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

[Guest dalyer]

Interesting - maybe you do have to prod them if an order is not shipping after the normal delay after payment (3-4 working days I think?)...?

[Guest Frankish]

Well looks like my brother may be having my Xiaocai X9 and i'm ordering a THL W200! I'm addicted to phones :(

I wish you could get the specs of the w200 in a 4.5 inch screen though but WITH a compass, button backlights etc like the w200 has.

[Guest dakok]

Dakok, has your new phone arrived yet?

It seems that the current theme is tracking, so here is my travelogue:

2013-09-10, delivery route, Beijing, Croatia

2013-09-09, exports total package straight seal, sealing Beijing International, Croatia

2013-09-08, exports total package interoperability seal to open, Beijing International, Croatia

2013-09-07, acceptance office acceptance, acceptance Beijing International Mail Centre, Croatia

2013-09-02, ordered at FP

Well looks like my brother may be having my Xiaocai X9 and i'm ordering a THL W200! I'm addicted to phones :(

Just found it for $186 / 117 GBP at known seller.

Looks tempting :)

Edited September 16, 2013 by dakok

[Guest Frankish]

What seller is that cheapest I've found at a known site is 122.

[Guest Maringer]

Interesting - maybe you do have to prod them if an order is not shipping after the normal delay after payment (3-4 working days I think?)...?

I dropped them an e-mail and, sure enough, received a reply about 45 minutes later saying that the phone should be shipped out tomorrow. Perhaps the way to deal with this seller is to complain about 5 minutes after placing the order to ensure prompt despatch!

Regardless, I'm assuming they are telling me the truth that it will be shipping very soon. I paid using Paypal and have no compunction about invoking their buyer protection clause if I've not received the phone after 40 days or so. Taking 8 or 9 days to post a phone they claim to have in stock is pretty ridiculous so they have no excuses.

[Guest invertedgoatie]

I just nailed a THL W200 on Flea land for £127. Good deal I think as the item is in the UK already so no faffing with shipping, risk of getting nailed by import tax....

[Guest GTRX3]

If anyone is interested here is a guide to enable usb otg on your phone:

http://translate.goo...63_1766832.html

Edited September 16, 2013 by GTRX3

[Guest dalyer]

I dropped them an e-mail and, sure enough, received a reply about 45 minutes later saying that the phone should be shipped out tomorrow. Perhaps the way to deal with this seller is to complain about 5 minutes after placing the order to ensure prompt despatch!

Regardless, I'm assuming they are telling me the truth that it will be shipping very soon. I paid using Paypal and have no compunction about invoking their buyer protection clause if I've not received the phone after 40 days or so. Taking 8 or 9 days to post a phone they claim to have in stock is pretty ridiculous so they have no excuses.

To be fair DealsPrime do say that they will ship something like 3-4 days after payment is received (which should be immediately via PayPal?).

http://dealsprime.com/shipping-policy#.Ujd9OMYQZv8

My gripe was that it was nearly 8 business days days with no indication of progress and they also ignored my first query to them. In fact maybe they ignored my second too and it was just coincidence that the item shipped today about an hour after I contacted them... :) :wacko: Anyway - at least it looks like it's on the way now. So if nothing happens after 3-4 days certainly contact them.

Edited September 16, 2013 by dalyer

[Guest dakok]

If anyone is interested here is a guide to enable usb otg on your phone:

http://translate.goo...63_1766832.html

Very nice thing GTR!

[Guest dakok]

[Tutorial] Dai Son trick, let your Android phone have the USB-OTG function

(this is a google/me translation. Don´t take

every single word (and grammar) for granted)

Smart phone systems with Android 4.0 or above support USB-OTG, and if they don´t, is definitely

up to the following two reasons:

1. The hardware is missing 5V booster, resulting in no voltage supply to external devices - no way for OTG to work.

2. Hardware manufacturers have power considerations, shielding the system from USB-OTG function.

Under normal circumstances, the smart phone can not read USB disk, it doesn´t recognize

the mouse, the keyboard. The catch is more due to the superposition of two reasons.

At this time, we have to both hardware and software, hardware and system, to create

conditions for the OTG:

First, it is necessary that to detect whether the next phone hardware have 5v booster,

when you use another plane without power mobile phone via USB-OTG cable into your

phone, if your Android phone has 5v l pressure control, it can charge a mobile phone to

another, if not you can not charge, in order to judge.

(this red text part needs a decent translation !!!)

When it is determined that the phone has no 5v booster, we will need to buy a

power supply with DC5V USB-OTG cable, hardware solution for problem of power

supply. As shown, you can buy that very cheap.

Second, resolve OTG shield system problems.

Phone has to be rooted. Start some Root Explorer

to find system/etc/vold.fstab

Use a text editor to open the file, add the following code to the end of vold.fstab:

# usb otg disk

dev_mount usbotg /mnt/usbotg auto /devices/platform/mt_usb /devices/platform/musbfsh_hdrc

Save changes, restart the phone and then plug the USB disk.

This method is tested on Lenovo S920, A590, S820, OPPO X907

and other models, all of Android 4.0 system and above, regardless

of brand, will support the mouse, keyboard, joystick, external hard

drives (need to provide more power).

Credits:

http://bbs.k-touch.c...&jdfwkey=3lsbg2

GTRX3

Edited September 17, 2013 by dakok

[Guest SG8]

I just nailed a THL W200 on Flea land for £127. Good deal I think as the item is in the UK already so no faffing with shipping, risk of getting nailed by import tax....

Can you post a link to the seller ? Am thinking of getting one of these, but would be happy to get it from the UK. Wouldn't be seller 'betty-mall' by any chance ?

[Guest invertedgoatie]

Can you post a link to the seller ? Am thinking of getting one of these, but would be happy to get it from the UK. Wouldn't be seller 'betty-mall' by any chance ?

Yeah, betty-mall that's right. I think there's another phone ending on Wednesday, give that one a shot?

[Guest SG8]

Yeah, betty-mall that's right. I think there's another phone ending on Wednesday, give that one a shot?

Might wait and see how you get on first!! :) Thanks

[Guest Frankish]

Just an update on GPS xiaocai x9/mtk6589. After the suggested build.prop tweak, enabling epo and a uk GPS.conf my GPS is actually perfect even works well without a compass surprisingly. So don't let GPS put you off buying.

[Guest dakok]

And don`t let the little green button on the right put you off thanking.

;)

[Guest]

Just an update on GPS xiaocai x9/mtk6589. After the suggested build.prop tweak, enabling epo and a uk GPS.conf my GPS is actually perfect even works well without a compass surprisingly. So don't let GPS put you off buying.

So is google maps working properly now? The blue arrow is staying still and not jumping between streets in town?

[Guest SG8]

Just an update on GPS xiaocai x9/mtk6589. After the suggested build.prop tweak, enabling epo and a uk GPS.conf my GPS is actually perfect even works well without a compass surprisingly. So don't let GPS put you off buying.

Have done the build.prop change to my Mlais MX58 Air, but have not had the chance to check if it works yet!! Interesting to hear that people are saying that it works though!!

[Guest dakok]

SG8, how`s that MX58 of yours?

Any problems or something?

Are you satisfied with it?

[Guest Frankish]

So is google maps working properly now? The blue arrow is staying still and not jumping between streets in town?

No jumping at all on a long journey with plenty of twists and turns. Surprising what a few software tweaks can do!

So i was saying i wanted W200 specs in a 4.5 inch screen.... Jiayu G3T enters the fray! Apparently has a compass which i wanted too. 720p, 1.5ghz, 1gb ram etc. 3000mah battery. Must be quite thick?

Although Jiayu and W200 don't seem to have the OGS screen technology like the Xiaocai X9... Hmm decisions decisions.

Edited September 17, 2013 by Frankish

[Guest Sere83]

Does anyone know if this build.prop fix will work for my vowney v5 running MIUI? I have never been able to get my GPS to work, and now I can't even access mobile uncle tools engineer mode, just doesn't work

[Guest Frankish]

Does anyone know if this build.prop fix will work for my vowney v5 running MIUI? I have never been able to get my GPS to work, and now I can't even access mobile uncle tools engineer mode, just doesn't work

It will definitely help as it's same chipset. I got engineer tools working on my X9 running MIUI do you want me to upload a flashasble .zip with the required files? I can't promise it will work on v5 but no harm trying?!

[Guest SG8]

SG8, how`s that MX58 of yours?

Any problems or something?

Are you satisfied with it?

Delighted with it, except for the GPS thing which hopefully might be sorted (but I am sceptical, even though lots of people are saying it works).

[Guest Maringer]

To be fair DealsPrime do say that they will ship something like 3-4 days after payment is received (which should be immediately via PayPal?).

Well, further news.

Dealsprime have just contacted me to say that Hong Kong Post are no longer accepting packages, especially ones containing batteries such as phones. Therefore, I either pay an extra $15 for DHL shipping, or cancel the order for a refund.

Hmmm. I'm in two minds, really. One the one hand, I don't actually need the phone - I was just buying it to play around with before (probably) passing it along to a relative. From experience, I know that I'll almost certainly be stung for VAT if the phone comes via DHL so the additional cost would be more than just a tenner or so for the post. At less than 80 quid, it's an unbelievable bargain. If I end up paying another 25% on top of that, I'll be less happy.

Probably best for me to cancel the order, really, but I'll mull it over tonight before I make my decision.

One thing I'll say about Dealsprime is their communications are pretty good. Prompt replies to queries in good (native) English so no difficulties there.

[Guest Degurney]

Guys..

So I have MIUI rom on my X9 :) just rooted it ( again ) I`ve found a MIUI gapps, but looking inside it doesn`t have googleplay etc..

Other gapps I`ve checked say not to install on 4.2.1

Frankish.. Did you get google play etc on yours? if so how and where :)

thanks

[Guest dakok]

How many phone brands are there in China?

http://p.tqun.com/mobilephone/brand/all-1.html

Load this page in Chrome (with translate).

I bet you will be suprised! :)

On the right side there is brand top list with flagship models.