The China Android Phones, Best Value, Updates

llau99

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For those who are looking to get a china branded phone, Recommended buy for the week.


Huawei Honor 2 ,
Quad Core , 2GB Ram, IPS
Custom ROM Supports : 8.5/10
Stability : 8/10
Performance : 8.5/10
PPR (Performance Price Ratio): 7/10

Pros:
OEM Battery easily available, very nice IPS display, solid touch sensing, user replaceable battery, standard SIM size

Cons:
Single SIM slot, too much bloatware for non-international version (can be resolved by flashing ROM though), no local support, Custom processor K3V2 by Huawei (cannot load some 3D games), doesn't support MHL

You may ask question about other China phone model, I will try to answer them in the best of my knowledge.
 
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llau99

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Well, it very much depend on how you are going to use this phone for. For normal use as a primary phone ? for video watching? messenging IM ? news reading ? to play with custom ROMs ?

Both iOcean X7 and Newsmy K1 has 2 editions, but I will cover iOcean X7 Youth Edition and Newman K1 1GB edition

Urgent? only iOcean X7 Youth Edition has ready supply for now.

if you love to play with ROMs -> UMI X1s
(this is quite subjective, if the model get popular enough in the new future, it will likely get more contributions in the community. All 3 are MTK chipsets, so in some way they are compatible with rooting and ROM flashing software such as SJJL. With SJJL, you can easily Root, backup or restore whole phone, )

Video watching / Reading -> iOCEAN X7 (highest PPI among 3), UMI X1s
(both are within 70 mm in width, more comfortable with single hand holding, can switch hand when you feel tired) Note that iOcean X7 is a 5 inch (1080p HD playback) , and UMI X1s (720p) has a 4.5 inch display. But UMI X1s is lighter in weight. K1 is 720p.

messenging IM > iOCEAN X7 , UMI X1s (both are within 70mm in width, very single-handed input and operation friendly) , if you are used to full virtual keypad , Newman K1 is good too.
Newman K1: 143.7 x 74.2 x 10 mm
iOcean X7: 141 x 69 x 8.95 mm
Umi X1s: 129 x 68 x 8.5 mm

Camera / HD Video Recording -> iOcean X7 (Standard Edition, ETA in May'2013), features Sony Stacked CMOS (likely to be Sony Exmor RS CMOS , if not better )

Single or Dual SIM -> All 3 are Dual SIM Dual Mode (GSM + WCDMA) Dual Standby capable
Newman K1: yes, both standard size SIM slots
iOcean X7: yes, 1x standard size SIM slot, 1x MicroSIM slot
Umi X1s: yes, both standard size SIM slots

Post-sales Services -> Newman (or known as Newsmy in China) is the oldest among 3, has far better post sales supports mainland wide.

Overall, will recommend to go for one with good community supports. Most likely there is at least one that resolve most if not all of the issues concerning battery life and stability , among others. China has a very large community of phone hackers. But if you are not good in Chinese, you can forget about playing with it but just use it as it is .
 
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itsme220

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Xiaomi Mi2

Whats your opinion on Xiaomi Mi2?

Can you suggest a brand which is considered reliable and available in Singapore with following spec.

1. Quad core (Preferable), >4.0", Capacitance type, >5 M Pixel cam (rear side), MicroSD, 1GB Memory

2. Dual core (Desirable), > 4.0", Capacitance type, > 5 M Pixel rear side cam, MicroSD, 512MB Ram
 
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llau99

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HUAWEI

Whats your opinion on Xiaomi Mi2?

Can you suggest a brand which is considered reliable and available in Singapore with following spec.

1. Quad core (Preferable), >4.0", Capacitance type, >5 M Pixel cam (rear side), MicroSD, 1GB Memory

2. Dual core (Desirable), > 4.0", Capacitance type, > 5 M Pixel rear side cam, MicroSD, 512MB Ram
Dear brother, if you are going to get one from singapore, I would recommend a brand and model that comes with local post-sales supports. Because the price you are going to pay getting it deserved it.

I would advise against getting any android phone with less than 1GB RAM. Firstly because those with 512MB are phasing out of the market, even for entry level smartphones. Secondly, you can't really load your phone with enough apps to be your daily drivers. thirdly, very little different in price between a 1GB and a 512MB , but there is going to make a lot of differences in your mobile experience.

I personally do not prefer "White branded" phone (phone without a printed brand) because you are going to have hard time upgrading the ROM yourself should you even want to.

I just saw Huawei Honor 2 U9508 selling in local retailer Whymobile, this phone currently has around 15 ROMs available to it and is still selling hot in China. It is selling ar around SGD$360, U9508, a Quad core with 2GB RAM.
 
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itsme220

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Thank you llau99 for your detailed feedback. Appreciate. So if < S$300 we can get any Dualcore with 1GB Ram?
 

llau99

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Whats your opinion on Xiaomi Mi2?

Can you suggest a brand which is considered reliable and available in Singapore with following spec.

1. Quad core (Preferable), >4.0", Capacitance type, >5 M Pixel cam (rear side), MicroSD, 1GB Memory

2. Dual core (Desirable), > 4.0", Capacitance type, > 5 M Pixel rear side cam, MicroSD, 512MB Ram

have atleast rear side cam. edited my post.

XiaoMI is making quality phones with components mainly sourced from international suppliers such as the Snapdragon processor in Mi2.

Developed and designed by a team made up of ex-engineers from Google and Nokia, it is an experienced team for a young company in Xiaomi. The company is well funded by big guys , among them our Temasek Holding (few hundreds millions worth of investment from them alone)

MI2 features a very good Camera but is now inferior to many China branded phones in the market such Honor 2 .

ONe of the reasons that Many people love about google Nexus series because
Nexus phones are always there in the frontend for the easliest Android Updates rollout.

The same happened to MI series, Mi phones are always there to be the first to receive MIUI ROM updates. They might be doing that right but to have that one or sometimes twice in a week a bit too much to digest.

I love the voice activated SIRI like button in MIUI, however also just like a Siri, it is still more for entertaining than daily use.

If you are a MIUI fan, this is a good buy, otherwise you may also consider other alternatives. You might want to also consider a wireless Bluetooth capable Bass Blaster from Xiaomi , which powered by the same battery used in Mi phone.
 

llau99

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Thank you llau99 for your detailed feedback. Appreciate. So if < S$300 we can get any Dualcore with 1GB Ram?

Well, I won't say with that budget you can choose 'any' phone that match 1 Dual core and 1GB RAM specs you are looking at . But you should get quite a decent phone . Quad core phones are coming down to middle range this year , meaning you are more likely to make a good buy among phones from this range. Many china branded phones with Quad Core and 1GB RAM are selling below SGD$300
 

queerquirks

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Honor 2 custom processor only affects gaming app is it? Where to buy other android brands in sg, eg meizu OR reputable wesbites to purchase china android phones.
 
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coolin

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anyone knows where to get the huawei honor 2 at the best price? been looking around and the cheapest i can find is whymobile at $380 sgd. Also, will that model come with google play? thanks.
 

eatcarrotcake

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I am using the Jiayu G2. It is dual core with 1gb ram n 1ghz.

Quite ok. I got it for US$154 in late Feb from Antelife. Took about 8 days to deliver via Sing post.

If you just want a cheap and good android phone you can look at this. But if you want support like custom rom etc then better find the more popular China brand like Huawei etc.

They have a G3 and it has higher specs like quad core.
 
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raislyn77

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Im very interested to buy Zopo zp980. Dont know which website to get from and if it is selling in singapore.
 

weiyang76

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Hey guys, there's a shop in Sim Lim Square, Meizu. It's at level 6. check it out, they have many china phones on display.
 
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