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

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

#41

Post by fauigerzigerk »

stelonix wrote: post #25
_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…

It's interesting, because coming from a country that's been targeted by US interventionism in the past, I'm pretty ok with Xiaomi spying on me, not so much when it comes to Google.

I'm not too happy about anyone spying on me, and I'm also unhappy about corporations vetoing software I want to install.

Besides, one person's "targeted by interventionism" is another person's "liberated by democratic forces".

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

#42

Post by GordonS »

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.

Never mind "older people", some Xiaomi devices have the same performance as flagships costing twice as much.

I have a Xiaomi Mi 9 SE (had it almost 2 years now), and it's the best phone I've ever owned. Previously I'd owned flagship Samsungs and an iPhone 6.

It's powerful, the display is excellent, the battery lasts 2 days even with plenty use (unusual these days!), the cameras are excellent, and the device itself looks great. Oh, and it cost £340 at a time when flagship equivalents were around twice that - amazing value for money.

Service is great too - the phone stopped charging at some point, but it was fixed within a few days of initial contact, with no quibbling.

My only gripe is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, but that's hardly a unique issue.

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

#43

Post by chronogram »

as1mov wrote: post #39
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.

Back when I last looked you had to register an account, use a Windows application and wait a few weeks before being allowed to unlock the phone. Has that been changed then?

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

#44

Post by dmos62 »

chronogram wrote: post #43
as1mov wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Back when I last looked you had to register an account, use a Windows application and wait a few weeks before being allowed to unlock the phone. Has that been changed then?

Wow, we've had very different experiences with LineageOS.

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

#45

Post by dsego »

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…

Compared to my previous Samsung device the bloat on my new Redmi is bearable.

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

#46

Post by snemvalts »

dmos62 wrote: post #44
chronogram wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back when I last looked you had to register an account, use a Windows application and wait a few weeks before being allowed to unlock the phone. Has that been changed then?

Wow, we've had very different experiences with LineageOS.

I don't think that's lineageOS, it's for unlocking the bootloader on Xiaomi phones

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

#47

Post by jcynix »

RamRodification wrote: post #21
jcynix wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm running Netguard (app) as a firewall on them, set to block all traffic and then allow traffic only for solid apps where I need/want traffic to happen. Works like a charm, can even log in pcap format to analyze traffic.

Wouldn't the hardware vendor of the device be able to bypass that?

Both the hardware vendor and the vendor of the mobile phone's "black box" talking to your telecom could, of course. Potentially some chips inside could do nasty things, even if you'd install LineageOS for example.

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

#48

Post by dmos62 »

My mom got a budget Xiaomi (Redmi 9A), but she's having problems with connectivity during calls in places where other phones work fine, like her apartment. Also, currently she's abroad and call connectivity is horrible for first 15-30 seconds, then the call drops and after redialing it works fine. Really weird. Probably should exchange it for a new one.

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

#49

Post by makeitdouble »

roenxi wrote: post #33

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 hardw…

I have a hard time squaring that optimism with the ban of Huawei and the ban requests made by the US administration for Xiaomi as well.

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

#50

Post by sdoering »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #41
stelonix wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting, because coming from a country that's been targeted by US interventionism in the past, I'm pretty ok with Xiaomi spying on me, not so much when it comes to Google.

I'm not too happy about anyone spying on me, and I'm also unhappy about corporations vetoing software I want to install. Besides, one person's "targeted by interventionism" is another person's "liberated by democratic forces".

> Besides, one person's "targeted by interventionism" is another person's "liberated by democratic forces".

Does newspeaking it make it better?

And if one would look at the examples of "liberation by democratic forces" over the last decades I feel that it is somewhat difficult to find an instance that wasn't a prime example of securing natural ressources or ensuring of keeping the global power structure intact.

I might be naive (or even contrarian to the US policy) bbut wwere aare tthe purely humanistic examples of Uncle Sam mingling in foreign affairs?

Imho the US should keep their fingers out of others' proverbial cookie jars.

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