Well I'm super interested in buying a new phone. I'm looking to spend under $200 and am fine with a Chinadroid. I use it for basically everything, Facebook,Instagram,Snapchat,Google browsing etc.
I should be able to sell my iPhone 5s for $100-200 and then spend some of my hard KFC cash to buy a new phone.
I was thinking of the Xiaomi Redmi note 4x but not
Sure if that's the best option.
Any recommendations would be appreciated. Also please post a link to the one you recommended.
What store is the best for Xiaomi phones?
Which Xiaomi Phone/Budget Phone for under $200
Lockster on 13/10/2017 - 11:53
Comments
Ok sweet. Is it true the camera is bad? Are you using it straight out of the box? Or did you use lineage?
Make sure to buy the Snapdragon version, I bought a SnapD version but the Shopmonk stock now appears to be Mediatek which overheats and the Google HDR camera works only on SnapDragon version
All 4X's are Snapdragon.
We have one with samsung camera sensor and one with omnivision sensor and they take perfect photos.
In the camera settings change the quality setting to maximum.
There is no need to install extra software for the camera.
There is no need to change the rom.
When you get your 4X, first thing just connect it to your home wifi and let it update to android 7 and the latest miui and you will be right to go. It may take 15-30 min and will require a restart.and they have a chinese rom… which is also irrelevant because the ones we purchase are the international 4X version with the snapdragon processor.
@xywolap: there are many sellers who modify the rom to international and sell MediaTek version, this is well known , so even if the seller says international it may be a Chinese spec phone
@kamban:
… and you will know with those shonky phones because they will not auto update.
Rest assured those that are interested.. the ones from Shopmonk are not the shonky ones.Has anyone here got one of the rumored "shonky" ones? Not do you know of someone or heard somewhere… do you actually have one? I believe with them you spot the odd appearance of "chinglish" in the UI.
@xywolap: not sure why you are defending the shop so much, I received a good one while another bloke here didn't, please refrain from making generalised statements declaring nothing is shonky, as this may mislead others
@xywolap:
I just bought a Note 4x from shopmonk ebay store and the description was a snapdragon 625. When I received I didn't notice until I opened it and after it updated to miui 9 I was checking the device information and noticed it was a mediatek version. I have contacted shopmonk but not reply yet. So be careful what you buy.@xywolap:
The box says its Note 4X with 4G ram and 64G storage. Still no reply from Shopmonk so probably going to have get paypal involved.@zappy:
Box is not 100% guarantee of what is inside.
4/64 makes it interesting… now, on the bottom does it have 5 or 6 holes for each of the speakers??
Note 4 has 6, note 4x has 5.If it is a note 4 i would keep it .. :-)
If it is a 4x then take a screen print of the one you ordered showing the SD cpu for evidence before they change the listing.
Should not be a problem if you paid via CC.@xywolap:
It has 6 holes. I have taken a screenshot, shopmonk have not responded at all and ebay needs me to wait for 5 days before they will help. Luckily I paid with paypal via credit card so I should be able to get a refund.@zappy:
If it has 6 holes then you have the Note 4.
If this is the item https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-4-64GB-Gold-/2…
then the title is correct but as usual their description is wrong. They have had this screw up like this on their web site back when i purchased mine. Surely must have been told about it but cant be bothered correcting it.
Its common to see this lack of care with most suppliers, this is why it pays to research and ask if something seems not quite right.
Hope the sorting out process goes ok.
What about 4g speeds?
I'd probably look at the Xiaomi Mi 5X as it is the same hardware as the Xiaomi A1 so you can run stock Android on it easily (without using Lineage or similar)
Yeah good choice however, 5x or A1 at present are around $300 mark. If OP wants to have bang for the buck as on today A1 is a great choice.
Thanks for the recommendation, but the camera isn't a huge concern for me and I can install the google HDR to push better quality out of it. Will I also have to install lineage on the Note 4x?
I've gone through three Xiaomi Phones in the last four years. The first one was the Mi3 which I absolutely loved, had it for 2 years and then I got the RedMi Note 2 I believe. The camera definitely isn't good, but it's good enough to take daily photos for uploading to social media. During daylight the quality really isn't that bad, it's only the night shots that you'll notice inferior quality compared to more high end phones. It does have the HDR function built in but I don't notice much improvement. My Mi3 took better shots even though it's an older phone. I would've continued to use the Redmi Note 2 if it wasn't for me dropping it and shattering the screen to pieces. Soon after I was on a trip to China so I had the screen replaced for around AUD40. Came back to Australia and dropped the phone again within two weeks and shattered the screen again. In all my years of using mobile phones, I've never broken a single phone or screen, yet I did it twice with this one. So eventually I got the Redmi Note 4 instead. Once again, the camera is pretty mediocre, and you will notice lags if you play some games. If you can increase your budget, I'd recommend not get the Redmi range, but instead go for the flagship standard Mi range. Other than that, I can't fault my Note 4 at all, it's truly an amazing budget phone and does what I need most of the time.
@jerrizhao:
Good to know screens are replaced cheaply. Do you know if screens are as cheaply replaceable anywhere in Asia eg Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand? (for a Xiaomi Redmi note 4x). I'm in the same boat… Slippery phone, smashed screen after 1 week (MUST have a case for this phone)@jerrizhao: Ok I guess I could pay a little more if someone buys this phone for $150-200 that might increase my budget.
@MishyMoo: Yes, definitely. I bought a case for my Note 4, even though it's a cheap phone and the case looks ugly as, I still don't want to spend more on another phone within a year. I think anywhere in Asian the cost of replacing the screen will be comparable. Might even be worthwhile asking around in some of the Asian phone shops here and see if they can help you? No matter what you do though, don't do what I did. I went on Youtube, saw some videos on how easy it is to replace the screen yourself, so I went on Ebay and bought a replacement screen part. All I got to was open the back cover and never got any further than that. When I took the phone to China to the shop to get the screen done, the person said I was crazy to even think I can do it myself.
@jerrizhao:
What android version and miui do you have on your note 4?
Just curious, because you say your camera is mediocre.
It is sad to see people say this.. and mostly from people who have never or rarely even used the camera. You hear of some rooting their phone to install alternate apps claiming to improve camera performance when they have not used the camera to its full potential in its original state. :-(@xywolap: I haven't rooted this phone at all, it came with the international rom with all the bloatware removed, so I didn't find the need to do anything to it. When I had my first Mi3 I had to root it because it was bought in China and had heaps of junk in it.
Phone is not next to me at the moment so I can't check the exact android version, and I think it's running MIUI 8. I did not enable developer mode and opt in for the developer updates either, but then again, those will probably only improve the camera anyway.
I'm not the only one who say the camera is average, if you read reviews, most online reviewers will say that almost the only thing which will drive them to purchase a more expensive phone will be that they get better camera quality. I mentioned before too that the camera works fine during the day, it's only night shots or dark areas where I can see some loss of clarity. Flash, HDR and other assisted modes help somewhat but not significant enough.
Also, you'll only notice the difference when you have something else to compare with. For example, I use an iPhone 8 and then my phone to take the same shot, obviously I'll see major differences, but does it really matter or ruin anything? No, not really, especially after all the filters, stickers, comments and etc you put on the photo anyway. All I said in my previous comments was to confirm that yes, the camera isn't the best quality, but at that price point I'd be happy with it and I'm still happy to use that camera everyday for sharing photos and videos. If I want more pro shots, I just use my DSLR.
@xywolap:
I have a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x 4/64gb (mediatek.. I read that snapdragon is better).
Its android 6.0 MRA58K
MIUI global 8.2.1I'll play with the camera to make it better. I like the phone. It feels great but it's very slippery and the screen covers the whole front of the phone so no mercy from it when it's dropped. If you get one do yourself a favour and get a cover. Mine slipped right out of my bag when I bent over.
@jerrizhao:
I have read countless reviews as well as odd opinions from many sources.
I have also read reports from some that say the camera is excellent and provided pics of various types to substantiate it.
I now base my opinion on the fact that we have 2 X4's, one with a samsung and one with an omnivision sensor and the pics are definitely not "poor", if anything they are outstanding.
The pics we have taken are both landscape and indoors with no flash..
I also noticed somewhere that someone said that enabling the HDR function did not make any difference… we made a point of testing that with the scenery shots and there is a massive improvement with the shots taken with HDR.
Anyway… I am not here to argue, just disappointed to see some people saying something that I have found to be untrue on the 2 4X's we have. There could be a reason… who knows?@MishyMoo:
MishyMoo…If you have a Note 4x with a MTDK processor then it could be a very rare beast.
Are you sure it is not a Note 4?
If you have a 4X it would have auto updated to android 7 and miui 8.5. something the first time you connected to wifi with it. AFAIK Note 4's have not received the update yet.@xywolap: By the way, mine is a Note 4, not 4x, not sure if there are any camera improvements between the two, but I'd say that comparably the camera is definitely not as good as say for example, an iPhone. I definitely wouldn't classify the pic quality as poor, they're much better than poor. With HDR, I do notice differences, but HDR is only effective in certain conditions, most notably for night time scenery shots. If you use HDR indoors to take photo of a person or a couch for example, it will most likely make very minimal difference whether if you use it or not. That's not the camera's functionality lacking, it's just wrong application by the user. However, all I was saying before is that even if I use the feature outdoors taking night time scenery shots, the improvements are not huge, but then again, I don't think any phone can take HDR shots as good as SLR cameras. I've done HDR countless times with my newer SLR, and in the early days, I've used Photoshop to achieve that effect.
I'm glad to hear that you love the camera on your 4X. Even on my Note 4, for this price, I really can't fault it at all. I still use the camera every day so share photos and videos, I'm just making a point that if you're expecting a camera as good as the ones on a phone which costs close to a grand, then it's probably not going to get there, but for this price, I'd say that the camera definitely does its job to its full potential.
@jerrizhao:
Dont compare a $150 phone with a $1000+ one please.. :-)
If you read up on HDR you will see that it takes 3 pics, all with different light settings and applies the best of all 3 to achieve the final shot.
Regardless of all the contention… anyone who buys a 4X will find it fantastic bang for the buck.
If you want the $1000- $1500 phone experience then buy one. I did once.. never again.. expensive paper weight, great brag value though.@xywolap: Nah, I'll never buy an 1k+ phone. I'm happy with my $200 phones. The international rom and the backup function makes upgrading really easy too, much better than my first Mi3.
MediaTek Helio X20 2.11 ghz international version
No update to 8.5 as yet.https://m.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_675518.html?wid=4
I need to tweak something… this huge battery ought to be lasting longer (maybe if I put it down occasionally!)
Its faaaast 😊
Haven't had a proper play with the camera as yet. It's reasonable so far. I need to understand the modes to get the most out of it
Re: display.. I love the reading mode and I use it as my permanent display option. It's easy on my eyes.
Which is best phone for under $150 and where to buy from please?
We have 2 of the note 4x's and have found them to be great in every way.
They are slippery so a full cover case is recommended.
The best place to buy and at the right price with DHL delivery included… ShopMonk
https://shopmonk.com.au/xiaomi-redmi-note-4x?storage=4072&co…