4 ms·

Truth to be said, Apple's marketshare is failing and Android is growing, with all the Chinese manufacturers making pretty fine phones. Xiaomi phones are surpris

by runn1ng 10y ago

Truth to be said, Apple's marketshare is failing and Android is growing, with all the Chinese manufacturers making pretty fine phones. Xiaomi phones are surprisingly good. I am not sure if that future, where everything is tracked and sold for Google ads - and with Chinese weird mix of capitalism and authoritarianism - is better than Apple-made future, but that's for another debate.

kbart 10y ago
"Chinese manufacturers making pretty fine phones" Yes. I bought Chinese smartphone for 130 euros few weeks ago and I can't feel much difference from premium Android phones. Sure, camera is not so clear, touchscreen lags sometimes, but it's acceptable for my use case and the fact that it's 3-4 cheaper than a brand phone with same/similar spec.
- celticninja 10y ago
  Out of interest what did you buy? My first foray into Chinese phones was the OnePlus One which I was more than happy with (still am), I then bought a cheap Doogee X5 for about €50 to use on my commute, which was OK for such a cheap phone, camera was rubbish but I never used it and the GPS tracking and 4g that I did use was perfect for my use case.
  - kbart 10y ago
    Umi Touch: http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_348204.html?wid=21 http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_348204.html?wid=21 I see it's out of stock now and price have increased slightly. BTW, its screen is surprisingly good.
- bitL 10y ago
  I recently bought Ulefone U007 for 50EUR (720p IPS display, 1GB RAM, 32-bit MTK quadcore) in order to use it as a display for my Phantom 4 drone. Well, it turned out to be too slow for real-time video feed so I made it my OSMAnd navigation device permanently attached to my bike. In any case, imagine in 1-2 years a 1080p/2GB/Sony13Mpx camera phone will be available for 50EUR - why would you invest in a premium one?
technofiend 10y ago
>with all the Chinese manufacturers making pretty fine phones. How right you are! The Google Nexus lines were originally industry leaders, signalling the next minimum feature set and specs for Android phones with the added benefit of unadulterated (carrier cruft free) Android releases on the fastest release cycle. Now vendors are far exceeding specs found on Nexus phones and even the rumored Pixel phones; the next Asus phone[1] has 6 GB of system memory versus Marlin's rumored 4 GB, and the Asus phone has expandable memory^H^H^H^H storage to boot which is something Google eschews on their devices. So consumers are really down to rolling the dice on timeliness of vendor OS releases - do you risk a nicer phone that is potentially rarely, slowly or never updated or take a middle-of-the-road phone from Google that'll have regular security patches and OS releases for 18 months? It's no wonder people root their phones and run Cyanogen so they can have the best of both worlds. [1] http://www.gsmarena.com/snapdragon_821powered_asus_zenfone_3_deluxe_is_now_available_for_purchase-news-20428.php http://www.gsmarena.com/snapdragon_821powered_asus_zenfone_3...
- zouhair 10y ago
  No micro sd is a deal breaker for me.
  - lwhalen 10y ago
    Me as well.
threeseed 10y ago
Google ads is the least of my worries with Android phones. It's in the inability for the OS to be kept up to date so security patches aren't always forthcoming.

by runn1ng 10y ago

kbart 10y ago

"Chinese manufacturers making pretty fine phones" Yes. I bought Chinese smartphone for 130 euros few weeks ago and I can't feel much difference from premium Android phones. Sure, camera is not so clear, touchscreen lags sometimes, but it's acceptable for my use case and the fact that it's 3-4 cheaper than a brand phone with same/similar spec.

celticninja 10y ago
Out of interest what did you buy? My first foray into Chinese phones was the OnePlus One which I was more than happy with (still am), I then bought a cheap Doogee X5 for about €50 to use on my commute, which was OK for such a cheap phone, camera was rubbish but I never used it and the GPS tracking and 4g that I did use was perfect for my use case.
- kbart 10y ago
  Umi Touch: http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_348204.html?wid=21 http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_348204.html?wid=21 I see it's out of stock now and price have increased slightly. BTW, its screen is surprisingly good.
bitL 10y ago
I recently bought Ulefone U007 for 50EUR (720p IPS display, 1GB RAM, 32-bit MTK quadcore) in order to use it as a display for my Phantom 4 drone. Well, it turned out to be too slow for real-time video feed so I made it my OSMAnd navigation device permanently attached to my bike. In any case, imagine in 1-2 years a 1080p/2GB/Sony13Mpx camera phone will be available for 50EUR - why would you invest in a premium one?

technofiend 10y ago

>with all the Chinese manufacturers making pretty fine phones. How right you are! The Google Nexus lines were originally industry leaders, signalling the next minimum feature set and specs for Android phones with the added benefit of unadulterated (carrier cruft free) Android releases on the fastest release cycle. Now vendors are far exceeding specs found on Nexus phones and even the rumored Pixel phones; the next Asus phone[1] has 6 GB of system memory versus Marlin's rumored 4 GB, and the Asus phone has expandable memory^H^H^H^H storage to boot which is something Google eschews on their devices. So consumers are really down to rolling the dice on timeliness of vendor OS releases - do you risk a nicer phone that is potentially rarely, slowly or never updated or take a middle-of-the-road phone from Google that'll have regular security patches and OS releases for 18 months? It's no wonder people root their phones and run Cyanogen so they can have the best of both worlds. [1] http://www.gsmarena.com/snapdragon_821powered_asus_zenfone_3_deluxe_is_now_available_for_purchase-news-20428.php http://www.gsmarena.com/snapdragon_821powered_asus_zenfone_3...

zouhair 10y ago
No micro sd is a deal breaker for me.
- lwhalen 10y ago
  Me as well.

threeseed 10y ago

Google ads is the least of my worries with Android phones. It's in the inability for the OS to be kept up to date so security patches aren't always forthcoming.