Android phone from china. Anyone got one?

[WithaPickleOnTop]

My iphone is on it's last legs. I've spotted unbranded phones like the Samsung S4 on amazon/eBay for a fraction of the price.
Does anyone have any experience of them?

My lad & a lot of his mates have got a Huawei phone from the Carphone Warehouse - £80

This One

They all rave about it. I'll probably go for it, or its equivalent when mine dies...

I'm using one now

It's been difficult to learn how to use it because I'm not very technical and of course not many people can help me out with experience, but I've had it over and year now and it's really good.

Internet access can be difficult in some areas, but this isn't much of a problem to me.

The camera is pretty good, the sound on youtube etc is very good, and you can also make calls on it :)

Thanks Dixon but I wanted something with better specs.

Hi Theleast. Difficulty of use is that down to the phone or because you aren't a techie person?
The poor internet could be down to the network an not the phones fault.
I'm thinking of getting this.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00BG8F9G0

Oh. How do I do a link?

This one

I have this one, bought when my uninsured then top of the range sony xperia was nicked back at the turn of the year and I realised I couldn't afford to replace it, that even the very crappest branded smartphone in the UK cost about £200 and that I still had almost a year to run on my contract.

I have been incredibly pleased with it. For the money it is astonishingly good. I love the dual sim, meaning I don't have to remember separate home and work phones. Internet is good, android apps run very well, camera is not brilliant but ok with some cool features like multiple snapping, gps works fine once it's worked out where you are (which takes forever!). The screen is fine and quite responsive though it has not got the finesse and premium feel of top phones. It's not much of a looker (esp as I have managed to crack the screen through pure carelessness), though many folks ask me if it's an HTC. It gets a bit hot with constant use, has developed a few annoying habits like reverting to certain settings if the phone is turned off. Battery life is fairly average at best but no worse than most smart phones- daily charging seems to be the norm, pretty much. It has hdmi, which my kids say is cool and unusual for a smart phone, but sadly this is not something I ever use.

So, will I be able to resist lure of upgrade to premium smartphone when my contract ends at the end of the year because this phone is just as good as an iphone 5 or a galaxy 4 or an htc 1? Um, no, probably not! It doesn't have the high end feel of really toppity top phones and it could be a bit quicker, a bit cooler, a bit more durable. But I feel quite guilty for saying so as this phone has saved my life- without the cheapness of China I would have had no smartphone and this phone has pretty much done everything that the one I had stolen did and more. It is quite simply amazing for the price and I would have been lost without it.

The difficulty is all mine!

Acrylic. So it shares problems that other smartphones have, I can live with that.
At around 100 pounds versus 400-600 depending which one I want. I think it's worth a punt.

Btw hdmi is fab.
I just hooked up my new hudl (tablet) to my tv.
V.impressed.

That looks good. I would take a punt on it.:)

My ex has a couple of these and recommends them to friends, he is very techy and loves them.

Looking at many of the Chinese phones on amazon has me salivating! Maybe I will be able to resist an upgrade after all and upgrade to another Chinese one! By the way, I got mine from Drakotek and the delivery/service etc was faultless. He has rave reviews.

DD has one, a Cubot. Got it 2 months ago. Very happy with it.

Having come off a ridiculously expensive iphone 2 year contract I'm now on giffgaff at 15/month so don't want to get into an expensive contract for a half decent smartphone when u can have a top if the range one like this for a one off 100 quid.

No one else?

spoke to DS - a couple of his mates have got these & rate them. They say they're as good as the "original".

One point - does it have a stylus like the Samsung one? Doesn't look like it on the Amazon page. Not a deal breaker, but a stylus is quite a large feature of the Samsung Notes...

I have one of these chinese phone

It looks like a galaxy 3 I think. It has some good and some not so good features.
Good. Looks lovely, jelly bean OS is fab and very responsive. lots of clever things like the galaxy has (my friend has one). Not quite as tidy as the galaxy, ie messages arent on a nice coloured background, but keep scrolling themselves down, otherwise OK. Internet fine. facebook fine! Camera is OK, obviously not as good quality as a samsung, but perfectly adequate for snaps. Dual sim works well. Battery average, about a day with data, roaming etc, but its got 2 batteries so you could always change in emergency.

cons. gps wont work no matter what app i use. Worse is the coverage for 3 network. My other phone from 3 worked everywhere but they couldnt guarantee the sim in this foreign phone! True! its really dodgy even in my house, generally OK out and about, but a bit anxiety producing. I put an 02 sim in the other dual slot in the hope it would work better, but the bars are not much better and despite topping up £10 as per instructions, 02 say my balance is nil (still working on that). Recent holiday to norfolk resulted in no signal whatsoever, complete radio silence!

My contract is up now and i am going to try with the 02 PAYG for bit to check for coverage using only the 02 network, and if thats not working go for another package deal and sell my phone on ebay! It is a very nice phone, pity about the 3 coverage, which is the only real downside. Worth giving it a go I would say and try out your SIM in the new phone. If you have problems they will probably take it back if you say you have no coverage. Check out all the customer comments on amazon as these are pretty reliable. Basically said what I found

Word of warning. Before I got this chinese phone i had another one which was no good as only 2G (read the blurb sneeze) so after fiddling i sent it back, but only after resetting 'reset factory settings' NEVER NEVER NEVER do this. It reset to all chinese, and I couldnt read a thing. Luckily they accepted it back with a full refund, phew!

Going to wait for Friday as the nexus 5 should be released.

Chicken! .

Cluck

Withapickle I think the phone you linked to is the one my dad got yesterday. He was fed up with his so called top of the range blackberry playing up. It looks and seems to work just like the galaxy note 2. So far hes very pleased with it. He just needs to work out what android desk top to use as he needs to sync the diary with his pc one for work. Hes a tech business owner and appears to be shunning the likes of apple etc. (Networks)

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00BG8F9G0/ref=ya_aw_oh_pii this is the one my dad has

Yes don't. It's very similar. Just a bit worried now after some reviews. Reliability, GPS etc