Hopefully others can resist you!.

Don't shout about it too much, they are the people we need to keep the economy going, presuming they over pay for everything they buy, economy would die tomorrow if it relied on us lot on here..

what do you mean foreign phone? every single phone is foreign,becuase UK makes no phone..but if you mean having standard firmware and google play store and be compatible in this country, yes "GLOBAL" means they have google play store and they are fully compatible with UK networks.they are factory made like this, hence why title says "global" version.

So not only do you lie about non B20 phones working only in China but also that a Chinese marketplace that supplies to a worldwide audience, is only good for China. Alibaba Group, the parent company of Aliexpress, "is the world's largest retailer as of April 2016, with operations in over 190 countries, as well as one of the largest Internet companies". The main Alibaba marketplace used in China is not Aliexpress. It is Taobao. The fact that Aliexpress has language and currency options must totally mean it "is only good for China". You slated Gearbest non stop yet posted a deal for them a few days ago. You criticised Chinese retailers in general for lack of UK support and warranty yet posted a Banggood deal last week. You kept saying how Oneplus 3 cut corners and was inferior on your eGlobalcentral Asus thread yet ended up buying a Oneplus 3. Just a few examples of how meaningless and baseless your opinions are. Also you should read about PayPal before claiming "PayPal is in UK"...

P.S. I'm still waiting for you to provide even a single link to prove your statement on your Gearbest thread, that I only post phones without B20.

any progress??

Mine has been in transit since 16th when it left Hong Kong how often did they update tracking, it's been 13 days and I don't even know if it's in this country yet.:disappointed:

I ordered mine on the 5th and the tracking shows it's been dispached but doesn't say where it is
Edit. They didn't dispached until the 10th so only been 7 days so far.

sorry just logged back in!

its been 10 days, they post by air by the looks of it.

When did you place your order, still waiting on mine.

Arrived today signed delivery. Global ROM sticker on the box and factory sealed. Nice!

The few times I've opened a dispute on aliexpress they've been excellent and very prompt - one item I waited more than twelve weeks for - got a refund and it mysteriously appeared weeks later! (Don't get too excited - only £6 jelly shoes)!

In fact I'd say I've had more trouble with ebay with difficult sellers giving me the runaround, and that includes both UK and Chinese sellers.

Sadly those same companies have grown so large precisely because they have been allowed to dodge tax at the expense of many home grown smaller companies. It doesn't have to be that way, Australia seem to have a better handle on their exploits. The fact so many of us are buying direct from China speaks volumes..

That's a different topic all together, and please don't tell me there is any company in the world that is not doing the same, including google, amazon but we all still love them and use them everyday.

The Tories, every single government in the world is allowing them to do this.
It's a global issue, not a Tories issue.
Not heard of many actions against it from the other parties, did we?

For years, every single phone thread justifies buying a phone with a name you cannot pronounce by the same phrase you are using: "xxxx company is the largest/second/third largest phone manufacturer"

And yet most of them are bitter disappointments in terms of quality and support and copy apple or samsung.
Xiaomi raised recently to show some signs of quality.

You'll tell me next that some Chinese google alternative is actually larger than Google, still not relevant.

So we'll respected they shaft the UK by sending all their payments through a tax haven, just another of those great companies the Tories allow to take all our money.. I guess they can afford the odd duff payment..

Do they have any UK presence ? If you cannot deal with them in UK or complain against them in UK or EU till we are part of it makes no difference. The advantage or Amazon & Paypal , Apple Pay , Android Pay is their UK presence and our banks is their UK presence.

That's not my opinion, it's a fact. Alibaba as a sales platform is bigger than Amazon, and Alipay is bigger than Paypal, like it or lump, it's true. I've also generally been refunded more quickly from aliexpress/alipay than ebay/paypal.

"Alipay is the world's largest mobile and online payments platform since 2014."

You must be joking, most people never even heard of Alipay, saying it is bigger than Paypal is ridiculous.
That did offer Paypal for a few days.

We all know the strict rules Paypal have, and this is what allows them to be so well respected.
Do not compare a Chinese financial company with a well respected institution like Paypal

Because they own Alipay which is bigger than Paypal so why would they bother supporting a rival.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alipay

The reason is probably after two years some snob says omg you still on iPhone 7 I'm on 8s while no body cares what xiaomi your on.:laughing:

Aliexpress doesn't offer Paypal for a reason... not saying banggood or gearbest are better, but having paypal on your site makes a huge difference

Pretty much none of the Xiaomi have NFC. Pretty much none of the Chinese import phones have NFC, most from UK retailers do though, like the Moto G4 or 5, or smart ultra 7.

Can anyone confirm if this has NFC? I need NFC for my diabetes T1 sensor.

Well they did hire former Google exec Hugo Barra with that plan to expand in to the west. He left recently though. They continue to make baby steps in that direction but really they are doing well without the west so they're hardly going to risk it all. They also know that Apple is very happy to file lawsuits against competitors over the most flimsy of patent infringement's and are often successful on home turf.

Don't shout about it too much, they are the people we need to keep the economy going, presuming they over pay for everything they buy, economy would die tomorrow if it relied on us lot on here..

I fully agree - my 30 month old £140 Moto G is coming to the end of it's life I've been paying £4 - £8 per month on 1 year SIMO during that time. It never ceases to amaze me the suckers queuing up to pay £800 to £1000 over 2 years for a top of the range phone

http://willmyphonework.net/

Uk frequencies, basically the higher the frequency the shorter the range.
http://www.4g.co.uk/4g-frequencies-uk-need-know/

Intelligent comment on HUKD. Whatever next. :-)

Xiaomi need to change their name to something more appealing and hire someone who knows a thing or two about global marketing if they want to expand and avoid any decline in revenue.

How can one tell which band a country is using whenever you want to use the phone abroad?

I think you will be quite surprised when you receive your phone. I was worried about buying from China too but when I received my phone I was very pleased.

My phone was well packaged and totally sealed and wrapped in plastic film. It comes in a very nice Xiaomi box with all English writing. It's no different than if you received a high end Samsung through the post.

Everything looks classy and premium.

If you want a smaller Xiaomi phone I recommend this one which I'm typing on now

Global Version Xiaomi Redmi 4X Pro Mobile Phone 4 X Snapdragon 435 Octa Core CPU 3GB RAM 32GB ROM 5.0" 13MP 4100mAh Band B20
http://s.aliexpress.com/2Afuie6J
(from AliExpress Android)

The processor is one step down from the Redmi Note 4 global edition (Snapdragon 435 Vs Snapdragon 625) but still an excellent performer and superior to the phone in this deal - not that this phone isn't decent.

Everything else is the same as the Note 4 - storage, ram, screen resolution, metal body, fingerprint scanner and camera. Great little phone!

How is it difficult? I've had multiple refunds from them? Whenever I've had a problem I raise a support request, myself and the seller can respond, and as I only open genuine cases every single time they've given me a full refund no issue within 2-3 days, I've found it easier than quite a few UK companies.

Stopped turning on. Not dropped or got wet. Should still be under warranty but as the screen is cracked (and new batteries are half the price of this phone) I'm not sure I can be bothered with the returnd process.

From a guy who campaigned and voted "Remain" you can bet your backside i didn't mean it that way. I simply meant, not from the usual city centre shops. Tis all :wink:

Seems like you have never used credit cards. Credit card companies in UK refuse to help on purchases from abroad unless it is clear fraud where you did not authorize the payment. I only realised it the hard way. I did not say anything about Banggood but about Aliexpress who do not take PayPal Payment. Also dubious foreign sellers or their staff who have no expectations of repeat purchase can scam your credit card details and it will be months before you can prove anything. Cost of posting from UK to China is 10 times more than it costs Chinese to post things to UK .

Spoken like true son of China.Even on this website how many people have complained after buying from them.

Always pay with a credit card if its over £100. As you say, its the after sales where the problems will happen, having said that banggood paid for a screen replacement on my Ulefone without me having to send it back.

What are you talking about buddy?

You get poor after service from all of the Chinese vendors so you may as well pay the lowest price.

hi
what happens in regard to import duties and vat?

Hard Brexit ! WTO Rules OK

So not only do you lie about non B20 phones working only in China but also that a Chinese marketplace that supplies to a worldwide audience, is only good for China. Alibaba Group, the parent company of Aliexpress, "is the world's largest retailer as of April 2016, with operations in over 190 countries, as well as one of the largest Internet companies". The main Alibaba marketplace used in China is not Aliexpress. It is Taobao. The fact that Aliexpress has language and currency options must totally mean it "is only good for China". You slated Gearbest non stop yet posted a deal for them a few days ago. You criticised Chinese retailers in general for lack of UK support and warranty yet posted a Banggood deal last week. You kept saying how Oneplus 3 cut corners and was inferior on your eGlobalcentral Asus thread yet ended up buying a Oneplus 3. Just a few examples of how meaningless and baseless your opinions are. Also you should read about PayPal before claiming "PayPal is in UK"...

P.S. I'm still waiting for you to provide even a single link to prove your statement on your Gearbest thread, that I only post phones without B20.

Aliexpress is only good for China . PayPal is in UK. Very difficult to dispute with Aliexpress if things go wrong . Probably you already know Chinese and will have relatives in China so prefer Aliexpress. :smile:

I have redmi note 4 global edition and man, that phone is good. I had Nexus 4 before and I think redmi is better quality. If this one keeps the same standard: you have a good option here.

Ordered, perfect timing, thanks for the deal my old lg nexus is playing up.

Pretty much everything on banggood or gearbest is available on aliexpress cheaper, and that's usually before you include 7% TCB

I would not use quidco though, they take ages to confirm or simple decline most stuff.

Inadvertently hilarious comment. I'm sure you didn't mean it but felt very UKIPy post-Brexit...DON'T TRUST ANYTHING FOREIGN!! Even though almost every phone on the market will be "foreign" designed and certainly foreign built...

Lots on Amazon I just had a check.

I just received my Redmi 4x global edition today. Beautiful 5inch phone all sealed and supporting all UK bands. Already have the Redmi Note 4 global version which is an amazing phone.

Totally blown away by the quality of these Xiaomi phones.

what's wrong with your G4?

The LeEco is in a different league to the other two though as unlike them LeEco is actually mainly a big hardware manufacturer, whereas companies like Xiaomi are mainly a software company.

And whilst Xiaomi may sell ALOT of phones and the quality of their products is high, I think people have been somewhat duped as to whether they'll ever really challenge companies like Apple.

They'll never be a proper global brand sadly because if they really tried to penetrate the western market, thousands of patent lawsuits would make them bankrupt pretty quickly.

They're not actually doing that well in Asia anymore either. Growth may go negative for them next year. You have to wonder what the future holds for them.

Are cases & screen protectors easy enough to get or do they need to be ordered from China?

Had two Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (one as the prime version). One still OK, the other had the digitiser fail after 12 months.
Sample size of two, so hardly conclusive. Also had a Ulefone Power (great specs, digitise failed after 3 months eventually got full refund from Gearbest as it couldn't be fixed !) and now my daily driver is LETV Le 1 Pro (one year in, no issues, metal body, mad specs Snap 820 / 4GB / 2k screen, utterly glorious sound stage). So, four Chinese phones, two failures.

However, my view is this. If the phone is £80, you keep your stuff backed up in case of failure, if they last a year, it's still a cheap way of having a decent phone and when combined with a SIMO deal, it still, to me, makes much more sense than forking out £30-£40 a month for two years on a £500 handset which really isn't massively needed. We are all driving Ferraris to the supermarket at the moment.

Anyone got any idea what the camera is like on this? The missus has got the Note 3 Pro but it's too big and the camera is a bit rubbish

I'd agree, having a 1080 screen in a 5" screen just uses more processor and battery for very little gain.

I have a Redmi note 3 pro and I love it, but my earphone has stopped working and as most people know the camera is not great. Can someone please recommend a phone that will be just as great as this and better. Thanks

720p display :disappointed:

Can this be rooted easily, has anyone got any experience?

Does this have an 'App drawer' amongst one of the 3 buttons?

Cheaper Here

The Redmi 4 Pro global version doesn't exist, only the non global version without band 20.
There is only the Redmi 4x global version with the snapdragon 435 processor.

That was my initial thought when I bought the Note 4. It took me about 5 minutes to get used to the bigger size and now I look at my old 5" phone and wonder how I managed (much like my ex girlfriends feel after moving on I imagine). Unless you're partial to skintight jeans or you're 5 years old then it fits fine in your pockets.

ordered thanks

Any specific way to order this to avoid being hit with custom charges etc?

Yeah, the word 'Global' alone is not enough to determine B20 support, since it can sometimes refer to China version flashed with Global ROM only. However the B20 models of the Redmi 4A, Redmi Note 4 and Redmi 4X are known as 'Global Version' as labelled on their boxes. Similar to how the B20 RN3 Pro was 'Special Edition'.

Sellers seem to use these B20 'Global Version' models as a basis for advertising their phones now. For your links, they don't say "Global" in the title itself and only tag it over the image whilst specifying they mean Global MIUI (ROM). This is how they differentiate a B20 Global Version from the China Version with Global ROM. If you look at all the Redmi Note 4 and Redmi 4A listings from the same seller, only the B20 Global Versions have the word "Global" in the title, whereas the non B20 China version with Global ROM say "Original" in the title with "Global MIUI" tagged over the listing image. Similar to your links which are phones that do not have a B20 Global version. Other sellers seem to follow this naming convention now too. Banggood's non B20 Redmi 4A listing does not say Global in the title, despite saying Global ROM in the description. Whereas the page for this deal is titled Global and is B20 version.

I agree people shouldn't rely solely on the word 'Global'. However, nowadays it seems most of the listings that use "Global" in the title, are referring to a B20 Global Version and not a China version with Global ROM only.

If you buy this, ask the vendor to send it with a sealed box. Check the firmware version when it arrives too- 8.2.1.0 is fine, but if it has five numbers as the firmware -8.2.1.0.0 , then it may be a third party rom and it will need flashing.

These safe being foreign? Forgive me but I've never bought a foreign phone before. Need Google store and a pretty vanilla experience, no spyware, useless unremovable apps etc. How do these hold up?
Thanks for any replies.

for around £30 more you can buy the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 which is much better and more premium class phone than this budget plastic Redmi 4A model..

Whats best this or moto G5

yes that's right,"global" doesn't -necessarily- mean it supports band 20,people need to check for that in the description/with seller/ask other customers.

Standard firmware, yes that's what I meant. Global did suggest that, but I wasn't 100%. You've answered all I needed to know, so thanks for that.

Not quite right global does not mean they are fully compatible with UK networks some global roms do not cover band 20 here's a couple of examples link https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Original-Xiaomi-Mi5s-Mi-5S-Plus-4GB-RAM-64GB-ROM-Mobile-Phone-Snapdragon-821-Quad-Core/2178148_32746913555.html?spm=2114.12010612.0.0.HvoBsn and this one as well link https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Original-Xiaomi-Redmi-4-Prime-Mobile-Phone-3GB-RAM-32GB-ROM-Snapdragon-625-Octa-Core-CPU/2178148_32763245357.html?spm=2114.12010612.0.0.ZJPIRp they do have google play and OTA updates but no band 20 so not fully compatible with UK networks point im making is always check the network coverage if you need band 20 dont just rely on global meaning it does

This, or get my LG G4 fixed? Thanks HUKD's!

Xiaomi phones are generally excellent and receive regular Android updates. This is a budget model but still with good specs and decent build quality according to reviews.

The 4a global version has been available on aliexpress for a few weeks now, can go via quidco or use the aliexpress app and get some coupons, will get down to about £75.
https://m.aliexpress.com/s/item/32776461648.html

Couldn't resist myself and I've already got the xiaomi redmi note 4 global. Lol.

What's the situation with MIUI V8 & Android

Heat from me,as I'm always up for a good-bang.:laughing:

Started thinking about replacing my Blackberry Passport. The Mi Mix caught my attention - are Xiaomi decent phones?

Is this much of an improvement over the redmi note 3?

Not bad but brought the zuk2 waiting on that.this is a great phone for the money and having band 20 a plus.im hot :stuck_out_tongue: