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

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121–130 of 182 posts

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

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Xiaomi sells a few phones with the "Android One" label, meaning it's mostly standard Android and mine let me uninstall basically all the typical useless apps. Only the Play Store and one or two others can't be removed. Not perfect and LineageOS would still be a bit better, but close enough for me. I don't enjoy using smartphones either way.

AFAIK Android One is barely supported at this point and phones are old. I used to be a supporter of Android One and bought two phones myself, but I wouldn't recommend it now. Google failed this program like it failed numerous programs before. The only reliable way to get standard android without unlocking and tinkering seems to be buying Google Pixel nowadays.

Nokia is close to stock to the Pixel https://dontkillmyapp.com/

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

#122
I have Mi 10T Lite, it's wonderful and liberating after an iPhone, and costs half of iPhone 11 price, and (!) comes with a case and a glass film.

But the camera is just awful. It takes 5 seconds to start, video recording is jittery, sometimes as if it was recording at 10 FPS. I just don't have good pictures of my kids anymore.

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

#123
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.

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.

Seconded. I did this first with a first gen iPhone SE that I got for $100 on ebay from a seller with good reputation as a trial.

Been happy enough, so I bought a like new second gen iPhone SE for $250.

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

#124
post #52
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.

Why shouldn't it be sustainable? The market for cheap phones is much bigger than for the expensive ones and as you see from the Apple numbers: the expensive market is pretty much covered. Also covered in an separate environment form where those users are reluctant to switch because it's hard to learn again. imho I think that fighting for the low budget Android market makes much more sense than for the high price Appl…

That's not the case with refurbished ones though.

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

#125
post #2

This is a list of brand market shares, incorrectly labeled as vendor market shares. The largest smartphone vendor is BBK Electronics. They manufacture multiple brands like Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, Realme, iQOO. Their brands have over 40% market share in China, India, over 50% in Southeast Asia, and are generally the largest vendor all over the developing world. The real list is 1. 24% BBK Electronics (10% Oppo, 10% Vivo,…

Shouldn't Apple be under Foxconn by that logic?

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

#126
post #94

I have a POCO X3, I had my dad buying for me cause I could not leave the house and my old phone died. It was a surprise. Good phone all around, great camera. After some hours I've noted there's ADs everywhere. Uninstallable apps. Now, after a year is passed, the camera freezes in the middle of the recording of a long video. I honestly did not have time to root the phone and fix the ads and apps issue and I'm just now…

"did not have time to root the phone and fix the ads.."

...proceeds to buy linux phone.

Introspection might help here - I recommend Apple if you want something that lasts and just works.

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

#127
post #34
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 ?

AFAIK you won't get proper camera support. For example my Poco F1 has two cameras on the back, but with LineageOS only one is used.

Whether everything works ends up depending a bit on how you use your phone.

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

#128
I have always thought many android based phones are fantastic. I have a dirt cheap Nokia(don't even know the model)and apart from initial startup time and availability of integrated, so to say native apps, it blows the iphone 11 out of the water in camera, speed, responsiveness.

Also had a xiaomi phone as business phone, and it was performing better than the currently available iphone.

I think iphones have stopped looking nice a while ago anyway.

I like the design and finish of Mac laptops, but even there, you can get better from brands with windows os, but that will cost a ridiculous amount of money.

May I ask, apart from look, why do so many people in the US chose to use an iphone? Genuine curiosity.

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

#129
post #35

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.

Even with Android One phones?

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

#130

Many people here say that software not being polished is kind of a problem but that is irrelevant - you can always install alternative app and you should. I would be most happy if all those default garbage "apps" are left out on ANY phone (i.e. minimal install) - just give me OS and let me be, I can install stuff I use on my own. You should never use apps tied to vendor as portability of your tools is most important.…

> - Face recognition NEVER FAILS. It fails on MS Surface (and in kinda embarrassing way really), Samsung, Huwei etc. but never on Xiaomi - it can rain, snow, you can change haircuts... its irrelevant, it only scan eyes. What about false positive rate? It's there for security after all, not for convenience. Actually that's what makes me worry about biometrics. I was able to find out Apple claims about security charact…

I did not witness it. I tried on 10+ people, and it didn't unlock the phone. I would certainly love to know more, sounds to me too good to be true, but then I remembered that iris is like fingerprint so it makes sense.
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