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Thread: Third Tier Smartphones

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    Default Third Tier Smartphones

    Given that Samsung, Apple, Sony, LG would be First Tier
    Huawei, Otto etc would be Second Tier

    Anyone own one of these Third Tier Smartphones?

    Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Special Edition
    Letv Leeco Le Max 2 X820
    Etc, there are many more in this category

    Seems they have come a long way, with prices that are attractive, but essentially, for a little more, you could have a flagship model from one of the big players, with all the support and updates and compatible Apps.

    Just wondered if anyone is using a Third Tier Smartphone and is happy with it?
    If u want to go on an expedition get a Land Rover, if u want to come home from an expedition get a Landcruiser!



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    Quote Originally Posted by oceanboy View Post
    Given that Samsung, Apple, Sony, LG would be First Tier
    Huawei, Otto etc would be Second Tier

    Anyone own one of these Third Tier Smartphones?

    Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Special Edition
    Letv Leeco Le Max 2 X820
    Etc, there are many more in this category

    Seems they have come a long way, with prices that are attractive, but essentially, for a little more, you could have a flagship model from one of the big players, with all the support and updates and compatible Apps.

    Just wondered if anyone is using a Third Tier Smartphone and is happy with it?
    Yes, and have done so for several years - would not go back to over priced tier 1 phones. I have a 3.5 year old THL W8+ phone and it has never missed a beat. My wife has a Xiaomi Rednote 2 with 5.5" screen and it is gorgeous. Just ordered a Xiaomi Rednote 3 Pro for my daughter-in-law, and awaiting delivery at present. I will probably get one too in a few months. Paid $254 delivered with a case and a tempered glass screen for this latest one. It is a very high specced phone for an unbeatable price, and this particular version includes the 700mhz range to pick up the relatively new rural oriented signal, which will be interesting to see.
    My wifes' Rednote 2 picks up the LTE4 signal in the house that was never possible before with her previous 3g chinese phone. There is a lot of bang for buck with these phones, and in my experience, quite reliable.
    HTH

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    Thanks ITsavvy.

    I guess, the interesting point is, you can buy a brand new Samsung S5 for $250 delivered now.
    Which is around the same price point of the Tier 3 phones of today.

    Do you have any issues with App Compatibility with your Xiaomi phones?
    I see some of the Xiaomi phones have 4000mA batteries in them too, do you get good "Run Time" and "Battery Longevity" ?

    The new Mi 5 looks good.
    I must admit, Xiaomi does seem a cut above the rest of the Tier 3 phones out there.
    Last edited by ol' boy; 16-09-16 at 08:39 AM.
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    I had a 3rd tier phone for about 8 months but I am pretty hard on phones and after being dropped a few times, and pulled off the table whilst being charged it will no longer accept a charge so am currently using a bit of fruit inherited from my daughter. I'll happily purchase another cheapie.
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

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    Quote Originally Posted by oceanboy View Post
    Thanks ITsavvy.

    I guess, the interesting point is, you can buy a brand new Samsung S5 for $250 delivered now.
    Which is around the same price point of the Tier 3 phones of today.

    Do you have any issues with App Compatibility with your Xiaomi phones?
    I see some of the Xiaomi phones have 4000mA batteries in them too, do you get good "Run Time" and "Battery Longevity" ?

    The new Mi 5 looks good.
    I must admit, Xiaomi does seem a cut above the rest of the Tier 3 phones out there.
    We had two other phones before the Xiaomi, which I went to for the reason you mention, it is a cut above the others. Bang for buck though, the Samsung is not in the race for the same money. As for Apps, I've never had a problem at all, and I've installed a pile off the Playstore over time. As for battery, I get a day out of mine, but then it is 3+ years old, and it came with a spare which I rotate in about once or twice a year. Batteries are not the Chinese' strong point, so I think the new Xiaomi Rednote3 Pro with the 4000mah battery should help with that, but until it arrives I haven't tested it.

    I put my phone on the charge over night as a matter of course anyway, so it has never been an issue for me. If that is all I have to do to live with a top notch phone that is a third the cost of a tier 1 equivalent, then I can live with that.
    What really pushes me in that direction is that if I smash it, it is cheap enough to be disposable. Buy another latest and greatest.

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    My Oukitel K4000 Pro is going good, wife didnt like it but i love it. Fast, good screen,great battery life at 5 days, takes good pics and no carrier bloatware.
    For $120 delivered from Shenzhen its hard to beat.
    Last edited by loanrangiel; 16-09-16 at 04:17 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by loanrangiel View Post
    My Oukitel K4000 Pro is going good, wife didnt like it but i love it. Fast, good screen,great battery life at 5 days, takes good pics and no carrier bloatware.
    For $120 delivered from Shenzhen its hard to beat.
    Seems to have everything, just No 700Mhz
    Which is fine if you're not a Telstra or Telstra MVNO customer.

    4600mA Battery... WooHooo, now ya talkin, geeez, why cant Samsung make such logic steps
    Last edited by ol' boy; 16-09-16 at 04:25 PM.
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    I would be very careful about those battery claims.
    I have yet to see a Chinese phone with the correct claimed capacity.
    If its says 3000mA expect 1800mA at the most.
    How long a phone's battery charge lasts depend on what you are doing with it and the real CPU power and how the OS is configured.
    My wife is reasonably happy with her THL quad core but her demands are nowhere near mine.

    Original Xiaomi is not considered 3rd tier anymore, so many fakes around I wouldn't know how to spot the difference without holding/using the actual phone

    I could say 1st tier becomes second immediately after a new model is released.

    My Samsung Note 3 is therefore now 3rd tier which I got almost new from the Dick Smith fire sale back then for $200.
    Performance wise my wife's newer THL doesn't come anywhere near the old Note.

    However when I run 'Advanced Task Killer' on the THL it is almost always clean.
    On the Samsung the amount of background apps that I never opened is hair raising !
    Even if I set developers options to no background processes there are still quite a few.

    I conclude that the amount of bloated junk (many that I can't uninstall) on a 1st tier band name phone causes more battery drain than 3rd tier phones.
    Even if I hardly use the Samsung for 24hrs and leave Wifi on, the battery is empty. My wife's THL will go 3 days, moderate use, no Youtube, but after 3 hours of Youtube it is dead.
    Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
    Compatibility: A word soon to be deleted from our dictionaries as it is outdated.
    Humans: Entities that are not only outdated but broken... AI-self-learning-update-error...terminate...terminate...

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    Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 3i pro prime special Edition Smartphone 5.5 Inch 3GB 32GB 16.0MP& B4 B20 B28 LTE (Global Version)
    Price: $238

    You could buy a brand new Samsung S5 for the same price, interesting comparison.



    Has 700Mhz network radio

    Snapdragon 650, 64-bit hexa-core 1.8GHz
    Adreno 510
    3GB dual-channel LPDDR3 RAM
    32GB eMMC 5.0 Flash
    4000mAh / 4050(typ)
    0.3s fingerprint unlocking
    4G hybrid dual SIM, microSD support



    Might be a good option for kids or those that seem to lose or break phone easy.
    Last edited by ol' boy; 21-09-16 at 11:06 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by oceanboy View Post
    Might be a good option for kids....
    I assume you don't have kids or at least female ones.
    Some have considered SUICIDE because they didn't have the latest iPhone that their peers have.
    ...and soon they will go all ...eew gross, it has an earphone jack. How antiquated !

    If I would actually win a new iPhone (don't worry I never fall for those web taps) I would sell it and buy four of those Redmi note 3 phones for the family.
    My (male) kids are brought up differently and are admired by their peers because of their strong knowledge of technology and can shred a guitar.
    Apparently nerds are cool these days and of course they don't use iPhones except some older jailbroken ones.
    Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
    Compatibility: A word soon to be deleted from our dictionaries as it is outdated.
    Humans: Entities that are not only outdated but broken... AI-self-learning-update-error...terminate...terminate...

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    Quote Originally Posted by nomeat View Post
    I assume you don't have kids or at least female ones.
    Some have considered SUICIDE because they didn't have the latest iPhone that their peers have.
    Only 4.... Yes, they love their iPhones and they hate it when you are streaming Live English Pay TV on your phone and they ask what App does that, then you say... Sorry, it doesn't work on iPhones

    What i do see nomeat, is the youngest daughter in particular, gets a new iPhone every over month and it has a cracked/broken screen 3 weeks after that.
    So, there has to be a better option than these kids being stuck paying out contracts or getting iPhones repaired.
    (No, she won't use a cover, because its not cool.... see, girls nomeat)

    I also look at these phones as a second phone, to run say a Telstra Pre Paid SIM in, just for those occasions when you are in a remote region that doesn't support the other majors.
    Sure, i could run a Dual SIM main phone, i just like the idea of having a complete back up of hardware should something fail.
    Last edited by ol' boy; 21-09-16 at 01:15 PM.
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    My 13yo daughter keeps nagging about iphones but untill she can pay for it herself she will get hand me downs, cant stand those wanker parents that get their kids the latest crap just to keep them happy.

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    Especially not at that age, FFS!
    If u want to go on an expedition get a Land Rover, if u want to come home from an expedition get a Landcruiser!

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    Quote Originally Posted by loanrangiel View Post
    My 13yo daughter keeps nagging about iphones but untill she can pay for it herself ...


    @14 they are already taking 'time' off from school to work @wollies or maccas, to buy their own.
    Do you really want that?
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 21-09-16 at 06:20 PM.
    Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
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    Quote Originally Posted by nomeat View Post

    @14 they are already taking 'time' off from school to work @wollies or maccas, to buy their own.
    Do you really want that?
    They cant legally take time off school to work so no problem there.

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    That was more rhetorical.
    Working like that means no time for home work and study.
    After the phone comes the car. Every 16y/o school kid needs their own car.
    ... and they wonder why our education standard is falling behind.
    I know quite a few from my son's year that didn't complete year 12 and now have no job because after 18 the wage gets too expensive.
    Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
    Compatibility: A word soon to be deleted from our dictionaries as it is outdated.
    Humans: Entities that are not only outdated but broken... AI-self-learning-update-error...terminate...terminate...

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    Might as well bring this thread back to life regarding these Chinese Android handsets.

    Thanks to sail posting about his Xiaomi Note 4
    So without messing up his thread, i thought i'd add a few similar handsets that seem to be well received.

    Lenovo ZUK Z2 4G Smartphone - $253AUD
    Lenovo ZUK Z2 5.0 inch FHD Screen 4G Smartphone
    Android 6.0
    Snapdragon 820 64bit Quad Core 2.15GHz
    4GB RAM 64GB ROM
    13MP Rear Camera
    Type-C U-Touch 2.0




    Asus ZenFone 2 - $176
    Intel Z3580 Quad Core 1920*1080
    Android 5.0
    4GB RAM 32GB ROM 4G FDD LTE
    13MP 2.3GHz 5.5'' NFC



    One thing that concerns me with these cheap china phones, is the GSM signal ability, i have heard of defective boards that drop signal after a while, then in country area's are almost useless.
    Last edited by ol' boy; 11-04-17 at 09:39 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by oceanboy View Post
    Might as well bring this thread back to life regarding these Chinese Android handsets.

    Thanks to sail posting about his Xiaomi Note 4

    A business doing pleasure with you.

    Would love to hear from any other Xiaomi Note 4 owners for hints and thoughts on their phones.

    Last edited by sail; 11-04-17 at 12:45 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sail View Post
    Would love to hear from any other Xiaomi Note 4 owners for hints and thoughts on their phones.
    Seems the Xiaomi Note 3 had a huge following sail
    A lot of happy users
    I will also point out, if you get the "Pro" or Special Edition" versions (same thing) they are 2mm taller and the cheap replacement screen ($20AUD) will not fit.
    If u want to go on an expedition get a Land Rover, if u want to come home from an expedition get a Landcruiser!

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    Where can I get an affordable or cheap 3rd Tier phone like Xiaomi to buy apart from gearbest?

    Sent from my HUAWEI Y560-L01 using Tapatalk

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