How to choose a Chinese smartphone

Chinese manufacturers of mobile electronics produce smartphones, which can be very successful, and frank nonsense.

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1. How to choose a Chinese smartphone: what to look for
   
2. The best manufacturers
3. Why is it important to read reviews
4. Features of the firmware of Chinese smartphones
5. Suspiciously low price
6. The main criteria for the selection of Chinese smarftona
7. Summary: Chinese smartphones selection method

How to choose a Chinese smartphone: what to look for

Among the most important characteristics of Chinese smartphones that you need to pay attention to when choosing, you can highlight:

1. Manufacturer - in many respects determines both the quality and durability of the smartphone, and the availability of spare parts for it;

2. Reviews on third-party expert sites and forums like IXBT or w3bsit3-dns.com;

3. Firmware. If possible and have special skills, it is advisable to load it and disassemble it;

4. These specifications, especially at a suspiciously low price;

5. Actual specifications (processor, RAM, screen, camera, battery).

6. Supported cellular standards are also crucial, as in China, 3G and 4G networks operate at frequencies different from those used in Russia.

The best manufacturers

Among the Chinese manufacturers of smartphones can distinguish a number of companies that offer enough high-quality equipment at a low price:

1. Huawei;

2. Xiaomi;

3. LeEco;

4. Meizu;

5. Oneplus;

6. WileyFox.

For manufacturers who have both high-quality and frankly disgusting smartphones, include:

1. Highscreen;

2. Lenovo;

3. Alcatel;

4. TP-Link;

5. Fly;

6. Elephone;

7. Ulephone.

To manufacturers whose products It is worth avoiding the "tenth expensive" because of poor qualitycan be attributed to:

1. Newman;

2. Doogee;

3. UMI;

4. vkWorld;

5. Oukitel and dozens of similar "brands."

But even manufacturers who can be trusted often frankly lie in the specifications of their smartphones.

Why is it important to read reviews

Chinese manufacturers of smartphones often indicate characteristics that are not real. So, among the striking examples of fraud are:

1. Ulephone Be Touch 2 smartphone - the Android operating system version is uprated (5.1 is indicated, in reality 5.0), the battery capacity is overloaded (3050 mAh is indicated, actually 2550 mAh);

2. Lenovo K3 Note smartphone - the screen resolution is overstated (1920 × 1080 pixels are indicated, in fact 1920 × 720 pixels);

3. Tablet Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 - overestimated supported standard memory cards (indicated SDXC up to 64 GB, in fact, SDHC up to 32 GB).

Features of the firmware of Chinese smartphones

The operating system in Chinese smartphones can not only be poorly optimized. It sometimes becomes a source of problems. So, among the possible shortcomings can be identified:

1. The absence of Russian localization. Especially often suffer from this smartphone company Xiaomi.The MIUI operating system installed on them exists in two implementations - China (with exclusively Chinese and English) and Global. It is clear that it is better to buy smartphones with Global-firmware, otherwise you will have to “mess around” with reinstalling Android;

2. No Google services. A common occurrence for most Chinese smartphones. Even devices from Xiaomi, Huawei and Meizu are often shipped without the Google Play Store application store preinstalled, as well as the contact synchronization provider and other useful services. In some devices, you can install them yourself, in others - it will not work;

3. No updates "over the air" or updates that break devices;

4. SalesTrack. When activated, the firmware sends SMS to a short number. Often it is located in China or India, which leads to unnecessary expenses;

5. Backdoors built into the firmware are virus tracking programs that collect user information and send it to the manufacturer’s servers. Among the smartphones that are found to be suspected of the user are products from Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, Alps, ConCorde, DJC, Sesonn and Xido. So, backdoors were found even in Xiaomi Mi4;

6. Autodialer built into the firmware. Some smartphones periodically independently make calls to other countries. This leads to an increase in user costs like for international calls.

7. Find a phone without backdoors, auto dialers and other "nonsense" is difficult. This will help independent reviews on the above services.

Suspiciously low price

In Chinese online stores there are regular replicas of smartphones. And not only famous (like the Samsung Galaxy S-series), but also quite unpopular. Often, manufacturers even fake models such as Lenovo Vibe X2.

And often manufacturers of fakes, not only visually copy eminent smartphones, but also porting firmware. As a result, the device seems to be equipped with a sufficiently large amount of RAM and a powerful processor, but in practice it slows down and “lags” when launching any applications.

Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to distinguish a fake smartphone from the original one. You can carefully study each item of the technical characteristics - but it is possible that the cunning seller or manufacturer simply copied them from any site. Therefore, reviews are again becoming important.

After the purchase, you can assess the compliance of the declared technical characteristics with real, using applications such as Antutu or AIDA64.

It is almost impossible to protect yourself from a fake when buying a smartphone in a Chinese online store. But if any famous brand is sold for mere pennies - most likely, this is just a replica, but not the original. A suspiciously low price should embarrass the user, and not cause buying interest.

The main criteria for the selection of Chinese smarftona

When choosing a Chinese smartphone you should pay attention to the various technical characteristics of the device.

CPU

It is necessary to immediately make a reservation - it is better not to take smartphones on Allwinner, Spreadtrum, Broadcom and Rockchip processors, no matter how cheap they are. In addition to the disgusting performance at the level of "only calls", they also differ in the complete lack of updates.

MediaTek periodically releases updated drivers for its processors. But rarely. This company is easier to release a new processor than the driver for the old one. Therefore, smartphones that are equipped with MediaTek chips practically do not receive updates to the operating system - or updates run in the same Android branch (this is often found with models from Xiaomi - various major versions of MIUI are based on one “bucket”).

The best solution would be to buy a smartphone on a NiSilicon Kirin processor (exclusive to Huawei) or Qualcomm Snapdragon. Slightly less successful - on NVIDIA Tegra (consumes a lot of power) or Intel Atom (consumes a lot of power and still does not work).

The best processors for 2017 for budget phones:

1. MediaTek MT6735, MT6732, MT6732M, MT6752, all from the Helio series;

2. Qualcomm Snapdragon 400th, 600th and 800th episodes.

These processors are recommended for the following reasons:

1. A good built-in modem with support for a wide range of frequencies (it may work even in the Russian Federation);

2. Fast and accurate GPS operation;

3. High performance, including for games;

4. Relatively low power consumption.

Unfortunately, processors that would simultaneously work quickly and consume a minimum of energy simply do not exist. Even an active reduction of the process does not lead to a “painless” decrease in electricity consumption.

RAM size

The more RAM, the better. The minimum required volume is 1 GB. With a smaller amount of RAM, the smartphone will unload applications right in the process of using them.

1. With 1 GB of RAM, the smartphone can be used for simple operations, as well as working with a small number of applications. In this case, for example, it can store about 2-3 web pages in the cache, but they will be unloaded after switching to another program.

2. With 1.5 GB of RAM, almost all applications will work quite smoothly. Only those programs that have not been used for a long time are “downloaded”. However, with active switching between applications, recent ones can also be unloaded.

3. 2 GB - the optimal amount of RAM for everyday work. Better, of course, more. But modern versions of the Android operating system are able to optimize their work on smartphones with 2 GB of RAM.

Permanent memory

The minimum amount of permanent memory with which you can “live” in 2017 is 8 GB. This internal drive will be enough to install almost all the necessary applications. But user data (photos, music, etc.) will have to be stored on a flash drive.

1. Therefore, buying a smartphone with 8 GB of permanent memory, you should make sure that it has a microSD card slot.

2. The best option would be to purchase a smartphone with 16 GB of internal memory. From it, under the application and user data will be available about 10 GB, which will store not only applications, but also, for example, a couple of music albums.

3. The most practical solution is to buy a smartphone with 32 GB of internal memory or more. But such devices are expensive.

Screen

On the operational parameters of the screen affect the type of matrix and resolution.

The Chinese smartphones use matrices of the following standards:

1. TN, TN + film - the most budget options. They have poor color reproduction, disgusting viewing angles (less than 60 degrees) and fade under the sun. Definitely not recommended for purchase;

2. IPS is the most common option. The color rendition, depending on the specific model, can be both good and optimal. But they have wide viewing angles (up to 180 degrees). Recommended for purchase.

3. Only AMOLED’s IPSs are better, but they are expensive, so there’s almost no Chinese smartphones.

Screen resolution:

1. 800 × 480 - very small, the picture is blurred, the pixels are noticeable to the naked eye;

2. 960 × 540 - a little, but tolerable, suitable only for very undemanding users;

3. 1280 × 720 - optimal resolution, suitable even for 5-inch screens;

4. 1920 × 1080 - high resolution. Provides good picture quality, but leads to the rapid discharge of the battery. However, if the smartphone is equipped with a screen with a diagonal of more than 5 inches, it is recommended.

But the screen diagonal is to choose based on their personal preferences.

Camera

Expect a good shooting from Chinese smartphones a little pointless. Manufacturers do not always have time to properly set up the camera, as a result, even sensors with 13 MP and f / 2.0 can shoot "soap".

The solution to the problem is support for the Camera2 API, which is now implemented in almost all Chinese smartphones.This library provides access to the camera for third-party applications that can customize the picture as the user wants.

But if you do not want to play with the camera settings and install third-party photography applications, you should pay attention to smartphones from the following brands:

1. Huawei (especially the Mate line);

2. Wileyfox and flagship models Fly;

3. Xiaomi;

4. Meizu.

The rest will not be able to provide the proper quality of shooting.

In addition, if you plan to use a smartphone for taking pictures, you should pay attention to the models with flagship processors. They will provide a fairly quick focus and high-speed image capture from the surface of the camera sensor.

Battery

Everything is simple. The higher the battery capacity - the longer the smartphone will “live” without recharging. The minimum required in 2017 is 2300 mAh. With such a battery, the smartphone will be able to work 3-4 hours of active use (with the screen on).

It is recommended that the battery capacity be more than 2800 mAh. Such a battery will last for a whole day of mixed use (when the smartphone is actively working, it is lying on the table in a “sleeping” state).

Since manufacturers love to overestimate battery capacity, before buying a smartphone, it is worth examining reviews for it at independent sites.

3G and 4G bands

Since the frequencies used by third and fourth generation mobile networks in the Russian Federation differ from those used in China, it is worth making sure that the smartphone supports the ranges used in our country at the hardware and software level.

The hardware level is the physical support of the respective ranges. They are usually specified in the specifications for the device. So, in Russia, the following frequency ranges are used:

1. 3G - 1920-1980 MHz, 2110-2170 MHz. In very rare cases, the range of CDMA is 450 - 453-457.5 MHz, 463-467.5 MHz. 880-915 MHz and 925-960 MHz can be used in Moscow and the region;

2. 4G - 719-862 MHz, for Moscow and the region - 2570-2620 MHz.

In the specifications of the smartphone, these frequencies are designated as WCDMA B1, B2, B5 (2100, 1900, 850, respectively) and LTE B5, B8, B7 (850, 900 and 2700, respectively).

The implementation of support for the frequencies of mobile Internet used in Russia at the program level is indicated in the firmware version. If it is specialized for China (marked as China), then these frequencies will not work, even if their hardware implementation is declared. They work on international firmware (Global).

Some manufacturers allow you to switch from local to international version of the operating system. But this will require an independent flashing.

Summary: Chinese smartphones selection method

When choosing a smartphone from a Chinese online store, make sure that:

1. If this is a smartphone of a well-known brand and is suspiciously cheap - you should not take it, perhaps this is a fake;

2. Study reviews on forums and third-party sites. Reviews in the online store itself can be falsified;

3. Smartphone firmware must be international (Global) or at least support the Russian language;

4. Specifications must meet your needs, or at least the minimum necessary at present;

5. The smartphone should support the 3G and 4G bands used in Russia.

6. It is also advisable to explore the online store for the availability of spare parts for the smartphone. Most often, "suffer" screens and batteries.

In the following articles, our experts tell how to choose a phone with a good camera and secrets choice of high-quality smartphone.

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Attention! This material is the subjective opinion of the authors of the project and is not a guide to purchase.