www.chinaphonearena.com

My last phone was a Samsung Galaxy S2 which unfortunately has just died.

I live in the UK and my budget is £65/$100 usd.

I play games on my phone but nothing really intensive, mostly dragon quest and early final fantasy games, I mostly use it for reading books.

4g would be nice, but not essential as i cant justlfy the extra expense of 4g data.

I very rarely take photographs, probably one or two a month at the most so a good camera isnt really needed.

I access the internet alot, mainly using firefox, and various apps, also a bit of youtube, but most of the time its via wifi, so it needs to have a good connection.

i very rarely use google maps or anything that requires gps.

A minimum of 4.7 inch screen, not too bothered about hd as my Samsung had a perfectly fine resolution for my needs.

i used to flash lots of different roms on a regular basis on my Samsung, but what research ive done it doesnt appear that there is much support for custom roms on my shortlist.

Ability to ROOT is essential, being able to install XPOSED with gravity box would be nice.

My Shortlist:

• Doogee DG310 £50
  
• Blackview Zeta £56
  
• MLAIS M9 £64
  
• THL 4000 £66
  

The Blackview Zeta has only just caught my attention following the review on gizbeat.com, from the review its looking like the one im going to purchase but would like a little feedback as things that look good on paper sometime are not as good in real life.

Are these phones way more powerfull than what i need and would i be served just as well with a cheaper phone, but to be honest the phones that cost £15 less than the Zeta look on paper like the should be £50 less.

Thanks for taking the time to read and give any help or advice.

Mark

The Mlais m9 seems like the best choice.
You can see a comparison here:
http://www.kimovil.com/en/compare/blackv...9,thl-4000

The m9 is selling for 79$:
http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?u=1047204&b=416079&m=18404&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Efocalprice%2Ecom%2FMK0364B%2FMlais%5FM9%5F5%2E0%5FSmartphone%5FIPS%5F960x540%5FAndroid%5F4%2E4%5FMTK6592%5FOcta%5Fcore%5F1%2E4GHz%5F1GB%2Ehtml

This is a really tough call. I've reviewed all four of these phones. I think I'd take the DG310 out of the running. It's a decent phone, but it has the worst camera and display pixel density of the bunch.

If you value battery life, the THL 4000 is the one to get, hands down. You will get 8-10 hours onscreen using WiFi and lowish brightness on 1 charge. That's been my phone for the last 9 months or so. I've really liked it and it's withstood the test of time.

I've just reviewed the Zeta and it's got the best display of the bunch. I'd say colorwise the THL 4000 has as nice a display as the Zeta, but the Zeta has higher density. The Zeta I think also has a better camera than the THL 4000 (though THL 4000 takes decent pictures). It's also only $81 at Gearbest now.

The M9 isn't a bad choice either... Probably the slickest looking of the 3. It has the fastest charging battery (2 hours flat, compared to 3-3.5 hours for the Zeta and 4-5 hours for the THL 4000), but not quite as good battery life as the Zeta and display not as nice as the THL 4000 or Zeta.

Not sure if that helps, but hopefully has helped you narrow it down.

@ akivas

Thank you very much for the LINK that compares the phones, its really handy to see them side by side.

@ Gizbeat

Thank you for the assist, I was initially going for the dg310 as it met my needs at a great price, but for just a little bit more money it looks like i can get a lot more phone.

I think its going to be a toss up between the Zeta and the M9 on Friday when I order the phone, I will try and get a spare battery too so the exra life of the THL 4000 wont really be a factor.

I will post a personel review/opinion on whatever I get.

Thank you very much for gizbeat.com, as i knew nothing about "foreign" phones before reading your reviews, hopefully it has helped me pick a winner from the multitude of "unknown" manufactures and huge range of models.

Many Thanks,

Mark.