I'm currently using a Nexus 5, on stock android 5.1. I'm starting to have a few problems with it, the GPS is slow at best, battery life just gets me through the day, and i'm running low on space at 16Gb.
In my job I have been given a Windows phone for work, What i'd like to do is buy a Dual-Sim device so I can go back to carrying 1 device. I've been looking around and been quite impressed with the chinese offerings. The top phone on my list are the -
Ulefone Touch Be 2
Elephone P8000 (unable to post links)
So far, The features i'm looking for are dual sim (obviously) good camera, expandable storage & good GPS.
There are so many phones to choose from these days im just not sure what to choose.
Thanks In advance.
What model Huawei?
You can try one plus two 64gb.
Its the best. 25,000 rs. Better than nexus
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I would really like that but its out of my budget.
Try one plus one. Nw u can buy for 15000-18000 rs range.
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it has to be optimized!
Spardha said:
I'm currently using a Nexus 5, on stock android 5.1. I'm starting to have a few problems with it, the GPS is slow at best, battery life just gets me through the day, and i'm running low on space at 16Gb.
In my job I have been given a Windows phone for work, What i'd like to do is buy a Dual-Sim device so I can go back to carrying 1 device. I've been looking around and been quite impressed with the chinese offerings. The top phone on my list are the -
Ulefone Touch Be 2
Elephone P8000 (unable to post links)
So far, The features i'm looking for are dual sim (obviously) good camera, expandable storage & good GPS.
There are so many phones to choose from these days im just not sure what to choose.
Thanks In advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before you buy a Ulefone, Elephone, Umi ... or any of these cheap Chinese brands. Please be aware that they do not optimize their Android OS!
This means, you may get worse performance as you had on your Nexus 5. I would say before you buy one of these brands, stick to your old Nexus 5.
If you want a good quality phone with optimized Android Rom on it, that offers good performance with a pretty good camera.
Get one of the following barnds only!
Oppo
Huawei
Xiaomi
Meizu
What is your budged btw? If a good camera is important to you, really stay away of not optimized Anrdoid!
All other small Chinese brands, put truly crappy not optimized Android on their devices!
TheUltrametricSpace said:
Before you buy a Ulefone, Elephone, Umi ... or any of these cheap Chinese brands. Please be aware that they do not optimize their Android OS!
This means, you may get worse performance as you had on your Nexus 5. I would say before you buy one of these brands, stick to your old Nexus 5.
If you want a good quality phone with optimized Android Rom on it, that offers good performance with a pretty good camera.
Get one of the following barnds only!
Oppo
Huawei
Xiaomi
Meizu
What is your budged btw? If a good camera is important to you, really stay away of not optimized Anrdoid!
All other small Chinese brands, put truly crappy not optimized Android on their devices!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info, I'm looking at about $200 - $250 Max.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Spardha said:
Thanks for the info, I'm looking at about $200 - $250 Max.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a good price range, to start from.
You could check out the best prices if you want to at: kimovil . com
within this price range you could get, all of the following are dual sim:
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 (only oppomart has it in stock right now) ~150$
Xaomi Mi4i ~220$
Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML ~200$
Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML ~260$
Meizu M2 Note 16GB ~150$
Huawei P8 Lite ~250$
I didn't list the following brand, but it's still a decent device:
Jiayu S3 (3GB version) ~180$
ZTE Nubia Z9 mini ~250$
The listed phones are just examples. All of them have their own downs and ups.
Meizu and Xiaomi are heavy skinned Android phones, they might remind you to iOS. I love my Xiaomi Mi4i, but it´s not for everyone.
I do assume that after using the true stock Android of your Nexus 5, you might want to stick to a phone that gets at least to close to stock Android.
So if you want the normal Android, you would have to go for the Asus Zenfone or the Huawei P8 Lite.
The Asus is more powerful but might not get an update, because it features an Intel SoC. The Huawei on the other hand has a weak SoC compared to the ASUS Zenfone 2.
It comes down to what you prefer, what would you use the phone for?
Do you want stock Android, do you want a phone that is at least as good as your Nexus 5 is, or are you willing to compromise just to have dual sim phone?
Within the price range of 200$ to 250$ there is a lot of good stuff to choose from.
That's some great info, thanks for taking the time to help me out. I was hoping someone in the know would be able to shed some light on this for me. I've been looking for a few weeks.
The idea is to replace my current personnel Nexus 5 and works Windows Lumia 635 (Rubbish), so thats what the Dual Sim is needed for. Then I like to use it to take photos on when I'm out with family and travelling for work, Im reasonably satisfied with the Nexus's camera so I'm not looking for a DSLR replacement but something competent. Then when I travel I use it for GPS to get around in Europe and the US. Next is to play music in the car so expandable storage for music and apps. 4G connectivity. Then for work emails etc. i think thats it really.
regarding good GPS signal you would have to stay to Qualcomm or Intel SoC's, those devices paired with a good brand are a save call.
For what you do the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 16GB chinese Version with dual sim and micro SD Card should be good enough. It's a big 5.5 inch phone.
It has the MIUI7 on it, it will be a completely different Android experience. There are no reviews about the GPS quality and the phone uses a fast MTK SoC, it is hard to say how good it is, usually Xiaomi places really good antennas in their phone, but as of now there is no review of it.
The battery is average ~3000mhA thing, paired with the Octa Core it will last for a day and maybe a bit more, should be better than the Nexus 5.
Advantage: it's cheap, it's Xiaomi so great quality with great support.
Downside: it has MIUI7 on it a very heavy Android modification.
You could get it for about 150$ from many different pages or straight from oppomart a bit more expensive.
The Asus Zenfone both version the 2GB/4GB is really good specification wise. The 4GB Ram version is just overkill, in my opinion.
The build quality is good, the performance is great. The only downside would be the battery life and the camera, neither is horrible bad.
GPS should be fine.
You could get the 2GB Version from pandawill for 210$ and the 4GB is at gerabest for 240$
Worth mentioning, not all dual sim phones support the full speed on both slots, as of now only the Xiaomi Mi4i has 4G net on both sim card slots!
The Redmi Note 2 and the Asus Zenfone 2 are 5.5" devices
If you want a pretty nice powerful device without a micro SD card extension, at 5" you could consider to get the Xiaomi Mi4i, the only downside of it is that a optical camera stabilization is missing. I don't see this as a problem, as I do make loads of pictures and it rarely bothers me, but it is worth to be mentioned.
I'm pretty sure i looked at the Redmi Note 2 previously, but didn't think it support expandable storage so dismissed it.
I understand most only support 4G on 1 sim this is fine. Also the size of 5.5 although is a little bigger than the Nexus I'm fine with it but would be the limit.
I also looked at the Zenphone but the camera put me off.
Spardha said:
I'm pretty sure i looked at the Redmi Note 2 previously, but didn't think it support expandable storage so dismissed it.
I understand most only support 4G on 1 sim this is fine. Also the size of 5.5 although is a little bigger than the Nexus I'm fine with it but would be the limit.
I also looked at the Zenphone but the camera put me off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Chinese 16GB Version has a microSD extension slot you just have to find one. I read on gearbest that they sell this version with 16GB and microSD slot, but it's hard to say if they provide the right information.
If you don't need the extra performance, the Zenfone might be the wrong phone.
You could also consider the Jiayu S3 3GB Version (or Jiayu S3 Advanced), some people like the phone! It is available for about 180$
It's a really good all-rounder with amazing GPS and a pretty good camera
Search on youtube for a review of the Jiayu S3 by ITXtutor, it should cover all you want to know about the phone.
If i could push the budget to $300 what could you recommend? Im from the UK too.
Meizu MX5? Just found out no SD and the 32gb is closer to $400..
Spardha said:
If i could push the budget to $300 what could you recommend? Im from the UK too.
Meizu MX5? Just found out no SD and the 32gb is closer to $400..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha yeah I would have recommended the MX5, I had the MX4 Pro for a bit and that was an awesome phone! But yeah the 32GB Version retails for about 390$
The Lenovo Vibe Shot Z90, has only a SD 615, an awesome camera dual Sim and a SD Card Slot. the 32GB is around 300$.
At leats in my Xiaomi Mi4i I have no trouble with this SoC, in daily use it doesn't get hot or anything, I am not a gamer so it's a great SoC for my needs.
The Huawei P8 Lite ships with the same SoC for 240$, it's worth a thought too. I would probably go for this one. The only downside I know about is the screen brightness, it could be better and I am not sure if it has Android 5 by now.
TheUltrametricSpace said:
Haha yeah I would have recommended the MX5, I had the MX4 Pro for a bit and that was an awesome phone! But yeah the 32GB Version retails for about 390$
The Lenovo Vibe Shot Z90, has only a SD 615, an awesome camera dual Sim and a SD Card Slot. the 32GB is around 300$.
At leats in my Xiaomi Mi4i I have no trouble with this SoC, in daily use it doesn't get hot or anything, I am not a gamer so it's a great SoC for my needs.
The Huawei P8 Lite ships with the same SoC for 240$, it's worth a thought too. I would probably go for this one. The only downside I know about is the screen brightness, it could be better and I am not sure if it has Android 5 by now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you recommend where to purchase the Lenovo Vibe from? its not on oppomart.
Ive been looking at the one+two and i think that is the phone i really want.. the OS is more what I'm used to the hardware is up there, the only downside i can see would be the price for the 64gb model. Im going to see if I can purchase via my work and if need be pay some towards it.
Spardha said:
Ive been looking at the one+two and i think that is the phone i really want.. the OS is more what I'm used to the hardware is up there, the only downside i can see would be the price for the 64gb model. Im going to see if I can purchase via my work and if need be pay some towards it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes that is the best thing to do!
There are two version of the Vibe Shot the Z90-3 and Z90-7, the -7 is more expensive, but supports the right bands to be used outside of japan/china!
aliexpress would have the Z90-7 for 330$, but it's always a bit risky to buy from aliexpress
TheUltrametricSpace said:
regarding good GPS signal you would have to stay to Qualcomm or Intel SoC's, those devices paired with a good brand are a save call.
For what you do the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 16GB chinese Version with dual sim and micro SD Card should be good enough. It's a big 5.5 inch phone.
It has the MIUI7 on it, it will be a completely different Android experience. There are no reviews about the GPS quality and the phone uses a fast MTK SoC, it is hard to say how good it is, usually Xiaomi places really good antennas in their phone, but as of now there is no review of it.
The battery is average ~3000mhA thing, paired with the Octa Core it will last for a day and maybe a bit more, should be better than the Nexus 5.
Advantage: it's cheap, it's Xiaomi so great quality with great support.
Downside: it has MIUI7 on it a very heavy Android modification.
You could get it for about 150$ from many different pages or straight from oppomart a bit more expensive.
The Asus Zenfone both version the 2GB/4GB is really good specification wise. The 4GB Ram version is just overkill, in my opinion.
The build quality is good, the performance is great. The only downside would be the battery life and the camera, neither is horrible bad.
GPS should be fine.
You could get the 2GB Version from pandawill for 210$ and the 4GB is at gerabest for 240$
Worth mentioning, not all dual sim phones support the full speed on both slots, as of now only the Xiaomi Mi4i has 4G net on both sim card slots!
The Redmi Note 2 and the Asus Zenfone 2 are 5.5" devices
If you want a pretty nice powerful device without a micro SD card extension, at 5" you could consider to get the Xiaomi Mi4i, the only downside of it is that a optical camera stabilization is missing. I don't see this as a problem, as I do make loads of pictures and it rarely bothers me, but it is worth to be mentioned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I access google play/google services on this phone if I purchase and use it in China?
I know my GF's phone cannot install google play store app (Huawei Ascend Y511).
NapoleonWilson said:
Can I access google play/google services on this phone if I purchase and use it in China?
I know my GF's phone cannot install google play store app (Huawei Ascend Y511).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes there are a lot of threads about this topic in the official Xiaomi MIUI Forum. Link: en.miui.com
Have a look there and you will find all you need to know
If they release the device globally or in India, it will get a ROM with google installed per default. Xiaomi makes no difference between their devices.
Rom download page: http://en.miui.com/download
Like I have the Indian/global version of the Xiaomi Mi4i and can install the official Chinese ROM or the global ROM, as I like.
Would you recommend any 5inch phones in the $150 dollar region?
5.5 is just a little too big for me.
I don't really don't want to spend more than $400, ($600 if it can really deliver).
I need:
Headphone Jack
Micro SD slot (or it will have to have 512gb or 1Tb models available [probably more than $600])
6-8gb RAM
OLED
Decent battery
Android 9
A decent radio would nice, maybe a must, something with good reception, but, from what i can tell mid rang phones skimp on radio quality.
My OnePlusX has all of this minus the 6gb of RAM but, ever since updating to android 9 it's been acting like hardware failure or like there is moisture the main board, GPS not updating/working, No notifications when i get texts etc etc (all worked at first after initial upgrade) One plus sells nothing over 256gb.
You should try the Xiaomi Mi 9.
Somethings it has going for it:
6gb Ram
Snapdragon 855
Android 9
super AMOLED screen
3300 mAh battery.
seems to check all of your requirements. I think B&H photo has it at $419. It's even dual sim. I currently have around 4-5 android phones because of work reasons. Xiaomi phones have always been my goto because of the build quality and it not slowing down after long term use.
cdoublejj said:
I don't really don't want to spend more than $400, ($600 if it can really deliver).
I need:
Headphone Jack
Micro SD slot (or it will have to have 512gb or 1Tb models available [probably more than $600])
6-8gb RAM
OLED
Decent battery
Android 9
A decent radio would nice, maybe a must, something with good reception, but, from what i can tell mid rang phones skimp on radio quality.
My OnePlusX has all of this minus the 6gb of RAM but, ever since updating to android 9 it's been acting like hardware failure or like there is moisture the main board, GPS not updating/working, No notifications when i get texts etc etc (all worked at first after initial upgrade) One plus sells nothing over 256gb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
colew said:
You should try the Xiaomi Mi 9.
Somethings it has going for it:
6gb Ram
Snapdragon 855
Android 9
super AMOLED screen
3300 mAh battery.
seems to check all of your requirements. I think B&H photo has it at $419. It's even dual sim. I currently have around 4-5 android phones because of work reasons. Xiaomi phones have always been my goto because of the build quality and it not slowing down after long term use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1620179
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1846277
In my country it is a challenge to get new flagship phones shortly after launch. For that reason, I tend to resort to eBay.
At this stage I can get a 256GB Galaxy Note 10 with 8GB RAM for U$900 or the 256GB Note 10+ with 12GB RAM for U$1030. (shipped)
In comparison, the best price I can find on the Huawei is the 128GB Mate 30 Pro with 8GB RAM in black for U$1100. (shipped)
The Huawei Mate 30 Pro has better camera hardware and Face ID technology but otherwise the Note 10+ has more storage, more RAM, MicroSD slot, dual speakers, higher resolution display, S-Pen and Google Mobile Services.
I really would like a Mate 30 Pro but I honestly think that Huawei is just asking too much. The phone is great but it isn't the best in every aspect of the hardware and it's unfortunately unable to use Google services.
It is not reasonable to ask U$1100 for the Mate 30 Pro.
If it was priced at U$850 - 900, I would probably have made the purchase already but instead, I'm contemplating the Note 10 despite having my heart set on the Mate 30 Pro.
Do you agree?
Wait a bit more time to buy it. HW sell at much lower price in China and Malaysia
Sent from my YAL-L21 using Tapatalk
Seems China price is about 30% less than Europe($810USD). If you can get someone buy you one and send to US, you probably end up paying $920-950USD(shipped) for 128GB 4G version.
And don't treat this piece of electronics same as other cheap product you found in Walmart made in China.
price on aliexpress with the Broken screen insurance
Honestly, if it's going to be hard to get Google services on this phone, then it can't compete with other flagships. Would need a massive discount for it to be considered good value.
Hello everyone ... I would like to ask which is the best smartphone with these features:
- Easy to unlock the bootloader.
- Easy to root
- Reboot the phone with root without key combinations.
- No warning about unlocked booloader (this is not essential)
The budget does not interest me the important is that it has these functions.
Thanks everyone for the help.
Look here to get some ideas and questions answered.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1620179
There are some massive mobile phones are below that gives an amazing performance and worth able features for your money. These are my favorites because of their performance and ratings. If you will buy any mobile phone from below, you feel that it is an amazing mobile for your budget. you can exclusively get these from amazon.
1.Redmi 8A Dual (Midnight Grey, 3GB RAM, 32GB Storage) – Dual Cameras & 5,000 mAH Battery) with No Cost EMI/Additional Exchange Offers – 31,279 ratings
2.OPPO A5 2020 (Mirror Black, 3GB RAM, 64GB Storage) with No Cost EMI/Additional Exchange Offers – 3,263ratings
3.Redmi 9A (Midnight Black, 3GB Ram, 32GB Storage) with No Cost EMI/Additional Exchange Offers -9,239 ratings.
4.Samsung Galaxy M01 (Black, 3GB RAM, 32GB Storage) with No Cost EMI/Additional Exchange Offers – 7,766ratings.
5.Redmi 9 Prime (Space Blue, 4GB RAM, 64GB Storage)- Full HD+ Display & AI Quad Camera) with No Cost EMI/Additional Exchange Offers – 9,414 ratings.
Hello,
I am searching for an upgrade from my old LG V30 and S22 Ultra will be my choice.
In my country, we have only Exynos so I have to choose between 8/128 and 12/256 (512 is too expensive for me), the price difference between 128 and 256 being about 160$. So 8/128 can be bought with ~900$.
There are clear tests or unbiased user reports that 8/128 it's slower or really worst in day-by-day use (except games) compared with 12/256? I'm sure that 12/256 it's future proof but the 160$ difference it's a little bit high and my V30 is really smooth with just 4GB of RAM.
Lyvyoo said:
Hello,
I am searching for an upgrade from my old LG V30 and S22 Ultra will be my choice.
In my country, we have only Exynos so I have to choose between 8/128 and 12/256 (512 is too expensive for me), the price difference between 128 and 256 being about 160$. So 8/128 can be bought with ~900$.
There are clear tests or unbiased user reports that 8/128 it's slower or really worst in day-by-day use (except games) compared with 12/256? I'm sure that 12/256 it's future proof but the 160$ difference it's a little bit high and my V30 is really smooth with just 4GB of RAM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With your budget, I'd recommend going through the Samsung shop and getting a provider's offer directly through them and cancelling your current one (if it's doable for you). You'll have an unlocked device, and its price will be largely absorbed by the service provider (I paid under 800€ for a Exynos 2200 12Gb/512Gb variant, and the o2 subscription is around 30€/month on 2 years, so in the end, I'll have paid less than 1.520€ at the end of the two years contract, device and subscription included).
there were few users reporting that they found 8/128 inferior to other two versions. if you can go for 12/256
I'm using my 12/256 for the 2nd week now and I've got nothing bad to say... this thing is a beast!
Jaxom84 - My current subscription is 10Euros/month (Vodafone) and I have all that I need. So it makes no sense to pay 30E x 2 years - 480E difference in 24 months + 800E the phone price. I prefer to buy the phone with 900 with no contract. But I'm not sure if 8/128 is a good option or not, that is the aim of this topic.
Well, it was to ease the process in case you preferred avoiding the 8Gb version and upgrade for a more manageable budget. For raw performances with Android 12, I think a quick tour on the forum will show some topics about it.
And if you feel like waiting a little, maybe try to gather advices from people with the following device setup:
- Exynos 2200
- 8Gb/128Gb version
- Android 13 Beta 2
As this Beta is already showing some improvements compared to the latest Android 12 updates, you may have interesting answers to help you take that decision.