over till September 15 according to the US trade ban. There are rumors that Huawei didn't assure enough chips and that deliverable quantity could only cover 80% of expected Mate production. Not to mention that Huawei might want to save some of these chips for next year's P50 models. Hence the Kirin supposed to be intended only for Chinese market, global Mate 40 phones might come with Mediatek Dimensity 1000+ SoC (Samsung's dual chips policy). What looks like a bad joke: Dimensity 1000+ is not a 5mm chip, it's not equivalent Kirin 1000/1020, it's even well below Snapdragon 865. Make no mistake: in 2021 5g becomes something that makes a difference between phones.
And there is more. The most important improvements of Android 11 seems to be 5g and electronic id documents support (together with car keys replacement). The end of China - US trade war is nowhere in horizon. On the contrary - the CCP aggressive attitude toward China neighbours is bound to bring even greater restrictions. Huawei is working hard to attract developers to its app store but more and more Chinese apps are blacklisted every day. There is not only GMS outage to consider (it could even be bypassed), the growing limitations of use Huawei products puts the new Huawei phones on the risky side.
The bummer is that Huawei is so highly above the rest in R&D investments that there is hardly any decent competition. We'll see what might bring Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro+ and Nokia 9.3 if they are real.

For me there is no upgrade path from 20X.
Maybe ROG Phone 3 if the cameras are great but other than that idk

Derpling said:
For me there is no upgrade path from 20X.
Maybe ROG Phone 3 if the cameras are great but other than that idk
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This is how I feel as well. If Huawei would of simply allowed launcher changes on my phone (china phone) and bootloader unlock so I could eventually move to lineageos it would be perfect. It's one of the only phones that didn't slow after a short time. I feel like once the security updates run out I'm hosed due to not being able to update it to another room.

Smartphone Upgrade Advice

I need to replace two smartphones, used by adults who are not very experienced with phones.
The first is an Honor 7A, used for phone calls, whatsapp, web browsing (information and various readings).
The second is a Huawei P8 Lite used for phone calls and whatsapp.
The overall budget (therefore to buy two phones) is € 200 (maximum 250).
The aim is to improve the usability of the phones which has become somewhat poor.
In this case, does it make sense and is it a good upgrade to replace them with a Huawei P20 and a P2 Lite respectively, used in excellent condition?
Or is it better or similar in the new (always staying within that budget)? If so what?