The 100mah makes a difference to you?

This one for £108 if you want a 5" screen - its the global version
Or this one here for a 5.5" its the also global version, for £128
Both are really good

​Well my gf has had the redmi 3 since January. She's more than happy with it and had no problem. I did the donkey work at the start and unlocked bootloader and flashed the global rom etc.

She came from my Nexus 5, so noticed going from 1080p to 720p, but the screen is still decent imho.

Xiaomi us a good brand and make decent phones. She's very happy with the battery (no surprise there) and performance is what she wants. She's a light to mid user, only really playing games like pokemon go and farm heros type things.

I'd imagine with the extra ram offsetting the slighter worse processor in this it'll be comparable performance wise to the original redmi 3 so 3d games would be a struggle....

I got her a fairly cheap case on aliexpress at the same time so can't comment on how it holds up to knocks. I also added a screen protector, which I think is a given in this day and age.

When you buy a xiaomi redmi there are 4 big things to consider against buying in the UK.

1 warranty. As said, if it goes wrong you've got to know the cost of sending back or cutting your losses.
2 roms. If the phone is sealed and comes with the global rom, fair enough. But my advice is never ask the seller to install it for you. Most will be reputable, but you wouldn't ask someone to install Windows on a hard drive for you. Could be some nasties in there!
3 bands. Band 20 is important for full 4g support in the UK and most xiaomi phones don't have it. Make sure you check your network and whether not having it will be a problem.
4 cameras. Redmi is their budget line, so the camera will be OK. Nothing more or less. So ignore the mp count and expect fine shots in good light and poor in low light.

Hope that helps

I have the non B20 version of this, it recently updated to MIUI 8.1 and it's great. Albeit a lower midrange SoC but works perfectly well for what I need.

I'm deliberating between this and the wileyfox swift 2 plus. On paper they have very similar specs but this has a bigger battery and is £40 cheaper. The swift 2 plus has nfc and some kind of warranty if it goes wrong.

Does anyone have any feedback on this phones camera quality? I'm assuming it won't be very good.

will there be any customs charges?

wrong price for the title

Clicked on link says £153

interested but why does the link take me to the russian site?

generally positive review here on YouTube

cant get the price to come up at 108

also not the pro version right?

that's for the prime version... is that same as pro?

is there a way to get it to show not in dollars when using browser?

Me and me mate been trying to get hold of one of these for a month now.

Gearbest never had the B20 version in stock.

I ordered from GeekBuying after my Banggod refund along with a headset. Headset has already been shipped out but the phone hasnt and now says awaiting stock.

Chat tonight with an agent says its been packed and will ship this week so fingers crossed!

Banggood never had any stock in even after advertising it was, three weeks of waiting and emails ended up with me cancelling a week ago for a refund and them sending him an email today saying:


So, if you are looking at one Id grab it now as AliExpress sellers usually have in stock what they say is in stock!

Prime is better than pro, this is the prime + band 20, basically the best one

Title says 4000mAh that image you posted says 4100mAh, does anyone know which one is right?

seems to be a compulsory addon £5 warranty... or can it be removed? ....sending one of these back to china might cause more headache than its worth

edit...ok mobile browser

China or Russian federation? Will it make any difference?

how to change the currency on mobile browser... can see it on the desktop but not on mobile ...or do you have to use the app?

Hi, I'm upgrading from a Nexus 5 (dated. I know). Can anyone recommend which is better in terms of multi-tasking processing speed, future updates and overall more phone for the money?

This vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 vs Huawei p9 lite

Thanks in advance

​

The import duty rate for importing Dhl into United Kingdom is 14% , the import VAT is 20%, when classified under Electronics & Video Games → TV, Home Theatre & Projectors → Television | LCD with HS commodity code 8528.72.4000

From another thread

Nah, its more curiosity than anything.

didnt really understand that. is that just if i select dhl shipping or will i be hit with customs even if i chose the slowest which i think is just china air mail haha

the way i manage to get it in GBP currency and avoid warranty
was to make account. add to cart with mobile browser
then switch to android app and view cart and can change currency in the settings
and no warranty
used standard shipping the free. apparently according to others it has highest chance of not getting hit with customs
(if i tried straight from app it adds the warranty and on the mobile browser i could change country but not currency )

Hi risk of paying customs tax by using dhl - so depends if you want to wait 20 days or pay £20 for it (roughly)

ahhh very tempted!
been reading review http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/budget-smartphones/xiaomi-redmi-3s-review-fantastic-budget-phone-just-got-even-better-3644930/?p=2 only uk one i can find.
it says playstore isnt there out the box, i'm assuming on this global version playstore will be there out of box?

Anyone actually own one of these phones for more than a week? A timed review would be nice as there are about a million off brand smartphones out there that are a quarter of the price of something you'd expect on par for something branded like Samsung or Apple, which leads me to believe they'll break down and wont last more than a year.... I'm in need of a phone but this seems a little too good to be true....

tempted to get one for my lad ... was considering the swift but looks like at this price I'm going to bite

p.s. what is it with all these 5.5" phones and bigger ... seriously need more players to produce 5" mobiles

​applied to dhl only.

took the plunge ... and looking forward to receiving - any idea on average ship times to the UK?

EDIT:

AliExpress Standard Shipping
Free Shipping
Estimated Delivery Time:20-40 Days


by the way, it didn't add any warranty to my order automatically. Also I've paid via CC in USD ... but will hopefully just charge at 108 GBP.

​Probably around 3 weeks from my past orders. Possibly longer with Christmas deliveries

helpful info but doesnt help me make up my mind :wink:
hate the build quality of the p9 lite. how can most chinese phones but metal but in the uk it tends to be higher end mid range - flagship devisces only

Will this work with the 3 network?

I had the Redmi 3 Pro which is the previous generation of this (slightly older but slightly faster processor) but same screen & body.
It's a lovely phone, very quick, finger print sensor works well, very good battery, nice screen, however, I never got OTA updates on mine, nor could I update it through the PC software.
After 2 months the screen went blank, won't bore you with the details, but the phones unusable and it's not worth sending it back to China.
If you have no problems then it'll be a fine phone, mine may have just been a "Friday afternoon" one.
If you want the Pro version, worth looking at Top One on Ali Express

£112.75 for the Pro Their DHL is dearer than most at £16.96 but guarantees no customs duty.
I ordered through them, all fine and indeed there was no duty or charges.
It looked like they ship from China to a UK address, and then on from their to the recipient

It worked fine on 3

​Well my gf has had the redmi 3 since January. She's more than happy with it and had no problem. I did the donkey work at the start and unlocked bootloader and flashed the global rom etc.

She came from my Nexus 5, so noticed going from 1080p to 720p, but the screen is still decent imho.

Xiaomi us a good brand and make decent phones. She's very happy with the battery (no surprise there) and performance is what she wants. She's a light to mid user, only really playing games like pokemon go and farm heros type things.

I'd imagine with the extra ram offsetting the slighter worse processor in this it'll be comparable performance wise to the original redmi 3 so 3d games would be a struggle....

I got her a fairly cheap case on aliexpress at the same time so can't comment on how it holds up to knocks. I also added a screen protector, which I think is a given in this day and age.

When you buy a xiaomi redmi there are 4 big things to consider against buying in the UK.

1 warranty. As said, if it goes wrong you've got to know the cost of sending back or cutting your losses.
2 roms. If the phone is sealed and comes with the global rom, fair enough. But my advice is never ask the seller to install it for you. Most will be reputable, but you wouldn't ask someone to install Windows on a hard drive for you. Could be some nasties in there!
3 bands. Band 20 is important for full 4g support in the UK and most xiaomi phones don't have it. Make sure you check your network and whether not having it will be a problem.
4 cameras. Redmi is their budget line, so the camera will be OK. Nothing more or less. So ignore the mp count and expect fine shots in good light and poor in low light.

Hope that helps

Do these phones work with Android Auto? I have the Redmi Note 3 and can't get it working in my car which has inbuilt Auto. OnePlus phones work fine.

Only had mine a week and a half but spent a lot of time on it. Got it from Geekbuying's Spain warehouse, costs a little more but arrived in a week with no customs/tax to worry about.

Pros

Well-made for the money
Fingerprint sensor works well
Performance is good, interface smooth, apps open quick enough
Great battery life

Cons

MIUI is a mess, Android is heavily modified
Some app notification/refresh issues, have to dig into menus
Off screen navigation keys save screen space but annoying
Questionable Xiaomi services trying to upload all your data to China

In summary, good hardware but would be so much better with stock Android.

As you can't use Google in China I'd guess that it's never been tested and is missing a component in the rom to sync it to Android Auto.
The only fix that comes to mind would be to flash it with a custom rom that has full Google support. There are a stack on XDA http://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-note-3/development

I got my wife the Redmi 3 (not S) & it's been working well for a couple of months now. It came from a UK-based ebay seller with the global ROM pre-installed, and was initially very troublesome. Wouldn't remember the Google account details, Play Services kept asking for updates that didn't complete, a couple of factory resets made no difference.

I reflashed the ROM to the Chinese one that it should originally have had (check the locked / unlocked status of your bootloader first), then switched the language to English and installed the Google Play Store etc. Since then the phone's been rock solid. So my experience was: global ROM = shakey; Chinese ROM = stable.

Loads of tutorials online - I managed it & I only have moderate computer skills.

Nice phone!

Can it be used with phantom drones?

I've had this phone for about 3 months and it is basically fantastic. The battery life is very very good, you easily get a day and a half's fairly heavy use, a lot more if you're not on it too much, unlike my LG G3 which died in well under a day even with barely any use. The screen is very clear and bright. There is zero lag on the OS, none, everything is super smooth and it multi tasks extremely well, switching between apps instantly. scrolling on google maps is super smooth, no screen tearing or judder. I highly recommend this phone...

My only gripe with it is the camera can be hit and miss in my opinion. In low light its not the best, but I've actually been comparing it to my LG G3 the last few days and tbh its not as bad as I first thought. With my photos I always use Snapseed to make them look 10x times better.

I would say if the camera is a deal breaker for you look elsewhere and spend more, if you are ok with a standard quality camera definitely go for this.


EDIT: Sorry I thought this was the Redmi 3 Note Pro Prime!!!! I get so confused with these models....My comments are of about the Note 3 Pro Prime....

I find MIUI is great personally, no issues whatsoever with it and I've had a lot of Android phones.

Yeah plus won't a launcher sort out miui anyways

Noooooo! get the Redmi 3 Pro its 5" and has a Snapdragon 6X0 series processor in it for £125
waaayyy better and faster of even the Huawei P9 Lite from EE

and £17 more expensive. Not everyone is playing CPU heavy games on their phones..

I made this exact switch (from Nexus 5 to Redmi 3s) and I absolutely love this phone. It's a bit of a b!tch to mess around and get the proper global rom but other than that it's great. Battery life's a beast functions are fast and miui is pretty jokes

edit: although upgrading did make me wanna see what upgrading to the top of the line (s7) would be like so i did consider selling this and double upgrading...

Link please :smiley:

£120.98 on Banggood; http://www.banggood.com/Xiaomi-Redmi-3-Pro-5-Inch-Fingerprint-3GB-RAM-32GB-ROM-Snapdragon-616-Octa-core-4G-Smartphone-p-1045002.html

Could be even less in the Jan sales?

But does title come with global rom and is there band 20 support

It's this one I think (from my pm 5 days ago):

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro: 5.5" FHD Snapdragon 650, 3+32GB 4000mah - Band 20/Global/Special Edition = £125 @ AliExress/XiaomiOnlineStore

Not the same phone - inferior SoC (616), no global rom or B20 support.

See my previous post for the correct one that aaronace1011 is referring to.

I bought this phone recently. I actually wish I didn't because the Redmi 4 prime just came out, with a 1080p screen and higher clocked processor (and it's just as cheap). Anyhow it's got great battery life, and good performance for the price. When I first turned it on it didn't give me the initial first-setup prompt, and just went straight to the home screen. It also was on MIUI 7.5, and although it claimed to be global, it wouldn't detect the new update. I suspect it was some bad chink ROM Gearbest put on it, but I didn't use it long enough to be sure. I flashed the global MIUI 8 rom and ever since it's been fine, receiving updates etc. Also you don't need to unlock the bootloader or root your phone to flash the latest MIUI roms, you just put the phone in this "EDL" mode so it's not too much of a hassle. I've unlocked the bootloader and rooted anyway, in case I decide to flash Cyanogenmod.

Awful phone sent mine back due to malware cold from me

Bloatware on my last Redmi was horrendous

Ordered thanks! I have the 3S pro and love the battery life, just been waiting for a Band 20 version as lack of 4G is frustrating

No white version though :disappointed: Not sure I'm old enough for a gold one and the black one is just, well, too dark.

​Yes, been using mine on 3 for months now, although not the band 20 version I still can get 3g & 4g

Does this have NFC, 5ghz WiFi can't see either which is a shame.

If you're going to buy a Redmi 3, find a B20 Pro 3gb/32gb Global Version. It's only £10 more. Or better still, go for the Redmi 3 Note Pro "Kate" 5.5" version as it has a more powerful processor and better camera ~ £130-135.

http://en.miui.com/thread-307205-1-1.html

What do you mean find a B20 version which is £10 more? This deal is for the Redmi 3S Prime which supports B20. The Redmi 3 or 3 Pro don't have a B20 variant. It's the 3S and 3S Prime that do.

I think he means this one:
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro: 5.5" FHD Snapdragon 650, 3+32GB 4000mah - Band 20/Kate/Global/Special Edition = £125 @ AliExress/XiaomiOnlineStore

If you re-read the order of his comment, I think he just mistook this deal for a non B20 version considering he mentions the Redmi Note 3 Pro himself after suggesting to find a B20 version of Redmi 3 which is £10 more.

I'm confused! Which one IS THE BEST one to go for??? Simple terms please, and I doubt I'm the only one who doesn't understand the technical lingo you've got going on....

This one for £108 if you want a 5" screen - its the global version
Or this one here for a 5.5" its the also global version, for £128
Both are really good

ppl be aware -

https://www.cyberscoop.com/android-malware-china-huawei-zte-kryptowire-blu-products/

just a word of caution :smiley:

This is the best version of the 3s.

Hi,
Someone is buying my son a VR headset for Christmas. He is due a new phone (currently on a vodafone Smart) so before I go a buy, I went and had a look at this http://www.manilashaker.com/top-budget-android-phones-with-gyroscope-sensor-vr-support/
- does anyone recommend which processors would work best with the VR. I was about to buy the Cubot but would a Xiaomi be better?

​Thanks Sandy1012.. much appreciated :sunglasses:

Thanks OP.I've ordered this phone from ali express .

Have a question that is slightly off topic. Noticed that some eBay sellers are selling this phone with a 'gift' What exactly is the gift??

To buy this or the Redmi 4 Pro HUKD Link Here They are pretty much the same price but not sure what to get!

It would be 3S or Note 3 Global for me. Many say Note 4 is a downgrade from Note 3.
Note 3 has Qualcomm chip, better camera, Band 20 (for 4g signal) and its brand new and sealed with the 'official global software'.

Also Note 4 is not 'official' global version. Seller will 100% open the sealed box to change/install software on your Brand new phone which they state in description. This might cause problems and you may need to flash rom again once received. So unless your fairly techy at these things id play safe get 'Offical global' 3S or Note 3.

My 3S Global edition arrived from Geekbuying (£104 delivered) about 10 days ago. They'd put 'gift, $20' on the package label, so no customs involved, and it arrived through the letterbox with the normal mail.

Updated it straight away to MIUI8 via an OTA update.

As I've written on a couple of threads, I love this phone.

The main reason being the amazing battery life (mine says 4000 mAh in the MIUI 8 battery app). It's a genuine 6+ hours of screen on time, which is twice what any of my previous smartphones have achieved.

Speed is fine, no lag. Fingerprint scanner works quickly most of the time (sometimes you have to register twice, but that's rare). MIUI 8 is completely different to stock Android Marshmallow, and some features are missing, such as 'adoptable storage' for SD cards, and you can't move any apps to SD. Good job this has 32GB.

The only niggle is the audio quality when recording videos. Using the stock camera app, noise cancellation is forced to be on, and thus the resultant sound is terrible. Muffled, fades in and out, compressed and useless. Easily fixed by grabbing another camera app from the Google Play Store (I use Open Camera and set the audio source to be 'optimised for voice')

Oh, and there's no UK (US or Ireland) locale for some odd reason, so I had to select 'Falkland Islands' as that's the closest to UK for number formats etc. The phone gets the time from the network.

4G speeds and overall reception is brilliant. I got 109 Mbps down and 44 Mbps up over Vodafone 4G in Birmingham the other day. It's great at picking up a signal - on a train journey from Birmingham to London the other day it only dropped when in a tunnel. My previous phone (Samsung S4 Mini) would drop connection about 30% of the time on the same journey.

Great buy..

Ok thanks for all the feedback - I have finally ordered! After trying to search for it on my phone I couldn't see it as I had to search via Quidco for the 8.8% cashback... however, I ended up placing order on PC, said country was in USA and only changed it back into UK so I don't get charged for warranty. Hope all goes well and I don't expect it to be delivered before Xmas but I might get lucky... might.

Mine has been shipped the next day after ordering it. I had ordered it as a christmas present for mrs.ukdoctor but I doubt if it will reach till early 2017.

My friend has the 2GB RAM version if this phone and it's great. The only issue is getting covers etc as its not a standard UK phone .

Yeah getting covers was a pain. Mine had to go naked (!) with only a glass screen protector for a week. My Chinese order (MSVII minimal 'matte' case ordered a week later once the phone had been shipped) finally arrived this week and it makes the phone far more grippy. A good thing.

Amazon lost my placeholder case order (I bought one as I wasn't sure how long the Chinese one would take to arrive). Permanently on "out for delivery to your Amazon locker" so it's in the back of an Amazon Logistics van somewhere.

Phone shops in town only sell Apple and Samsung cases.

So yeah, order a case at the same time as the phone!

Ordered case and tempered glass screen protector at the same time but unfortunately all not from the same supplier... hopefully all arrive in the same month....

Thank-you for taking the time to reply buddy

Hopefully you didn't get an MSVII case, as mine has discoloured a horrible green after 4 days' use (just in the areas where my fingers have been, and my hands have been dyed a weird yellow colour. Horrible Chinese chemicals leaking from the case, though it could be a fake so I'm hassling the eBay seller).

Back to the slippery no-case phone for now..

Oh no - I think thats the one I ordered MSVII Brand For Xiaomi Redmi 3 Looking forward to getting Smurf hands then I guess!

To his credit the seller refunded immediately once I'd requested a return due to me selecting the "suspected fake" reason for the return. I now have 2 more cases on order from China as hard to get over here, unless you pay close to £10 for the same items - a 300% markup. One of them is bound to be ok!

Anyone receive their phone? I have got dispatched to overseas since the 17th.

Same here, despatched to UK on the 17th but hasn't arrived yet.

Mine has not arrived yet and ordered nearly.
2 weeks ago... I'm expecting a January delivery...

I wonder if anyone who has received their phone could post their order or dispatched to UK dates.

I ordered it on the 1st, it was shipped on the 5th and I received it on the 20th.

OK, so after a bit of googling it was a problem with a specific version of the phone. I've just updated the phone and it LOOKS like it's OK for now.

If this holds out, for all the people waiting for this phone, rest assured you have an absolutely cracking phone on the way. I can't believe this was only £108. My other half wants an iPhone 7 and was adamant that was the phone she was getting but after playing with the Redmi and knowing it was only £108 I could see her cracking. Also I've been playing with it all day AND gone through a system update and the battery is on 55%!

Awesome phone. So chuffed.

When did you order and when were they despatched?

I ordered on first of December, phones were sent out on the 6th to Singapore, they were then dispatched on the 17th from there and showed up yesterday on An Post tracking (Irish post office) yesterday morning and were delivered today which is the last day for Christmas deliveries.

Thanks. Hopefully I will receive it on the next post day then a it was despatched the same day.

Mine arrived and no UK/Great Britain or England locale so time all messed up etc. What nonsense"Global" leaving out UK. Doesn't deserve title, whole point of this was to not mess with flashing etc

Can anyone recommend a tempered glass screen protector that fits exactly? The one I got from ebay is far too small, even though it was packaged as suitable for the 3s.

haha i'm having same issue with the huawei p9

I bought this one from ebay:9H Premium Tempered Glass Screen Protector Cover Film For XiaoMi Redmi 3/3s/Pro
Comes from China though so you would be in for a wait. Worth it though in my opinion
Fits great and went on very easily. A lot better than a one that i purchased for 3 times the price previously.