111–120 of 182 posts
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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?
That's not required on A series phones, which ship with a mostly stock Android as opposed to the custom MIUI.
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.
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.
I haven't managed to find anything other than the Pixels that have it.
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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 lo…
How can it really be that much better than a flagship iPhone? This kind of reads like your a person who hates the price of iPhones? Either that or I read like an Apple fan boy; However, I'm a pretty keen Linux / PC user and I don't think I'm that bias?
So while their software is basically adware and like all Chinese companies they are probably controlled by CCP, we must acknowledge that they also have some really bright engineers.
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.
Their sourcing and labor practices possibly save a dollar or two https://knowthechain.org/wp-content/uploads/2020_KTC_ICT_Sco...
"engaged with knowthechain: No"
So, basically they got no data, and had to assume the worst.
I'm sympathetic with Knowthechain: they don't have an easy job, they have to be able to reach out to any company in the world and get an answer...
But I also think that this doesn't mean much.
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.
If you want a sub $200 Apple product you can go down the refurb route. I’m having an outstanding experience with a refurb iPhone 8.
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If you want a sub $200 Apple product you can go down the refurb route. I’m having an outstanding experience with a refurb iPhone 8.
Where to get it somewhere with good reputation?
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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.
I don't suppose any of them allow setting a custom root of trust though, right? I haven't managed to find anything other than the Pixels that have it.
https://gitlab.com/CalyxOS/calyxos/-/issues/88
https://review.calyxos.org/c/CalyxOS/calyxos.org/+/2904/4/pa...
Not sure about other Xiaomi phones.
I loved my Mi A1 A2 and A3. All fantastic phones with stock Android and fabulous value for money. Sadly however they have stopped shipping stock Android. The MiUI is a terrible terrible experience in developing countries like India. See this review by GeekyRanjit. https://youtu.be/jbnxMuBUw0E
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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.
The downside is that you lose DRM-enabled content. For example, it's a hassle to use Netflix at 720p/1080p, and what's more important to my use case for example, is Spotify. It's _possible_ in theory, but it's extremely hacky. I personally went the Google route w/ a Pixel 4a, so I get a simple, zero non-sense UI, with no forced ads or anything, just a smooth experience, at a slight premium (not that much to be comple…
After that, I'm never buying another cheap Pixel again.