RootsBooster Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Had a Moto G LTE for a while now and I've got the virtual reality bug, since I was bought a decent headset and controller for my birthday. I'm about ready for a new phone this year but I can't seem to find one that matches my needs, I'm looking for one that's a minimum 5" screen at 325ppi, with processor around 1300MHz or above with gyroscope, somewhere in the region of £100 - £150. There's a lot of decent spec, affordable phones around at the minute (Huawei, THL, Cubot, even some LG's) but a lot of them seem to be missing gyroscopes I thought I'd found the answer recently when I bought my son a Huawei P8 Lite, which is amazing for £99, but has no gyroscope! Anyone got any suggestions/recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootsBooster Posted February 16, 2016 Author Share Posted February 16, 2016 After a lot of researching, ended up going with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, out-specs the iPhone 6 by far but still behind the Galaxy S6. A rather spiffy piece of kit for £110 (from an eBay seller based in Manchester), VR is fantastic on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1295galaxy Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 Cubot X12 is a decent phone,just look on ebay and theres other Cubot phones as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootsBooster Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 Cubot X12 is a decent phone,just look on ebay and theres other Cubot phones as well This was one of the phones I looked at before starting the thread, PPI is only 220, CPU only 1000MHz and there's no gyroscope. No good at all for VR I'm afraid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie_shef Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 After a lot of researching, ended up going with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, out-specs the iPhone 6 by far but still behind the Galaxy S6. A rather spiffy piece of kit for £110 (from an eBay seller based in Manchester), VR is fantastic on it I'm also considering a Xiaomi but I'm a little worried/apprehensive about the security/privacy. Any comments about this? I just really need convincing that it's all good and I think I'd gladly upgrade! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootsBooster Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 (edited) I'm also considering a Xiaomi but I'm a little worried/apprehensive about the security/privacy. Any comments about this? I just really need convincing that it's all good and I think I'd gladly upgrade! Although they're relatively unheard of here, Xiaomi are a HUGE company, their own MIUI firmware has been used by other big companies such as Huawei (currently the 3rd most popular phone manufacturer in the world). They're even launching their own mobile network in China. Some stuff here, make of it what you will... http://www.wired.com/2015/02/may-never-use-xiaomis-phones-theyll-change-life-anyway/ https://www.quora.com/Is-Xiaomi-reliable Edited February 17, 2016 by RootsBooster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghozer Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 have heard (read) good things about Xiaomi phones, the biggest problem is not everything is translated, so SOME odd icons or info boxes may be in Chinese, or the English translation may not make sense.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootsBooster Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 have heard (read) good things about Xiaomi phones, the biggest problem is not everything is translated, so SOME odd icons or info boxes may be in Chinese, or the English translation may not make sense.. My friend bought the same phone as me, his came (from sealed box) with the 'global' version of firmware on it. Mine came (again, from sealed box) with the Chinese version. I found the support forums are extremely helpful for Xiaomi, within half an hour I'd sorted it. Solution, first update (using the update app) the Chinese firmware, then download the official global version from here and update again using the updater app. I was left with a couple of apps that had Chinese writing but it turns out they were only for use in China anyway, so deleted them. Everything on my phone is now in English, with full Google services included. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzijlstra Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 I am not making this up - when I was in Wuhan in 2011/2012 (turn of the year) I saw a phone that looked an awful lot like the iPhone 4 but somehow a bit bigger and with a plastic back, it had the Apple on the back but then the Chinese copy everything. My friend, who owned a 4, and I were intrigued though and had a play for a while, it had the then latest iOS on it and it ran far smoother than the iPhone 4, much to our surprise. We asked the sales guy (this was in one of the Apple copycat stores) what the phone was. He replied (paraphrasing for effect) - "iPhone 5 light, we testing it for Apple, you can buy for cheap!). I was tempted but decided against, 140£ was more than I wanted to spend. A year and a bit later the exact same phone was released as the iPhone 5C. Point of the story - the Chinese are getting to be light years ahead of the big brands that we buy here and a Xiaomi phone is probably a great purchase - it has been on my radar for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootsBooster Posted February 18, 2016 Author Share Posted February 18, 2016 I am not making this up - when I was in Wuhan in 2011/2012 (turn of the year) I saw a phone that looked an awful lot like the iPhone 4 but somehow a bit bigger and with a plastic back, it had the Apple on the back but then the Chinese copy everything. My friend, who owned a 4, and I were intrigued though and had a play for a while, it had the then latest iOS on it and it ran far smoother than the iPhone 4, much to our surprise. We asked the sales guy (this was in one of the Apple copycat stores) what the phone was. He replied (paraphrasing for effect) - "iPhone 5 light, we testing it for Apple, you can buy for cheap!). I was tempted but decided against, 140£ was more than I wanted to spend. A year and a bit later the exact same phone was released as the iPhone 5C. Point of the story - the Chinese are getting to be light years ahead of the big brands that we buy here and a Xiaomi phone is probably a great purchase - it has been on my radar for a while. Precisely why I looked at Chinese phones, it was actually a toss-up between the Lenovo K3 Note and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, the Lenovo had a slightly high SAR rating which put me off a little. The Chinese must think the West are crazy with our blinkered attraction to overpriced smartphones (Both Apple and Android). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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