Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021 • Hacker News Board

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#31

Post by gadf » Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:33 AM UTC

yorwba wrote: post #16

_huayra_ wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Considering how Samsung is coming out with cheaper phones these days due to competition, I don't think it's worth completely yeeting one's privacy out the window, even if the Xiaomi models have better specs. I know Android phones are still big Google spying devices, but given the state of the tech world, I'd prefer to have Google spy on me than a shadowy Chinese company. Does it really matter if it has 4x th…

Just install LineageOS on it and have nobody spy on you: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#xiaomi

Just install ANOM

or Telegram

Or Signal

And have nobody spy on you

"Trust me, I'm Italian."

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#32

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:33 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#33

Post by roenxi » Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:34 AM UTC

The first thought that leaps to my mind, on reviewing this, is that Apple is currently facing a court case in Australia accusing it of being a monopolist. And is facing various hostile inquires, in conjunction with Google [0] as people worry about the power of US tech giants.

It is interesting to me to try and square the software with the obviously (1) competitive and (2) East Asian reality of the hardware. The hardware makers must be in a great position to pull another Apple if they think the market is actually uncompetitive.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26920869

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#34

Post by ekianjo » Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:37 AM UTC

senko wrote: post #30

I've got a Xiaomi phone (Mi 10 Lite) and am pretty happy with it. Hardware is great. Software (MIUI) is adware crap, which I knew when I was buying. I tweaked privacy settings as much was possible, and I use almost none of the builtin apps. Instead I use Firefox Focus+Mobile for browsing, Amaze for file management, Dropbox for file storage and PDF view, etc. Overall the entire experience is comparable (for me) to a S…

Is it possible to easily install LineageOS and still have everything working ?

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#35

Post by grishka » Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:38 AM UTC

Xiaomi is able to make their phones so cheap by making their software as crappy as possible. They collect a lot of data (yes, their calculator app has a privacy policy) and sometimes show ads. You need a Xiaomi account to enable debugging (adb).

Though they're still immensely popular here in Russia.

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#36

Post by grishka » Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:40 AM UTC

matsemann wrote: post #29

Iolaum wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering their data collection capabilities, I d say they are sustainable...

Why are the Nexus phones so expensive then? Edit: Pixels

Uh, the last Nexus phone came out in 2015? If you mean Pixels, they're targeting other market with them, they're competing with Apple. There's a cheaper "A" line (4a, 3a).

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#37

Post by martimarkov » Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:43 AM UTC

mm983 wrote: post #18

might be tempting to get one but hear me out: you can't imagine the amount of bloat and adware on miui. it depends on your region because they don't legally get away with the same intrusion everywhere. I configured it in a GDPR country (which disables some features) and when I checked the DNS requests, it made a tracking/ad request several times per minute. Also the pre installed apps like file manager and browser ha…

If you are to downvote a comment which addresses privacy issues and puts the devices in a negative light, please also downvote all the ones that are saying they are great.

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#38

Post by zekica » Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:43 AM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #34

senko wrote: post #30

I've got a Xiaomi phone (Mi 10 Lite) and am pretty happy with it. Hardware is great. Software (MIUI) is adware crap, which I knew when I was buying. I tweaked privacy settings as much was possible, and I use almost none of the builtin apps. Instead I use Firefox Focus+Mobile for browsing, Amaze for file management, Dropbox for file storage and PDF view, etc. Overall the entire experience is comparable (for me) to a S…

Is it possible to easily install LineageOS and still have everything working ?

I'm running LineageOS on Mi 10T Pro and everything works fine, but it wasn't the case until a couple of weeks ago.

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#39

Post by as1mov » Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:44 AM UTC

senko wrote: post #30

I've got a Xiaomi phone (Mi 10 Lite) and am pretty happy with it. Hardware is great. Software (MIUI) is adware crap, which I knew when I was buying. I tweaked privacy settings as much was possible, and I use almost none of the builtin apps. Instead I use Firefox Focus+Mobile for browsing, Amaze for file management, Dropbox for file storage and PDF view, etc. Overall the entire experience is comparable (for me) to a S…

Most of the Xiaomi phones are supported by LineageOS. If you have an hour to spare, you can easily unlock the bootloader and install it to get a stock Android experience (even skip out Google Services if you want).

I have the Poco F1, cost me about $230 for SD845 + 8GB RAM + 4000mAh + 256GB storage. It's a pretty good deal after installing LineageOS on it.

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#40

Post by Hokusai » Sun, Jul 18, 2021, 10:46 AM UTC

meibo wrote: post #4

They're flooding the market with good, very very cheap smartphones - it's no surprise. Especially for older people that don't need $500+ flagships, a $150 Xiaomi is more than sufficient. I see them a lot nowadays. Makes me wonder if it's sustainable.

> Especially for older people that don't need $500+ flagships

I am not so old, and I also have enough with a cheap smartphone. I just use mail, instant messaging, maps and government and bank apps. None of these need advanced graphics or fast CPUs. Interestingly I need access to Google Play as many official apps from the government are not available in alternative stores.

Said that, I got a Xiaomi cheap tablet and I had a bad experience as it was full of ad-ware and I was not able to install Google Play. The lack of official apps in the Xiaomi app store is not really their fault, but all the ad-ware is, I suspect, why the tablet was so extremely cheap. So, good enough hardware specifications, but somewhat disappointed at the software part.