Xiaomi - Anyone bought or using a Xiaomi or chinese brand phone

[Bubba]

I'm looking into getting a Xiaomi phone, but 'm hearing that they dont work well in Canada and the U.S. Does anyone have one. Do they work with Public Mobile/ Telus.

where are people buying phone online?  I have about $300 to spend and need to make a decision. I have not bouth alot of stuff online. And buying stuff onle from china seems scary AliExpress etc.

[frazzx]

Get a cheep phone if it you damage it toss it and get a new one. I used my Nubia over 5 years the battery was only lasting 2 hours, it has a sealed internal battery, tried to change it, broke the screen, last time I will try to change a internal battery. Bought a Ulefone on Amazon for $295 with a battery that will last about 16 hours of continueoues use great for work 

[Bubba]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Alot of the suggestions people suggestion I had looked into before..such as Getting a well known American brand that you dont have to worry about such as the   Moto. Pixel is too much much money to drop out of pocket at one time. I would of bought it just for the camera if I had a lot of money to spare.

I dropped Xiaomi brands from consderation due to their lack of bands for  North America, and having to have to figure out the bands if the would work

Choosing products especiall higher cost items based on online reviews is very hard. But I disregared the bad few bad reviews and went with Umidigi.

I bought the Umidigi F1 Play  from Amazon which was delivered in 1.5 days.  bought  past midnight on the Sunday so early Monday AM, and Canada post attempted delivery at 1pm on tuesday.

There was problems with Umidigi  having problems shipping out the F2 to the public from Asia, and I didnt want to pay duty and deal with them from China. Their phones have all the bands for North american phones,  and the the overall package of   ROM drive space, RAM was amazing. The camera is not the best, but its a budget phone

Very good phones ..(so far)...for the price. Anyone that doesnt care about brand name phones should look into these phones

[Wholecloud]

I have the xiaomi mi max2 global version when I switched to PM. Although this model wasn't on the list of compatible xiaomi phones indicated on the PM website at the time, it worked flawlessly. Cheers

[frazzx]

Amazon is the best place to buy a phone, I have a Umidigi and Nubia they work great paid $150 each and they have all the newest features,  make sure it's global edition

[MrSnide]

I'm using a Xiaomi Redmi 5 on PM. I got the phone on Amazon in July of 2018 for a very good price. Everything works fine, it's fast and I've had no issues. It uses the nano sim card, so be sure you have one.

[geopublic]

@ubershibs  The F2 just came out so it's not available via Amazon yet. Orders that were placed on 11 11 Stated shipping out. Your looking at least a 4 -6 week wait if you order via AE.

[victorecho]

I have an Honor (subsidiary of Huawei) phone that works fantastic. It's been about 1.5 years, and the camera's fine, battery life's fine. No qualms about it whatsoever. It benefits from all of Huawei's OS developments with a lower spec camera (and a few other things) but for general use, it is definitely an all-round good phone.

[ubershibs]

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@geopublic wrote:

@Bubba  Amazon has the Motto G7 Plus which has excellent coverage. Costco is selling the Moto One action for ~$300 that is also another good choice. Umidigi F2 is also an excellent choice for coverage, battery and features.

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Is the Umidigi F2 actually shipping? I can't find it on Amazon, and on AliExpress, everything seems to be pre-sale and I see a lot of complaints about orders placed a month and a half ago and no word of a shipment. It sounds like an absolutely amazing phone for the pricepoint, though, and my friend loves his Umidigi (a different model, I believe an A-something).

[llnguye1]

Using a xiaomi mi a1, just got a xiaomi mi 9T

https://www.ebay.com/itm/333265369671

just like that, but i cant remember if it was that seller

amazing phone with amazing specs and camera.  I dont really care about speed...lte 4g 5g

octa core 2.2ghz

runs 6gb ram

dual sim runing dual 4g

has a pop up camera

runs miui global which is similar to android but can run all android apps just fine, updates all the time

solid build and solid phone

xiaomi and huawei are world leaders and i now prefer them over samsung/lg/apple etc

i like moto tho...

[geopublic]

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@devy wrote:

I have a Xiaomi Redmi 4, no issues with Public Mobile.

The phone itself I was very happy with, but the camera doesn't work anymore (a common, unfixable problem with this model). It now only takes close up (~30cm) photos clearly, everything else is artsy (aka blurry).

So now I'm looking to sell that phone to someone who doesn't need a camera, and I have moved on to a used phone from a friend.

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@devy  Best to use Kijiji for that.

[devy]

I have a Xiaomi Redmi 4, no issues with Public Mobile.

The phone itself I was very happy with, but the camera doesn't work anymore (a common, unfixable problem with this model). It now only takes close up (~30cm) photos clearly, everything else is artsy (aka blurry).

So now I'm looking to sell that phone to someone who doesn't need a camera, and I have moved on to a used phone from a friend.

[dboxtvinfo715]

I have bought phones from wish.Com and unlocked and currently am switching too public mobile so I can give you an update on this subject.

keep in mind I don't have time too update but will return for further discussion.

Do not spend more than 130 dollars and buy used ......80 dollars .

[ckl]

One my family members is using a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 and it is working fine. No problems at all on the PM network. I bought this from a friend who bought it overseas.

[srlawren]

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@geopublic wrote:

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@Bubba If longevity is a requirement best to purchase a Android One phone you will be guaranteed monthly security updates and upgrades for 2-3 years. Best Android One phones are made by Nokia and Motorola. Another option work be a Pixel 3a or 3a XL.

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@geopublic I'm thinking @Bubba is looking more for physical/hardware longevity than OS update longevity.

However, as both you and @Triguy noted, the Pixel line may be a good fit for you @Bubba .  They have just finally gone to a second rear-facing camera in the current Pixel 4 series, but prior to that focused on having the best single camera you could get (or among the top 2 or 3 in every category, if not on top).  

[Triguy]

You can get a Google Pixel 3a which has a good camera and it receives o/s updates on a frequent basis.

[geopublic]

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@Bubba wrote:

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@will13am wrote:

The Umidigi line

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I had settled to get the Umidigi  F1 and then I saw some reviews. One guy said the screen on his phone cracked easily, some people phones supposedly are brick after a week. I dont know what to believe now.
supposedly the cameras on the Umidigi  brands area all bad quality.

My old LG phone has been dropped and bashed around so much while ( in a case) , yet barely some scratches. 

Thats what I'm looking for somthing that wont fall apart, or the screen cracked  (if you have in in a skin).

these companies seen to be really going after teenagers...who in gods name needs a 20 Megapixel phone on a camera?. Why dont they concentrate on making a good camera and forget about multiple cames and outrageous megafixel count,,,its rediculous.

I probably sound so old saying this...I'm not. I'm just not into buying a new phone every other year. If I want professional photos...I will use my CAMERA for that, not a cell phone

Guess i'' keep my sights on motorola, Huewei, or sothing I can get easily on on Amazon.

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@Bubba If longevity is a requirement best to purchase a Android One phone you will be guaranteed monthly security updates and upgrades for 2-3 years. Best Android One phones are made by Nokia and Motorola. Another option work be a Pixel 3a or 3a XL.

[Bubba]

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@will13am wrote:

The Umidigi line

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I had settled to get the Umidigi  F1 and then I saw some reviews. One guy said the screen on his phone cracked easily, some people phones supposedly are brick after a week. I dont know what to believe now.
supposedly the cameras on the Umidigi  brands area all bad quality.

My old LG phone has been dropped and bashed around so much while ( in a case) , yet barely some scratches. 

Thats what I'm looking for somthing that wont fall apart, or the screen cracked  (if you have in in a skin).

These companies seen to be really going after teenagers...who in gods name needs a 20 Megapixel camera on a phone?. Why dont they concentrate on making a good camera and forget about multiple cames, and outrageous megafixel count,,,its rediculous.

I probably sound so old saying this...I'm not. I'm just not into buying a new phone every other year. If I want professional photos...I will use my CAMERA for that, not a cell phone

Guess i'' keep my sights on motorola, Huewei, or something I can get easily on on Amazon.

[will13am]

@Bubba , global models of Xiaomi do work fine in North America.  They do not include the 700Mhz bands but it is not a deal killer.  That said, they do make an entirely different set of sub models that are intended for the Asian Market that will not work.  The risk is not getting the correct model.  I think this is where you see the complaints.  

The Umidigi line don't seem to have different sub models for different parts of the world.  I have a A5-pro that has both FD-LTE and TD-LTE.  THe LTE bands are so well represented that the phone will work on the Freedom network.  

[srlawren]

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@Bubba wrote:

I'm looking into getting a Xiaomi phone, but 'm hearing that they dont work well in Canada and the U.S. Does anyone have one. Do they work with Public Mobile/ Telus.

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@Bubba it depends on the model and sub-model.  Check the specs for the exact model you want to buy and make sure it supports 3G 850MHz and 1900MHz frequencies at a minimum.  You need that for talk and for HSPA+ (3G) data.  If you want faster 4G LTE support, look for band 4 at a bare minimum, with bands 2, 5, 7, 12, 13, 17 all being assets in certain geographical areas.  Texting and data can work over either 3G or LTE, voice requires the two 3G frequencies I mentioned.  On some spec sheets they may be called B5 and B2 respectively--not to be confused wtih bands 5 and 2 of LTE which is a spearate thing.  3G might be callsed UMTS, W-CDMA, HSDPA, any of those is fine in 850 + 1900 MHz.

[geopublic]

@Bubba  Amazon has the Motto G7 Plus which has excellent coverage. Costco is selling the Moto One action for ~$300 that is also another good choice. Umidigi F2 is also an excellent choice for coverage, battery and features.

[ShawnC13]

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@Bubba wrote:

I'm looking into getting a Xiaomi phone, but 'm hearing that they dont work well in Canada and the U.S. Does anyone have one. Do they work with Public Mobile/ Telus.

where are people buying phone online?  I have about $300 to spend and need to make a decision. I have not bouth alot of stuff online. And buying stuff onle from china seems scary AliExpress etc.

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I have read some people using Xiaomi but I do know that @will13am , has been very happy with his Umidigi A5pro and even ordered the F2

Here is the A5Pro  and here is the F1