Help me decide! - Xiaomi Mi 5s Questions & Answers

Hi, I'm Eduard!
So, I have a few questions about Xiaomi MI 5s Plus and this brand, in general. I want to buy a new phone for myself because my Samsung Galaxy S2 Plus is a bit old right now!
#1: What is your experience with this brand, in general? Is it really that good as 'internet' says?
#2: What is your experience with this phone, in general? Is it performant? Can I install custom ROMs ? There is a Global ROM available or only the Chinese ROM version?
#3: Can you recommend a good seller for this phone? I'm from Romania. Can this websites be trusted? : xiaomi-mi*dot*com , xiaomidevice*dot*com
Thank you very much for your time!

geduardcatalin said:
Hi, I'm Eduard!
So, I have a few questions about Xiaomi MI 5s Plus and this brand, in general. I want to buy a new phone for myself because my Samsung Galaxy S2 Plus is a bit old right now!
#1: What is your experience with this brand, in general? Is it really that good as 'internet' says?
#2: What is your experience with this phone, in general? Is it performant? Can I install custom ROMs ? There is a Global ROM available or only the Chinese ROM version?
#3: Can you recommend a good seller for this phone? I'm from Romania. Can this websites be trusted? : xiaomi-mi*dot*com , xiaomidevice*dot*com
Thank you very much for your time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello Eduard
#1: My xiaomi experience is : 4 redmi note 2 prime, 2 mi4c, 1 redmi and 3 Mi 5s (children, friend and me). All products work 's fine. I replaced screen on redmi note 2 & mi4c without issues.
#2 Mi 5s is my daily phone (4gb/128). I come from nexus 5 (3 years old) and galaxy s7 (1 month with it, really bad phone (my opinion)).
Mi 5s is really good, just missing qi charging (for my car...)
If you want a international rom (custom) you can see mi-globe.com (bootloader unlock needed).
#3 all my xiaomi are ordered from smartophone.com . Really trusted seller.
Sorry for my english (French)
Bets regards
Christophe

boulete said:
If you want a international rom (custom) you can see mi-globe.com (bootloader unlock needed).
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Click to collapse
Is this a pre-rooted rom or have to install root separately?
edit By the way Eduard Mi5S is very good hardware, I dont like MIUI (personal preference) so waiting on vanilla or CM. But at least the hardware is well worth the price I can guarantee that.

xdaboobs said:
Is this a pre-rooted rom or have to install root separately?
edit By the way Eduard Mi5S is very good hardware, I dont like MIUI (personal preference) so waiting on vanilla or CM. But at least the hardware is well worth the price I can guarantee that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have few Xioami phones and I'm really happy with the hardware and if you are not very picky MIUI will be good for you. Currently I'm using Mi5s and it works OK, however I would like to geta global ROM o CM ROM.

From Xiaomi i just have a router, Miwifi X-R1D...
I could assure you, they build inovative hardware, they pay atention to details and quality even under the wood (where generally no one look).
Software is where they suck. They know how to program, designed a complete inovative interface for their routers, and a set of programs/plugins/addons to extend funcionallity (torrents, cloud, mobile app, etc).
But i love freedom, first freedom of speech, they release everything in chinese, you have to use google translate or use a someone's translated version of firmware and mobile app, etc... (yes i know they are chinese vendors only)
Second, freedom to use whatever i think is better, for example, you install their torrent addon, your are stick to their client ("thunder" whatever).
Third, security, no one shoud trust personal data with this kind of "automated" router. I'm not saying they're stealing i just cannot trust on a beatiful interface doing something under the surface.
I'll give you an example, i've installed their mobile app, one day after my mobile photos are on router's hdd.
Of course we can assume this is an app option and have positives, but hey, disabled or not this thing it's also connected to their "kingsoft cloud"!
The solution was to install a tomato firmware where you really take control of everything.
With Xiaomi mobiles we are almost at the same page, you buy a phone without released sources, locked bootloader and a Chinese/English Miui Rom with an app store of their own.
Of course we could always install google play store, and if we could wait a Global Miui Rom (multilanguage) is generally available.
If we want something different, we have to request authorization to unlock the bootloader, then wait 6 months to a not guaranteed released source and then a power user with time and knowledge to a maybe CM official rom.
There are so much maybes that i think It would be better to assume they want this as Miui only, and if you buy it you should agree with.

BPSoft said:
From Xiaomi i just have a router, Miwifi X-R1D...
I could assure you, they build inovative hardware, they pay atention to details and quality even under the wood (where generally no one look).
Software is where they suck. They know how to program, designed a complete inovative interface for their routers, and a set of programs/plugins/addons to extend funcionallity (torrents, cloud, mobile app, etc).
But i love freedom, first freedom of speech, they release everything in chinese, you have to use google translate or use a someone's translated version of firmware and mobile app, etc... (yes i know they are chinese vendors only)
Second, freedom to use whatever i think is better, for example, you install their torrent addon, your are stick to their client ("thunder" whatever).
Third, security, no one shoud trust personal data with this kind of "automated" router. I'm not saying they're stealing i just cannot trust on a beatiful interface doing something under the surface.
I'll give you an example, i've installed their mobile app, one day after my mobile photos are on router's hdd.
Of course we can assume this is an app option and have positives, but hey, disabled or not this thing it's also connected to their "kingsoft cloud"!
The solution was to install a tomato firmware where you really take control of everything.
With Xiaomi mobiles we are almost at the same page, you buy a phone without released sources, locked bootloader and a Chinese/English Miui Rom with an app store of their own.
Of course we could always install google play store, and if we could wait a Global Miui Rom (multilanguage) is generally available.
If we want something different, we have to request authorization to unlock the bootloader, then wait 6 months to a not guaranteed released source and then a power user with time and knowledge to a maybe CM official rom.
There are so much maybes that i think It would be better to assume they want this as Miui only, and if you buy it you should agree with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well explained mate

Related

some questions about ascend p6

hey guys,
i've been doing some reading on xda for the past few days to determine wich phone i should buy.
my choices are lg nexus 4 and offcourse the huawei ascend p6.
my first thought is to go for the nexus but as it's quite old it's hard to get (with carrier/provider subscription). it's possible but i have to choose a provider with wich i have serious doubts.
in that matter the huawei has better options for me.
but i'm not 100% convinced to buy this phone but i'm sure it has got great potential. i also really like to use custom roms and kernels.
the bootloader..
i've read that it's unlocked but has got some kind of encryption so in some way's you can say it's still locked.
though i've seen that recently there is a custom kernel available.. so does that mean that flashing custom kernels is possible?
(if i would buy a huawei it would be a european version btw)
i'm starting to understand you need to be on a CN version/unlocked firmware in order to flash custom kernels. what does that mean? does it mean you need to be on the chinese versions?
and what about going from european firmware to chinese? is this possible without problems/bricks?
one other great thing about this phone that it's getting that 4.4 update. is there any news that this new firmware will be open source?
i've also read that there is going to be a google edition of the p6 wich means a clean android version, wich means open source?? please correct me if i'm wrong!
my first impression reading this section is great, i see some dev's that really are putting a lot of time and effort in developing this phone.
i have also seen that the p6 had some bugs when it's launched but many of them are repaired by stock firmware updates wich is a good thing.
hopefully you can help me a little bit so i can make my choice..
many thanks in advance!
Pollie81 said:
hey guys,
i've been doing some reading on xda for the past few days to determine wich phone i should buy.
my choices are lg nexus 4 and offcourse the huawei ascend p6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I cannot answer your questions, I just have laid my hands on a P6. I'm coming from an SGS2 (I still use that one)
My initial impressions of the P6 are mixed.
I like the thinness. I love the material (there are only a few metallic Android phones out there). I love the speed.
However, I do not like Huawei's ROM. The user interface is more like iOS, so I installed NovaLauncher, it makes life better But it looks to me that some important Android features are absent. For example, the native Android SIP client seems to be inaccessible (or is it just me not finding it?) HW wise, having the USB/charger socket at the top of the device rather than the bottom is really clumsy. The device can get uncomfortably hot during usage.
I am tempted to try a different ROM until Huawei comes out with a KitKat update,
never mind..
my first thought went to the Nexus 4 and today I've discovered it had the best deal for me.
i had to pay extra for the ascend p6 were the Nexus 4 was free in combination with my carrier subscription.
so the choice was pretty easy.. the Nexus 4 it is..
I have it running on HYDROM, and batt. life increased a lot. Really love my P6 (coming from iPhone).

MIUI Pro Custom ROM

I was wondering if anyone has experience using the above custom ROM? The homepage is in Russian and I haven't been able to find out much more about it other than the fact that some people really seem to like it.
If anybody is running the ROM I would be interested in opinions. Is it worth flashing instead of using stock MIUI? Any problems using it in English or compatibility issues with US phone service?
I haven't unlocked my bootloader yet but have permission. I'm trying to figure out if there is a custom ROM worth flashing that offers some advantages over stock. My original plan was to flash LOS but some people seem to be experiencing bugs.
Any info on MIUI PRO (or even a different recommendation) would be appreciated.
I can't complain about performance on stock which is blazing fast but I do miss Google Smart Lock.
jhs39 said:
I was wondering if anyone has experience using the above custom ROM? The homepage is in Russian and I haven't been able to find out much more about it other than the fact that some people really seem to like it.
If anybody is running the ROM I would be interested in opinions. Is it worth flashing instead of using stock MIUI? Any problems using it in English or compatibility issues with US phone service?
I haven't unlocked my bootloader yet but have permission. I'm trying to figure out if there is a custom ROM worth flashing that offers some advantages over stock. My original plan was to flash LOS but some people seem to be experiencing bugs.
Any info on MIUI PRO (or even a different recommendation) would be appreciated.
I can't complain about performance on stock which is blazing fast but I do miss Google Smart Lock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would actually also appreciate any information on this ROM. I have used LineageOS, MIUI Stable, Developer, Nightly Beta, EpicRom, RR but not this one solely because the site is Russian as you stated. Would love a bit more info...Figured I'd reply to this in hope to revive it.
As for LineageOS, you might as well try it out now. The third release (most recent one) has had a LOT of fixes and optimizations done to it.
I've been using it for more than one Xiaomi phone and I think it's a great rom. Very fast, smooth, without lag and with an excellent battery life. It also has a face unlock and other settings that you can't find in other roms...I try Epic Rom,Xiaomi Eu,Lineage...
I don't know about US phone service because I'm from Europe...not from Russia but I use Miui Pro without problems or fear also if they are from Russia
Try it:good:
3o3ulka76 said:
I've been using it for more than one Xiaomi phone and I think it's a great rom. Very fast, smooth, without lag and with an excellent battery life. It also has a face unlock and other settings that you can't find in other roms...I try Epic Rom,Xiaomi Eu,Lineage...
I don't know about US phone service because I'm from Europe...not from Russia but I use Miui Pro without problems or fear also if they are from Russia
Try it:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I shall look into it. What kind of modifications/differences are there compared to the stock MIUI?
For example you can encrease at 6 number of toggles... double tap where do you want to wake up or turn off the screen...choose the colour the battery when is 100% or 80%...etc
MIUI Pro has had very bad battery backup for me
I switched to Mi-Globe ROM
Kaji said:
Would actually also appreciate any information on this ROM. I have used LineageOS, MIUI Stable, Developer, Nightly Beta, EpicRom, RR but not this one solely because the site is Russian as you stated. Would love a bit more info...Figured I'd reply to this in hope to revive it.
As for LineageOS, you might as well try it out now. The third release (most recent one) has had a LOT of fixes and optimizations done to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried LOS. I was excited at first to have stock Android back but then I experienced issues with poor call quality and my mobile data reception became erratic so I ended up going back to MIUI Global with the MI Flash tool and not paying close enough attention allowed it to lock my bootloader again.
My skepticism about MIUI PRO goes beyond the Russian website. There is no information about the ROM in English anywhere I could find. The only review on YouTube is in Hindi. None of the Xiaomi threads on XDA, Google+ or Reddit has information about the ROM. I know Xiaomi phones are primarily sold in China and India but that doesn't really explain why there seems to be no information anywhere about the ROM.
But the fact that the ROM is based in Russia does seriously concern me. I had an issue with Kaspersky Anti-virus (which used to be first rate) not flagging Russian malware on my computer. And that happened a full year before Russian hackers helped Trump become president. Using a Russian operating system on a phone just doesn't seem like the smartest idea.
If you try MIUI Pro post what you think of it.
jhs39 said:
I tried LOS. I was excited at first to have stock Android back but then I experienced issues with poor call quality and my mobile data reception became erratic so I ended up going back to MIUI Global with the MI Flash tool and not paying close enough attention allowed it to lock my bootloader again.
My skepticism about MIUI PRO goes beyond the Russian website. There is no information about the ROM in English anywhere I could find. The only review on YouTube is in Hindi. None of the Xiaomi threads on XDA, Google+ or Reddit has information about the ROM. I know Xiaomi phones are primarily sold in China and India but that doesn't really explain why there seems to be no information anywhere about the ROM.
But the fact that the ROM is based in Russia does seriously concern me. I had an issue with Kaspersky Anti-virus (which used to be first rate) not flagging Russian malware on my computer. And that happened a full year before Russian hackers helped Trump become president. Using a Russian operating system on a phone just doesn't seem like the smartest idea.
If you try MIUI Pro post what you think of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said my friend, and kudos for using the flash tool....just feels so much more..genuine. Can't say I haven't accidentally locked my bootloader too but that's how we learn.
I found the LOS to be, well, an absolute stock experience. But like you and I'm sure many others, it just isn't at the point where it should be used as a daily driver. I'm currently running the 11th of May beta but honestly has more bugs than LOS at this stage so will be reverting back to the latest official developer ROM from the MIUI site (fastboot ver of course).
Gave this MIUIPro some extra thought and seeing as though it sounds very limited in extras (you can mod the number of toggles in the quick settings with packages already available on XDA if you wished to do so) I'll stick with builds straight from Xiaomi.
Sorry for the let down
Kaji said:
Well said my friend, and kudos for using the flash tool....just feels so much more..genuine. Can't say I haven't accidentally locked my bootloader too but that's how we learn.
I found the LOS to be, well, an absolute stock experience. But like you and I'm sure many others, it just isn't at the point where it should be used as a daily driver. I'm currently running the 11th of May beta but honestly has more bugs than LOS at this stage so will be reverting back to the latest official developer ROM from the MIUI site (fastboot ver of course).
Gave this MIUIPro some extra thought and seeing as though it sounds very limited in extras (you can mod the number of toggles in the quick settings with packages already available on XDA if you wished to do so) I'll stick with builds straight from Xiaomi.
Sorry for the let down
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking about trying the MIUI Developer ROM. Is it stable enough to use as a daily driver? I looked at posts about the beta but that seemed to be to buggy for me. I value stability since I'm using the Mi Mix 2 as my main phone. That wasn't my original plan but the signal reception is so superior to my Essential PH-1 I couldn't justify using it daily instead even though there are many things that I prefer about that phone.
Maybe LOS for this phone will get better eventually but that was what I kept telling myself when I had an OP5. I hated the stock OS but after trying every custom ROM that existed I found only 1 Nougat ROM (Viper) and 1 Oreo ROM (Phoenix) that I considered good enough to use as a daily driver. I'm not a programmer but I think the quality of custom ROMs has gone down the toilet because they are almost always being made now by people who don't use the phone as their daily driver. The only non-OOS ROM made by a developer who actually used the OP5 daily was Phoenix and you could tell the difference the developer actually using the phone made.
Cyanogenmod was the first custom ROM I ever used that always had bugs, probably because they were trying to be compatible with as many phones as possible. My experience with LOS on 2 previous phones has been exactly the same. I love that they are trying to bring stock Android to phones that don't have it but I wish they were doing a better job.
jhs39 said:
I was thinking about trying the MIUI Developer ROM. Is it stable enough to use as a daily driver? I looked at posts about the beta but that seemed to be to buggy for me. I value stability since I'm using the Mi Mix 2 as my main phone. That wasn't my original plan but the signal reception is so superior to my Essential PH-1 I couldn't justify using it daily instead even though there are many things that I prefer about that phone.
Maybe LOS for this phone will get better eventually but that was what I kept telling myself when I had an OP5. I hated the stock OS but after trying every custom ROM that existed I found only 1 Nougat ROM (Viper) and 1 Oreo ROM (Phoenix) that I considered good enough to use as a daily driver. I'm not a programmer but I think the quality of custom ROMs has gone down the toilet because they are almost always being made now by people who don't use the phone as their daily driver. The only non-OOS ROM made by a developer who actually used the OP5 daily was Phoenix and you could tell the difference the developer actually using the phone made.
Cyanogenmod was the first custom ROM I ever used that always had bugs, probably because they were trying to be compatible with as many phones as possible. My experience with LOS on 2 previous phones has been exactly the same. I love that they are trying to bring stock Android to phones that don't have it but I wish they were doing a better job.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man. I had been using Developer builds up until now and I can tell you they are easily stable enough for daily use. I cannot confirm this is 100% correct but I'm fairly sure Developer ROMs are just the in-between ROMs where all the minor adjustments happen. The change logs have all included things like "Improved system stability", "removed unnecessary files for [insert app here]" etc. So you never know, they could actually be more stable than any of the "Stable" releases you've used so far, you'll have to be the judge of that. I don't travel much, nor do I require any very advanced function of Android at this stage so for sure there could be something I've missed but I have never had a force shut-down, lack of signal, graphical bug or force-close of app with any of the developer builds.
I never owned a OP5 but I did have a OP3 and OP3t which I used FreedomOS on both but eventually came around to LineageOS only because they all seemed about as optimized as eachother. I'm all for custom MIUI ROMs if they are going to actually improve on something but at this stage all they do is debloat which can be done by anyone and add a few features which actually make the system less stable and battery hungry. My plan is to try the occasional Beta to see what new features Xiaomi is bringing to the table, stick with the latest developer the rest of the time, and when they finally make a stable I'm happy with then stick with that until the next wave of software upgrades is due.
How is the Essential by the way? Apart from the signal. Never met anyone who owned one.
Kaji said:
Hey man. I had been using Developer builds up until now and I can tell you they are easily stable enough for daily use. I cannot confirm this is 100% correct but I'm fairly sure Developer ROMs are just the in-between ROMs where all the minor adjustments happen. The change logs have all included things like "Improved system stability", "removed unnecessary files for [insert app here]" etc. So you never know, they could actually be more stable than any of the "Stable" releases you've used so far, you'll have to be the judge of that. I don't travel much, nor do I require any very advanced function of Android at this stage so for sure there could be something I've missed but I have never had a force shut-down, lack of signal, graphical bug or force-close of app with any of the developer builds.
I never owned a OP5 but I did have a OP3 and OP3t which I used FreedomOS on both but eventually came around to LineageOS only because they all seemed about as optimized as eachother. I'm all for custom MIUI ROMs if they are going to actually improve on something but at this stage all they do is debloat which can be done by anyone and add a few features which actually make the system less stable and battery hungry. My plan is to try the occasional Beta to see what new features Xiaomi is bringing to the table, stick with the latest developer the rest of the time, and when they finally make a stable I'm happy with then stick with that until the next wave of software upgrades is due.
How is the Essential by the way? Apart from the signal. Never met anyone who owned one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a nice looking phone. Great build quality and excellent QHD screen. It's smaller than other phones I've owned over the past 5 years bit doesn't feel like a small screen phone because of the high screen to body ratio. It's much more comfortable to handle than the Mi Mix 2 although I'm getting used to this one. It's not as smooth or snappy as the Mix 2. But the weak signal reception is a big problem. I used it on T-Mobile (erratic signal), AT&T (poor signal), Sprint (poor signal) and Verizon (very good signal). Unfortunately Verizon's MVNO (Straight Talk) is way more expensive than the ones available for T-Mobile so it made more sense to use a different phone than pay a higher cell service bill every month just so I could keep using the Essential. I should have returned it for a refund but fell in love with it which was why I tried every network. I'm just using it as a backup with very cheap T-Mobile. The signal at home is crap but since WiFi calling works it doesn't matter.
Maybe I'll try the dev ROM then. Thanks for the info.
Kaji said:
Hey man. I had been using Developer builds up until now and I can tell you they are easily stable enough for daily use. I cannot confirm this is 100% correct but I'm fairly sure Developer ROMs are just the in-between ROMs where all the minor adjustments happen. The change logs have all included things like "Improved system stability", "removed unnecessary files for [insert app here]" etc. So you never know, they could actually be more stable than any of the "Stable" releases you've used so far, you'll have to be the judge of that. I don't travel much, nor do I require any very advanced function of Android at this stage so for sure there could be something I've missed but I have never had a force shut-down, lack of signal, graphical bug or force-close of app with any of the developer builds.
I never owned a OP5 but I did have a OP3 and OP3t which I used FreedomOS on both but eventually came around to LineageOS only because they all seemed about as optimized as eachother. I'm all for custom MIUI ROMs if they are going to actually improve on something but at this stage all they do is debloat which can be done by anyone and add a few features which actually make the system less stable and battery hungry. My plan is to try the occasional Beta to see what new features Xiaomi is bringing to the table, stick with the latest developer the rest of the time, and when they finally make a stable I'm happy with then stick with that until the next wave of software upgrades is due.
How is the Essential by the way? Apart from the signal. Never met anyone who owned one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Programming on OnePlus phones has gotten way worse since the OP3/3T days. Oxygen was programmed by a team in Europe back then. But to save money OnePlus fired the European programmers and transferred the ROM to the Hydrogen team in China. That's when the coding started to go completely to hell.
Software engineers in China and India analyzed the OnePlus version of Oreo and reported that a lot of the code was actually Nougat. They also said the coding overall was very sloppy and unprofessional.
If you follow software devs on their Telegram channels (outside of XDA) it doesn't take long to discover that the poor programming on OnePlus phones is a running joke with many of them.
Running a custom ROM doesn't completely fix the problem either because the custom ROMs still need to use OnePlus firmware which is a mess.
OnePlus phones are so poorly programmed there is no way to use TWRP safely unless you decrypt the data on your phone and keep it permanently decrypted.
jhs39 said:
Programming on OnePlus phones has gotten way worse since the OP3/3T days. Oxygen was programmed by a team in Europe back then. But to save money OnePlus fired the European programmers and transferred the ROM to the Hydrogen team in China. That's when the coding started to go completely to hell.
Software engineers in China and India analyzed the OnePlus version of Oreo and reported that a lot of the code was actually Nougat. They also said the coding overall was very sloppy and unprofessional.
If you follow software devs on their Telegram channels (outside of XDA) it doesn't take long to discover that the poor programming on OnePlus phones is a running joke with many of them.
Running a custom ROM doesn't completely fix the problem either because the custom ROMs still need to use OnePlus firmware which is a mess.
OnePlus phones are so poorly programmed there is no way to use TWRP safely unless you decrypt the data on your phone and keep it permanently decrypted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You make me really appreciate the fact I chose my Mi Mix 2 over the OnePlus 5t. Coming from the OnePlus 3T it was a difficult decision but I'm glad I made the switch.
Honestly this is the first I've heard of this but that's so bad, they are becoming one of the most popular high end smartphone manufacturers and they struggle to make solid, secure advancements in their software which can potentially lead to massive breaches of privacy via exploits.
Actually I remember not too long ago, wasn't there a big issue where users could access root from within the hidden developer settings of the OS? Without even an unlocked bootloader.
Gotta love that this is an entirely different topic from what this thread was made for.
Kaji said:
You make me really appreciate the fact I chose my Mi Mix 2 over the OnePlus 5t. Coming from the OnePlus 3T it was a difficult decision but I'm glad I made the switch.
Honestly this is the first I've heard of this but that's so bad, they are becoming one of the most popular high end smartphone manufacturers and they struggle to make solid, secure advancements in their software which can potentially lead to massive breaches of privacy via exploits.
Actually I remember not too long ago, wasn't there a big issue where users could access root from within the hidden developer settings of the OS? Without even an unlocked bootloader.
Gotta love that this is an entirely different topic from what this thread was made for.
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Click to collapse
For whatever reason tech sites in the United States allow themselves to be shills for OnePlus. Reviews for the latest OnePlus device frequently sound more like shameless promotion than honest analysis because they often are. OnePlus solicits reviews in exchange for free phones and places the reviews on accommodating tech sites. I received an invitation to apply for a free OnePlus 6 phone and help to influence tech buyers. To apply OnePlus wanted a full length sample review of a tech product I already owned. The people who submit the most professional sounding reviews get the free phones and send their reviews to OnePlus. OnePlus then cherry picks those submissions and publishes the reviews it likes on various tech sites.
Pretty much the only two places you can get accurate information about OnePlus phones is on Telegram and Reddit.
Here's what happened with spyware in the 8 months I had an OP5. Someone discovered that a system process in Oxygen was secretly transmitting a lot of detailed user information to servers in China. This was separate from the User Experience Program that owners could opt out of.
An explanation of how to disable the spyware process was published and when asked to comment OnePlus promised to remove the spyware.
Nothing was done at all until the next scheduled monthly update. It appeared that OnePlus removed the spyware but it was discovered that OnePlus instead changed the name of the spyware process and that it was still transmitting the same user information to servers in China.
OnePlus apologized again but still left the spyware functioning until the next scheduled monthly update.
Shortly after it was discovered that an app in Oxygen allowed anyone with physical access to a OnePlus phone to unlock and root it by connecting it to a computer. OnePlus claimed that it was a Qualcomm test app that had been accidentally left on the phone. There actually was such an app but when Qualcomm examined the app found on OnePlus phones they said it definitely wasn't theirs.
It took OnePlus two months to remove the app from Oxygen.
Then in December a new type of spyware was discovered in an Oxygen beta build for the OP3/3T--a clipboard app that was transmitting contents to a server in China. OnePlus insisted that the clipboard app wasn't spyware but was actually a feature intended for its Chinese customers even though OnePlus sells virtually no phones in China.
Also in mid November OnePlus started to receive reports that customers who used their credit cards to make purchases on the official OnePlus site were seeing unidentified charges on their accounts. OnePlus didn't shut down credit card processing on its website until January. By that time over 40,000 OnePlus customers had their credit card information stolen.
OnePlus is not a good company so the fact that American tech sites continue to shill for them is nauseating.
I'm definitely much happier with my Mix 2 than I was with the OP5. This isn't a perfect phone but it's very good for the cost. The OP5 had crummy build quality and felt like cheap junk.
I tried MIUI Pro for a couple days. I wasn't all that impressed with it. MIUI Pro is less smooth and fluid than the latest official Global Dev Build despite having almost all of the Xiaomi MIUI apps removed.
The default keyboard is from Sony Experia for some reason. The only added feature than I personally found worthwhile was the expanded boot menu.
These are the other differences I noticed:
1) There is a smart network function that allows you to choose a specific type of network connectivity when making or receiving phone calls. You can have the phone switch to a specific network type and also automatically shut off WiFi, data or Bluetooth when on a call.
2) Menu options to change the system font and animations and their speed.
3) Built in charging alarm that would have been way more useful if you could customize the low charge/full charge values.
4) Option to use LTE instead of 4G in status bar as well as more options to disable/enable icons that appear there.
5) Three status bar settings (stock, aosp & IOS) that sound promising but all they did was change the arrangement of the status bar icons.
I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting. The Google Play Store comes pre-installed but nothing else--not even the Google app. That makes setting up Google Assistant with voice commands much more of a hassle but it's doable--the menus to make that happen in MIUI Pro aren't intuitive but that's probably because it's based on the China ROM.
It's also more of a hassle to get Google apps working properly in MIUI Pro compared with Official Global because you need to download everything from the Play Store and also manually grant the permissions for each app.
Since there are very few pre-installed apps you do have more free storage but I expected the ROM to be way faster and smoother since it's so stripped down. Performance of the ROM definitely isn't bad but for some reason it's inferior to stock.
Even though I chose English as the install language a couple of notifications came up in Russian. What they said I don't know.
I also don't know if any spyware or malware was written into the OS.
I missed stock after using MIUI Pro for just a few hours but ran it for 2 days anyway to give the ROM a fair chance.
I could see someone running MIUI Pro on a device where there was no official global ROM but it didn't do much for me.

Why Redmi 5 Plus is my last Xiaomi phone ever ?

After having 3 Redmi phones i think i finally have enough.
Once i had Redmi 3S, Redmi 4X, then Redmi 5 Plus. I don't think i will buy a new one and here's why.
1) Well, they had great specs for their price, but they compromise durability by using cheap, weak and low-series aluminum to make their phones. That's why Mi5 and Redmi Note 3 failed Jerry's durability test. Basically, these are one drop phones. Europe is used to durable phones like Nokia, LG or Sony.
2) Software. My Redmi 3s had MIUI 7 out of the box, so i disabled some google poop i don't use and then updated to MIUI 8, unexpectedly bricking my phone for next 3 days until i was allowed to unlocked the bootloader, which was necessary to re-flash the device. MIUI 8 was great, had alot of features and MIUI 9 made things faster, but... My annoyance level is similar to dealing with Meizu phones. Some themes make unwanted changes to my home screen layout. Messenger notifications are quiet, just silent pop sound instead of normal messenger sound when screen is locked and off. On Redmi 5 Plus i had YouTube issue, where video as well as whole UI was freezing sometimes. This was ridiculous.
3) Ads ! Ads everywhere ! They started pop up in system apps such as Music, Videos , Themes and Settings after MIUI 9 update. Xiaomi, are you serious ? That is definitely unacceptable.
4) After MIUI 9.5 update themes app disappeard from my phone. To restore it, i had to change region to United States.
I switched back to Windows Phone.
JakeCherry97 said:
2) On Redmi 5 Plus i had YouTube issue, where video as well as whole UI was freezing sometimes. This was ridiculous.
3) Ads ! Ads everywhere ! They started pop up in system apps such as Music, Videos , Themes and Settings after MIUI 9 update. Xiaomi, are you serious ? That is definitely unacceptable.
4) After MIUI 9.5 update themes app disappeard from my phone. To restore it, i had to change region to United States.
I switched back to Windows Phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have any problem with YouTube
Also not have those ads on system apps. Maybe it's something from 3rd party app...
About themes app is something about new laws on European Union. Not have to keep region changed. Change to download and apply theme and then change it back to your country.
Actually, the Redmi 5 plus passed the bend test. Also I don't see any ads on mine, maybe you have the china version?
I do not see any of those issues as well. Also, if you have a problem with MIUI, you can always count on the great community and install an AOSP rom. It is your choice how you use your phone.
JakeCherry97 said:
After having 3 Redmi phones i think i finally have enough ....
I switched back to Windows Phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first thing to do with a Xiaomi device is to replace miui with a more sensible ROM.
Miui is cool. I have R5+ with xiaomi.eu rom, rooted with adaway app, and it's without any of these things.
Just read dude, it's not complicated to setup phone.
Other roms are also good choice, why not.
Only semi valid point is one, it's a freaking $ 150 dollars phone, so come on...
2. It's your fault for not learning to use settings properly, none of these problems are problems per se. Just you not getting used to your phone.
3. There are like 2apps that put ads on the system apps, and totally removable, even from the settings
4. Really? You just posted the solution to that problem.
lmao so instead of embracing the value Xiaomi devices and understand compromises you move over to an officially dead phone OS?
Redmi Note 5 is my first Xiaomi phone, and i can say that my next phone will 100% be Xiaomi again, why ? Because i had a Sony phone which i dropped from half a meter and the whole screen came out, couldn't be rooted and nobody bothered to make good roms for it. My note 5 has been dropped 3-4 times on hard cement, just the plastic part got scuffed. I haven't seen an AD during my use with stock MIUI , haven't had any freezes and i could give a rats booty about the theme app.
And now even we have got SOC 710 at 18000 price mi8se :fingers-crossed: :silly: which is seriously awsome :*)
You can deactivate the ads of the system in his settings on apps and system. Look tutorials in Xiaomi officcial forums.
DarthJabba9 said:
The first thing to do with a Xiaomi device is to replace miui with a more sensible ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A good build of LineageOS would be great. What do you recommend?
aurocha said:
A good build of LineageOS would be great. What do you recommend?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the moment, Liquid Remix or crDroid. When Validus settles down on Vince, and SlimROM moves to Oreo, then my eventual preferences would be (1) SlimROM, (2) Validus.
Nothing serious then? OP is just *****ing
fede01_8 said:
Nothing serious then? OP is just *****ing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vince is perfectly okay for the price. The problems he is experiencing are mainly with miui. Yes, the components are cheap - but you get what you paid for. For me, it is a brilliant phone. And so is mido. You just need to adjust your expectations. There is no point in having a champagne taste on a coca cola budget.
DarthJabba9 said:
The first thing to do with a Xiaomi device is to replace miui with a more sensible ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats what i do, always
before buying a phone instead checking its review i just come on xda and see how good is development. and thats enough for me to make a decision.
Talwinder8872 said:
thats what i do, always
before buying a phone instead checking its review i just come on xda and see how good is development. and thats enough for me to make a decision.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that is the way to do it.
Redmi Note 3SD, Redmi Note 4X, and now Redmi 5 Plus. Just awesome devices for the price! No problem whatsoever!
I think one of the main reasons I bought a xiaomi phone was to get a very decently specced phone at budget prices, unlock the bootloader of a xiaomi phone > install a custom rom > get a phone that's miles better than the competition at the same price range
DarthJabba9 said:
Yes, that is the way to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also this, I also check if the phone has a snapdragon processor which increases the chances of getting more development done in the form of custom roms.
Mordar said:
Also this, I also check if the phone has a snapdragon processor which increases the chances of getting more development done in the form of custom roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. You don't want to go with the "other" SoC that Xiaomi often uses. I had about 5 different Xiaomi phones with that SoC, and their custom ROM support sucks big time (mainly due to lack of kernel sources).

Will buy RealMe X, looking for feedback on Chinese ROM and any major drawbacks

Hi guys, I was fairly certain I'd get the Redmi Note 7 Pro 6/128, but once I saw the RealMe X, the choice was fairly simple. The Chinese ROM is quite a bit cheaper than the Indian Global ROM, and I was wondering if any of you using these versions could give me some first hand feedback as to any major drawbacks of the Chinese ROM, or any major upsides of the Indian Global variant. My main concern is an overload of Chinese language prompts and settings questions. I'll need a launcher either way so the impact of ColorOS is fairly minimal. The two versions are slightly different, I'll be getting the 6/64GB Chinese version, while the Indian versions only have 4/128GB and 8/128GB. I don't want to get a 4GB RAM phone now given the fairly quick rise in capacities over the past year, 6GB futureproofs me fairly well for the next few years. Any suggestions are helpful, thanks for taking the time to read.
i have personally bought the chinese version for my sister in law. Let me tell you, the chinese language is very minimal after u change the language to english. its very useable. What i found to ease the stress is change the keyboard from whatever it comes with to google keyboard. this makes the chinese even more minimal. then just go about your day like its the global rom after u delete all the useless chinese apps. im sure with time there would be a guide for TWRP and the installation of either pixel experience or the global rom. I cant wait
kenennaoyeka said:
i have personally bought the chinese version for my sister in law. Let me tell you, the chinese language is very minimal after u change the language to english. its very useable. What i found to ease the stress is change the keyboard from whatever it comes with to google keyboard. this makes the chinese even more minimal. then just go about your day like its the global rom after u delete all the useless chinese apps. im sure with time there would be a guide for TWRP and the installation of either pixel experience or the global rom. I cant wait
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's very helpful man, thanks! One last question, I know the Indian Global version doesn't have a dedicated memory slot, and any memory card takes up SIM2 hybrid slot, but is it same for the Chinese one?
Droid110 said:
That's very helpful man, thanks! One last question, I know the Indian Global version doesn't have a dedicated memory slot, and any memory card takes up SIM2 hybrid slot, but is it same for the Chinese one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it's the same for the chinese version. No expansion just dual sim
I will agree with the others that after changing to English there is very little in the way of Chinese in the rom. That being said the breeno assistant is all Chinese and I hate it, would much rather have the Google assistant in its place, but I may just not know how to change it or something. I guess for me what has been shocking is the overbearing battery management and app freezing resulting in at first almost zero push notifications. I get why they do this but man I want my notifications for messenger, line, whattsapp, Twitter, Gmail and at first nothing. I have fixed most of this with app freeze settings but for the life of me cannot get Hangouts notifications to work until I open the app and then I get a flood...weird! Other than this I really like the phone, coming from a Nexus 6 and Nexus 6p as my last few phones it has taken a bit to get used to ColorOS, I still hate it and would prefer stock clean Android but I am sure that will come at some point soon.
agwood said:
I will agree with the others that after changing to English there is very little in the way of Chinese in the rom. That being said the breeno assistant is all Chinese and I hate it, would much rather have the Google assistant in its place, but I may just not know how to change it or something. I guess for me what has been shocking is the overbearing battery management and app freezing resulting in at first almost zero push notifications. I get why they do this but man I want my notifications for messenger, line, whattsapp, Twitter, Gmail and at first nothing. I have fixed most of this with app freeze settings but for the life of me cannot get Hangouts notifications to work until I open the app and then I get a flood...weird! Other than this I really like the phone, coming from a Nexus 6 and Nexus 6p as my last few phones it has taken a bit to get used to ColorOS, I still hate it and would prefer stock clean Android but I am sure that will come at some point soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure about the assistant, but if we can't change it now, I'm sure it can be replaced in the near future. I've heard there are a bunch of sensors that consume battery like crazy, especially the movement sensor for the under screen fingerprint scanner which turns on the screen and activates the sensor when movement like the phone being picked up is sensed, there are a bunch of other ones and there are videos out there to help you turn all or most of these off.
You could just get Nova Launcher or something similar, that changes the appearance , and as for Android 1, not a lot of phones in this segment have it. The Mi A3 has it, but it's display is 720p....
EDIT: Could either of you or anyone else who own a RealMe X please post a Antutu Benchmark? I've seen the RealMe X is much better optimized than the RealMe 3 Pro and the results vary quite a bit. Thanks.
Here you go!
Second test on performance mode.
If you want to get a smooth experience, you need to adb uninstall a lot of apps...
Good thing is that it keeps the Google Framework and Google Play. All you need to do is to re-enable the Google Play or install Google Play apk again to get the original store to work.
agwood said:
Here you go!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agwood said:
Second test on performance mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much man! Seems the Vivo Z1 Pro gets about 173k without any boosts enabled thanks to the 712 chip. For long term usage I think the punch-hole may fare better than the Pop up? When it comes to the display the RealMe X just blows it away, which is a huge factor really, spending hour after hour looking at the screen, it needs to be great!
nickyip123 said:
If you want to get a smooth experience, you need to adb uninstall a lot of apps...
Good thing is that it keeps the Google Framework and Google Play. All you need to do is to re-enable the Google Play or install Google Play apk again to get the original store to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I saw a video, takes just a few seconds, go into the Store and just download google play store, just as easy as that(P.S. That was for Mi Store, not sure what RealMe does). We're already paying them for a phone, so you'd think they could keep the bloatware to a minimum.
For the realme just get the play store off apkmirror or apk pure or something. I am currently writing this post with an Xiaomi mi 9t which is the competition to the RealMe I personally think for the extra $70 it's not bad but I prefer the RealMe when it comes to selfie pictures.im no professional and the RealMe may do more software processing but the RealMe does look better. Also the breeno assistance is anmoying but we have to wait for a bootloader unlock and then a totally English Rom. Patience, it wud happen in time.
---------- Post added at 01:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 PM ----------
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/113845602192
Best offer for a RealMe X. If you wait for 10% eBay bucks it drops to about $200 after the cash back. It's totally worth it even with it shipping from China. U get the eBay protection and return if u don't want it. Even cheaper than the aliexpress and bangoods

Question OnePlus 9 Pro worth buying in August 2022?

Old users planning to keep few more years leave your feedbacks.
Fahmid Islam Soumya said:
Old users planning to keep few more years leave your feedbacks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it is, especially if you're into custom ROMs and rooting and so forth, as the 10 Pro scene hasn't gotten to that point as of this writing; there's lots of fretting and hand-wringing in the 10 Pro forum about it. I picked up a refurbished one last month from Amazon and am tickled pink with it (I'm keeping my trusty 7 Pro as a backup). In fact, the first thing I did was load my custom-built LineageOS fork (which I had already built in anticipation) onto it, as there was no way I was going to stay on OxygenOS beyond using it to OEM unlock the phone.
Hey guys,
Just received a used 9 Pro LE2123 and I got it without any battery juice.
I am using the warp charger that is from this model and I noticed that the charging is super slow.
It came with Android C61 and I let it update to C62, if this plays any role.
Any ideas about what is happening?
Download OOS 11 Firmware from Oneplus Website and Flash it using Local Update App and format the device. Then upgrade into newest Version via OTA.
abhijithpyd said:
Download OOS 11 Firmware from Oneplus Website and Flash it using Local Update App and format the device. Then upgrade into newest Version via OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why to do this?
The device was factory resetted when I got it.
Because you've literally no idea what the last user had flashed to it, or had messed around with.
MJPollard said:
I think it is, especially if you're into custom ROMs and rooting and so forth, as the 10 Pro scene hasn't gotten to that point as of this writing; there's lots of fretting and hand-wringing in the 10 Pro forum about it. I picked up a refurbished one last month from Amazon and am tickled pink with it (I'm keeping my trusty 7 Pro as a backup). In fact, the first thing I did was load my custom-built LineageOS fork (which I had already built in anticipation) onto it, as there was no way I was going to stay on OxygenOS beyond using it to OEM unlock the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Making Custom ROMs isn't my issue. The problem with 10 pro for me is not be able recover if got hardbricked (which I will do eventually) . We don't have any official stores in our country. And online services isn't really my thing. 10 Pro is 10$+ then 9 pro here. Still want to buy 9 pro over 10 pro cz of MSM mostly.
ghostofcain said:
Because you've literally no idea what the last user had flashed to it, or had messed around with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess after unlocking the bootloader and the full erase of data it should be fine.
op9pro could be a good phone for people living on social-media (nowadays the street-price is half of official price)
if you are flashotic or privacy-caring it's better thinking a bifferent device
Had mine for around 15 months, LE2123 it took a major hit when it went from a11 to a12. I'm completely stock and not modified in anyway. Overall I have been happy with the phone, I know it was expensive near launch but it's managed well so far. I've blocked all advertising by putting all my traffic through pihole and it's been good. Played a few games on boost mode and it's incredibly slick. I've seen in the latest version c62 you can use storage as ram also. Really love the camera, it has t's fault but most settings can be disabled ( like AI etc) and I am tempted to move to gcam.
AndyC76 said:
Had mine for around 15 months, LE2123 it took a major hit when it went from a11 to a12. I'm completely stock and not modified in anyway. Overall I have been happy with the phone, I know it was expensive near launch but it's managed well so far. I've blocked all advertising by putting all my traffic through pihole and it's been good. Played a few games on boost mode and it's incredibly slick. I've seen in the latest version c62 you can use storage as ram also. Really love the camera, it has t's fault but most settings can be disabled ( like AI etc) and I am tempted to move to gcam.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what's your current device & did you sold your 9 pro ?
Fahmid Islam Soumya said:
what's your current device & did you sold your 9 pro ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Current device is still OnePlus 9Pro 8gb. LE2123 c62. (UK)
Finally rooted and cloned all my 146 apps from my previous OP6 phone and everything runs flawlessly.
Battery is great, the phone is super fast and it has a very good and fast camera.
My only concern is that some notifications are not coming up on time, so some apps need further check to fix this issue.
RASTAVIPER said:
Finally rooted and cloned all my 146 apps from my previous OP6 phone and everything runs flawlessly.
Battery is great, the phone is super fast and it has a very good and fast camera.
My only concern is that some notifications are not coming up on time, so some apps need further check to fix this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't use Gmail app. I personally use Sugar mail and never missed any emails.
The 9 Pro continues to hold its own! Actually it's still pretty popular!
Personally in the US its one of the few options left available for those who like to really customize their devices. With spectacular battery life on customs (I've had mine about a month and get 8h SOT with some light gaming casually). I mean it doesn't get much better than this! Sure during heavy tasks it can get a little hot but that is slightly improving with OOS12 firmware. It will still reach those peak temps but seemingly not as fast. I got mine from Amazon as well for about $750 USD quite the deal! Using this device has be quite the pleasure. I'm definitely happy on Crdroid with BluSpark kernel. And since OOS has dropped the ball it means that OOS12 based custom roms will get nice custom kernel support which isn't normally there for a long time. Looking forward to the future of this phone!
No, stick with a phone that has good stock firmware. Oos is buggy af and is getting more and more like chinese bloat.
I would suggest a pixel over it (maybe 7?)
davidfarah2003 said:
No, stick with a phone that has good stock firmware. Oos is buggy af and is getting more and more like chinese bloat.
I would suggest a pixel over it (maybe 7?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except that Pixel phones have a lot of problems of their own, including the firmware, and there's no reason to believe that the 7 series will be any different given Google's recent track record. Pixel vs 9 Pro is just one set of issues versus another at this point. But, if one wants to delve into custom ROMs, both are good in that department (disclaimer: I don't follow the custom ROM scene for Pixel phones so I'm not as familiar with it as I am the OnePlus line).
MJPollard said:
Except that Pixel phones have a lot of problems of their own, including the firmware, and there's no reason to believe that the 7 series will be any different given Google's recent track record. Pixel vs 9 Pro is just one set of issues versus another at this point. But, if one wants to delve into custom ROMs, both are good in that department (disclaimer: I don't follow the custom ROM scene for Pixel phones so I'm not as familiar with it as I am the OnePlus line).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pixels have lacking support compared to what it used to be with the Nexus line up. There is some interest but it's mostly unofficial support that doesn't last for long and its nothing that you can rely on like with the OnePlus phones
MJPollard said:
Except that Pixel phones have a lot of problems of their own, including the firmware, and there's no reason to believe that the 7 series will be any different given Google's recent track record. Pixel vs 9 Pro is just one set of issues versus another at this point. But, if one wants to delve into custom ROMs, both are good in that department (disclaimer: I don't follow the custom ROM scene for Pixel phones so I'm not as familiar with it as I am the OnePlus line).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The biggest problem that puts people off the Pixels right now is the Samsung SoC and modem. Stupid decision on Google's part.

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