www.chinaphonearena.com

I've had a Runbo X5 for about a year and personally I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The reasons why are as follows:

1. No customer support
At one point I had bricked the phone because I didn't now how to root it and I messed up. I admit that it was my own fault. I tried to get a hold of Runbo for help, the problem is that you can't get a hold of them. I tried email, Twitter, and Facebook but got no answer. Finally, I found a guy in India(I'm American) and paid him $80.

2. No Jelly Bean update:
At one point on their FaceBook page they said there would be an update from ICS to Jelly Bean. I was really excited about that because I LOVE the ThemerBeta Themes and Themer Beta does work with ICS. Well, they update never came.

3. Their website sucks:
Unless you speak Chinese their website is a pain in the ass to use, even with Google Translator. On top of that, the last time I checked, they don't even advertise the X5 anymore on the site.

4. They are crooked:
When I got the phone I made a youtube video called "Runbo X5 the Man phone". There's a company called Leeline that sells rugged phones which I'm sure is connected to Runbo. Leeline took my video, without asking me and them used to sell the Runbo Q5. I even asked them to take the video down because it's false advertising and even waited a few days. I also emailed them too. Guess what? No reply to the email or in the comments section of the video of mine that they STOLE!!! So I flagged it.

So there you have it these are my reasons for not buying/recommending Runbo products anymore. If you want a rugged phone I would recommend you look at Casio, Kyocera or the the Caterpillar B15Q.

Interesting write up.
Unfortunately, what you are writing is pretty much what happens with most smaller and even some of the larger chinese phone companies.
their after-sales support is simply non-existing or lackluster at best.
there are a few noteworthy exceptions which are higly commendable.

But also don't forget, their phones are not only cheap(er) because they are made in China (most branded phones are also) but also because these companies spend no money for advertising, usually no quality control, no after-sales support and mostly no further development.
If you are into the chinese phone market that is something you have to be aware of.

I bet if you'd try to contact Apple or Samsung directly, you would not get a helpful answer either, if at all.
I have a Samsung Galaxy Grand which has numerous ROM Problems, but Samsung also does not care about it.

if you want a decently supported Chinese phone, i highly recommend Xiaomi, they push ROM updates fairly frequently (every 1-2 months) with Bugfixes and even improvements.
even their lowest entry level phone, the first MTK based Redmi still gets updates.

Also, you might want to check out our forum sponsor Doogee, they have been coming out with quality phones and also there is support.

(2014-08-11, 13:53)linr76 Wrote: [ -> ]Interesting write up.
Unfortunately, what you are writing is pretty much what happens with most smaller and even some of the larger chinese phone companies.
their after-sales support is simply non-existing or lackluster at best.
there are a few noteworthy exceptions which are higly commendable.

But also don't forget, their phones are not only cheap(er) because they are made in China (most branded phones are also) but also because these companies spend no money for advertising, usually no quality control, no after-sales support and mostly no further development.
If you are into the chinese phone market that is something you have to be aware of.

I bet if you'd try to contact Apple or Samsung directly, you would not get a helpful answer either, if at all.
I have a Samsung Galaxy Grand which has numerous ROM Problems, but Samsung also does not care about it.

if you want a decently supported Chinese phone, i highly recommend Xiaomi, they push ROM updates fairly frequently (every 1-2 months) with Bugfixes and even improvements.
even their lowest entry level phone, the first MTK based Redmi still gets updates.

Also, you might want to check out our forum sponsor Doogee, they have been coming out with quality phones and also there is support.

I've got a Cat B15 now. I needed a rugged phone because I work in construction. Actaully I bricked it, but at least they have good customer service so I sent it in to get fixed, hopefully it won't cost me too much.

Thanks for your advice though I'm gonna look into those other phone companies you mentioned.