Unknown brands of mobile phones

MouldyOldDough

Amazon has a plethora of unknown Chinese brands of mobile phones

eg) https://amzn.eu/d/hojxnJy and https://amzn.eu/d/3i8e1rP

extremely cheaply - for the specs

I was wondering what they are really like - are they really bargains ?

or is there a downside ?

I mean a (virtually) 7" screen, fast 8 core processor, fast charging 5000mAh battery, a 50Mpixel camera and a huge storage capacity and Android 14 for around £150 - can you go wrong ?

DullGreyGuy

Yes, a 50 mega pixel camera only tells you how many dots makes up the photo, if they're using a toffee wrapper as a lens it will be 50,000,000 blurry dots that are unusable for anything. Quality control can also be poor and these arent sold by Amazon themselves so can be more challenging for returns/refunds when it stops working in a few months.,

ButterCheese

I have had Samsungs and Motorolas before and every one of them has gone wrong in some way after a few years.  The Chinese ones may or may not be any worse or any better, but it's a bit of a gamble.  But most of the inards (apart from the camera lense etc) are pretty much the same and will work as well; the brands have a huge mark up for what is essentially the same technology.

HillStreetBlues

I had a Blackview, never had an issue with it, friend is on their 2nd one and the same. Neither of us are big photo takers thou.

MouldyOldDough

HillStreetBlues said:

I had a Blackview, never had an issue with it, friend is on their 2nd one and the same. Neither of us are big photo takers thou.

Same with me 
I buy phones for communication and web browsing not photography 

teaselMay

I've had a few, all of them the ones sold as rugged outdoor/builders phones. Exactly the same phone is often 30% cheaper on Ebay, but I've used Amazon because of returns policy. The initial one I bought was good, good camera too but supposed to be waterproof and its first dunking 6 months after buying confirmed it wasn't. Amazon gave a full refund. I replaced it with a Ulephone armor something or other, around the £140 mark 3 years ago. Which has been great. Last summer because I've managed to crack one of the camera lenses slightly after dropping it many many times over the years, I decided to replace it as it won't be water proof now because of the crack. 

I bought and sent back 3 different phones before finding one that did what it was supposed to. That one I kept for about 6 months and then its interaction with card readers (?NFC) failed and a few other things seemed to be failing. Again Amazon refunded without bother. I'm back using the 3 year old Ulephone with its cracked lens for now and I suspect I'll have another go at finding one that does what I want it to in a year or two.

RumRat

They won't last long as they don't get security updates for any decent amount of time. 
Don't get blinded by the figures which don't mean much if the support runs out after a couple of years and the components are cheap.
Even the Chinese sell decent phones but at prices nearer the main stream prices.

TMSG

"Unknown" is a very relative term I've used (and recommended) Blackview devices* for some time now and they have built a reputation WRT their rugged phones. Ulefone seems pretty similar but I've not used them personally. A brand I'd keep away from is Doogee, though that is purely based on the fact that some years ago they included spyware with their phones.
* Last BV item I bought a few weeks ago was a new 10" tablet, 4GB/128GB/WIFI/dual 4G SIMs for ~£60... works perfectly and is in fact an amazing bargain. YMMV.

Ayr_Rage

I've had 2 Ulefone handsets and now on a Realme.

All 3 have been very good and at a fraction of the cost of those of my old work colleagues who almost without exception went for Apple or Samsung, NATS pay their ATCOs far too much.

Vitor

Chances are all the specs will be exaggerated by 50%, the 50MP camera is probably an 8MP sensor which is scaled up in software 

jshm2

They aren't "unknown" - what you mean is, they aren't common brands you'll find on the UK high street. 

They usually are decent brands, with decent sales in the East or USA/Canada. They tend to "test" their stuff over here with lower prices or custom spec to get a feel of what the market is after. Hence why they will usually be problematic in the first couple of versions before getting it "right". 

The stuff is usually good, but if not, then you can normally get a full refund. The only downside is getting parts to repair such "import" devices. But you cannot complain about a 100-200 buck phone, when you expected the performance or features of something from the 500-600 bucks range.