With many big name phones, the buyer is paying for huge marketing costs, mark ups in the distribution channels and for the after sales service and support that they can give locally.
But when buying direct from China, any warranties or after sales support offered is difficult to use in practise.
However, a similar spec or even better phone can be purchased direct from China at very low prices.
There are hundreds of phone manufacturers of all sorts in China. Many of the names are little known abroad.
Then there are many online sellers who are nothing more than box shifters with little or no technical expertise.
It is therefore important to choose a phone from a reputable seller who have a good quality control system in place.
Such a seller may not be the cheapest but would offer only phones that they know are of good quality and reliability.
Many experienced China phone users here.
Could you please recommend a quality seller?!
Cheers!
Well that's all most shops are. Not just in China, but anywhere in the world. They're just the middle man.
The best you can hope for is a seller who will answer you when you write them, and honor their warranty. Beyond that, you won't find it. What else do you want though? That's the reason you're able to get a large, quad-core, IPS, 1GB RAM phone for less than $150 shipped. If it ends up having some problem, well that's electronics. Samsung and HTC and Apple electronics go bad all the time.
In regards to having a seller who will answer you and honor the warranty, you can trust Lightake and Merimobiles, our sponsors. Merimobiles and Chinaphonearena are currently in negotiations, but we still stand behind them in regards to being trusted. We also will also advocate for you if there ends up being some issue.
I bought a H7500+ from MeriMobiles and they where great, they answered all my messages with 48 hours, they seemed very professional and I have read lots good reviews of them.
@ WoollyMammoth
Good to hear from a satisfied customer.
Noticed that Merrymobiles offer a 'Root Firmware Install' for $6.99
Apart from rooting, do they flash a reliable ROM, remove all the Chinese stuff and install multi-language OS, Google Play Store, etc.
They're going to give you the phone as is from the factory unless otherwise paid for / requested. Depending on the phone, that could mean no Chinese apps, or many. They should be able to tell you regarding firmware if it's got the language you need. Assuming you buy a relatively well known brand, it will be a multilingual firmware.
Regarding root, I don't recommend paying for that. You can do it yourself in 5 minutes or less. MTK Droid Tools can remove all/most known Chinese apps if it happens to come with them.
Use coupon code arena for 5% discount at meri. It should still be working.
Lightake is very reputable as well. They've been around a long time and I can recommend them.
I didn't choose that option but the phone came with Android 4.2.1, it was in English with lots of other languages to choose. It had PlayStore installed by default. It had 1 Chinese app that I easily uninstalled, there was no bloat ware just a few games (fruit ninja, turbo fly 3d) and a app called something like system checker that checks all the different parts of your phones working all right, these apps can be uninstalled if you want.
(2013-09-29, 21:14)Gizbeat Wrote: [ -> ]Regarding root, I don't recommend paying for that. You can do it yourself in 5 minutes or less. MTK Droid Tools can remove all/most known Chinese apps if it happens to come with them.
I could not find MTK Droid Tools at the playstore.
Is it the same as Mobileuncle MTK Tools?
No, not same. Download it from here in the root sub forums.
I just bought a zopo zp990 from to2c and the service is excellent. So is the phone. It's the first time I buy something from china (directly I mean) and it took me a month comparing between all the offer. to2c was cheaper and looked reliable...it is so far.
I recently bought a phone from Merimobiles, the TianheH920+, and can attest to their customer service. I orered and paid on Sept 18th, paid for the 3-6 day shipping via DHL, and it arrived today, September 30th. Their prices are decent, the discount codes work, and, most importantly, they respond to emails and live chats. I was also pleasantly surprised when I received a phone call from them asking me to confirm my shipping information. This was my first time ordering a Chinese smartphone, and they have my full support.