I'm looking at Amazon right now, and for a 5-inch screen smarphone with 8Gb of memory, I get a pretty good deal even with International shipping! The thing is that these, mostly ship from China, and I'm seeing a lof of bad reviews as far as the phone being a truly International version... Anyone ever had any experience with this? Both with buying from China, or just trying to buy an International Unlucked phone online... Thanks everyone!
I would prefer to buy local and pay to have a phone unlocked if possible. I usually get them directly from the manufacturer online so they come factory unlocked. It costs about twice as much, but I can rest assured that the phone is under warranty and I have somebody to contact and send me a new one if the phone starts acting up.
I feel more secure buying smartphones in my home country than buying one from an online store - all the more reason if China's the one manufacturing a chunk of the world's smartphone brands. I'd rather buy a second-hand Samsung phone from a gadget thrift store. I don't trust Chinese-made products unless they're homegrown.
I prefer to buy smartphones in local dealers than online. I felt more secure and at the same time I get the chance to see the phone and check it before buying. In terms of China made smartphone I think I will buy it if its brand is Lenovo because it have proven itself as one of the major contender in smartphone industry.
Personally, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. First of all, a lot of (not all) Chinese sellers are very unscrupulous and are out to swindle people the world over of their hard earnt money. I've read about many, many horror stories and have experienced it first hand myself. I might chance it with something else, not electronic devices. The fact that you've come across some bad reviews wouldn't sit well with me; at least you've done your homework, some people wake up to smell the coffee too late. I'd stop right this minute and shop for the phone locally. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Even though the phone will cost considerably more locally; you'll have peace of mind, if anything goes wrong you'll know where to to go.
My advice to you is to heed the reviews. If it were 1 or 2 bad reviews among a sea of praise, I take it with a grain of salt. But if the bad reviews clearly outweigh the good, it's going to be a rare occurrence that you will be satisfied with your purchase. I don't mind buying from international sellers, but I do my research first, and I know my options if things go awry - such as any buyer protection I would have in the event that the item was not as described/did not arrive.
I bought a smartphone that was advertised as "brand new" before from Ebay and it lasted only 8 months. I suspect that it was refurbished, but the shell and accessories were all new. The motherboard was the one that was faulty, so there's not much hope of resurrecting that phone. So I would definitely be cautious of buying a phone by Chinese sellers unless it's an established brand like Huawei or Ainol and it's sold as brand new. But if it's an old model of any gadget, then for sure it's refurbished.
I'm not stereotyping all smartphones from China are defective, but I just had some bad experiences regarding their gadgets. I once bought an Android phone which is made in China before, and the phone ran so slow and was always hanging. Plus, its battery life totally sucked to the point that I couldn't use it for longer than five hours. Yes, the price is really low which you should be skeptical about.
You know China can create any product for you for any price, so as the product has a higher price as the product is good, but I really advice you to avoid buy from china stores...
Yeah, I'm definitely scrapping this one. I need the phone for professional reasons, so the possibility of it being really slow, having a ridiculous battery life, or worse, is not something I'm looking to roll the dice on... Any other ideas on how to get the very best deal when it comes to buying a smartphone? Thank you!