So in my case (and bobbys) i had to install Nova Launcher to make it a bit smoother.
Enter in APN details manually.
Delete Chinese Apps/spam that comes with the phone (bobby did not have to do this but i did because i import direct from China)
A few more things you can do is root the phone to install apps to the sd card/delete apps etc...
Also rooting will allow you to flash roms/updates to the phone which is a bit more advanced.
I know what i'm doing here so it's easy for me. If you read the thread bobby was able to do most of the above easily by just following a guide. But if you have no idea what rooting is or got really confused by the above, or anything in this thread then it may be worth considering something else.
TBH it is not that hard. Just i want you to be aware of risks/things that may need to be done to the phone before you part with your cash.
I'm quite open to a little hacking around (I'm a systems admin by trade), obviously a little wary of things that can quite literally turn the phone into an expensive ornament but other than that I'm not seeing too many downsides here so long as you go into it with your eyes open i.e. don't expect to be able to get a replacement shipped within 24 hours if it breaks etc.
I'm quite open to a little hacking around (I'm a systems admin by trade), obviously a little wary of things that can quite literally turn the phone into an expensive ornament but other than that I'm not seeing too many downsides here so long as you go into it with your eyes open i.e. don't expect to be able to get a replacement shipped within 24 hours if it breaks etc.
Oh awesome. Yeh i think you understand 100% what i'm getting at. It's just i have a lot of friends who see my phone and want one (because it is cheap price) but i know if i recommend it to them and (being honest this guy is not that technical) they break it or something goes wrong they'll blame me for the rest of their life.
But if you don't need a powerhouse and just want to spend under £150 on a good phone then you can go for any one with a MT6577 processor which is good enough for most people.
So yeh i would maybe PM andrew and Bobby (or ask on this thread if they see it) and ask what they think of the phones and if there are any downsides and then you can make a decision from there. There are a few others on the market as well.
I can deffo recommend mine. Works great, no real issues. You just have to keep an eye on ebay for one to come up from UK, or take a chance on direct Chinese sale
THL W1+ is also a great phone. Think you can get it for just over £100 if you want to import from China. Have a look at the Jiayu G3 if you want a similar phone at a similar price with a 720p display instead. The Star B94m is also a similar phone and comes with Jellybean out of the box. So that may be better if you want to be on the latest OS as the other phones mentioned come with ICS and you'd have to manually upgrade to Jellybean with the G3, And as far as i'm aware there is no official planned update for the THL phone.
Also if you want to look at a phone coming out in the future have a look at the THL Y900 which is the quad core varient due to launch soon.
Rooting a phone isn't a requirement, but as bobby said it can open up a whole new world of opportunities on many phones.
How much difference does 512mb vs. 1gb of RAM make in normal use on an N9330 please?
Never having had an Android phone before I don't know how they work with regard to multi-tasking but I don't envisage doing anything dramatic like trying to watch iPlayer whilst browsing the web and checking my mail at the same time...
For basic use 512mb would be fine. But I would still recommend the 1gb version as it would make the phone run faster in general and also allow more apps to be used at the same time.
Besides the difference in price is something like £10-20 max so I'd say its worth it going for the 1gb one. Especially as it'll work better in the long term as well.
I was looking at the THL W1+ phone - I like its features and screen size and above all the price!
Can anyone recommend this phone? Or another similar one?
Yes I have it and recommend it. For £105 (I paid) it's a bargain. It's fast, smooth, camera is great GPS is spot on, battery is ok and has ICS 4.0.4. I've have had mine almost a month and it hasn't crashed or froze once in that time with heavy use.
ETA: I attempted to root it but I couldn't do it but that doesn't really matter. I was just seeing if I could do it lol
i am so impressed with mine, coupled with the fact that there are few UK units for sale, might pursuade me to purchase a couple more, and get them on Ebay
I wonder if choosing a single sim version will improve battery life, over the dual sim varieties.
There is no single sim versions.
And it would not improve battery life at all. If you plan on using just one sim card then the other sim slot would shut off and not drain battery so battery life would be the same as if it was a single sim version.
I use two sims and get around 3 hours + on screen time all the time with 2 sims running which is pretty good considering my HTC One X could only manage the same with a similar size battery and one active sim,
Plus bear in mind that the second sim is on 2G so battery isn't exactly going to drain that fast.
When on standby though i think i lose at least 40% every 24 hours with the phone just doing nothing. Which isn't bad considering it's powering 2 sims for the whole time. So yeh stand by time isn't great and if i do use it during the day it will require charging at the end of the day. But then it does come with two batteries and tbh even one battery lasts me all day 95% of the time.
Hmmm, strange as I asked a question about screen resolution on one phone, and the seller apologised when answering as he said the item was not the dual sim version but was instead a single micro sim version !!
Hmmm, strange as I asked a question about screen resolution on one phone, and the seller apologised when answering as he said the item was not the dual sim version but was instead a single micro sim version !!
Any phone with a Mediatek processor will be dual sim. In fact i don't think i've ever seen a single sim phone with a mediatek processor.
So no idea what the guy is on about, it even says dual sim in the title and throughout the specs.
However. I strongly do not suggest anyone buy this phone from this seller. His spec sheet looks incomplete and wrong and he does not even have a model number to reference the phone. (I have a feeling the specs are wrong)
You can buy a nexus 4 here for £249 (8GB) or £289 (16GB) version with shipping within 2 weeks. They came back in stock at 3pm today.
The only thing i would say on this thread is that it's not a dual sim phone so may not be useful for everyone. And if you import from China you can get a similar size phone with dual core/1GB of ram for £100 ish or if you wait you can get Quad Core/2GB of ram for £150 ish. So still cheaper than the nexus 4 and dual sim.
But obviously for most people dual sim does not matter. So for these people the nexus 4 or any other cheap contract phone would work much better. Plus there are a lot of pluses to buying nexus 4/other phone in the uk with warranty and better build/support compared to these dual sim phones.
It's all about needs and whether you want to take the risk of a dual sim phone at the end of the day.
You live a sheltered life. There are certainly going to be many.
What about that Motorola Motosmart ?
The motosmart uses a qualcomm processor? Maybe you're thinking of the alcatel phone with the mt6589 coming out soon? Besides when I say no phones I mean from domestic chinese brands.
But yeh, it does look like the ebay one is a single sim varient. Not sure why you'd by single sim phone. Defeats the object tbh. No advantages at all. Might as well buy a cheap phone here.
Comments
So in my case (and bobbys) i had to install Nova Launcher to make it a bit smoother.
Enter in APN details manually.
Delete Chinese Apps/spam that comes with the phone (bobby did not have to do this but i did because i import direct from China)
A few more things you can do is root the phone to install apps to the sd card/delete apps etc...
Also rooting will allow you to flash roms/updates to the phone which is a bit more advanced.
I know what i'm doing here so it's easy for me. If you read the thread bobby was able to do most of the above easily by just following a guide. But if you have no idea what rooting is or got really confused by the above, or anything in this thread then it may be worth considering something else.
TBH it is not that hard. Just i want you to be aware of risks/things that may need to be done to the phone before you part with your cash.
Oh awesome. Yeh i think you understand 100% what i'm getting at. It's just i have a lot of friends who see my phone and want one (because it is cheap price) but i know if i recommend it to them and (being honest this guy is not that technical) they break it or something goes wrong they'll blame me for the rest of their life.
So like i said it is up to you if you want to wait for the mediatek quad core phones due in 3 months max you can. In this article i wrote you can see there are some advantages to waiting- http://www.gizchina.com/2013/01/11/mediatek-mt6589-everything-you-need-to-know/
But if you don't need a powerhouse and just want to spend under £150 on a good phone then you can go for any one with a MT6577 processor which is good enough for most people.
So yeh i would maybe PM andrew and Bobby (or ask on this thread if they see it) and ask what they think of the phones and if there are any downsides and then you can make a decision from there. There are a few others on the market as well.
Can anyone recommend this phone? Or another similar one?
http://androidforums.com/other-phones-android-non-android/669101-how-root-thl-w1-mtk6577-andriod-4-04-a.html
Also if you want to look at a phone coming out in the future have a look at the THL Y900 which is the quad core varient due to launch soon.
Rooting a phone isn't a requirement, but as bobby said it can open up a whole new world of opportunities on many phones.
Never having had an Android phone before I don't know how they work with regard to multi-tasking but I don't envisage doing anything dramatic like trying to watch iPlayer whilst browsing the web and checking my mail at the same time...
Besides the difference in price is something like £10-20 max so I'd say its worth it going for the 1gb one. Especially as it'll work better in the long term as well.
Yes I have it and recommend it. For £105 (I paid) it's a bargain. It's fast, smooth, camera is great GPS is spot on, battery is ok and has ICS 4.0.4. I've have had mine almost a month and it hasn't crashed or froze once in that time with heavy use.
ETA: I attempted to root it but I couldn't do it but that doesn't really matter. I was just seeing if I could do it lol
There is no single sim versions.
And it would not improve battery life at all. If you plan on using just one sim card then the other sim slot would shut off and not drain battery so battery life would be the same as if it was a single sim version.
I use two sims and get around 3 hours + on screen time all the time with 2 sims running which is pretty good considering my HTC One X could only manage the same with a similar size battery and one active sim,
Plus bear in mind that the second sim is on 2G so battery isn't exactly going to drain that fast.
When on standby though i think i lose at least 40% every 24 hours with the phone just doing nothing. Which isn't bad considering it's powering 2 sims for the whole time. So yeh stand by time isn't great and if i do use it during the day it will require charging at the end of the day. But then it does come with two batteries and tbh even one battery lasts me all day 95% of the time.
Do you have a link?
From my ipad, so hopefully this works.....
eBay link
£250 currently gets you the Nexus 4. Not a Note but at 4.7" certainly phablet size.
Whenever I look at google store they are never available.
Yeah I'd already noticed they're back in stock, thanks. I've also seen you can get an S3 for £99 then £15.50/month on O2.
My Broadband is O2 so if I did that I'd get a fiver a month off the broadband which suddenly makes an S3 quite an appealing option tbh.
Any phone with a Mediatek processor will be dual sim. In fact i don't think i've ever seen a single sim phone with a mediatek processor.
So no idea what the guy is on about, it even says dual sim in the title and throughout the specs.
However. I strongly do not suggest anyone buy this phone from this seller. His spec sheet looks incomplete and wrong and he does not even have a model number to reference the phone. (I have a feeling the specs are wrong)
You can buy a nexus 4 here for £249 (8GB) or £289 (16GB) version with shipping within 2 weeks. They came back in stock at 3pm today.
https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_16gb
Very cheap and great value.
The only thing i would say on this thread is that it's not a dual sim phone so may not be useful for everyone. And if you import from China you can get a similar size phone with dual core/1GB of ram for £100 ish or if you wait you can get Quad Core/2GB of ram for £150 ish. So still cheaper than the nexus 4 and dual sim.
But obviously for most people dual sim does not matter. So for these people the nexus 4 or any other cheap contract phone would work much better. Plus there are a lot of pluses to buying nexus 4/other phone in the uk with warranty and better build/support compared to these dual sim phones.
It's all about needs and whether you want to take the risk of a dual sim phone at the end of the day.
Appears to show single sim slot only, so does this mean that this isn't a dual core 6577 ?
What about that Motorola Motosmart ?
The motosmart uses a qualcomm processor? Maybe you're thinking of the alcatel phone with the mt6589 coming out soon? Besides when I say no phones I mean from domestic chinese brands.
But yeh, it does look like the ebay one is a single sim varient. Not sure why you'd by single sim phone. Defeats the object tbh. No advantages at all. Might as well buy a cheap phone here.
This is the first single sim mt6577 ive seen.