[OFFTOPIC] China Phone Discussion - UPDATED 30/10/2013

[Guest kyan31]

When is this china phone topic coming back?

 

when the mods add it back.

 

@everyone please don't comment on my deleted threads until they are restored.

[Guest 陰莖:)]

Who has deleted many posts from the threat.

[Guest grabster]

Seems my post has went walkies...

Been searching for an upgrade for the missus.Her umix1 is a bit battered and bruised now and i would like to get her a new dual sim phone with at least 5" screen.

I have been researching the latest offerings and i like the look of the lenovo s920 Also zopo seem to do some impressive phones as well.

The main things are 5" screen ,dual sim and obviously must work correctly here in the uk.

Anyone have an opinion or perhaps using something that they would recommend feel free to shout about it.

My maximum budget is about £170

[Guest Maringer]

The new ZTE Red Bull (odd name!) just announced seems to have very good specs (including LTE support), especially for the price:

 

http://www.gizchina.com/2014/04/09/zte-redbull-launched-in-china/

 

The Snapdragon chip in these ought to be faster than the Mediatek equivalent - hopefully it will contain the MSM8928 over the slightly slower MSM8926.

 

Whether or not this will have support for WCDMA or not, I don't know, but the Chinese manufacturers usually produce WCDMA versions eventually.

 

The Huawei Honor 3C looks to have pretty good specs as well (including a reasonable camera) but it does seem odd that there aren't many reviews of this one around.

 

I've never seen a Zopo phone but I'm a bit wary of the manner in which they seem to churn out endless variations of similar hardware with little to differentiate between them. I know that they weren't the most sturdy of phones in the past (video reviews on Gizchina often showed how the whole phone would 'flex' easily). This may have changed for more recent models.

 

One thing I'd recommend is that you get a phone with support for both 2100MHz and 900Mhz 3G WCDMA frequencies. 2100MHz is the standard in the UK but some of the networks (O2 and Vodafone) have also rolled out 900MHz 3G which can be useful.

[Guest tillaz]

The new ZTE Red Bull (odd name!) just announced seems to have very good specs (including LTE support), especially for the price:

 

http://www.gizchina.com/2014/04/09/zte-redbull-launched-in-china/

 

The Snapdragon chip in these ought to be faster than the Mediatek equivalent - hopefully it will contain the MSM8928 over the slightly slower MSM8926.

 

Whether or not this will have support for WCDMA or not, I don't know, but the Chinese manufacturers usually produce WCDMA versions eventually.

 

The Huawei Honor 3C looks to have pretty good specs as well (including a reasonable camera) but it does seem odd that there aren't many reviews of this one around.

 

I've never seen a Zopo phone but I'm a bit wary of the manner in which they seem to churn out endless variations of similar hardware with little to differentiate between them. I know that they weren't the most sturdy of phones in the past (video reviews on Gizchina often showed how the whole phone would 'flex' easily). This may have changed for more recent models.

 

One thing I'd recommend is that you get a phone with support for both 2100MHz and 900Mhz 3G WCDMA frequencies. 2100MHz is the standard in the UK but some of the networks (O2 and Vodafone) have also rolled out 900MHz 3G which can be useful.

 

nice find with the zte, looks like a top quality phone and for $135 / £80 its a steal, might pick one up my self 

 

Edit:

 

i'm sold... defo buying one after reading this http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/zte-redbull-lands-in-china-for-113-no-word-on-international-expansion/ says it uses snapdragon 800, hope it supports global bands and not a china only td-scdma

[Guest Maringer]

Think cnet are definitely wrong there as all other reports indicate a Snapdragon 400. Can't imagine they could possibly sell it with a Snapdragon 800 at that price! I don't think I've seen any phones containing the Snapdragon 800 for less than about $350, which is a good indication about how expensive they are!

Edit:

Yep, as I thought, a Snapdragon 400:

http://www.gizchina.com/2014/04/10/full-specifications-zte-redbull-v5-135-4g-lte-smartphone/

Bad news is that it is TD-SCDMA only at the moment. Let's hope they release a WCDMA version sooner rather than later. The thought of going back to ZTE makes me quite nostalgic for the Blade days! ;)

Edited April 11, 2014 by Maringer

[Guest dakok]

Octa Core Coolpad F1 is available at http://en.jd.com/product/coolpad-f1-8297w-8gb-rom-5-0-inch-large-touch-screen-3g-cellphone-android-4-2-8-cores-2gb-ram-dual-card-dual-standby-wcdma-smartphone-white-pre-sale-10th-april-will-be-started-to-delivery/1087976.html

for 171 USD

 

Why so cheap? Well, Jingdong (JD) signed a 1.6 billion USD contract with Coolpad recently. :)

[Guest bryfly]

Octa Core Coolpad F1 is available at http://en.jd.com/product/coolpad-f1-8297w-8gb-rom-5-0-inch-large-touch-screen-3g-cellphone-android-4-2-8-cores-2gb-ram-dual-card-dual-standby-wcdma-smartphone-white-pre-sale-10th-april-will-be-started-to-delivery/1087976.html

for 171 USD

 

Why so cheap? Well, Jingdong (JD) signed a 1.6 billion USD contract with Coolpad recently. :)

Time I bought a new phone is this ok for uk 3g?, seems not bad for about £107, or should I wait for 4g's to appear?

[Guest dakok]

I think that 900/2100MHz covers them all.

I bought it few days ago from ET Store at Aliexpress and they shipped it today.

 

Today I found out that JD started with shipping to my country. Damn!

Almost 20 USD + Tax :(

 

Regarding LTE & UK

3 UK  United Kingdom 800 20 FDD December 2013 ^{[296][408][409][410][411]}3 UK  United Kingdom 1800 3 FDD December 2013 ^{[296][408][410][411]}EE  United Kingdom 1800 3 FDD October 2012 ^[296][412]EE  United Kingdom 2600 7 FDD November 2013 ^[408][413]Telefónica O2 UK  United Kingdom 800 20 FDD August 2013 ^[408][409]UK Broadband  United Kingdom 3500 42 TDD March 2012 ^[13][414]UL/DL Frequencies? UK Broadband  United Kingdom 3600 43 TDD February 2012 ^[13][414]UL/DL Frequencies? Vodafone UK  United Kingdom 800 20 FDD August 2013 ^{[296][408][409]}

 

This should be a nice LTE phone:

http://en.jd.com/product/xlj-red-chili-4g-version-4gb-rom-5-0-inch-screen-quad-cores-android-4-3-cellphone-1gb-ram-smartphone-td-lte-gsm-white-jd-exclusive-phone/1091756.html

[Guest Ascend]

I think that 900/2100MHz covers them all.

I bought it few days ago from ET Store at Aliexpress and they shipped it today.

 

 

I bought it from same company over a week ago with DHL to UK.

 

They said it shipped the next day and gave me a DHL tracking number. There is still no info on the tracking and when I contacted them they said that it would only track when it goes through Customs. This is rubbish as DHL tracking works from the moment it is picked up from sender.

 

I have raised a dispute with Aliexpress and the supplier has 5 days to respond otherwise a refund will be made.

 

I'll be interested to hear how you get on.

[Guest dakok]

I contacted them several times during last week and they keep on telling me that it is not in stock.

When they told me they have it, suddenly many Ali stores appeared with F1 wcdma offer and I found out that official sale started on 10. April - I bought it.

Day after I bought it they raised price for $8.

 

It all seems very convincing. Anyway, it is easier to get refund on Aliexpress than on regular stores with paypal payment, I think :)

[Guest grabster]

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/5-inch-Coolpad-F1-WCDMA-8297w-Great-God-MTK6592-Octa-Core-Mobile-Phone-Camera-13MP-GPS/1747319443.html

 

I take it this one works ok here in the uk on 02 ?

 

 

Head is spinning with all this research.

Edited April 11, 2014 by grabster

[Guest dakok]

http://opensignal.com/networks/uk/o2---uk-coverage

O2 - UK uses the GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / UMTS 2100 & 900 frequency bands for its network.

 

 

 

Coolpad F1:

Battery Capacity(mAh): 2500mAh Language: English,Other Size: 141x71.5x9.3mm Coolpad Model: F1 (8297w) CPU: MTK6592 Octa Core 1.7GHz GPU: Mali-450MP Webcam: Front 5.0MP Rear 13.0MP OS: Android 4.2 2G: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz 3G: UMTS / WCDMA 900/2100MHz    

 

So, Coolpad F1 covers complete O2 2G & 3G band :)

Edited April 11, 2014 by dakok

[Guest grabster]

Thanks for the info ....

 

Anyone received their coolpad f1 yet ?

 

It looks like it is what im looking for so time to flex the plastic i think.

I gather that aliexpress would be the seller to purchase from ?

 

 Now to look for a gel type case ,the missus doesn't like those foldy leather type jobbies.

[Guest dakok]

Nobody received it yet since the sales for wcdma version started 2 days ago. I've been reading about china version user experiences for over a month now at taoba o and several china mobile portals and the average rating is over 4.5/5. So it should be a good buy.

Edited April 12, 2014 by dakok

[Guest bryfly]

Took the plunge and ordered 5 inch Coolpad F1 WCDMA 8297w at ali exprees

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Coolpad-F1w-8297w-MTK6592-Octa-core-1-7G-Android-4-2-Dual-SIM-WCDMA-cell/1736641185.html

£118.94 White including Nillkin case free postage....to UK

Edited April 12, 2014 by bryfly

[Guest dakok]

I see 94usd shipping there?

[Guest 陰莖:)]

Took the plunge and ordered 5 inch Coolpad F1 WCDMA 8297w at ali exprees

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Coolpad-F1w-8297w-MTK6592-Octa-core-1-7G-Android-4-2-Dual-SIM-WCDMA-cell/1736641185.html

£118.94 White including Nillkin case free postage....

Very god trust supplier.

[Guest grabster]

Just ordered...125 British squids,DHL delivery.......Hope she likes it .

[Guest dakok]

Very god trust supplier.

Hi Dick!

What do you think about Coolpad f1?

[Guest remond]

-

Edited April 26, 2014 by remond

[Guest bryfly]

Took the plunge and ordered 5 inch Coolpad F1 WCDMA 8297w at ali exprees

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Coolpad-F1w-8297w-MTK6592-Octa-core-1-7G-Android-4-2-Dual-SIM-WCDMA-cell/1736641185.html

£118.94 White including Nillkin case free postage....to UK

This morning showing as shipped with Singapore post, if reliable supplier info, quicker shipment than merimobiles or pandawill, who I have had phones from before..

Edited April 13, 2014 by bryfly

[Guest 陰莖:)]

Hi Dick!

What do you think about Coolpad f1?

 

Haven't received mine yet but it's on the way.

I think it's very cool. 

 

Penis

[Guest whistler114]

I'm ready to move on from my Vowney V5 since the camera is poor and GPS is intermittent at best.  I picked up my friends Galaxy Note and I loved the bigger 5.7" screen so I've decided to get something 5.5" or bigger.  The Huawei Honor 3X or Xiaomi Redmi Note seem to have good reviews.  Does anyone have experience with these?  I am a fan of budget phones and that Coolpad looks good - is the Coolpad 5951 no good for UK networks?  Any other recommendations?

Edited April 13, 2014 by whistler114

[Guest grabster]

Just ordered...125 British squids,DHL delivery.......Hope she likes it .

Showing as despatched...