[mzltest]

You are right saying that nowadays mid-range devices from China have the same quality of known brands... But the things that scaries me is the "post-market" experience. We all know Huawei, Samsung, Sony, Google, Asus, One Plus rollout updates very often for their devices (well lately OnePlus is lacking a bit). 

Does Xiaomi and Oppo releases update on fixed cycle? Does the phone comes in a international version (using a CN firmware is a huge risk for what I can say...)

Moreover what you pays on major brands is the software. Everyone can build a phone with good hardware, I mean Xiaomi can out-source the display from Samsung Display Inc. and the top performance CPU/GPU from Qualcomm, but what can't be out-sourced is software. You can use a AOSP device but it lacks of a lot of features!

For example:

• Google phones comes with an amazing camera apps... but the hardware is nothing special, all the good stuff comes from post-processing via software.
  
• Samsung phones comes with a lot of features that are not available on Android at all, often anticipating new Android releases. For example the restyling with a moder design, the Android-to-Desktop capability, single-audio-source controls!
  
• Asus phones, most likely the ROG phones, comes with feature-specific to gaming such as bypass battery on charge while gaming or variable refresh rate of the display
  

So does the chinese phones offer such features?

Another aspect regarding updates is: how much time does the OEM take to fix a critical bug. Most of major brand are very fast on patching daily-experiece break bugs... 
OnePlus (Oppo under the mask) are still affected by the low voice volume on What's App and it is a very old bug!

Speaking of Huawei, we must wait and see how USA will change the restrictions. Huawei is actually leaving Android in favor of HarmonyOS, a huge ? right now.

Followed the chain of threads and would like post my opinions here.

About HarmonyOS - This OS is more aimed at wearable devices and ioT devices rather than mobile phones.On recent watchable demos the "linking ability" is often shown.I believe their phones will still use Android as long as it is open source.

The ban on huawei really affected the ecosystem.At least it is making prices higher and the CPU change.Ans yes,selling the broad Honor.

I personally disagree the title,saying Huawei and Xiaomi are budget phones.Xiaomi surely produces budget phones when they haven't seperate the brand "Redmi".Huawei,as far as I know,have no that cheap phones that can be put into daily use for a long time.

You might heard that MI 11 is going to sell in international market.The native version costs you ¥3999(1$~6.5¥),equipped with Qualcomm 888,8GB ram+128GB rom ,100MP cameras and so on.You can call this phone a cheap one competing with other manufacturers.*
*It's reported that Motorola is going to announce a new phone for ¥1999 with scaled-down features.

For software updates,Xiaomi might be better.The current beta version is MIUI 12.5 on MI 11.However you can still upgrade your MI 8 device to a stable version of MIUI 12.Still many people enjoys MI 6.There is even a joke saying"Buy new rather than old,except for MI 6".

[Sn1F3rt]

My mom has a Redmi 7A mobile, which was purchased back in 2019. It was launched on Amazon in India, and now I see it isn't available anywhere, not even on MI web store. Not sure if they discontinued it.

However, Redmi 9A is available at the same price now. Pretty interesting. This mobile has a 2GB RAM, 16 GB of storage and comes with Android 8 Oreo, which was pretty new back then.

It's in a good condition still and works just fine. Only downside is that it's bloated with MI's own apps which heavily reduce the usable storage space on the phone.

[deanhills]

It's in a good condition still and works just fine. Only downside is that it's bloated with MI's own apps which heavily reduce the usable storage space on the phone.

Can't one just delete those apps though? Facebook was the first app I deleted when I got my Sony Xperia in 2016. I went through all of the settings. First thing I did was to delete all of the notifications in the settings, and the sounds so the phone will always be quiet except for phone calls. I was brutal with Facebook, and irritated, because it was one of the apps that were more or less rubbed under my nose by Sony Xperia/Android when I first opened the phone. It had to go.

Now if I only can do the same with my SIM provider notifications. Wish I could turn them off. The amount of spam via my SIM provider is unbelievable.

Back to Xiaomi REDMI 9A. I remember how popular it was at the time it was released in 2019. I found an interesting article about why things have gone quiet. There was a #10 release in 2020, but not a #11 release in 2021 as possibly due to Covid 19 #10 had not done as well during 2020. Hope the company is going to survive this:
https://www.techradar.com/news/what-happ...est-phones

[mzltest]

Can't one just delete those apps though? Facebook was the first app I deleted when I got my Sony Xperia in 2016. I went through all of the settings.  First thing I did was to delete all of the notifications in the settings, and the sounds so the phone will always be quiet except for phone calls.  I was brutal with Facebook, and irritated, because it was one of the apps that were more or less rubbed under my nose by Sony Xperia/Android when I first opened the phone.  It had to go.

Now if I only can do the same with my SIM provider notifications. Wish I could turn them off. The amount of spam via my SIM provider is unbelievable.  

I doubt the number of apps that can be deleted.I don't how the International MIUI behaves,but I believe that some apps are unremovable.

Take my current phone (Huawei Honor X10) for example.At least six apps are unremovable and can not disabled without special procedures(adb,root etc.).What's more,as these OSs are heavily modified,there are more hidden apps that are unremovable and can not be disabled.


And when it comes to "SIM provider notification"...Well we(not only me,most people in China suffers this) often receive promotional messages and even calls from them.I even blacklisted some advertising numbers of my provider.Attached photo show the calls blocked.

[deanhills]

Thanks for the headsup @mzltest.  So perhaps then when I thought I removed Facebook, I only removed the link.  Maybe it's still on my phone somewhere but at least there are tools on Android where one can push the apps out of the way.  At least I have enough space on my phone so don't have issues with the space the apps are taking up.

It's irritating though, but also a good lesson, in that when one purchases a phone, one should pay attention and ask questions about the apps that come with the phone, and the disk space it's occupying. That should be one of the guidelines for how much disk space one wants with the phone, and not only one's one use.

[mzltest]

Thanks for the headsup @mzltest.  So perhaps then when I thought I removed Facebook, I only removed the link.  Maybe it's still on my phone somewhere but at least there are tools on Android where one can push the apps out of the way.  At least I have enough space on my phone so don't have issues with the space the apps are taking up.

It's irritating though, but also a good lesson, in that when one purchases a phone, one should pay attention and ask questions about the apps that come with the phone, and the disk space it's occupying.  That should be one of the guidelines for how much disk space one wants with the phone, and not only one's one use.

3rd-party apps like facebook can be uninstalled and you can safely think this is a complete removal - There isn't too much benefit for them to hide these apps.
For some apps that are provided by your phone manufacturer ,the best(without losing warranty) thing you can do is to disable and/or uninstall updates.

Anyway,the original Android is the best choice if you want a totally-clean phone.Other OSs/UIs always include extended functions and you can not easily remove them.

If you are more focused on storage space these unremovable apps don't affect you much.But if you are really serious about your privacy then use original Android or iOS.

[deanhills]

3rd-party apps like facebook can be uninstalled and you can safely think this is a complete removal - There isn't too much benefit for them to hide these apps.

OK that's a relief.  I'm sure I must have uninstalled it.  Thanks for the tip.

For some apps that are provided by your phone manufacturer ,the best(without losing warranty) thing you can do is to disable and/or uninstall updates.

How about Google Play - is that an App that comes from Sony Xperia?  I've been able to silence notifications on it, but it's still there.  I also don't really want to get rid of it, as who knows, maybe one day I'll become crazy enough to use some of its apps.

Anyway,the original Android is the best choice if you want a totally-clean phone.Other OSs/UIs always include extended functions and you can not easily remove them.

I really like Android - and yes for that - as the more I explore it, the better it gets for me.  Also on tabloids.  I prefer the older models of Android though.  Lollipop, Marshmallow, Nougat - past Nougat it's not as simple and streamlined and getting too bulky to my taste.

Getting back to topic (before someone reports off-topic posts) a budget brand that seems to be doing well too is Samsung budget model - A series. For the A series A31 is getting a very good write up presently. What makes it stand out is battery life. It also has a traditional Jack connection. On the con side graphics is not as high quality as the Samsung expensive phones. Here is a quality review from GSMArena:

[tryp4vps]

3rd-party apps like facebook can be uninstalled and you can safely think this is a complete removal - There isn't too much benefit for them to hide these apps.
For some apps that are provided by your phone manufacturer ,the best(without losing warranty) thing you can do is to disable and/or uninstall updates.......

But actually only a few 3rd-party apps can be uninstalled or disabled in Xiaomi phones.

All other Xiaomi's own bloated apps cannot be uninstalled unless you have root access. Without rooting, these bloated apps cannot even be disabled.

So I suppose the best solution should be to root the Xiaomi phones.

[mzltest]

But actually only a few 3rd-party apps can be uninstalled or disabled in Xiaomi phones.

All other Xiaomi's own bloated apps cannot be uninstalled unless you have root access. Without rooting, these bloated apps cannot even be disabled.

So I suppose the best solution should be to root the Xiaomi phones.

Yeah.One of a advantage of Xiaomi is you can easily modify it.A slogan of Xiaomi at a early time is "Developed for fever" and yes,you can easily found toturials and resources for Xiaomi phones.
So if you want more customizable experiences,I recommend Xiaomi.

---

(......)

Getting back to topic (before someone reports off-topic posts) a budget brand that seems to be doing well too is Samsung budget model - A series. For the A series A31 is getting a very good write up presently. What makes it stand out is battery life. It also has a traditional Jack connection.  On the con side graphics is not as high quality as the Samsung expensive phones. Here is a quality review from GSMArena:

That sounds good.I searched the web but it seems it is not available here.

If you still remember Motorola,recently this company announced a phone called Morotola Edge S,starting at ¥1999(~$305) and is loaded with 6GB+128GB memory,Qualcomm 870,etc.Compared with Redmi K30 Ultra,which announced months earlier,having the same price.*Both are all cheap phones but Morotola has better performance while Redmi feels better.

* :https://www.gizbot.com/new-mobiles/compare/redmi-k30-ultra-vs-motorola-edge-s/

[deanhills]

If you still remember Motorola,recently this company announced a phone called Morotola Edge S,starting at ¥1999(~$305) and is loaded with 6GB+128GB memory,Qualcomm 870,etc.Compared with Redmi K30 Ultra,which announced months earlier,having the same price.*Both are all cheap phones but Morotola has better performance while Redmi feels better.

* :https://www.gizbot.com/new-mobiles/compare/redmi-k30-ultra-vs-motorola-edge-s/

Great mention @mzltest. Motorola is certainly good value for a budget level cell phone. They've provided consistent quality through all of its models over the years.