Chinese Smartphones - Yes or No?!?

[JohnBRogers]

Hey guys!!!

I've been using Windows Phone for two/three years now, and since nothing that Microsoft is doing right now is not to my liking and OS' apps, in general, are very poor I'm thinking of switching to Android. I never spent too much money on phones 'cause I consider it stupid spending money on something you can break that easily, plus I can't take anything on a plan because I move a lot for my work...

So the question I have for you is to help me with picking a reliable Android-powered phone...
For some time now I've been researching different Chinese manufacturers like OnePlus, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Meizu, and of course Huawei.

Do you have experience with any of these brands? Impressions? Which are good? What to look for when purchasing it directly from China? Which have the best support in the Americas (my usual area)?

Thank you in advance for helping me

 

[Ink]

Budget Android devices may be at risk, even went purchased within the US- Pre-installed Backdoor On 700 Million Android Phones Sending Users' Data To China (Technical: KRYPTOWIRE)

For Android, stick to High-end / Premium devices for better performance, updates, hardware and storage. Look at Google Nexus, if they are available.

Most electronic devices are manufactured in Asia, regardless of HQ location.

 

[SHvFl]

No because if i break it good luck fixing it in a timely manner.

From that list if i had to i would only buy the oneplus phones.

 

[tim one]

In my opinion the main problem are the chinese wannabe phone: clones of the best known brands, because of the lack of supervision and control that these companies have on the quality of their products.
If one company is so dishonest to realize a fake phone, can it be reliable to have access to our Google account, our contacts, or our camera? The answer should be NO, of course!

 

[jAcos]

Clones are cheap but sometimes I read there is malware inside.

 

[Ink]

@JohnBRogers Avoid these phones, includes Lenovo.

Low-End Android Phones come with Adware/PUP downloaders

 

[nclr11111]

Oneplus and Huawaei are great phones and way cheaper than Samsung, LG etc. Just get their best phones!!
Xiaomi are biggest in Asia if my memory doesnt fail so probably not bad either.

 

[JohnBRogers]

Thank you so much for your comments they helped a lot, but I'm still not convinced that the US officials would let these phones in the country if they had malware... I hope xD
On the other hand, a few of you mentioned OnePlus and Huawei as reliable, and those are my favorites to be honest.
Still thinking about which model to purchase, but I'll let you guys know the results once I order something
Thanks again!

 

[tonibalas]

@JohnBRogers i can tell you my opinion about Huawei and Xiaomi.
I have used for a while Huawei P8 Lite.
An octa-core phone which do its job very good and it doesn't crash.
The new P9 lite you ca n find it in 2 versions, 2GB nad 3GB of RAM.
P9 Lite is also octa-core,no crashes has a nice camera and a good screen considering it's cost.

Xiaomi Redmi 3 note pro and 4 note are both very good.
Very good screen, battery that will get through the day easily and no crashes and a good camera.

These phones are cheap and very good.
Prices in my country:
P8 Lite: 150 euros
P9 Lite: 2 GB 200 euros, 3 GB 235 euros
Redmi note 3 pro: 160 euros
Redmi note 4: 190 euros.

I hope i have helped

 

[nclr11111]

Thank you so much for your comments they helped a lot, but I'm still not convinced that the US officials would let these phones in the country if they had malware... I hope xD
On the other hand, a few of you mentioned OnePlus and Huawei as reliable, and those are my favorites to be honest.
Still thinking about which model to purchase, but I'll let you guys know the results once I order something
Thanks again!

My daughter has a Huawei P9 and i myself a Samsung S6. Let me put it this way. If she would consider to trade phones i´d not hesitate for a second!! Huawei´s cheaper phones i have no experience in and therefor can say nothing about but the P9 is a gem imo! It also have a very capable camera with optics from Leica with double sensors that takes really good pictures unless the fotographer sucks. But that´s true with any camera!

OnePlus have been praised for quite some time in my country due to cutting edge tech and low price. The drawback is having to buy it directly from the producer, ability to fix it if broken and also less cases etc. in the stores.
OnePlus Three will probably be my next buy unless they release OnePlus Four before i get around to buy it.... Really like their phones!!

 

[MalwareBlockerYT]

My daughter has a Huawei P9 and i myself a Samsung S6. Let me put it this way. If she would consider to trade phones i´d not hesitate for a second!! Huawei´s cheaper phones i have no experience in and therefor can say nothing about but the P9 is a gem imo! It also have a very capable camera with optics from Leica with double sensors that takes really good pictures unless the fotographer sucks. But that´s true with any camera!

OnePlus have been praised for quite some time in my country due to cutting edge tech and low price. The drawback is having to buy it directly from the producer, ability to fix it if broken and also less cases etc. in the stores.
OnePlus Three will probably be my next buy unless they release OnePlus Four before i get around to buy it.... Really like their phones!!

Big main brands such as OnePlus & Huawei make brilliant phones but smaller less well known foreign brands like Elephone, etc are not good quality phones. I know 2 people who bought Elephones & both of their phones broke within a month of purchase...

 

[motox781]

Hey guys!!!

I've been using Windows Phone for two/three years now, and since nothing that Microsoft is doing right now is not to my liking and OS' apps, in general, are very poor I'm thinking of switching to Android. I never spent too much money on phones 'cause I consider it stupid spending money on something you can break that easily, plus I can't take anything on a plan because I move a lot for my work...

So the question I have for you is to help me with picking a reliable Android-powered phone...
For some time now I've been researching different Chinese manufacturers like OnePlus, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Meizu, and of course Huawei.

Do you have experience with any of these brands? Impressions? Which are good? What to look for when purchasing it directly from China? Which have the best support in the Americas (my usual area)?

Thank you in advance for helping me

Sounds like the Nexus 5x or the 6P will be a good buy for you. You can find a Nexus 5x for around $250. Pixel is more expensive ($650).

Reason I say Nexus 5x:

I only buy Google backed phones now for faster updates, no bloat. I would stay away from Chinese branded phones due to privacy, slow updates, no support, sub-par design quality (depending on the price you pay) and bloat. Privacy may be a problem or it may not. I'm not willing to take the risk.

UPDATE: I just looked at the OnePlus 3T. It looks nice for $439.

 

[Wave]

I recommend you look into the Sony Xperia series if possible, I used to have an Sony Xperia E4 and it was pretty good (even these days), but now I have the Sony Xperia Z1 (passed down to me but even after all these years it's working fine and supports all the apps I use)... Of course in your scenario I would get the latest Sony Xperia if possible, and if I recall correctly, an Sony Xperia Z7 should come out during 2017.

What @Spawn suggested is also really good IMO, because the Google Nexus phones are really good and are also based on Android. The designs f the phone look nice IMO and they work well and pretty neatly!

Then there is also the Samsung Galaxy series, amazing too... LG have some pretty damn good phones too!

You can try going into a phone shop local to where you live and asking the help desk for help, they'll have information on the latest phones available in the store and maybe you can even check the show-case to demo-use some of them for a few minutes or so to see if you like a few things, etc. Where I am there's a popular store called Carphone Warehouse, and usually I can go in and see some of the phones live before getting a new one, etc... (e.g. iPhones tend to be stacked up but usable on the desks, etc).

 

[JohnBRogers]

My daughter has a Huawei P9 and i myself a Samsung S6. Let me put it this way. If she would consider to trade phones i´d not hesitate for a second!! Huawei´s cheaper phones i have no experience in and therefor can say nothing about but the P9 is a gem imo! It also have a very capable camera with optics from Leica with double sensors that takes really good pictures unless the fotographer sucks. But that´s true with any camera!

OnePlus have been praised for quite some time in my country due to cutting edge tech and low price. The drawback is having to buy it directly from the producer, ability to fix it if broken and also less cases etc. in the stores.
OnePlus Three will probably be my next buy unless they release OnePlus Four before i get around to buy it.... Really like their phones!!

P9 is a bit out of my price range, but I'm considering P9 lite with 3GB.

Sounds like the Nexus 5x or the 6P will be a good buy for you. You can find a Nexus 5x for around $250. Pixel is more expensive ($650).

Reason I say Nexus 5x:

I only buy Google backed phones now for faster updates, no bloat. I would stay away from Chinese branded phones due to privacy, slow updates, no support, sub-par design quality (depending on the price you pay) and bloat. Privacy may be a problem or it may not. I'm not willing to take the risk.

UPDATE: I just looked at the OnePlus 3T. It looks nice for $439.

I tried got Nexus 5x from by boss to use it around the office I liked it at first, but I couldn't take the way it fit my hand. It was really uncomfortable, that's why I'm not considering it at all, but thanks for the advice.

 

[jamescv7]

Do not buy cheap smartphones which under of manufacturers in Chinese based, cause it turns out to not optimized well on Android.

Example: Huawei lower end models like Mediapad has bad optimization on Android even contains standard hardware components.
But if you purchase those higher ones then expect efficient and reliable smartphones from Huawei.

However majority of Chinese based smartphones products are bundled with unnecessary programs that can pose security risk.

-------------------------------------------

But I can recommend you a smartphone to purchase, ZH & K Is a Chinese base brand where it does not contain any unnecessary programs but rather almost clean stack ROM of Android.

 

[LoLs]

most Android Chinese base brand usually has bad hardware quality & rarely have future os update, and have more bloatware than other brand.
if you looking for long term use, i suggest get Samsung/LG brand,. and get the one with removable battery. Battery will need to replace 6 month - year, depend on the way you charge it, that's why easier to have removable one.

About OS update even brand like samsung, sony, lg, will have limitation.. older devices usually dont get update anymore. So try to have the type that has latest Android OS.

You can read some info here about "Low-cost Android Smartphones Shipped with Malicious Firmware" and recent android malware Gooligan

"devices with versions Android 4.2, Android 4.3, Android 4.4 KitKat and Android 5.0 Lollipop are vulnerable to the Gooligan malware threat"

best not get any Chinese base brand.

Sorry for my English ...

 

[JohnBRogers]

Thank you all for great comments, you guys really helped me with my decision.
In the end, OnePlus X won!

 

[nclr11111]

And how do u like it??

 

[antreas]

I have lenovo and i am very happy with it.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

nice to see you having the phone

for other members: before buying any phone, please do a thorough research about it especially common hardware defects. Don't be like me and than regret that you spend your valuable money for $hitty faulty devices
I have a sony z3 tmobile (d6616) bought it 5-6 months ago. After 1 month of using, the touchscreen was much less responsive without any reason, no water, no magnetic, nothing. It was unusable then. after a week, I had to remove the thin film protector so it has been a bit usable until now
After 2 months, the charger died for no reason
also the camera has a brown tiny spot in the middle while taking photos in the dark
for all those reasons, I did some google search and saw that countless people had had the exact same problems (touchscreen, waterproof, easily broken backglass, camera dark spot,...)

I wish I could get rid of this crappy faulty phone but no budget to do so

I did some research for other sony phones (z3c, z5, z5c,..) they had the same issue with touchscreen unresponsiveness and a few other problems. Since z3 and z3c, there have been too many problems that didn't happen before

people please do not buy from this brand and also LG (G4, G5, v10, v20 permanent bootloop) because the failure rate is too high and you don't want to take risk