Price dropped further on Banggood if you use the code 'zzukxmas'. Down to $169.46 which is just £136.20 at the current exchange rate!

This phone is the steal of the century at this price - providing you have the technical chops to flash updated ROMs. An Android 7 nougat ROM is currently in testing in China as well.

Not started using my phone yet, but I've been impressed with the build quality and performance. The fingerprint sensor is absolutely lightning fast and the 'swiping' abilities of the sensor are pretty useful as well.

I'm not going to do that, I couldn't do it any better than the very comprehensive step-by-step guide on http://zukfans.eu/

Yes, the OTA updates appear but you can't download them without a proxy connection to China.

Further observations now I've been with it for an afternoon - the ringtone/notification volume is a bit weird, on its quietest it's too loud and on the loudest it's only slightly louder!

There are a few annoyances in the software, such as spelling mistakes and the fact that searches in the Google app don't show up in the multitask window. The settings menu is a bit different to that on other Android phones (the normal Android settings are under Zui's "Advanced" options - is date/time really advanced??). It didn't recognise my BT SIM as BT so had to delete the wrong APNs, and the connection is referred to as T-Mobile in the menu/phone app which is a bit pre-historic since they've been EE for ages, although it does say BT in standby,

Overall when there's official Cyanogen support I'll probably move that way.

Back to $189.99 with code "zukz21111" - part of the black friday deals.

In my opinion: there is no cheap SD820 with 4Gb RAM 64Gb flash (not ROM) that he should pick. brooky_agn is coming from the very smooth and polished iPhone environment experience. He had a very minor dabble with a Nexus 5X. A high hardware specs Chinese phone with somewhat flaky software and not fully supporting UK 4G bands and UK google services is certainly not the ideal choice for him. He will run back to iOS crying about how poor the Android user experience is and how much better is iOS.

If he wants to try switching to Android, he would be far better off paying the high price for a top quality and top specs device (e.g. Galaxy S7, the new Pixels phones, HTC 10, Sony Experia XZ or the like) or if money is an issue, go for a lower specs device with good software and support (e.g. Moto G4, Samsung J3 or S6 on sale, etc)

I think this phone is much more for someone familiar and confortable with Android who is looking for top hardware specs for low money and is willing to "pay" for it by putting a bit more effort in customisation and configuration.

Would be good if didn't have to flash a new rom to get Google play store to work

Same here I've now flashed the international rom and seems to work fine now but before that was awful

Great deal, thanks!

Damn that's tempting

Isn't there taxes to be paid on this price?

this is HOT!

Just can't decide what phone to get. Keen to try android for the first time but not sure I can be bothed to mess about with ROMs developed and maintained by individuals who may be here one day and not the next. Gutted the new pixel phone is such a rip.

I'm tempted, but:

"Problem with the google play services

By jayrouso2016-09-15 00:39:31

First impression was very good, appearance, speed etc are really fine. However I cannot donwload anything from the play store, only through broswer. Gmail does not work because there is an issue with the google play services. Hoping a solution to be found. Also, there is an overheating problem.

Banggood Reply:

Dear customer
we apologize for any inconvenience to you,about your product problem, our customer service have contacted you, we would give you a solution in time.

5 people found this helpful.

HelpfulNot Helpful

 Not for International Usage (Outside china)

By daminux2016-08-30 02:20:05

I don't understand what this product is sale outside China, OS "custom" and google services doesn't work. Google Play Store and doesnt works. Phone is unusable. i'm a little bit dissapointed

4 people found this helpful.

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 Aprovado

By Sr_Kron2016-09-22 15:25:57

Ótimo aparelho. Um excelente custo benefício. Aparelho com hardware topo de linha e com preço acessível. Muito rápido.

3 people found this helpful.

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 Awesome but super buggy International rom !

By Jakofsa2016-10-04 03:09:21

Really amazing what these Chinese phone companies can do and still have such a competitive price. Dont know why they chose to ship the international units with really buggy roms ! The play store does not work at all."

You've never tried android ??

Yes my wife has a Nexus 5x which is great. I should rephrase that I've never lived with Android as every day phone only iPhone.

It's possible you'll have to pay extra to have it delivered.

How much one has to pay for the custom?

​Where did you find the international rom? What is the procedure?

No band 20 (800mhz) I guess? :disappointed:

​This is not for the faint hearted like me. Half the website is in German or other foreign language. Lots of people having problems on the website with no solution.

Insane specification for the price. Remember to go through Topcashback / Quidco for 6% cashback...might not be successful because of the voucher code but gotta be in it to win it

£180+ now.

You're not applying the code deal still live.

I'm a numpty. Thanks.

Wow amazing price!!
Paid £168 after Cashback shipped from in the UK for mine when I got super lucky on eBay.
At £157 it's unbeatable surely? Hopefully you don't get stung by customs, I've always been lucky.

Don't put yourself down, it happens to the best of us. Pull yourself back up and stand tall my friend!

Could also give 6% TCB a go, no harm it may pay out.

Will this work on the uk 4G networks?

Best specs are useless without bug free software. From what you can read on different forums this phone has a lot of problems with international rom. People resorting to flashing Chinese rom and removing Chinese bloatware.

I was tempted by the spec but prefer 5.5 inch. Plus software support is important. Went for Redmi Note 4 in end as it has a good global rom and miui.eu rom too. It is as fast as this too from watching speed comparisons so even though it has SD820 it can't be very well optomised.

Great price though for sure.

Honestly, don't go for this phone. Coming from an iphone, you are used to a fully managed experience. A non U.K. model requiring custom rom for U.K. service would be far too removed from the iPhone experience. Go for an official uk model from a major brand.

Can you post which SD820 phone with 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM he should pick? Then he can see whether it's worth the trade off to him to go for the UK one? (Or compromise on specs for a lesser phone for the same price?)

In summary a cracking spec phone with either unsuitable official ROM or buggy 3rd party ones.

Not for me. :smiley:

Import tax & handling fees would be a bitch!

eBay is only 1.05% Cashback but every little helps.
https://www.topcashback.co.uk/ebay/
You just make an account, search for the retailer while you're logged in and click through their link to track your purchase.
It works best on incognito tabs because the only tracking will be topcashback rather than any other referrer.

Whoops, just deleted my comment by accident but cheers for the response! It's good to know how the cashback thing works, i have never used it before and could save a fair amount in the long-term. Just wondering though, on the 'ltegrow' eBay store it is showing as £204.98 and with the 10% discount they are offering it brings it down to £184.89. With another 1% discount via TCP this would be £183.05, so i'm curious as to how you managed only £168 from here?

I'm not clear which ROM is being recommended for UK use can anyone post a direct linl?

Someone mentioned in previous post that the Indian rom was very good as well, don't worry about language its all in English

Thanks both, I'll be back when the phone is delivered.

I don't mean to be a nuisance or anything but... Any chance you could shed some light regarding my comment above? :stuck_out_tongue: I would place an order now if i could get the phone from a UK supplier for £168, but until then i'm not sure what to do.

android 7 ready?

If you go with one of the official ROMs you don't need to unlock the bootloader (you can request the unlocking from Lenovo).Official ROMs

The £168 was the old price with 10% discount. Now the seller has put up the price, so you won't be able to get that price. :smile:
I managed to bag one at £168. I flashed the India ROM with the MiFlash tool. See the ZUKFANS forum for more details.

I got lucky because they were selling at £189.99 and I did the 10% discount trick!
After they realised what had happened the price went up to £204.99.
They did ship it and honour price though so props to them!

The specs are good for the price paid

Ah, now it makes sense. I didn't realise the price had been increased by the seller. Sounds like you managed to snatch a good deal but, not sure what i should do now. Of course, £185 is still a decent price but it's made me reluctant spending this since other people have managed to get it cheaper!

Don't fancy ordering from China and having to wait a month for it to arrive, then be faced with mammoth charges for import tax and customs duty. Guess i'll have to wait and see whether another deal comes up or something. Goddammit.

I have bought quite a few phones/gadgets/computers from banggood/aliexpress/gearbest & so far haven't been hit with any import charges, always use the normal free postage never the paid for express delivery.

This is so tempting and such a good price but I use NFC which it doesn't have.

I wonder if the xiaomi mi5 will come down to this sort of money now that the mi5s is out?

Big thanks to OP, I've been eyeing this phone for ages so had to take the plunge at this price. Awesome spec for the money. Used Topcashback (tracked already at around £10 value), plus got some screen protectors and a case from there too, as I'm guessing I probably won't find an exact fit for it here in the UK.

You can buy screen protectors and cases for this on eBay shipped from China just in case you need any more.

Also the glass screen protector is the price for 2 of them in case you thought i was being ripped off!
The iron man one arrived today and I'm really pleased with it. Can relax about breaking the phone by accident now, just need the screen protectors and can let it get abused without any damage to the phone underneath.

​Was ROM pre-rooted? I want it know if I can install those banking apps with clever root/dev ROM detection algorithms.

Thanks

Awesome spec but needed full UK 4G capability. Appreciate to pay more.

In my opinion: there is no cheap SD820 with 4Gb RAM 64Gb flash (not ROM) that he should pick. brooky_agn is coming from the very smooth and polished iPhone environment experience. He had a very minor dabble with a Nexus 5X. A high hardware specs Chinese phone with somewhat flaky software and not fully supporting UK 4G bands and UK google services is certainly not the ideal choice for him. He will run back to iOS crying about how poor the Android user experience is and how much better is iOS.

If he wants to try switching to Android, he would be far better off paying the high price for a top quality and top specs device (e.g. Galaxy S7, the new Pixels phones, HTC 10, Sony Experia XZ or the like) or if money is an issue, go for a lower specs device with good software and support (e.g. Moto G4, Samsung J3 or S6 on sale, etc)

I think this phone is much more for someone familiar and confortable with Android who is looking for top hardware specs for low money and is willing to "pay" for it by putting a bit more effort in customisation and configuration.

If they brought this to the UK with a UK/European-based rom, added B20 4G support (& a MicroSD slot + NFC if possible), this would probably sell by the bucketload - even if they charged £100-150 extra.

You guys will be pleased to know that i finally ordered the phone after much debating. I noticed the black version was unavailable from that eBay store in the UK so i decided to order from Banggood instead. It went from £181.50 to £156.90 with the discount code, and then 6% cashback on TopCashback brought it down to £147.23. This will be an awesome deal if i manage to avoid any additional expenses when importing, keeping my fingers crossed.

I was a bit scared at first because i switched back to the TopCashback website to find there was no credit in my account, but eventually after a few minutes i received an email telling me it had been added. Phew! As someone who has never paid customs expenses before, can someone explain what actually happens if i end up being unlucky? I'm guessing the delivery driver would ask for payment when he arrives but honestly, i have no idea what to expect if the worst comes to the worst.

How long does delivery take usually?

Its not really customs it's import VAT.
With RM you get a card through the door like you've missed the delivery and have to go to the collection office and pay (cash only!) the amount shown on the card.

It's £8 charge + import VAT of item.

I actually have no problem paying my fair share of tax, including VAT. It's the £8 charge and cash only (no card on collection or ability to pay it up front) that really annoys me.

Ahh! Thanks for letting me know the procedure, i really appreciate that. I thought the delivery driver would ask for the money at the door so it's interesting to hear how it actually works is different to what i had imagined. I agree that it will be both inconvenient and annoying about having to drive to the nearest collection office and paying that additional charge! Hopefully i won't end up getting caught out with this one; it would be the greatest deal ever at £147.23 and i'd be delighted to have picked up such an awesome phone for this amount. Thanks once again!

Probably around 2 weeks.

I was just about to ask this question as well, so thanks! Can't wait to get my hands on this awesome little device!

I just checked and it seems banggood favours $ so it is probably best to pay in $ if you have a card that doesn't charge for foreign currencies. The current price with the discount code is $189.19 which is £151.81 according to x-rates.

​

The iron man case came, just waiting on the clear one, the captain America one and the two glass screen protectors.

That is one ugly case lol.

Maybe you'll like the other ones more :laughing:
To be fair it will certainly protect the phone from damage and be bomb proof with the glass screen protector on the front. The stand is a nice touch too.

Sure it will protect it. I never use cases as they spoil how a phone looks and feels in the hand. Luckily I am not clumsy though so have no need for one.

I think it's a pretty cool case, i love the stand as well, never seen anything like that before! I don't really like having cases either but i heard this phone can scratch quite easily, however in all the unboxing videos i've seen there is a free shell-style case included in the box? Not sure! Also, i noticed my order status on Banggood has switched to 'Back Order' with the estimated shipping date being the 12th November?

I need to order a tempered-glass screen protector at some point, just looked on eBay and it seems they're only available in China which kinda sucks. Still, £2.86 isn't bad considering i once paid £10 for two screen protectors for my OnePlus One. I hope these ones have a decent oleophobic coating as i despise greasy fingerprints!

I've had the same with my shipping date been put back to 11th November, I'm not prepared to wait for almost a month for the phone so cancelled the order, shame but I wasn't sure in the first place.

I was tempted to do the same and cancel mine as well, but at the moment i have no idea where else to get this phone for the same price. Originally i planned on purchasing the phone from 'ltegrow' on eBay for £185, with the assurance that i would not have to pay import taxes as it would be shipped from within the UK, but the black version went out of stock within a few days of being posted here. If the phone comes back in stock from this seller i might be tempted to cancel the order from Banggood, but for the meantime i will wait and see what happens.

Does anyone know what happens to the cashback from TopCashback when cancelling an order?

From experience, it automatically gets declined in due course - you don't have to do anything.

has anyone's package despatched yet?

I'm backordered - no date.

It still says 12th November for mine at the moment, the order status is continuing to show as 'Back Order'. Having used a 2013 Moto G with the SD400 for the past four months, i'm looking forward to this beast arriving, but the wait and excitement is becoming unbearable!

Mine says back order but I can't see any estimated date...
If it comes in stock anywhere else I'll buy it there and cancel this one

I found the estimated shipping date under My Account > View Orders > View (Above Apply Refund) > Expected Shipping Date. I'm not sure how accurate this will be but, i'm tempted to cancel the order and wait for this 11.11 'Singles Day' which should present some further offers on the Z2 and other phones as well.

still not despatched, money is already taken from credit card, what is going on????

They claim that they don't debit until order is shipped. I have also been debited but still showing up as back ordered.

Mine also on back order. Tempted to cancel as it's now around £150-ish on igogo.es but never heard of them - anyone had experience with these guys?

dispatched finally

Cancelled and got one from Oppomart instead. £30 more but coming from EU so fast delivery and no taxes.

Mine has also been sent

Just got a dispatch email today too.

Mine was dispatched last night, and the email was there on my phone this morning when i woke up. No surprise really as it has been saying 12th November all along, not sure why some have cancelled their orders at this stage. Someone on the ZUK Fans forum has posted a picture showing his packaging from Banggood which was delivered to Sweden; the postage label on the outer-wrapper has a section marked as 'Customs Deceleration' and underneath there is a checkbox for 'Gift' which is ticked, meaning that there should be no additional customs expenses. It is also marked as an MP4 Player worth approximately €22, so even if customs did charge it would only come to a few quid at the most.

Mine has been flagged shipped.

Code has expired, by the looks of things. A pity, as I'd decided to buy one after much deliberation!

Now, just need to decide whether to wait for the Thanksgiving/Black Friday offers which will no doubt appear...

​code worked until Thursday.... there will anyways be deals around every few weeks.... good luck

I'm so excited about getting this phone, i hope it arrives soon so i can start tinkering with it. Hopefully it ships with the stock China ROM and not some buggy International version with Play Store pre-installed.

Has anyone had success in getting their tracking numbers to work, with the standard free shipping? I copied mine and pasted it into the provided website (http://www.17track.net) but it doesn't seem to be doing anything at the moment, showing a message which states 'Item is not found at this moment, If necessary, please verify with the package sender and check back later'. However, i noticed the auto-detection has set the delivery service to 'Switzerland (Swiss Post)' which i assume is incorrect hence the reason why it's not working, considering it is being shipped to Britain like everyone else's here! I also tried a China Post-based website (track-chinapost.com) but worryingly, it doesn't work here either.

I don't think tracking comes with the free delivery option.

Ah okay, that might explain it then, nothing to worry about. I did see about this somewhere but because there was a tracking number provided in the 'My Orders' section on Banggood, i assumed that there was indeed tracking available on the package.

I need to distract myself somehow from this damn phone, it's all i can think about at the moment. This is what happens to an Android enthusiast like me, after coming from flagships like the OnePlus One and LG G4 to using a little 1st Gen Moto G for the past three months. It is horrendous!

try this link for tracking. this should teach first before 17track.

No joy with my tracking number and since my number begins with RU (Russia) and ends with CH (Switzerland) I'm not too surprised. I didn't order tracking for my delivery to UK.

haha i spend my life thinking about smart phones need to distract myself had 9 since february this year! -_-

Damn. That's insane. I receive enough stick from relatives by upgrading my phone once per year, let alone 9 separate times! Sounds like you have a similar problem to me tho, it is difficult to stop thinking about smartphones! I am looking forward to tomorrow because we will finally have an official announcement as to what the OnePlus '3T' rumours are all about. Doesn't matter to me of course having bought the ZUK Z2 now, but as a former OPO owner i will be interested to see what the new device is!

Back to $189.99 with code "zukz21111" - part of the black friday deals.

Just ordered one using the new code. I'd actually seen it listed elsewhere, but thanks for posting all the same.

Now, I just need to hope that TCB tracks successfully for a little added extra... :smirk:

Not particularly expecting it to, however.

I've only ordered small items from Banggood in the past (Xiaomi power banks and Mi Bands). Service was pretty good for them on those occasions so fingers-crossed the same will be true for this more expensive order!

Cashback has tracked this far so potentially, almost a tenner more off the price.

Time to start researching the different ROMs available ready for delivery next month.

I'm pleased to see that people are still commenting in this thread and sharing their progress. TCB worked for me as well, i can't remember the exact amount but it knocked almost £10 off the price bringing it down to £147.23 with the code! I am probably the biggest cheapskate in the whole of HUKD but this deal was too good for even me to resist. My order was shipped late on Friday evening, about the same time as everyone else's here who had ordered while the phone was still showing under 'Back Order' status.

I have also been investigating the different ROM's and have decided i will give the ZUI a shot to begin with, despite the negative comments in most reviews about it. The device ships with ZUI v1.9.044 and the latest version seems to be v2.1.059, but i am not entirely sure how to update. I'm hoping it will be a simple procedure of an OTA update, maybe with the assistance of a VPN because i heard reports about the system not allowing downloads outside of China. If ZUI turns out to be a disappointment which i'm not sure about at the moment, then i will unlock the bootloader and flash CyanogenMod like i have done on all my previous Android devices.

Mine just arrived - 8 days from Oppomart (but it was £30 more expensive). I will probably get a Banggood one too and just sell one of them.

First impressions - a nice device. Build quality is not quite up to standards you'd expect from other manufacturers (e.g. tiny scratch in the glass bezel, tiny bit of internal fibres sticking out through where the glass meets the surrounds). Screen protector had been badly applied with air bubbles underneath so that had to go.

Flashing to the Indian firmware super easy by following the guides linked earlier.

Charging is FAST but the free UK adaptor is a bit flimsy. Has anyone found a decent charger of the same spec with a UK plug? (5.6V 2.5A)

Fast charging could mean a good charger or small battery - fingers crossed it is the former.

​great to hear...
could you please share the links on how to flash Indian ROM please? cause that's exactly what i intend to do once I receive mine.
if you could please write down step by step guide that would be very helpful.
btw, does Indian ROM picks up software updates OTA?

wonder if this includes the one from banggood....

http://www.gsmarena.com/zuk_z2_will_get_android_70_nougat_update_soon-news-21689.php

I'm not going to do that, I couldn't do it any better than the very comprehensive step-by-step guide on http://zukfans.eu/

Yes, the OTA updates appear but you can't download them without a proxy connection to China.

Further observations now I've been with it for an afternoon - the ringtone/notification volume is a bit weird, on its quietest it's too loud and on the loudest it's only slightly louder!

There are a few annoyances in the software, such as spelling mistakes and the fact that searches in the Google app don't show up in the multitask window. The settings menu is a bit different to that on other Android phones (the normal Android settings are under Zui's "Advanced" options - is date/time really advanced??). It didn't recognise my BT SIM as BT so had to delete the wrong APNs, and the connection is referred to as T-Mobile in the menu/phone app which is a bit pre-historic since they've been EE for ages, although it does say BT in standby,

Overall when there's official Cyanogen support I'll probably move that way.

For those who are interested, there is also discussion regarding the shipping of these phones from Banggood over at the ZUK Fans forum, i will leave a link to the thread here in the meantime while we wait.

Annoyingly the alarm doesn't sound unless the clock app is currently running. I'm sure that's a deal breaker for some.

Appreciate the observations @ajpashley1. Is there an unofficial cyanogen ROM for this out already?

There are loads of Cyanogen-based ROM's out there for the ZUK Z2, the two best places i have found so far to keep track of progress is here and here. Note the latter is the Japanese Lenovo Mobile forum, so assuming you're using Chrome you will need to allow Google Translate when the pop-up notification appears! Also, there is a good comparison here showing the advantages and disadvantages of all the different ROM's.

Thanks! I'll be keeping an eye on those. And if the nougat rumours are true, I think this is gonna be a fantastic handset.

My tracking number is now returning results.

Thanks for the heads-up. Mine is also working now, but it still seems to be in Hong Kong which is frustrating considering it was 'supposedly' shipped last Friday. Looks like i will be waiting at least another agonising week until mine shows up... *Sobs*

Mine is also in Hong Kong and being shipped via Switzerland. We could be seeing delays in updating the tracker. I feel it will be worth the wait.

Ah, so that's why it says about Switzerland, i didn't realise it was being shipped via there. When i saw that on the tracking page i just assumed it was a mistake. I have been thinking and i hope the delayed shipping is like you said, just the tracking information being slow to update. I fail to see how it could take an entire week and still be in Hong Kong, unless it was like i suggested and the parcel hadn't actually been shipped despite it saying so on the website. But fingers crossed that is not the case. It would be nice if mine arrived before the end of the week.

Looking at the tracking mine has arrived at customs at heathrow. Probably only a week or two wait now :smiley:

Wow, that is excellent news! I checked mine after seeing your post and it is also at Heathrow, although it comes under 'GBLALA' which i had to Google to find out what it meant. I'm sooo excited! What is the first thing everyone has planned for when their phone arrives? From what i have heard i believe it comes with a bug-ridden Banggood international ROM, so i am going to investigate manually flashing the latest firmware (2.3.042) as the OTA update system will most likely be deactivated/not working.

Mine still thinks it is in Hong Kong - hay ho.

:-) Good news, my shipment has just changed to:
2016-11-22 04:04 GBLALA, Arrival at border point in the destination country

OTA is still active but because it's not stock it will brick your phone - do not attempt.

It's really easy to put on the stock ROM and then update OTA. I recommend the China one over the India one.

Can someone explain something to me in layman's terms? Can I use this phone on 4G on O2 networks in the UK? I don't really understand why this phone would be in such demand if it doesn't (as suggested by folks earlier in the thread) work on most networks on 4G? Or is this something that updated an ROM will improve the bands it can use?

​because not everyone wants 4g...... definitely not everyone wants just o2???

I don't even have a working SIM card at the moment let alone 4G. It isn't really something which bothers me to be honest, i have internet at home and most supermarkets have free Wi-Fi available in store nowadays. I can't think of anywhere else where i'd feel the need to access the internet so urgently. It would be nice to jump on a PAYG carrier who offers a reasonable amount of free internet (250MB) every month without needing to constantly top-up, but i doubt anything like that actually exists since Ovivo closed down a few years back.

New price of £154 without the need for a voucher

Not seen it mentioned, but sorry if it has

Whee, mine has arrived this morning, Special Delivery. Now to open it...

That's a fair point. I guess limiting myself to O2 (who I'm currently with, but no contract so an easy exit) is a bit foolish. It did seem from one of the comments above (or possibly on a previous thread about this phone) that 4G wasn't supported on most major UK carriers, but from the website that Solid posted it seems that its more like 50/50.

4G is a bit of an attraction for me, simply because of what I tend to use my phone for (random convenient internet when I'm out and about mainly). I think I'd assumed that most people springing a decent amount of money for a fairly high-specced phone would feel the same, but that's obviously not the case.

Do you know if the bands that companies use change? So if I moved to say 3, which is supported by this phone (and I think has a fairly decent SIM-only offer), is there a chance that the bands could switch meaning that I'd no longer have 4G on 3 (or whoever I picked)? Or is it relatively fixed?

Woohoo! In that case i'm hoping mine will also arrive, although i haven't seen the postman this morning and he's usually here spot-on 10:30. Did you have to sign for it? I assume so with it being Special Delivery. Will be interested to hear your impressions on the phone!

I'm taking it slow as don't want to trigger any bloatware. I had to sign for the delivery but that was it. The documentation is all in Chinese but the box had both security seals intact. The ZUI version is 2.0.069 ST and Android 6.0.1. I haven't given it my SIM yet, looking to install a clean image. Initial reaction is very positive.

Bands won't change. Technically BT have the most (all of EE's plus one of their own). It'll never work on O2/Vodafone's 4G.

Don't forget it's dual SIM so you can use your O2 SIM for calls and another SIM for data - very easy to set up which one does what. There are some good deals on data-only SIMs right now.

Mine turned up as well. Thanks OP.

Let us know which method you used to flash the clean image, i'm a little worried despite reading up about the different procedures on ZUK Fans. (The latest image is 2.3.042) Mine also arrived this morning, albeit a bit later than everyone else's. I also had to sign for mine on one of those stupid machines but like you said, no additional charges on delivery or anything like that. First impressions for me are excellent, i genuinely believe this is my greatest ever purchase from a HUKD-related deal. I have a little bloatware on mine in the form of UC Browser and UC News but with the exception of that it seems to be clear. Looking forward to playing World of Tanks Blitz at 1080p 60FPS and seeing the difference in visual quality/performance from that of my 2013 Moto G with the Adreno 305. I am so happy at the moment.

I am now considering sticking with the 2.0.069 ST since it is a released version. Perhaps someone could comment on the wisdom of this approach.

The latest version is 2.3.042 like i mentioned before, so what i had planned on doing was flashing the stock China 2.0.069 ST (QBST) using Qualcomm Flash Image Loader (Link to Guide) and then upgrading to 2.3.042 via QSB. (Link to Guide) But i am waiting until someone else tries it before me because i don't want to first to mess up my shiny new device! Any volunteers? :stuck_out_tongue:

mine arrived today (well, 1 of 2), will be slowing transitioning from my Elephone P8000 to this ZUK Z2 slowly over the next few days, undecided yet if I will flash a different ROM yet.

That is an excellent and interesting point. I guess I'll keep an eye on this thread and see how people get on with getting it all sorted into an acceptable ROM, and make a decision based on that.

Got mine today as well! Only managed to spend around 5 minutes with it, but pleasantly surprised by the lack of bloat on it - was expecting far worse!

What's everyone doing with regards to the ROM? Sticking with the default Chinese one, or switching to another one?

Mine arrived yesterday with Indian rom preinstalled as was working play store etc. Only problem was some bloat inc Indian version of UC news and browser. Working fine with my three sim.

​that's the RAM I was intending to have mine. if it already comes with that, I will be one happy bunny as I don't have to fiddle with custom ROMs....
others who have received can please confirm if it comes with Indian ROM preloaded?
going to collect mine from PO tomorrow.....

I don't think my ROM is Indian as there are quite a few locations where Chinese characters are used.

Same here, there are Chinese characters in a few areas such as the download notification. I hope someone will be willing to flash the latest firmware on their phone before everyone else, i am chickening out at the moment but it is inconvenient as anything i install will end up getting wiped when i eventually do the update.

Does anyone here use Facebook Messenger? I am having a problem where i do not receive any kind of alert while the phone is sleeping, such as vibration or flashing LED when a message is received. However, if i unlock the phone the messages are visible in the notification centre. Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

​could you please mention the firmware on your phone? looks like BG is shipping the pin he's with two different forth firmwares.....
you bought your phone from BangGood right?

If anyone wants to contribute to my fund for buying one of these, I will happily test any/all ROMs for you...:man:

Has anyone spotted any nice cases for the Z2?

Mine arrived with:
ZUI version 2.0.069 ST
Android 6.0.1
Security patch April 2016

I have ordered this one in silver.

This seems to be a problem with the system closing down apps to save battery. It also affects the clock application so your alarms won't sound.

There are two ways to fix this - in the view of running apps, pulling down on an app "locks" it so that it doesn't get "cleaned up" when the system cleaning runs. The second way is to add those apps to the exclude list on the app with a green shield icon (name escapes me, sorry!). I added Fb Messenger, WhatsApp etc. to this list and haven't had a problem with missing notifications since.

Three have one of these "free data" SIMs. If you turn off background sync and use data saver on Chrome 250 will be plenty.

I used this guide to install stock firmware and once booted up, switched to English and connected to WiFi it came up with update available to 2.3.042 ST. I'm downloading it now.

Which ROM did you load"

> Download ROM (Firmware) - (Download latest!)

Thanks for the informative response! That is interesting to hear your theory about the missed notifications in certain apps such as Facebook Messenger. I wasn't too sure because there doesn't seem to be a problem in regards to the app actually receiving notifications on time, it just seems to be an issue with the phone not displaying anything on the lockscreen and failing to vibrate or indicate via the LED light. However, you could definitely still be right so i will try what you have suggested with locking the app and see whether that makes a difference to the issue! Unfortunately i was unable to find the application you spoke about with the green shield icon, i even looked through the settings but couldn't see anything like it. It makes me wonder whether the ROM you received from Oppomart has different functionality in this respect.


I almost forgot this phone had two different SIM card trays which allows for both mobile and data SIM's to be used at the same time. The more data the better but 250MB should be sufficient especially when using the Data Saver mode in Chrome like you suggested. I actually ordered one of those Three data SIM's ages ago and probably have it lying around somewhere, but the problem for me is, don't you have to top-up £10 each month to get the data? I know this sounds stupid but i'm after something where i would get a small amount of data to use each month without paying anything other than maybe an initial sign-up registration fee. It makes no sense for me to top-up my phone once a month because i don't make calls or send texts to anyone whatsoever. The only company i know who offered free data once a month like what i'm asking was Ovivo, who relied mostly on advertising via their free internet to generate income.

I used 2.0.069 ST from the link provided in the guide.

Update to 2.3.042 ST complete. No issues. Now to work out how to install the Play store :smiley:

Thanks for posting whether this method was safe to use, i will attempt it tonight now we have confirmation. Please let us know whether the OTA update to 2.3.042 ST was successful. EDIT: Never mind, just seen your edit to the post above, that is excellent news! I'm going to update now using the same method, and will report back on whether it was successful or not. Thanks for the responses to my post on ZUK Fans as well, didn't you realise it was me despite sharing the same username, haha?

I used 2.0.069 ST from the link provided in the guide.

OTA Update to 2.3.042 ST complete. No issues. Now to work out how to install the Play store :smiley:

No problem. I did realise but thought it would be useful to share for others who may look there :smiley:

We await your success with the Play store install.

Was really easy in the end, just used the ZUK store to download the Play Store app. Many of the ZUK apps can be deleted. Happy with the phone now, nearly ready to move my sim over :smiley:

Good news! I have successfully flashed 2.0.069 ST using the method outlined above, managed to change language using a quick tutorial video i found on YouTube. The OTA update to 2.3.042 has been found without the need for VPN and is downloading at the moment, should take about 15 minutes!

Is anyone able to use spoof gps apps on this phone? You're suppose to be able to set a app as the 'mock location' but mine doesn't allow you to select an app from the developers menu. Can anyone else?

I'm hoping an update may solve the mock locations problem. How do you get kick start the OTA update? I'm currently on 2.0.069 ST.

It can be quite intimidating if you don't have prior experience with flashing firmware onto Android devices. I have a lot of experience having owned 6 Android devices in the past 3 years, but to be honest it still scared me on a few occasions! You have to flash the stock 2.0.069 ST ROM over the Banggood firmware by following the guide shown here on the ZUK Fans forum, and then once booted back into the OS you can initiate the OTA update to 2.3.042. Credit to RHodgett for confirming this method worked.

​thanks and I got the same firmware on mine

Thanks, I'm already on 2.0.069, how did you initiate the OTA update to 2.3.042? I don't seem to have an option in the settings menu to OTA update the system.

Looks like the rom is limited.

There's a system update app in the main app drawer, a circle with two semicircular arrows in it

Thanks. Hmmm looks like mine has been removed then. I bought it from eBay because I needed it sooner. But I doubt that an update would have enabled 'allow mock locations' to assign an app anyway.

I bet you both have different roms... What does it say in the about phone section?

Day 1 on ZUK Z2: I was going to stick with the Chinese ROM (in English) that came with the phone but decided against that when I found the Chinese characters in the dialer. I flashed the Official Indian ROM and everything (including Play Store) is working fine so far.

Thanks guys for sharing your experiences, certianly gives me more courage to tinker myself :smiley:

To the users that upgraded to the 2.3.042 ROM, do you still get Chinese characters on the dialer and elsewhere? I'm seriously thinking of switching to the Indian ROM in order to get rid of them, unless there is some compelling reason to stick with the Chinese ROM?

TIA!

Yeah still in the dialler and a few other places. You can download another dialler and pretty much another everything.

Good point, hadn't thought of that. So would you recommend sticking with the Chinese ROM over the Indian one?

I wanted to continue using the firmware that came with phone until I ran a scan with malware bytes ..... surprise.... there is a non removable Trojan baked into the firmware...
users beware don't be a victim for snooping

Does anyone know the procedure to root this phone once 2.3.042 has been installed? I am struggling to find any reliable information on the correct method to use. For most phones the steps would be to unlock the bootloader and flash TWRP recovery followed by the SuperSU ZIP, but i don't know whether this will work with the Z2 considering it runs this non-stock ZUI version of Android.

Which trojan did you find?

​http://tinypic.com/r/5d5wn8/9

I just installed Zero Dialer and Google Messenger apps.

Umh, I must be missing something. Have tried to upload Indian and the ZUK ROM and no joy at all. Using Win7, disable Virus checker and Firewall and still no go. My phone hasn't bricked which is one good thing.

I may have got it now, my Device Manager was missing an ADB driver - flashing as I write this.

I'm up to ZUI 2.3.042 ST thanks everyone. There is more bloatware than the delivered version. I still find myself wanting a cleaner version without all the wasted Chinese code space. I wonder how hard it is to build a version from sources.

As you quite rightly said, 2.3.042 ST has a lot more bloatware than the Banggood 2.0.069 ST that our devices shipped with, but you can completely uninstall the vast majority of it from the phone. I am just looking through the homescreen on mine now and the only applications remaining are U-Health and the Weather app which seems to be entirely in Chinese.

my understanding is that most of you are flashing firmwares without unlocking the bootloader
if so i recommend downloading the 'malware bytes' and do a scan to see if you have got that dreaded trojan flags up.
Some users had reported that they have the trojan baked into the bootloader and unless it has been unlocked and manually disabled there is no way of getting rid of this virus.

How do I know that "malware bytes" is not a "virus"?

​you don't have to if you're not bothered. I made a generic awareness to the people...
or if you know programming get your hands dirty to figure it out yourself. I don't live enough time to make all discoveries...I'd leave them to experts and trust them.... simples

Has anyone unlocked the bootloader and installed a completely different ROM from from xda (or similar)?
I think that would be my preference, once I get mine.

Also, did everyone add insurance and/or a faster delivery to their order?

How much time it took to delivered?

Just ordered this... I've never used banggood before and I have a question, on the buy page there was a check box for drop shipping (remove banggood logo) I checked the information pages and it seemed clear as dishwater to the buyer how this affects your order. I opted not to check it but then changed my mind after confirming the order... the live chat help person was rather useless, I knew more than them and I've only spent 30mins looking it up, wouldn't even add a note to the order for me, to remove the logo.

Anyone bought from them before? I did add certain notes to the seller on paypal such as value declarations etc but is it worth me cancelling to start again and remove the logo or not? Do they look out for this logo at customs or is that a bit paranoid?

Because it's not. It's an absolutely excellent AV scanner available as a freebie version which will find pretty much every virus, trojan and worm going if it is on your PC. Highly recommended by me - first software I go to if I'm trying to help a friend encountering problems with their computer.

​thanks sboh...
just updated mine to Indian ROM....
if anyone wants to do the same.... click on above link then go to page 2 and click on the link from post 4or 5.... this contains layman step by step instructions...
just tested the GPS without data connection and works like a dream. tested with malwarebytes and Trojan that came with stock ROM is not there any more now..... well chuffed..
coming from a samsung note 4 and I really liked how nippy everything works. thanks op for this fantastic deal.....

Can anyone answer me about the drop shipping check box? Anyone else not check it and receive their goods fine without customs duty?

I ticked the drop shipment option and received fine. Maybe you ordered later than most of us.

​drop shipping means you act as a seller and the parties you sold will receive the item from BG..... removing logo on that helps the sellers interest in protecting their identity as BG removes the logo.
I don't see a connection between drop shipping and customs....

I have moved over to the Indian version. A lot closer to what I expect from a Android phone. Currently doing OTA update to 2.0.111.

Is it fairly easy to unlock the bootloader and add TWRP?

I unlocked the bootloader on mine yesterday and installed TWRP, it is a fairly straightforward procedure. Just follow the guides posted on the ZUK Fans forum, here and here.

​what's advantage of twrp? please help.... thanks

Let's you easily change ROMs, if that's something you are into

oh thanks for your reply. It all makes sense....i am currently using Indian ROM now so if i want to flash chinese ROM onto this, would TWRP help me to retain the apps and its settings rather than doing a fresh download and tweakings again. thanks once again.

Yes I read that on the drop shipping page but then I thought wouldn't it be better if there was no logo by default on the package? Especially if it's marked as a gift with a value under £34 on the customs declaration. Probably making more of it than I should and they will open parcels whether they have company logos on or not I suppose, still thinking it would have been smarter to check that box to decrease the likelihood though.

No, not really.

General advice and best practice is to factory reset / wipe so that any conflicts are avoided

TWRP just lets you switch Roms without having to rely on a PC - you can download and install Roms all on the handset itself

​to retain your apps and settings, do a backup of your current ROM (Indian ROM I'm guessing) using TWRP - either do a full backup (recommended) or just a backup of "data" only, then flash your new ROM (Chinese ROM I'm guessing), then just restore "data" only from your backup and you should have your apps and settings just as before you flashed your new ROM. The Chinese and Indian ROMs are quite similar do there shouldn't be any issues from restoring "data" only from either ROM you had before.

hi guys,,
I got my phone yesterday and installed Chinese rom, upgraded to 2.3 though OTA update, installed some off my apps and installed my SIM. so far so good. had battery at 80% before going to bed. woke up this morning, phone is quite warm and battery is at 30% :disappointed: The only two apps consumed 34% each are Android OS and Android System! Can anyone help to resolve this issue. was hoping an excellent battery life with 3500mAh battery on board:(

try the Indian ROM instead

I agree it is straight forward to change the Indian version to be just like a mainstream Android phone for the UK. The Malwarebytes results pushed me into it and I am very happy with it now. Not seen any battery issues having tried the delivered version; Chinese B; Chinese B upgraded; Indian and finally Indian upgraded.

​i am on Indian ROM and battery life is phenomenal. again malwarebytes confirms it's now Trojan free...

How can you tell whether you are on the Chinese Rom or the Indian Rom?
Trying to make sure I understand and recognise correctly

​well.....I replaced the BG ROM with Indian ROM through flashing that's how I know.

Lol, yeah, sure, but is there a build number or version number that can be used to identify which rom is being used?

I flashed the Indian ROM and then allowed it to do an over the air upgrade and my ZUI version is now 2.0.111 ST

​same here

Thanks.

Anyone know what the latest Chinese version is?

I posted my Chinese versions earlier in this thread.

The original BangGood versions is ZUI 2.0.069 ST, this version was flashed to the Lenovo version of 2.0.069 ST which then upgraded itself over the air to ZUI 2.3.042 ST all Chinese versions.

Awesome, thanks very much

Well, I've just collected my Z2 from the post office. Stung for £11.56 of duty (well, £3.56 duty plus an £8.00 'processing charge' from customs!), which is a pity. Banggood described it as an MP4 player with a value around $21 so I was only charged duty on that amount.

Initial impressions are it's a nice device. Fingerprint sensor is very quick and the ability to touch/swipe the sensor to perform actions will be very useful. Unfortunately, I'm going to be too busy for a while to transfer my stuff across to use the phone or install new firmware.

All in all, providing it does the basics correctly once I've moved across, it's still a great bargain, regardless of the extra cost!

​VAT evasion will soon be thing of past
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/nov/30/brussels-to-crack-down-on-vat-by-firms-shipping-goods-to-eu?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-2

I guess 2.3 is better than 2.0?

I have tried 2.3 and moved over to the Indian 2.0.111 ST. It is a much cleaner version and passes the MalwareBytes test.

just had an update to 2.0.133st

alarm bug is sorted now. this was a major improvement for me.

Notice anything new?

for camera I'm finding SNAPit is better than the stock app

Did you have a problem upgrading to the latest firmware on the Indian ROM? Mine keeps failing every time for some reason

mine was touchwood......update went smooth as butter. I had a notification that new update was available and went ahead to download and install it.....
new version sorted out the notification issues as well. good update.

does indian rom have the zuk cloud services like the Chinese 2.3 rom? what do we miss being on 2.0 instead of 2.3? Also the charger in the box does not seem to be the quick-charge 3.0....???

Great little phone. Battery seems much better than my previous Nexus 5x. I like the gesture button as well.

I've tried the Indian and Chinese software. Indian for me as I prefer the Google style interface. Less bloat as well.

Alot of phone for £150ish...

​you can download the zuk cloud services apk on internet for installation....

Just flashed the Indian ROM too, much more stock Android looking than the default ROM. My one gripe is that the 'settings' are fairly lacking in a few areas. E.g. how does one customize the lock screen?! I can't see any way to do it, without installing a separate app, like Next, or another launcher?

Price dropped further on Banggood if you use the code 'zzukxmas'. Down to $169.46 which is just £136.20 at the current exchange rate!

This phone is the steal of the century at this price - providing you have the technical chops to flash updated ROMs. An Android 7 nougat ROM is currently in testing in China as well.

Not started using my phone yet, but I've been impressed with the build quality and performance. The fingerprint sensor is absolutely lightning fast and the 'swiping' abilities of the sensor are pretty useful as well.

but only white....not my fav

Showing £151. do you need to use a code to get £136?

Read the post that you quoted.:smirk:
Cracking price for it now, Throbbo, well spotted (worth posting as a separate deal)

oh my bad, was rushing to purchase one for my son and didn't even read the whole message:p...Amazing phone, much fasted my S6 Edge+! Worth posting as a new deal.

Any chance someone could advise on the best network to get a SIM only deal on for this phone? I figure it's easier to post in here than in the more recent thread for the Gearbest deal, just because Sam of London isn't here...

The two cheapest deals I see are 3's essential plan (2GB data for £10 a month for 12 months [with 3 months free]) or Plusnet's intro offer of 4GB for £10 (a monthly contract), which says it uses EE's network.

EE currently seem to have the best 4G network (and 4G is important to me), so Plusnet seems like the best bet, but I'm curious whether anyone has experience of either network with this phone and can advise? (Even if that advice is "it'll probably make no difference")

As the phone lacks Band 20, you'd be best off with anyone who uses the EE network which has support for all 3 of the 4G LTE bands used in the UK. The Z2 will be able to use 2 of these bands (and EE have greater capacity on these 2 bands than their competitors) so you're likely to have much better 4G support on EE (or one of their MVNOs) than other networks.

Thanks mate.

Mine arrived today. Just putting it through its paces, but looks and feels great.

Just an update on dates:

Order placed: 30th Nov
Order shipped: 1st Dec
Tracking update No.1: 7th Dec
Tracking update No.2: 13th Dec
Order received: 14 Dec

All normal shipping, not DHL or anything. Pretty fast and reliable

Right: a couple of questions, if anyone could help.

My Z2 comes with Play Store already installed. ZUI version 2.0.093 ST
This appears to be the Indian ROM - is that right?
I'm trying to find out how to update the ROM over the air - but I can't seem to find where to do this in the settings. Any help?

Finally, if I don't actually have the Indian ROM already installed, can someone please repost the guide to install it? I've had a look through this thread, but can't seem to find it.

Thanks

​i had followed the link from sboh comment
recommend you the same

Thanks, fella, I've tried to look for it, but I can't see it (must be going blind, my old age). I dont suppose you know the post number by any chance?

Also, I suspect that I'm already on the Indian ROM, but I can't tell - play store is already installed, if that's any indication.
I also cannot see how to check if there is an OTA uodate waiting for me, there isn't a "check for updates" section that I can find in the mobile (old age, again)

Thanks


Edit: found the link. Thanks again

http://zukfans.eu/community/threads/indian-z2-plus-qpst-official-firmware-zui_2-0-093_st.587/

​download resources from below
http://zukfans.eu/community/threads/indian-z2-plus-qpst-official-firmware-zui_2-0-093_st.587/


and follow instructions from below
http://zukfans.eu/community/threads/howto-flash-a-stock-zui-rom-zuk-z2-z2131-only.104/

while following instructions I sticked to the Indian ROM than Chinese ROM mentioned in the steps...

hope this helps.

I think the ROM that came with the Z2 is a custom Chinese ROM for 2 reasons. 1. The dialer/phone app had some Chinese characters. 2. There is no "​System Update" app in the App drawer (this is the app that is used to check for OTA updates). These 2 issues are not present on the Indian ROM and I would recommend it. I am still using the Indian ROM to date.

However, I think the zui interface is a bit lacking and I will try this cm14 based ROM with Android 7.1.1 as soon as the dev fixes the camera bug. I haven't tried this ROM yet but I am following it's progress.
[edit_reasons]
[i]Edited By: sboh247 on Dec 17, 2016 19:38: Still learning hyperlinks

Well, I'm a little confused.
My z2 came from bang good, but appears to have the Indian Rom pre-installed
I havethe olay store already there, and no Chinese characters in the dialler. I also cannot find anywhere to check for updates. Also, the launcher is the Google Now launcher.

Are there any reviews that compare the Chinese and indian Roms, with screenshots?

​My Z2 also came from banggood as well with Google Now Launcher. I believe you cannot check for OTA updates because the "System Update" app is missing from the ROM that came with the Z2.

On the ROM that came with the phone, after you have made a call, when you go back to you call list (e.g. for dialled, received and missed calls), that's where the Chinese characters were.

i had already flashed mine to Indian ROM so cannot check what my phone had come with.
But your description is more inline with the mine that I had received. Therefore I would suggest installing India ROM too.
you can do one check on your current phone.....download Malware Bytes and run a scan and it should show that your phone has Trojan virus that can not be removed (as i had in my case).....if so then you can be rest reassured that yours came with Chinese ROM.
hope this helps.