Epic Chinese Android phone

cavedog

cavedog

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So I bought this phone

http://www.antelife.com/presell-thl...een-android-4-0-1g-ram-3g-gps-wifi-black.html

I got charged R1850 on my nedbank amex credit card [got a ton of greenbacks lol] and paid R53.67 custom fees at the post office when I went and collected it today. I got 3 battries with the phone and a 4GB memory card included. Its a epic phone.

**1 problem though. It doesn't ship with google apps so no market. I had a easy way around that by just going to xda. simply 1 click and the phone is rooted and get gapps installed.**

I'm actually amazed that a R1900 android phone can be so good. Its stable fast so smooth in the UI running android ICS. Really worth it if you ask me. I got some on device screens and unboxing screenshot. :D

http://i45.tinypic.com/t7lr9s.png
http://i50.tinypic.com/2qt8u89.png
http://i45.tinypic.com/1zbexrt.png
http://i45.tinypic.com/2s6jzm0.png
http://i49.tinypic.com/2m4djiu.png
http://i50.tinypic.com/kxpj7.png
http://i45.tinypic.com/2eydwjl.png
http://i50.tinypic.com/x6kw3.png

Its a impressive phone with very impressive features at such a low price.
 
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Cool man... How is app compatibility? I have tested some Chinese tablets recently and found that some apps won't install because of incompatibility... The price is impressive though...
 
minerva said:
Cool man... How is app compatibility? I have tested some Chinese tablets recently and found that some apps won't install because of incompatibility... The price is impressive though...
Click to expand...

Not bad actually. Have yet to find a app that don't work. So will check that out.

There were some hicups when I first started the phone up. Its a chinese phone make so when I switched it on it the language was in chinese [mandarin]. I know how the settings icon looks so i went and changed it to english and everything was changed to english.
Another problem is since china does not like US based google. The phone and MOST chinese phones do not have gapps [google apps] which includes gmail and the biggest Google Play store.

To overcome this I connected the phone to my pc and just used a 1 click zip file I found on http://forum.xda-developers.com/dvi and the phone was rooted and gapps was installed. So Google Play works fine now with the apps. If you find that difficult you need to manually download the APK and install it like that.

After that this phone is just pure joy. With the dual core processor and the 1GB RAM the phone is smooth and lag free. I was ecpecting maybe some lag but none what so ever. Looks like these higher priced [for chines phones cause for us its cheap] is pretty well build. Feels solid and very stable OS running.

The price is what makes this such a good phone. If I compare any phone you get in South Africa for R1900 to this phone I got from China for R1900 the China phone takes it hands down.

I just had to post this here cause it makes me think we are kinda paying too high for our android devices here in SA cause look what I got from china and it INCLUDED shipping. People here think its ok to pay R120 extra for a 4gb memory card when actually it not.
 
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Fudzy said:
Are those hardware specs legit? What is the camera like?
Click to expand...

Camera is good. Very good resolution on the pictures taken and the video looks smooth when you record. I basically never use the camera but will take some pictures at full resulotion and post them here and you guys can judge but for me it doesn't matter cause I never use a camera.

Not sure why samsung would want to sue them cause the design is not even the same. Samsung name is no where close to this phone not even on the box or anything. Its a make on its own. http://www.thl168.com/
 
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Careful... it might be sending all your confidential information to their headquarters.
 
Htc

The packaging and phone looks more like an htc ripoff, so if anyone would complain it would be them. But this is China..lots off cheap rip offs. And sometimes good rip offs ;-) I hope this phone brings you lots of joy and fun!
 
Very impressive!!

It does beg the question....why are we paying so much for a mobile phone from the established manufacturers?
 
This phone seems quite impressive.

How responsive is the screen? Particularly to multi touch?

How is the battery life? Don't expect an answer straight away to this as you will need a few cycles to get a true feel.

I see they advertise the phone as including Play Store. Typical of the Chinese :D

Please update us with more info. Negative too.

Just so I better understand your opinions, what is your experience like with other Android devices?
 
Mike Smit said:
This phone seems quite impressive.

How responsive is the screen? Particularly to multi touch?

How is the battery life? Don't expect an answer straight away to this as you will need a few cycles to get a true feel.

I see they advertise the phone as including Play Store. Typical of the Chinese :D

Please update us with more info. Negative too.

Just so I better understand your opinions, what is your experience like with other Android devices?
Click to expand...

I would say the screen quality and resolution is very good actually but the brightness of the screen even on full brightness is not so bright. That does not efect you at night or indoors but in the sun maybe its another story. Won't know its cloudy here.

Yes the version I got DID NOT have google play store. Instead the chinese version of appcloud which has all the play store free apps.

6 hours running with very light use it used about 8% battery. I have not tried any multi touch stuff yet but will let you know.


Well for starters. I had the HTC Desire. I would say it performs a tad bit better than that with 1 major exception. The screen brightness.


CoolBug said:
It's funny when communists beat capitalists at capitalism :)

Some really nice KIRFS on that site, S3, Experia S, also check out the tablets.

Insane stuff

This one's quite sexy, 2750mha battery

http://www.antelife.com/free-shippi...re-4-5-qhd-capacitive-touch-screen-black.html
Click to expand...


Now that looks like a awesome phone too and @ a cheaper price than what I paid for mine.....




ALSO. I SAY AGAIN. Some of these phone especially the chinese version. They sometimes ship the EU version too but mostly the chinese version. It does not have Google Play Store and simply installing the apk DOES NOT WORK.

You need to use the 1 click wonder zip I found on xda that gives you full root and gapps. Its simply click and you are done. But if you don't do this you will have to install ALL the APK manually.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=30580751&postcount=14

I did save it on my pc incase the links go dead. It works on all the MTK6575 and MTK6577 phones and gives full root with gapps installed.
 
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Real Nice looking!

I would be interested to see an Antutu benchmark score and some battery usage screen shots... Also how would you rate the build quality, does it feel solid or bendy in your hand, battery cover fits neatly etc?
 
I understand it's a clone of HTC Sensation XL, right?
back plate rattles/squeaks?
no notification/charge led?
phone charges from 0 to 100% in 5 hours (!!!)?
no gorilla glass?
no compass sensor?
If that is the case, what is so epic about this phone?
 
Pooky said:
Build quality?
Click to expand...

Its plastic like so it feels cheap but it doesn't feel like R100 cheap if you know what I mean. You know you didn't pay R8000 for it cause its a plastic back plate.

xeslaro said:
Do the dual sims work concurrently, i.e have 8-ta for data and mtn for voice? What's the screen size?
Click to expand...

Indeed. I have my cellc simcard set for voice and sms and my MTN set for 3G data. Very possible and both can recieve calls same time.

minerva said:
Real Nice looking!

I would be interested to see an Antutu benchmark score and some battery usage screen shots... Also how would you rate the build quality, does it feel solid or bendy in your hand, battery cover fits neatly etc?
Click to expand...

I can get this I have antutu installed.

Kenny said:
I understand it's a clone of HTC Sensation XL, right?
back plate rattles/squeaks?
no notification/charge led?
phone charges from 0 to 100% in 5 hours (!!!)?
no gorilla glass?
no compass sensor?
If that is the case, what is so epic about this phone?
Click to expand...


Backplate is plastic. Most of the stuff you mentioned here I don't hink it has. No led charge light. No gorilla glass. ect ect but what makes this phone good is the Price. If you are willing to pay more than double for that phone for the little extra's then its no problem. Go ahead.
I just feel that what you get with this phone for R1900 YOU WILL not be able to find a phone locally with the same features and stuff whether it be a android, blackberry or nokia. :)


Let me also just say that I'm not saying that its better than the top brands we have in SA cause its not. But lets keep the price in mind when we talk about what it can and can not do cause frankly no point saying its a pointless phone compared to the S3 cause its has a s-amoled display ect ect cause we all know the price of a S3 is about 8k. Just saying.
 
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