# So, all these Chinese phones and tablets; any good?



## ViolentPanda (Jul 21, 2015)

Looking on fasttech recently, I noticed the "Android" section and checked it out (I've got a 5 yr-old ZTE Blade and an Acer Iconia tablet). Loads of decently specced smart-phones and tablets for reasonable prices, so is there a catch (beyond getting any use out of a guarantee), and if so, what is it?


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## editor (Jul 21, 2015)

Generally bloody good by all accounts.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/mobile-phone/20-best-chinese-phones-2015-uk-3616945/









> We're seriously impressed by the Honor 6 which costs just £249 while providing specs you would normally pay a lot more for. It has a decent 5in Full HD screen, high quality cameras, good battery life, 4G support, good performance, expandable storage and wireless features like NFC and an IR blaster. The microSD cards slot is limited to 32 GB and Emotion UI isn't the best Android software but these don't stop the Honor 6 being the best value smartphone around.



http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/android-smartphones/huawei-honor-6-review-3582983/


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## stuff_it (Jul 26, 2015)

ViolentPanda said:


> Looking on fasttech recently, I noticed the "Android" section and checked it out (I've got a 5 yr-old ZTE Blade and an Acer Iconia tablet). Loads of decently specced smart-phones and tablets for reasonable prices, so is there a catch (beyond getting any use out of a guarantee), and if so, what is it?


Since no-one gets any use from a warranty these days I can't think it could do you that much harm...

Thanks Samsung with your cunty lens cover ineptitude.


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## Chz (Aug 10, 2015)

On the phone side, there are a lot of good deals from the Chinese brands. I'm surprised they haven't made larger inroads into the EU market yet. Ed's link covers most of the good'uns.

On the tablet side, you can regularly pick up a Hudl 2 for £100 (or less, if you use Clubcard points). There's also a Lenovo with near-identical specs that goes around that price on sale as well, if Tesco offends you. There isn't really anything significantly cheaper than that which isn't orders of magnitude crappier, so there's no incentive to go off-brand any more. I say that as someone who's owned a couple of no-name Chinese tablets in the past. Unless you need a 10" tablet, there's no reason whatsoever to spend more than whatever Samsung's 8" tab goes for these days (£180 last I checked, probably cheaper now. A bit nicer than the Hudl/Lenovo).


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## Wolveryeti (Aug 10, 2015)

One obvious reason they are cheap is they don't include sales tax and tend to ship from places like Hong Kong, so be prepared to get stung for £20% of the purchase price on import.


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## ViolentPanda (Aug 11, 2015)

Wolveryeti said:


> One obvious reason they are cheap is they don't include sales tax and tend to ship from places like Hong Kong, so be prepared to get stung for £20% of the purchase price on import.



I always factor that in.


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## sim667 (Aug 12, 2015)

stuff_it said:


> Since no-one gets any use from a warranty these days I can't think it could do you that much harm...
> 
> Thanks Samsung with your cunty lens cover ineptitude.



I don't know about that..... i end up getting loads of stuff fixed under warranty it seems.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Aug 12, 2015)

Never been charged import duty from Fasttech and buy loads from them.

I see they now also sell sex toys


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## Mr Smin (Aug 13, 2015)

I had an Asus phone from eBay which didn't disclose it was from Hong Kong on the listing. Sender declared a £10 value on the customs form!

The phone itself is very good but I broke the screen and the guy in Chinatown I usually go to for repairs can't source a replacement.


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## adidaswoody (Aug 13, 2015)

I've had a cubot, sophone, an i6, a fake htc one mini, and a hdc, they aren't bad as phones go, they do everything a normal Samsung/sony/htc does, but they break easier if you drop them as screens are very thin and delicate, which makes them also fault easier when pressing buttons it sometimes thinks your pressing elsewhere!
And the ram in them is always terrible and not what advertised!
You have to keep removing running apps after you click on one every time, if you click on messages to send a text, then click on whatsapp to send an iMessage, it types so so slow and can't keep up with your typing and crashes often! So you need to wipe used applications after every one, 4 or 5 running simultaneously and your phones had it! Which is annoying because you don't realise how much stuff you actually press on a phone in a couple minutes!
Cameras are always worse quality then advertised too
But for basic needs they are very good for price!
Got a Chinese tablet for my partner too, and you can't update the ... I don't know the word?
Like if it's an iOS you can't update to the new iOS, and if it's an android on kitkat, you can't upgrade to jellybean, meaning apps stop working coz they only work on new systems.

That's just my experiences though, others may be more promising


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## mrs quoad (Aug 13, 2015)

Impressive persistence ^^^ (!)


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## ViolentPanda (Aug 13, 2015)

Global Stoner said:


> Never been charged import duty from Fasttech and buy loads from them.
> 
> I see they now also sell sex toys



What were you searching for that you came up with sex toys in the result?


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## ViolentPanda (Aug 13, 2015)

adidaswoody said:


> Got a Chinese tablet for my partner too, and you can't update the ... I don't know the word?



Operating system?


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## adidaswoody (Aug 13, 2015)

ViolentPanda said:


> Operating system?


That's the badboy! They don't let you update the operating system


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