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

[Guest aliaird]

BTW, does anyone have trouble with your Dual Sim remembering your voicemail number? I take out my work sim from my work bberry at the weekend and put it into my V5, and whilst the phone recognises the SIM and remembers I call it "Work SIM" I have to re-enter the Voicemail number (which I always forget and have to google!!!)

Then it seems to override my private SIM voicemail number.

It should remember both numbers and change depending on which VM I am trying to pick up but it seems it can only cope with one.

Just me? Everyone? Or me doing something wrong?

[Guest dakok]

double

Edited August 3, 2013 by dakok

[Guest dakok]

Anyone looking for something smaller, HOTMID are doing a great deal on the original Xiaomi M2 with snapdragon S4 Pro. $289 shipped , which is around £189. Really good deal if you ask me....

I'm checking that phone at hotmid every few days waiting for a miracle price drop...

Finding a comfort in my v987, though. :)

[Guest apple2005]

For those of you willing to wait for the right thing, here it is:

SAGA Z1 (Saga, a.k.a. XYZ, or "Small Universe")Is is a succesor of XYZ X1,

a very popular phone in China that offers decent specs for extra low price.

XYZ X1 is listed at online shops for the price of ~$160, but what`s interesting is

the fact thatthis phone is appearing under name of Cubot GT99.

XYZ X1 and Cubot GT99 look the same, their specs are the same (besides battery and camera,

but we knowabout the usual battery/camera specs reliability)

Cubot GT99 is almost unknown in China, but it sells well in rest of the word due it`s price of ~$140.

Anyway, Saga/Cubot is at the top of the best buy quad phone class.

Now comes the Saga Z1. What should it give?

First of all, it will probably be at the top of low priced 1.5GHz quad cores

Front camera: 8Mpix / F2.4 aperture / Auto Zoom / back-illuminated BSI CMOS / OV8825 chip

Rear camera 13Mpix / F2.0 aperture / Auto Zoom / back illuminated BSI CMOS / OV12830-PLCC chip

IPS 1920*1080 screen, OGS

Miracast

2.8 mm ultra-narrow magnesium alloy frame

Dimensions: 140mm × 70.2mm × 8.5mm

There will be two versions - 1/16Gb and 2/32Gb

Thanks a lot for your continuous efforts to bring the best here in the forum.

Where is this Saga Available? What are full specs?

[Guest apple2005]

@ dakok : Will you please help me select a good 7 inch Chinese tablet having GPS and good screen resolution plus 3G...it should be having a good battery life... I am really confused...

[Guest dakok]

The Chinese say it'll be out by mid august. Etotalk listed it as presell http://www.etotalk.com/xyz-z1-1g_p4172.html

Previous model, x1, was out in time, so I think there will be no big delays as we saw with jiayu g4 or neo...

Sorry, I'm not much into 7" tablets...

Edited August 3, 2013 by dakok

[Guest Muse91]

Did anyone find info on Xiaocai G6 Youth. It seems great specwise and it looks pretty good, to me at least? I trieg googling but I don't really know which chinese sites beside zol have relevant information on quality of products. I'm mostly interested to know if it's well made and how's the battery which seems like the only downside of this phone. 1800mah is a bit on the low side for 4.7" 720p and quad core. Edited August 3, 2013 by Muse91

[Guest dakok]

X6 Pioneer has 2500mAh battery

The only logical explanation of low presence in China is that they

do small batches and sell it mostly international. Maybe they don`t want to pay for china network licences?

[Guest]

At 2100 mAh isn't the XYZ Z1 battery a bit on the small side for a 5 inch 1.5Ghz phone?

[Guest dakok]

If you are not into constant fiddling with your phone, perhaps it could last for 1.5 days

(with moderate phoning and occasional browsing and GPS...)

Probably somewhere near MTK6589 with 1800mAh battery

Edited August 3, 2013 by dakok

[Guest Armadillo1]

I haven't read all 76 pages but couldn't find any info on whether people are using JIAYU G4 in UK successfully? And places to buy it? It's like £190 on Ebay / Amazon which is a bit too much.

[Guest Muse91]

I haven't read all 76 pages but couldn't find any info on whether people are using JIAYU G4 in UK successfully? And places to buy it? It's like £190 on Ebay / Amazon which is a bit too much.

Well there are numerous webshops listed in this topic. To name a few: banggood, minideal, pandawill, geekbuying etc. Price is around 260$ with shipping which is about 160 pounds if I'm correct. But you may want to multiplay that amount with your VAT since it'll be coming from China and there is a good chance you'll have to pay VAT for it. With that, price may be around 190 pounds which you mentioned above. So if you have a chance to get it from Europe for 190 pounds do it. As for it working in UK most chinese phones work well except in rural areas where some providers use 900 Mhz frequency for 3G. You should check that with your provider. Usually 2100 Mhz will be enough for 3G coverage in all urban areas. Good luck with your search for phone :).

[Guest Armadillo1]

Well there are numerous webshops listed in this topic. To name a few: banggood, minideal, pandawill, geekbuying etc. Price is around 260$ with shipping which is about 160 pounds if I'm correct. But you may want to multiplay that amount with your VAT since it'll be coming from China and there is a good chance you'll have to pay VAT for it. With that, price may be around 190 pounds which you mentioned above. So if you have a chance to get it from Europe for 190 pounds do it. As for it working in UK most chinese phones work well except in rural areas where some providers use 900 Mhz frequency for 3G. You should check that with your provider. Usually 2100 Mhz will be enough for 3G coverage in all urban areas. Good luck with your search for phone :).

Thanks. That was very helpful.

At £190 though I'd have to consider whether it's worth paying another £90 for a Galaxy S3 or Nexus 4.

I'd hate having to send it to China for repairs and I can't imagine the reselling value on Ebay (I'm sure Mazuma etc. won't take it) won't be much as it's a relatively unknown phone in UK.

On the front page it says £107 which is worth taking a chance for. At £190, which is almost twice as much, I'm not so sure.

[Guest Muse91]

Thanks. That was very helpful.

At £190 though I'd have to consider whether it's worth paying another £90 for a Galaxy S3 or Nexus 4.

I'd hate having to send it to China for repairs and I can't imagine the reselling value on Ebay (I'm sure Mazuma etc. won't take it) won't be much as it's a relatively unknown phone in UK.

On the front page it says £107 which is worth taking a chance for. At £190, which is almost twice as much, I'm not so sure.

For around 160$ you got other choices, one of the better ones is probably Cubot GT99 which has proven to be quite good bang for buck. On the other hand if you want something that just works and you don't want to risk sending it back to China you might just as well get a Nexus 4 which is also reasonably priced for what it offers. It's up to you but Cubot GT99 is definately worth checking out. Some other choices which will lack some of the Jiayu's features are Lenovo A820/A830, Vowney V5. For around 200 there is iOcean X7 youth edition which is pretty close to what Jiayu offers. Read a few reviews or watch videos on youtube and you'll figure out what's best for you.

Edit- if you want specific help for finding the right device for you PM me so we don't have to write 20 posts in this topic. It should stay readable so other people can find relevant general info.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Muse91

[Guest yaqh]

based on my requirements below, what is the best phone around £100 or less.

dual or quad core,

best battery performance,

good screen, bright screen outside( not like g300)

reliabe gps locking (g300 is great for this)

good sound quality

latest os (jelly bean)

future support updates (not like g300)

slim and light ( nothing heavier than than g300, prefer lighter)

would prefer 4"-4.5" nothing bigger

g300 has been a great phone but now need something a bit faster and cooler.

Edited August 5, 2013 by yaqh

[Guest Armadillo1]

For around 160$ you got other choices, one of the better ones is probably Cubot GT99 which has proven to be quite good bang for buck. On the other hand if you want something that just works and you don't want to risk sending it back to China you might just as well get a Nexus 4 which is also reasonably priced for what it offers. It's up to you but Cubot GT99 is definately worth checking out. Some other choices which will lack some of the Jiayu's features are Lenovo A820/A830, Vowney V5. For around 200 there is iOcean X7 youth edition which is pretty close to what Jiayu offers. Read a few reviews or watch videos on youtube and you'll figure out what's best for you.

Edit- if you want specific help for finding the right device for you PM me so we don't have to write 20 posts in this topic. It should stay readable so other people can find relevant general info.

Ah...Cubot GT99 can be bought for £120 in UK which seems like a good deal. It appears to almost match the Galaxy S3 which is very impressive for that price.

Not many reviews around unfortunately.

[Guest Muse91]

@yaqh-some of your requirements won't be easy to find on chinese phones. Especially future updates, because of the incredibly fast rate that they produce new models, old are abandoned. If I was you I'd go for something that's a brand in China. Like Lenovo, Huawei or ZTE. For the amount of money you stated I think safest bet would be Lenovo A820/A830. I think most of your requirements will be met and you can count on future updates in form of a MIUI. If you like MIUI and don't mind fiddling a bit to get GPS working perfectly take that one(don't get me wrong, it should work out of the box, but sometimes MTK chipset phones need some changes before GPS lock becomes fast and reliable). Other phones that have been ordered and checked in Europe are Haier W910(Snapdragon dual core so might get some development), Cubot GT99. Haier comes with 4.0.4 but there is a working jelly bean port. That's about it if you're aiming for something safe that has working GPS(Vowney V5 was ordered a lot but had great problems with GPS as did numerous other chinese MTK phones).

@Armadillo1 - you should find some youtube reviews. If not there is alternate name for that phone, XYZ X1 Small universe)that's name for China, international version is Cubot GT99). Google translate from simplified chinese or russian and you'll get plenty of results. Quite a few people ordered Cubot GT99 in my country and everyone was happy with it. So I guess I can go ahead and recommend in to you. There is also some info on GT99 on spanish HTCmania forum, so check that out too if you want.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Muse91

[Guest yaqh]

@yaqh-some of your requirements won't be easy to find on chinese phones. Especially future updates, because of the incredibly fast rate that they produce new models, old are abandoned. If I was you I'd go for something that's a brand in China. Like Lenovo, Huawei or ZTE. For the amount of money you stated I think safest bet would be Lenovo A820/A830. I think most of your requirements will be met and you can count on future updates in form of a MIUI. If you like MIUI and don't mind fiddling a bit to get GPS working perfectly take that one(don't get me wrong, it should work out of the box, but sometimes MTK chipset phones need some changes before GPS lock becomes fast and reliable). Other phones that have been ordered and checked in Europe are Haier W910(Snapdragon dual core so might get some development), Cubot GT99. Haier comes with 4.0.4 but there is a working jelly bean port. That's about it if you're aiming for something safe that has working GPS(Vowney V5 was ordered a lot but had great problems with GPS as did numerous other chinese MTK phones).

thanks i will have a think,

[Guest dakok]

Besides cubot gt99 (xyz x1) which is the cheapest, yet very goog phone ($140) my picks would be:

amoi n828 $170

zte v987 $230

xiaomi m2 $280 (21000 antuntu score, high class phone)

[Guest Armadillo1]

Besides cubot gt99 (xyz x1) which is the cheapest, yet very goog phone ($140) my picks would be:

amoi n828 $170

zte v987 $230

xiaomi m2 $280 (21000 antuntu score, high class phone)

Thanks. The only decent review of the Cubot GT99/ XYZ X1 I could find is from Gizchina and they actually thinks there's better phones for that price.

That put me off a bit.

I don't really like the form of the amoi n828 and the other 2 are too expensive for me.

I might wait to see how good that Saga Z1 is although I have a feeling it's gonna be towards the pricier end - towards £200.

[Guest Sere83]

Thanks. The only decent review of the Cubot GT99/ XYZ X1 I could find is from Gizchina and they actually thinks there's better phones for that price.

That put me off a bit.

I don't really like the form of the amoi n828 and the other 2 are too expensive for me.

I might wait to see how good that Saga Z1 is although I have a feeling it's gonna be towards the pricier end - towards £200.

If you are buying an MTK6589 phone I would go cheap, the GPS is just too unreliable on those phones to warrant paying near £200 in my opinion, not to mention unreliable frimware upgradeability. If you want to spend 180-190 get a Xiaomi M2 or M2A, firmware updates, proper working GPS and good build. For £188 you can get the xiaomi M2 from Hotmid, similar hardware to the Nexus 4 for around £90 less, higher pixel density too but smaller display.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Sere83

[Guest dakok]

Hi Sere88!

"Similar hardware to the Nexus 4" - but that`s all what`s similar..

This is Xiaomi M2 benchmarks compared to other top - class phones:

@Amardillo

My choice is not based on phone form or wether I will pay it £20 more or less.

First thing I look for is the brand position in China, then popularity (in China, too :)) and then price which should be under

£160

I browse thru big china names (some big in tradition, others in recent development):

ZTE, Huawei, Amoi, Lenovo, Xiaomi, Jiayu, Gionee, TCL....

Then checking interesting models on chinese mobile portals and forums.

Those who score at least 4/5 from 20 or more users votes are my picks.

This system is not failure-proof, but I can rely on it much more than on xda, modaco or other western forum user opinions.

So, with such atitude now I have MIUI v5 OTA updates for my phone weekley

(not without bugs, but this is a second release, with a dedicated developer; official MIUI dual sim

support is anounced by spring next year):

Edited August 6, 2013 by dakok

[Guest Armadillo1]

Thanks Sere83 and dakok.

I currently have an Orange San Diego and if I'm being honest, the only thing I miss is a bigger screen. A faster CPU will of course come in handy, and working WIFI but other than that I don't have that many requirements. I'm for example not bothered about GPS. And I'm quite happy with a working ICS and no updates as I mostly use the phone for email, web and sms.

I would prefer bigger names like ZTE and Huawei but I think I'd be happy with Cubot GT99 - unless the new Z1 happens to be sold for cheap.

I guess at the end of the day, all mobiles have their bad points - even S4/HTC One, it's just a matter of what you can live with, and what you can't :)

Edited August 6, 2013 by Armadillo1

[Guest Muse91]

There is a really well written review here http://www.scribd.com/doc/153423114/Review-Cubot-GT99

The only thing you gotta do is paste parts or whole document in google translate.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Muse91

[Guest tillaz]

Hi Sere88!

"Similar hardware to the Nexus 4" - but that`s all what`s similar..

This is Xiaomi M2 benchmarks compared to other top - class phones:

i don't know who made that graph or much about the other phones but the scores for the nexus 4 are wrong by more than double

nexus 4 on stock 4.2.2 scores 20000 / 22000 on antutu, but the problem with the nexus 4 is the thermal throttle which effects benchmarks

when it gets to hot (which takes very little) as it lowers the max CPU speed.

Anyway, did anyone on here get the xiaocai X9? i plan on selling the Y300 i just got and getting this, i know its not got the highest res display

but i like the design and its not going to be my main phone so its ok for me. (I'm talking about the 1GB RAM version for £109)

Edit:

does anyone know if you can buy the different coloured back covers separately?