What phone would you recommend? - Sprint Samsung Galaxy Note 3

I've been holding on to my Note 3 because it's the last phone on Sprint network that will allow you to talk and surf when LTE speeds are available. Lately it's becoming very laggy and I know it's time to move on. Any suggestions?

pendleton_33312 said:
I've been holding on to my Note 3 because it's the last phone on Sprint network that will allow you to talk and surf when LTE speeds are available. Lately it's becoming very laggy and I know it's time to move on. Any suggestions?
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Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat, however my device is not laggy. I run my 4.4.4 Nk4 rooted no KNOX debloated rom. Every once in awhile I'll flash a fresh copy of the rom to keep it from getting laggy.
As for what to get next, don't want a Note 5 with no sd card slot and non-removable battery. Although I heard they may bring back the removable battery in the note 6 in which case I would consider a good buy. Everyone I've talked to about the LG G4 has said it has trouble with pixels burning out in the display,( and is being recalled ) so I'll past on that one. I would consider the LG G5 if they fix the display problem, supposed to be out in March 2016. For right now I'm waiting for the release of the LG V10 which from all the specs I've read is very close to the Note 3. The LG V10 will be available for AT&T and Verizon, Sprint has yet to say when they will have it, and is going to be released the end of November 2015.

jimzweb1 said:
I'm in the same boat, however my device is not laggy. I run my 4.4.4 Nk4 rooted no KNOX debloated rom. Every once in awhile I'll flash a fresh copy of the rom to keep it from getting laggy.
As for what to get next, don't want a Note 5 with no sd card slot and non-removable battery. Although I heard they may bring back the removable battery in the note 6 in which case I would consider a good buy. Everyone I've talked to about the LG G4 has said it has trouble with pixels burning out in the display,( and is being recalled ) so I'll past on that one. I would consider the LG G5 if they fix the display problem, supposed to be out in March 2016. For right now I'm waiting for the release of the LG V10 which from all the specs I've read is very close to the Note 3. The LG V10 will be available for AT&T and Verizon, Sprint has yet to say when they will have it, and is going to be released the end of November 2015.
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So the LG V10 is out what did you get?
I went from note 3 to note 5. Had bad 1st unit. 2nd phone has been good. The antennas are not as good as note 3 with reception, and since Sprint has not implemented the VOLTE I'm forced to use Google voice if I need to make a call while using the Internet. I got the 64 gb model. Because I got that model when I got my 2nd phone Sprint just gave me the while new box with the accessories in it. The quick charge is great, and the with power savings on I do have great battery life. If I'm at a poor location with really bad Cell signal coverage and no wifi it eats through my battery life. Wish I had the 2 extra battery like I did on the note 3 for those days. Some said to try turning off gps in that situation so I'm going to try that. That being said, rapid charge wow oh wow and yes please! It's great!
If you want to keep the note 3 try sacs note 5 port. Had I tried that I might not of had me and the wife get a note 5. Yeah it's that good.
This has been the ONLY phone that I have not rooted.
I used package disabler Pro, which somehow does the freeze application of titanium backup Pro.
They even have an export import feature. So when I got my 2nd note 5 I imported the file and was able to have every bloat ware disabled.
Hope to hear back from you.
Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk 2

rbaucom said:
So the LG V10 is out what did you get?
I went from note 3 to note 5. Had bad 1st unit. 2nd phone has been good. The antennas are not as good as note 3 with reception, and since Sprint has not implemented the VOLTE I'm forced to use Google voice if I need to make a call while using the Internet. I got the 64 gb model. Because I got that model when I got my 2nd phone Sprint just gave me the while new box with the accessories in it. The quick charge is great, and the with power savings on I do have great battery life. If I'm at a poor location with really bad Cell signal coverage and no wifi it eats through my battery life. Wish I had the 2 extra battery like I did on the note 3 for those days. Some said to try turning off gps in that situation so I'm going to try that. That being said, rapid charge wow oh wow and yes please! It's great!
If you want to keep the note 3 try sacs note 5 port. Had I tried that I might not of had me and the wife get a note 5. Yeah it's that good.
This has been the ONLY phone that I have not rooted.
I used package disabler Pro, which somehow does the freeze application of titanium backup Pro.
They even have an export import feature. So when I got my 2nd note 5 I imported the file and was able to have every bloat ware disabled.
Hope to hear back from you.
Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
They say the Note 5 is great, your not the first one to have problems with it for sure. I have not bought a new device yet still rocking the Note 3. I'm very leery of a phone with out a removable battery. If the Bat fails you lose everything and have to return the device. Rumors are the removable battery will make an appearance in the Note 6.

Related

[Q] wait for Note on T-mobile

Hoping to get a Note and can't decide to wait for T-Mobile to get it (? months) or buy ATT now and do the steps to use T-mobile including 4G. How tricky and risky are these steps? I managed to root a Samsung ~year ago but the Note is worth 5x that phone. Also, if I use Gingerbread now, will ICS upgrade while maintaining 4G ablity be easy enough? Appreciate the advice.
I am on atta so I dont have exp on tmobile but if you go to rootgalaxynote.com you will see step by step guide and it looks easy just like flashing custom roms. just follow the instructions and you should be fine. I have flashed so many custom roms since jan of this year and never had any problem and my note is better than ever.
for official ics update, you will have to revert back to stock rom before you can upgrade. you will find this process also in develop section. you will probably have to flash tmobile again but it will be easy for you by then. very easy I must say.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
xdafangirl said:
Hoping to get a Note and can't decide to wait for T-Mobile to get it (? months) or buy ATT now and do the steps to use T-mobile including 4G. How tricky and risky are these steps? I managed to root a Samsung ~year ago but the Note is worth 5x that phone. Also, if I use Gingerbread now, will ICS upgrade while maintaining 4G ablity be easy enough? Appreciate the advice.
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OK, I am on t mobile.
Here is the thing. The T-Mobile modem is easy to flash, true. However its reliability is less than you would see on T-Mobile phone (meaning some complain of weaker signal and data connection gets dropped very often with the only work around disconnecting data and reconnecting).
I personally never had dropped calls by the way but some people complain.
If you choose to stay on att modem then you get reliable 100 kbps which is pretty slow for most tasks but works fine for emails and light web browsing.
There are some tweaks that purportedly make it more stable but those can only be done on stock rooms and not on cm9 or aokp which are the most popular.
To make a long story short - it is kind of a pain on both gb and ics. They say T-Mobile is switching to 1900 band in a few months and then connection on stock att modem should improve- but there is a risk there too. So if you can wait I think T-Mobile one should be better.
It is a great phone and those of us who had it from day one are happy campers for most part. But if you can wait why not get the right one?
And then again what is the right one? With new processors already announced and galaxy siii coming soon many will say that you should just get a newer phone. But I am perfectly happy with the note and if you get the one with perfect connection that would be quite great (in my opinion). T-Mobile always takes longer to get new phones so on T-Mobile side the note will be quite big news for some time.
By the way I just posted some related questions in a neighboring thread - hoping to get some questions answered myself
Wow just read in general section that galaxy siii is coming in June and note on July 11th. This is for T-Mobile - so if this is true then you have quite a few excellent choices.
very helpful...
Thanks, I appreciate the info in all of the replies. I'm afraid I already caved and bought a used one on ebay today! I have been "suffering" with a quite tiny screen on an old Symbian phone!! I also saw the July 11 date for the Note arriving to T-mobile but I'm very anti-contract -- can't stomach the way the providers soak so much $$ from contract customers. It just seemed that the price on T-Mobile Notes would be elevated for a while and might take a few more weeks beyond July 11 before there would be plenty of used ones to pick from on ebay. . So I will hope for the best with flashing the T-mobile modem on ATT version.
xdafangirl said:
Thanks, I appreciate the info in all of the replies. I'm afraid I already caved and bought a used one on ebay today! I have been "suffering" with a quite tiny screen on an old Symbian phone!! I also saw the July 11 date for the Note arriving to T-mobile but I'm very anti-contract -- can't stomach the way the providers soak so much $$ from contract customers. It just seemed that the price on T-Mobile Notes would be elevated for a while and might take a few more weeks beyond July 11 before there would be plenty of used ones to pick from on ebay. . So I will hope for the best with flashing the T-mobile modem on ATT version.
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Good choice. I was trying to be overly critical, but I guess my (perhaps somewhat hidden) point was that it's a great phone - with a lot of enthusiasm driving higher than usual software development for such a "niche" device.
I've read somewhere today that t-mobile versions of any phones are generally more buggy, so may not be worth it. And I'm sure that as soon as t-mobile phone reaches the hands of our developers the modem will be available for our use as well. Not only that, but also it is likely that by then official Ice Cream Sandwich will be available and kernel modifications will result in even greater roms.
Here is the link to Carrier Unlock discussion - I paid $25 myself, though some people used cheaper services I guess. You need to do that before your SIM will work.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1530863
While loading modems is easy once everything is set up, you need to root the phone and load cwm recovery which you then use to load the modem.
This helpful thread is for rooting a device and loading CWM without increasing flash counter -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1518962

Lag stopped all of a sudden ??

Lag has been a minor nuisance since I've had the phone.
But it seems to have stopped all of a sudden either yesterday or today.
This happen to anyone else? Anyone know why?
Sent from my VS985 4G using XDA Free mobile app
I was about to post a follow up on the tweaks and ART runtime (that had been working almost flawlessly on my device for almost 24 hours straight now) and saw this thread.
Even though the improvements given by ART and some RAM/Display/Scrolling tweaks were phenomenal, they still had moments of minor stuttering once or twice in an hour's time.
Today however, I noticed my device charging faster, not getting as hot, etc.
Is anyone aware of something that could have caused this?
2 of my close friends have the VZW G3 as well, on the latest firmware. I'm going to send them a text and see if they noticed anything different today.
I'll report back.
I am on 10b firmware, which the phone came with. I did not know there we're any other firmwears for the Verizon LG G3.
trent999 said:
I am on 10b firmware, which the phone came with. I did not know there we're any other firmwears for the Verizon LG G3.
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Click to collapse
Nope. Verizon hasn't updated the phone since launch
Sent from my LG G3
oadam11 said:
Nope. Verizon hasn't updated the phone since launch
Sent from my LG G3
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Is there suppose to be an update that they're working on?
tu3218 said:
Is there suppose to be an update that they're working on?
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Click to collapse
They are suppose to be working with LG continuously to make sure all the firmware improvements LG makes in response to the many issues us users/beta-testers have found and reported are updated onto our phones asap.
Particularly since unlike T-Mobile they have required our Verizon G3s be locked down so we cannot update them ourselves...
In reality, Verizon is happy with whatever shipped initially on the phones since everyone who got one is stuck with it for about two years and there is no revenue from updated firmware, so why should they give a damn ?
We might get a Kit Kat update to 4.4.4 maybe about the time L is released, and if Verizon is feeling unusually benevolent, eventually, an L update maybe 6 months later. Or not.
Verizon does not care at all about Android customers, even though we are the majority of their users. You can be sure they will be all over the iPhone6 phones when they release in a couple of weeks though.
trent999 said:
They are suppose to be working with LG continuously to make sure all the firmware improvements LG makes in response to the many issues us users/beta-testers have found and reported are updated onto our phones asap.
Particularly since unlike T-Mobile they have required our Verizon G3s be locked down so we cannot update them ourselves...
In reality, Verizon is happy with whatever shipped initially on the phones since everyone who got one is stuck with it for about two years and there is no revenue from updated firmware, so why should they give a damn ?
We might get a Kit Kat update to 4.4.4 maybe about the time L is released, and if Verizon is feeling unusually benevolent, eventually, an L update maybe 6 months later. Or not.
Verizon does not care at all about Android customers, even though we are the majority of their users. You can be sure they will be all over the iPhone6 phones when they release in s couple of weeks though.
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Click to collapse
100% agree with everything you said but comparing it to iOS is kind of unfair. Those updates comes straight from Apple. Although the majority of Verizon phones are Android, they sell more iPhones than any other device by far, even Sammy flagships. That gives Apple the leveraging power to be able to give straight updates and have no branding on their phones.
Apple produces updates and tests them for the various iPhone models, ok. Do they then send them out to Verizon and ATT and every other cell company that allows the use of iPhones for review and pre-OTA testing for "network compatibility" ? I don't think so, I think they update from their own servers directly to user's phones, but I am not sure.
For Android hardware vendors, though, if they even create updates for Verizon models, they have to, for some reason, go through Verizon to reach their own customers. LG cannot send OTA updates to LG customers, because Verizon won't let them ? Instead we have situations like with the LG G3, where T-Mobile and ATT and European users have updated firmware up to v10j while we are lingering with 10b still. The South Koreans even have 10k I think.
There are some significant improvements in these updates, but Verizon LG customers may never see them, because of Verizon. That is very annoying, to me, and the minute they take away my unlimited data I am gone never to return.
The Verizon LG G3 works with 4gLTE on Cricket here, and H, and Edge. That's on ATT towers. I am using that now. It also works on T-Mobile, though I am unclear about what connection types are supported. I heard LTE works there too. If I leave Verizon, I'll just stick a pre-paid SIM in and that will be fine.
joshm.1219 said:
100% agree with everything you said but comparing it to iOS is kind of unfair. Those updates comes straight from Apple. Although the majority of Verizon phones are Android, they sell more iPhones than any other device by far, even Sammy flagships. That gives Apple the leveraging power to be able to give straight updates and have no branding on their phones.
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I see you're still lurking around the G3 forum... You getting one??
It is a bummer to not have have the options we had on our S4s but I still love this phone with Root and xposed and I'm quite happy.
Our G3 devs are still saying they're going to be able to unlock these things which is cool... Anyways just wanted to say what up!
- Tapatalked from the G3
I tested my Verizon G3 with my T-Mobile prepaid sim and got better 4gLTE download and upload and ping than I got native on Verizon here.
So, both AT&T and T-Mobile LTE work on this phone.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
Mistertac said:
I see you're still lurking around the G3 forum... You getting one??
It is a bummer to not have have the options we had on our S4s but I still love this phone with Root and xposed and I'm quite happy.
Our G3 devs are still saying they're going to be able to unlock these things which is cool... Anyways just wanted to say what up!
- Tapatalked from the G3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now, it's looking like the G3. I'm still waiting to see the Note 4 tomorrow and the Moto X+1 on Thursday because hey why not. I doubt the Note 4 will be tempting enough to actually accept running stock TW or even hoping for a Hashcode disciple to get Safestrap on there, then I'm still really limited. The Moto X+1 probably won't have a removable battery, which is a problem. It's very annoying to use my One Max with it's embedded battery compared to S4 where I never think about it.
The ZL battery for the G3 just came out and it's looking like good days are coming in the bootloader situation, so I'll probably be pulling the trigger soon enough.
joshm.1219 said:
The ZL battery for the G3 just came out and it's looking like good days are coming in the bootloader situation, so I'll probably be pulling the trigger soon enough.
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What ZL battery are you talking about? Zero Lemon just announced another delay a couple days ago.
eraursls1984 said:
What ZL battery are you talking about? Zero Lemon just announced another delay a couple days ago.
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Click to collapse
yeah i looked that up after i posted that lol, I remembered 8/30 being the release date, that's the second delay already. It's a shame they're tripping up like this. I hope it at least means a better product in the end.
The Note 4 is pretty enticing right now, I need to let the newness wear down lol.
So which Verizon app was causing the art shutdown. Also did anyone find a way to fix the almost unreadable text when thin and small
Sent from my VS985 4G using XDA Free mobile app

Dying Note II, rootable replaement available? [HELP!]

Got a dying NoteII (need to replace the USB port and apparently as of yesterday, re-flash the PIT)... so for the moment I have no phone and I'm going into withdrawal
I've got an upgrade available on Verizon, so I'll get a phone through there, but I'm trying to find something that's flashable or at least rootable, ideally QHD (1440x2560), MicroSD, removable battery.
Any 'phablet' class, 5.3"++, phones on verizon that are rootable/flashable, that have at least two of those three things? SD slot I can live without if I can get 64GB internal memory or higher, but there doesn't seem to be much of that on verizon, and less and less rootable, too
At the moment I'm leaning to the nexus 6 or Note 3, those seem to be the most recent/'best' phones that I can get at the moment, but I'm hoping there's some I've missed, that are better!
Any suggestions, anyone?
Haven't been able to find a list of what Verizon phones are rooted/romable, but apparently the LG V10 is as of this week, so I'm likely going with that, unless anyone has any better suggestions?
christiebunny said:
Haven't been able to find a list of what Verizon phones are rooted/romable, but apparently the LG V10 is as of this week, so I'm likely going with that, unless anyone has any better suggestions?
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Click to collapse
Based on my experience, btw, if you're having PIT issues - like, recovery is throwing up errors about unable to mount partitions - then your eMMC is hosed. Happened to me recently and took me forever to realize it wasn't something I could fix in software. If the display on your phone is in decent shape, though, someone with a cracked/burned-in screen would probably love it, and at least earn you some cash towards a newer phone.
Sadly, the selection of phones for Verizon is pretty sparse. Your best bet these days is buying one outright - Moto X Pure, N6P, international version of the S7/S7 Edge etc - so that bootloader and rooting are never an issue, plus not dealing with Verizon bloatware. Financing outside of Verizon is the way to go, and at that point, you might as well look at an MVNO with good coverage and cheaper rates on data.
Ended up getting the V10, for ~$400 ($18/mo), should be here by morning!
I think the Nexus would have been the best choice, as it is not really a proprietary Verizon phone, but you can always return the V10 and say you did not like it.

Potential new customer. 5X US and development/issues

So I've been out of the loop for about a year now and looking to grab the Honor 5X US version on at&t or T-Mobile. My last phone I kept for 2 years almost ZTE Boost Max(Iconic)
and basically all I did was play with it. Meaning root, PhilZ, Link2sd, Viper4android, and most importantly Xposed.
My questions. Is it a easy plug n play going to a new carrier at&t or T-Mobile in the US with this phone. No issues at all right.
Is all development pretty good. Plenty of options. With the ZTE phone is 1 option for everything and nothing else. I did end up with a custom rom/kernel and a overclocked cpu. Do we have those options.
Thanks in advance I've limited the phone choices to just a couple. $250 budget and want development options and ease of carrier use
AT&T won't be a problem. T-Mob is missing support for LTE Band 12. I've read in these boards that support is coming soon (maybe in the MM update?). I'm not sure about WiFi calling. Normally you need carrier firmware for that type of functionality though.
Dev support seems healthy enough. I'd recommend looking in the development section and judging for yourself
It should be noted that while band 12 support is missing, you can still use the phone on T-Mobile, and you can still get 4G LTE (if it's available in your area).
I don't have WiFi calling here, and you probably do need carrier firmware for that.
Wifi calling wasn't really something I need. I've never experienced good wifi calling reception in the past. I just remember a year or so ago when the new wave of unlocked phones hit like One Plus, and so on there were always issues with not having LTE or something. Good to know at&t is fully supported. I'm a buy and hook up myself online person. Can't stand dealing with customer service on the phone.
So ultimately hows the phone in terms of everything. Signal? Options? Dependability?
So we still don't have MM available on the phones? This is concerning as I wanted the newest OS. The one thing I never liked about android vs Apple. When an update hit, everyone within a 2 year old phone got that update that day. MM came out around XMas so I was hoping for it.
Thanks for the replies and I'm late replying as I'm just a very patient shopper. Any new phone I buy I keep 1-2 years depending
If y'all want latest updates to android. Then there's no doubt about it as we all know this on XDA.........buy a nexus devices
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA-Developers mobile app

Using Mi 9 in the USA - Google Pay settings, carriers

Google Pay: apparently, to use it in the US, you need to go to Settings / More / Secure Element Position / use HCE wallet. The default SIM wallet gets rejected everywhere (you get "insert chip card" or "card read error"). The supposedly more secure "Secure Element" doesn't register at any terminals I encountered. Could be that the tech is too new to have support. I don't know I figured this out today after forgetting my wallet and having the gas tank empty sign pop up...
Now for carrier support - I'm in Houston, Texas. So far, I'm on MINT wireless (T-Mobile MVNO). It gets great LTE everywhere - 63.9MBps down 27.6 up at my house inside the 610 loop on a Saturday evening. In Katy, TX (west of Houston) I'm getting 13.2MBps down 8.1 up at 1045AM Monday inside a huge office building. For reference, my Moto Z2 Force on Sprint basically gets similar results and its modem is optimized for Sprint's LTE network aggregation. So I'd say that's a win.
I checked all the bands and towers prior to ordering. The missing T-Mobile US bands are B66 and B71 - these happen to be only on towers that have the Mi 9 supported bands (B2 B4 B12). I.e., you won't have B66 if you don't already have a supported band. B71 is using old over the air TV frequencies so it isn't available in most markets to begin with, as there are still TV stations occupying the band. I checked all the tower maps across the country and it looks like pretty solid coverage although I haven't gone cross country with the phone yet.
Now you can use AT&T or Cricket (MVNO) and it only is missing band 30. Apparently this can matter in congested markets but the phone supports carrier band aggregation so you are likely not to notice much difference. Anyone with experience please post your results.
Here's the link to check frequency support if you desire to see for yourself. Finding the actual towers is more work zooming in on towers to see the bands available...
https://www.frequencycheck.com/comp...te-m1902f1g-xiaomi-battle-angel/united-states
Hope this helps some of you out!
Oh another side note - Google Maps works BEST in low drain mode - i.e. internal GPS mode. Saves battery and is accurate all over my area. If I do high accuracy weird things start happening. Not complaining this is a plus as it adds battery life by mistake
mslezak said:
Hope this helps some of you out!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've actually been thinking of getting this phone, was play fighting with my 7 year old and naturally, because my luck my oneplus 6 got jumped on and the screen shattered. I'm on T-Mobile, use 2 sims so my options are limited. Is there a particular model # you have? Any advice you have to offer someone looking to pick one up? Thanks
Ducter said:
I've actually been thinking of getting this phone, was play fighting with my 7 year old and naturally, because my luck my oneplus 6 got jumped on and the screen shattered. I'm on T-Mobile, use 2 sims so my options are limited. Is there a particular model # you have? Any advice you have to offer someone looking to pick one up? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah just get a Global Version from a reputable source - like Gearbest. I have a 64gb the 128gb is more popular. No SD Card storage and this takes the best 4k video according to benchmarks. 64gb is running $500 at the moment in Blue. I didn't use shipping insurance, they packed it VERY well, took about 10 days to get here (hybrid USPS / FedEx Smart post is free). I like the MIUI custom interface some don't. It's clean and full of cool features like clearing RAM, exploring you folders, remote app to control all your TVs. I keep Mi Cloud off and use Google Photos and backup.
There's also a few used ones 128gb on eBay but be careful - ensure they are legit and not Chinese ones flashed with Global ROMs. Common issue that's why I say go official...
mslezak said:
There's also a few used ones 128gb on eBay but be careful - ensure they are legit and not Chinese ones flashed with Global ROMs. Common issue that's why I say go official...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forgive my ignorance but what's wrong with the Chinese flashed?
Thanks
Edit- this was the particular one I was considering.
Ducter said:
Forgive my ignorance but what's wrong with the Chinese flashed?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well they are cheaper for a reason. They aren't designed to be used out of China. They are missing a band (can't recall which one). They have to unlock the bootloader (15 day wait) before flashing it or have to do it some unofficial way. If you lock the BL on Global Official it will brick the Chinese phone.
Now if you want to mod it and stay on Xiaomi.eu custom ROMs then you'd be alright. Just check for the missing band I don't know if it's US or EU...
But keep in mind they can install whatever ROM or spyware or ads they want. Do you want to take that chance? If you don't care and want to install Xiaomi.eu right away get knowledgeable and don't enter anything (banking info etc) before flashing. The cheapest Chinese one I found on sale was $426 and the reviews "looked" positive on Alibaba but digging deeper tons of phone issues and no warranty service or DOA service. 45-60 day delivery times. I said screw that and paid more for a reputable source. Of course it's your choice.
mslezak said:
Well they are cheaper for a reason. They aren't designed to be used out of China. They are missing a band (can't recall which one). They have to unlock the bootloader (15 day wait) before flashing it or have to do it some unofficial way. If you lock the BL it will brick the phone.
Now if you want to mod it and stay on Xiaomi.eu custom ROMs then you'd be alright. Just check for the missing band I don't know if it's US or EU...
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Good enough for me then. I'm not use to these phones, I've generally had phones that were a bit more straight forward.
Ducter said:
Good enough for me then. I'm not use to these phones, I've generally had phones that were a bit more straight forward.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ducter -
You'd do fine with the 64GB Global. It takes 2 SIM cards right off the bat. Most people don't know you can just use Google Photos (you may need it from the Play Store) and it will store all your high res photos for free saving space on the device. https://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_009200231138.html?wid=1349303 you can use Topcashback for 3.5% off if you want. https://www.topcashback.com/ref/mslezak and use a cash back credit card over PayPal for more back. So I got 4.5% off. Or $477.50 total and no sketchy website, great packaging, and tracking.
mslezak said:
Google Pay: apparently, to use it in the US, you need to go to Settings / More / Secure Element Position / use HCE wallet. The default SIM wallet gets rejected everywhere (you get "insert chip card" or "card read error"). The supposedly more secure "Secure Element" doesn't register at any terminals I encountered. Could be that the tech is too new to have support. I don't know I figured this out today after forgetting my wallet and having the gas tank empty sign pop up...
Now for carrier support - I'm in Houston, Texas. So far, I'm on MINT wireless (T-Mobile MVNO). It gets great LTE everywhere - 63.9MBps down 27.6 up at my house inside the 610 loop on a Saturday evening. In Katy, TX (west of Houston) I'm getting 13.2MBps down 8.1 up at 1045AM Monday inside a huge office building. For reference, my Moto Z2 Force on Sprint basically gets similar results and its modem is optimized for Sprint's LTE network aggregation. So I'd say that's a win.
I checked all the bands and towers prior to ordering. The missing T-Mobile US bands are B66 and B71 - these happen to be only on towers that have the Mi 9 supported bands (B2 B4 B12). I.e., you won't have B66 if you don't already have a supported band. B71 is using old over the air TV frequencies so it isn't available in most markets to begin with, as there are still TV stations occupying the band. I checked all the tower maps across the country and it looks like pretty solid coverage although I haven't gone cross country with the phone yet.
Now you can use AT&T or Cricket (MVNO) and it only is missing band 30. Apparently this can matter in congested markets but the phone supports carrier band aggregation so you are likely not to notice much difference. Anyone with experience please post your results.
Here's the link to check frequency support if you desire to see for yourself. Finding the actual towers is more work zooming in on towers to see the bands available...
https://www.frequencycheck.com/comp...te-m1902f1g-xiaomi-battle-angel/united-states
Hope this helps some of you out!
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Awesome! I am still highly considering getting the Mi 9.
I go to this site for freq questions:
https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker/US/xiaomi-mi-9
I would probably go with the Transparent version, as I have seen it on ebay for the 256GB version for less than $700...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Xiaomi-Mi-...e-Mobile-LTE-Unlocked-Global-Rom/223482996714
I am REALLY wanting the OnePlus 7 Pro, but if it is more than $750, then I think I will go with the Mi 9.
thevirgonian said:
Awesome! I am still highly considering getting the Mi 9.
I go to this site for freq questions:
https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker/US/xiaomi-mi-9
I would probably go with the Transparent version, as I have seen it on ebay for the 256GB version for less than $700...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Xiaomi-Mi-...e-Mobile-LTE-Unlocked-Global-Rom/223482996714
I am REALLY wanting the OnePlus 7 Pro, but if it is more than $750, then I think I will go with the Mi 9.
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Click to collapse
$645 that's a kick ass phone. My brother has the latest iPhone and Samsung Galaxy I like the Mi 9 more. All your preference. Mi 9 is rated top photos and video by dxomark (https://www.diyphotography.net/xiaomi-mi9-camera-beats-out-the-iphone-xs-max-in-dxo-mark-test/) and is the fastest phone ATM see my 64GB model AnTuTu can't imagine what the extra RAM will do.
Be aware it won't come with Google apps installed although you can add it. Chinese version. You probably will need to unlock the BL (15 day wait) and burn the Xiaomi.eu ROM for best USA support. I don't know how they are selling it that cheap to be honest. $600 on AliExpress +$13 DHL shipping if you trust AliExpress... YMMV https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32999...d=2750amp-F88T4W4zk6Om8WCBZyD3TQ1556644946258
mslezak said:
$645 that's a kick ass phone. My brother has the latest iPhone and Samsung Galaxy I like the Mi 9 more. All your preference. Mi 9 is rated top photos and video by dxomark (https://www.diyphotography.net/xiaomi-mi9-camera-beats-out-the-iphone-xs-max-in-dxo-mark-test/) and is the fastest phone ATM see my 64GB model AnTuTu can't imagine what the extra RAM will do.
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AND it still has the IR blaster, which I REALLY miss from my Lg G5 days. That is actually REALLY valuable when it comes to controlling your TV.
The MAIN reason when I even want the OnePlus 7 Pro at this point is because it is supposed to have UFS 3.0, which should make everything about the phone much faster...I just wish it was going to have an IR blaster.
...and of course the "no questions asked" bootloader unlock and rooting that OnePlus allows. I can't live without root...
From what I can see there is a 15 day wait time for the official Xiaomi unlock site. I don't even want to wait 15 days!! LOL
thevirgonian said:
AND it still has the IR blaster, which I REALLY miss from my Lg G5 days. That is actually REALLY valuable when it comes to controlling your TV.
The MAIN reason when I even want the OnePlus 7 Pro at this point is because it is supposed to have UFS 3.0, which should make everything about the phone much faster...I just wish it was going to have an IR blaster.
...and of course the "no questions asked" bootloader unlock and rooting that OnePlus allows. I can't live without root...
From what I can see there is a 15 day wait time for the official Xiaomi unlock site. I don't even want to wait 15 days!! LOL
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Click to collapse
Yeah my unlock opens up Friday so I feel you. See my post I edited $613 AliExpress 256GB Transparent edition Mi 9 but please, please check the company feedback! I cancelled an order before after reading from the Mi Store empty boxes, broken phones, used phones arriving... And they were a top rated store!
IR blaster is awesome I turn on my TVs and DVRs and it supports basically anything made (even off brand) and is super convenient
I'm using this phone in Canada. no problems with reception or anything it just works great! Main reason I bought it was for the IR blaster. A month in I must say I'm loving it! Running the eu ROM on Chinese 128gb model I bought on AliExpress
thevirgonian said:
Awesome! I am still highly considering getting the Mi 9.
I go to this site for freq questions:
https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker/US/xiaomi-mi-9
I would probably go with the Transparent version, as I have seen it on ebay for the 256GB version for less than $700...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Xiaomi-Mi-...e-Mobile-LTE-Unlocked-Global-Rom/223482996714
I am REALLY wanting the OnePlus 7 Pro, but if it is more than $750, then I think I will go with the Mi 9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something to note fellow modder the Mi 9 running Xiaomi.eu weekly edition can use EX Manager to overclock the GPU and people are getting 400-420k AnTuTu benchmarks depending on how you set it up. Higher end scores turn off Fsync which is all fine if your system is stable - if not it can be bad - alters memory checks. I'm not sure you want a GPU running that hot all the time - RevOS has a game mode so you can turn it on just for games or whenever you want. Battery likely will drain quickly. Nonetheless that's faster than the leaked OnePlus Pro benchmarks. Revolution OS you have to add EX Kernel manager to the Game Turbo program to get it to throttle, unlock BL, TWRP, Magisk, etc. https://sourceforge.net/projects/revolutionos-miui/files/ I think straight Xiaomi.eu is cleaner 9.4.26 but haven't tried it yet. Some people say it is rock solid even at 810Mhz OC on the GPU. 2 days left to start modding...
In all honesty OnePlus devs will likely enable the same hacks so take the phone you prefer.
I'm using the Chinese variant on ATT. No issues whatsoever. I unlocked the BL and running ROS rom. Using GPay also. I bought it online from Giztop.
anandlal said:
I'm using the Chinese variant on ATT. No issues whatsoever. I unlocked the BL and running ROS rom. Using GPay also. I bought it online from Giztop.
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Click to collapse
Are you getting LTE+ connections?
Sent from my MI 9 using Tapatalk
pimpmaneaton said:
Are you getting LTE+ connections?
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LTE+ and VoLTE both.
anandlal said:
LTE+ and VoLTE both.
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Have you changed any network settings at all. I have a Chinese variant and no matter what, I cannot get this to go LTE+ when my last few previous phones have. Am on tmobile but bands are supported for carrier aggregation.
Could you possibly take a screen shot of the phone information in *#*#4636#*#*. Scroll down to remove the first 3 lines in the screen shot. Just want to see the rest of the information.
Sent from my MI 9 using Tapatalk
pimpmaneaton said:
Have you changed any network settings at all. I have a Chinese variant and no matter what, I cannot get this to go LTE+ when my last few previous phones have. Am on tmobile but bands are supported for carrier aggregation.
Could you possibly take a screen shot of the phone information in *#*#4636#*#*. Scroll down to remove the first 3 lines in the screen shot. Just want to see the rest of the information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go.
anandlal said:
Here you go.
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Click to collapse
Sorry, can you take it with network data connected(WiFi off).
Sent from my MI 9 using Tapatalk
pimpmaneaton said:
Sorry, can you take it with network data connected(WiFi off).
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Click to collapse
Keep in mind that I live out in the suburbs of Denver and have poor reception. I normally use a Microcell tower at home. I turned it off for this screenshot.

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