Based on materials from phonearena.com
If you look at the top ten smartphone manufacturers, it turns out that most of them are somehow connected with China. However, they do not exhaust the list of Chinese manufacturers, most of which play outside the Western market, but from time to time invade it, tempting users with tempting characteristics at half price.
You cannot indiscriminately accuse all Chinese people at once that characteristics are just a facade. Fortunately, times are changing. However, there is a large market for little-known, unbranded or just low-quality devices, and in all situations, without exception, their purchase is a tangible compromise. You are guaranteed a low price, but let's not forget that local businesses want to make money, not lose it. Not that it was unrealistic to acquire a good “Chinese” profitably. However, be careful. Here are some of the pitfalls identified over the years with Chinese vehicles of all stripes. Be carefull!
1. Pay attention to supported networks.
The first and probably the most obvious tip. Always remember that a cheap device you are about to buy may not be designed for your area. Accordingly, the networks may not be supported by your carrier or may be in a different standard at all. An example is the Chinese TD-SCDMA network, which is much larger than the competing 3G WCDMA and operates almost exclusively in China. If you don't live in one of the few countries using CDMA 2000, your local 3G standard is WCDMA. Check this moment when buying a Chinese device. And that is not all. You need to know what frequencies it supports, for example 900/1900/2100 MHz, and make sure they are supported by your carrier. Sometimes it happens that only some are suitable, and the rest are not, and then the phone will work in your networks, but keep in mind that the network may drop outside the city or the connection will be poor.
2. Chinese chargers.
Since the unit was intended for use in China, it will come with a local charger that will not work with your home outlets. Some manufacturers in online stores have localization and can replace the charger for you, but in general the problem is there.
You can buy an adapter, or you can use any charger from those that are lying around in your home, but if it is old or of insufficient power, the process of charging the device may be delayed.
3. Lack of headphones included.
To keep prices low, Chinese manufacturers who make cheap devices are forced to save. An example of such savings is the lack of headphones in the kit of most “Chinese”. True, this is unlikely to be a factor that will make you refuse to purchase.
4. Little built-in memory.
Another way to save money for Chinese manufacturers is the small amount of internal memory in their smartphones, especially in the most budget ones. And it's not that difficult to find a device with only 4 GB 'on board'.
To compensate for this disadvantage, such devices usually support microSD memory cards, due to which the memory can be expanded up to 32 GB or more. This is enough for most users, but remember that this is not a perfect replacement for onboard memory – it is slower, less secure and prone to errors. In addition, new versions Android no longer allow you to store applications and their information on SD cards, so very soon you will have no space. So get at least an 8GB device. Then thank you for the advice.
5. Protection of the camera.
In expensive Chinese smartphones, you can expect that the camera lens will be covered with a protective scratch-resistant material – best of all, sapphire crystal. The situation is different with budget devices. There, an unprotected lens is very easy to scratch, and it is clear how this will affect the quality of images in the future.
So be sure to use a protective case or at least keep the machine away from keys and other sharp objects that could damage the cover.
6. Lack of sufficient screen protection.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, your new Chinese is probably not good at protecting the screen from bumps and scratches. As you can imagine, this happens for the same reason – because of the savings in order to reduce the price of the device. And this is a very serious compromise. Since our phones live in a world full of dangers, if a Chinese manufacturer does use Gorilla Glass or its equivalent, it will literally scream about it at every turn.
7. Poor quality touch screens.
Another component of your smartphone, invisible at first glance. Few people think about handling touchscreen clicks. But only until the moment when you encounter a low-quality example, and then you can regret your purchase.
Since most buyers are only interested in screen size and resolution, nothing is said about the quality of the touchscreen. Unfortunately, little depends on you here, and you will never know if the screen is doing well with its main function until you start working with the device. And worst of all, even with good components, they can function poorly due to the general ill-conceived design.
Have you encountered the described problems when buying Chinese devices? And what do you personally consider critical, and what do you think can be neglected? Share in the comments!
To be continued…