**** The Official Chinese Phones Thread ****

[d_brennen]

I was debating with myself about buying a Poco F3 but in the end I bought a battery for my F1. Fitting was easy, the phone is logically put together and no glue!

Maybe I'll go for an F4 or whatever next year

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Picked up a couple of Redmi Note 10 Pros for the in-laws today.
They seem like very nice devices given the bargain basement price.
My Mix2s battery is starting to show its age, and thinking about just picking another Note 10 Pro up for myself.

 

[broona]

Been using my AliExpress day one Poco X3 Pro 8/256 for a few weeks now, and it's just about perfect for my needs, all day battery, excellent gaming performance, half decent camera, not as big as I was expecting, very happy with it.

Even better, it cost me £180'ish delivered, and I sold my old S10e with a rubbish battery for £227 to a phone recycling place, win, win, think I'll be cheap Chinese phone and SIM only from now on.

 

[Space Monkey]

Been using my AliExpress day one Poco X3 Pro 8/256 for a few weeks now, and it's just about perfect for my needs, all day battery, excellent gaming performance, half decent camera, not as big as I was expecting, very happy with it.

Even better, it cost me £180'ish delivered, and I sold my old S10e with a rubbish battery for £227 to a phone recycling place, win, win, think I'll be cheap Chinese phone and SIM only from now on.

Have you debloated it yet, did my Poco F3 and my wife's X3 Pro the other day, battery is even better now and better performance too

 

[broona]

Have you debloated it yet, did my Poco F3 and my wife's X3 Pro the other day, battery is even better now and better performance too

Is that similar to the instructions in this post - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/forums/posts/34755968/

I haven't yet, just turned most of the in app adverts off, and I'm averaging 50% battery after a day of use.

 

[Space Monkey]

Is that similar to the instructions in this post - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/forums/posts/34755968/

I haven't yet, just turned most of the in app adverts off, and I'm averaging 50% battery after a day of use.

Yeah that's the one, only takes a couple of minutes.

I've just had my best SoT with this setup, got 11hrs 40 mins with 23hrs 56mins off the charger and 8% left on the battery

 

[doodah]

Yeah that's the one, only takes a couple of minutes.

I've just had my best SoT with this setup, got 11hrs 40 mins with 23hrs 56mins off the charger and 8% left on the battery

That's ******* insane! Assume that's mainly at home/work on WiFi?

What's MIUI like without the bloat/in general?

I have spent the last >1 year choosing my next phone and getting nowhere, at £300 I might just bite the bullet and see what happens. I would miss wireless charging though . It would still be a decent upgrade (screen, battery, performance) from my Note 9 which is still a beast even in today's crowded market.

 

[Space Monkey]

That's ******* insane! Assume that's mainly at home/work on WiFi?

What's MIUI like without the bloat/in general?

I have spent the last >1 year choosing my next phone and getting nowhere, at £300 I might just bite the bullet and see what happens. I would miss wireless charging though . It would still be a decent upgrade (screen, battery, performance) from my Note 9 which is still a beast even in today's crowded market.

Yeah that's at home with WiFi and some network (bit of shopping in-between).

It's my normal usage pattern so I can easily compare to other phones I've had. It destroys the S21 Ultra and the OPO 8 Pro

The phone had very little bloat that got in the way to start with aside from a few apps I couldn't uninstall but this setup allows you to not only remove them but also background processes that harvest data and eat battery, so now the phone feels very clean and I like the MIUI in general, easy on the eyes, snappy and clean etc..

I bought the Poco F3 from Amazon direct not a 3rd party as the price for the 8/256GB model dropped for a few hours to £299! Nothing on the market can compete at this price with these specs!

 

[Space Monkey]

@doodah

With regards to wireless charging, this thing charges so quickly it's insane, comes with a 33W charger, takes less than 1hr from empty to full. I've been on very low battery a few times, plug it in for 10 minutes for example and you've got another 20-30% back, really takes the worry out of having a low battery.

 

[doodah]

Thanks @Space Monkey - just ordered from Amazon direct and should be here by 10pm (shame I didn't catch it at the £300 price).

First time I have got something other than a Samsung flagship in years!

Don't know what my current wattage is for my charging but must be under 20W, 33W sounds nice as I am not overly keen on these 50/100W for longevity.

You can also turn off the super fast charging in the settings, guess that's there for overnight charges and battery longevity?

Good to hear, and yes that will be for that. I think software features like this are becoming more widespread. The next phone I recommend for my wife will definitely be a fast charging one - her S20 runs out quickly and takes ages to charge .

 

[Space Monkey]

Thanks @Space Monkey - just ordered from Amazon direct and should be here by 10pm (shame I didn't catch it at the £300 price).

First time I have got something other than a Samsung flagship in years!

Don't know what my current wattage is for my charging but must be under 20W, 33W sounds nice as I am not overly keen on these 50/100W for longevity.

You can also turn off the super fast charging in the settings, guess that's there for overnight charges and battery longevity?

 

[Space Monkey]

Thanks @Space Monkey - just ordered from Amazon direct and should be here by 10pm (shame I didn't catch it at the £300 price).

First time I have got something other than a Samsung flagship in years!

Don't know what my current wattage is for my charging but must be under 20W, 33W sounds nice as I am not overly keen on these 50/100W for longevity.


Good to hear, and yes that will be for that. I think software features like this are becoming more widespread. The next phone I recommend for my wife will definitely be a fast charging one - her S20 runs out quickly and takes ages to charge .

How you getting on?

 

[doodah]

How you getting on?

Only played with it a few minutes as I didn't want to sign in to anything before doing the 'wipe bloatware' tutorial.

• Love the form factor - basically slightly more slender and lighter than my Note 9
• The side mounted fingerprint reader is excellent - incredibly fast
• Camera seems good (definitely drops on the ultrawide) though the actual screen when in the camera seems a bit janky (refresh rate)
• Loving the 120Hz - seemed subtle at first but then I switched back to my Note 9 and I thought something was wrong because it seemed jittery
• Slightly weird - I left the phone on with AOD on @ 39% battery last night, and it was drained this morning. However, a few minutes later and it's on 18% charge already!
• Software seems good though need more time

First thing - get rid of all the bloat! Overall though this is a lot of phone for £350! My wife is definitely getting some FOMO (she has an S20 but she really misses her S10e which she rated highly).

Edit - we sure this is a 33W charger. I am now on 45% - this is insane!!! Been stuck on 15W charging up until now.

 

[Drake5]

Still debating the X3 Pro as a cheap android device, can get it from Amazon to £250 but then you can also step up to the Note 10 Pro for £250... Can anyone help me decide? I don't really game on a phone, just need something for discord, browsing, emails etc

 

[TheFifeFlyer]

I got the blue F3 3 days ago now from Amazon. 8/256 model.
I came from a O+5t and already can say it`s better for near half the price.

I followed the instructions for de-bloating etc posted earlier, and the only thing I could criticize was the 2nd day, the fingerprint scanner struggled. Set up onother 2 fingers and it`s been perfect ever since.
Managed to get all my banking apps working fine as that was a slight concern.

The 5t was a 'quick charger' but nothing compared to this.

I got this 4k camera app for free yesterday and still to play with it https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appuccino.movie.recorder.pro&hl=en But on the few stock photos I`ve taken so far, look perfectly acceptable.

Glad I got this.

 

[doodah]

Thank you for the tip/link to that app @TheFifeFlyer. Have you noticed any adverts during install? I have debloated (using kona's suggested list from the previous page) and think I have anything ad related turned off, or perhaps you can't disable it entirely.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Is the OnePlus Nord 256GB worth it for around £260ish?? Its apparently a French model. A bit concerned it uses a plastic frame. I want something ideally with 5G,over 4GB of RAM and a reasonable camera.

 

[Drake5]

Any users of the Poco F3 here? Seems to be about the same price as the A52 5G

 

[Space Monkey]

Any users of the Poco F3 here? Seems to be about the same price as the A52 5G

Read this last page

 

[Drake5]

Read this last page

Seems like you're enjoying it then. It's really difficult for me to decide between the F3 and the A52 5G. The 5G has a better CPU, isn't running MIUI etc... Tough call