It was 2015, I had no idea about tech, smartphones since I had never used one before, so decided to ask my cousin for advice of what should I buy.
He had been using a Samsung for two years and I was pretty confident that he would choose a good one for me, thus we headed downtown to get one.
I thought we would go to some kind of store, but we ended up buying from those guys who sell shit on the street, you know the quality and “warranty” you get when you buy from that kind of seller.
Anyway, I bought a fake Samsung Galaxy S5 mini, a very fake one, plastic screen, no battery, shitty camera, no storage at all, as about the processor, till this day, I haven’t figured out the “power” of it.
Ok, I was happy, was about to unbox and use my very first smartphone.
Unboxed it, charged and starting using, in the beginning nothing felt wrong, but after two days I was pretty sure that it must have been a fake one, since the battery wasn’t holding good and the touch screen was unresponsive.
Anyway, it was my first year at University, so I was in a very tight budget and had to use it for like a year, did not have a choice.
Luckily, my English was good enough to start learning about the tech world and there began my journey.
In 3 months learned the basics, what is a good processor, why, the battery, the quality of the screen, what about the cameras etc.
In August 2016 after watching tons of videos on YouTube about Redmi note 3 pro, reviews, and growing my knowledge about tech decided to buy one from AliExpress.
My friends started with the classic one:” You are going to buy a Chinese smartphone? Lol”
Ok, I was sure about my knowledge and what I was buying.
Arrived on September, well, well, the buddies who were making fun of me about buying a Chinese one, started with questions like how much did you buy, the specs 🤣.
Always told them that they were paying too much in comparison of what they were getting, but did not believe me. Only when I got Note 3 pro, they started doubting themselves, Lol.
Don’t want to brag, rant or put anyone down, but we understand the market much better than the average Joe and we are paying less and getting so much more!
(Today, they all use Xiaomi)
Used it till last week, now I’m using a K20Pro.
Still with the Redmi line, still with Xiaomi!
Thank you Xiaomi for existing & thank you guys for answering my silly questions in the beginning.
Viva Xiaomi!
I know you work for Xiaomi, just give me a Mi A3 Pro release date.
succ
Where you at? It’s out in Spain and France IIRC
I forgot to add ‘Pro’ my bad, lol.
That’s good to know, you remind me of my time in college. My phone was broken in a bike accident and I try to buy a new one with my own money(my arm was broken too, thus I had to quit my part-time job, things were hard). It feels great when you take alot of consideration and the final decision turn out to be right. That budget phone(a Lumia) last me 3 years and from then I always try to find the best phone for its price. Which lead to a Xiaomi phone.
lol all’s good.
Lol
I always try to buy new things always after researching. Sometimes, the biggest risk is not taking any risks.
That’s nice to hear folks with a similar story!
I had a similar experience, a Chinese phone, a Chinese router and a Chinese fitness tracker. My friends and family started listening now Xiaomi has arrived in the UK and I spent £95 on my redmi note 7
Hello there fellow Redmi Note 4 user XD..i see that u also made a good choice there ^-^
I feel you…
I really appreciate what xiaomi did. About a year ago I started to save my money to get me a phone ( I was using HTC 630 that my mom gave me ) and I watched tons of reviews about xiaomi phone, especially the Redmi 5 plus, and I started to passionate about tech and phone since.
Got myself the redmi 5 plus after months of saving. And it was like everything I had expected, the user experience was like holy smoke, completely different from my HTC. I enjoyed it everday since i bought it, the greatest choice of phone I have ever made in life :))
Arriba!
My guy!
It’s crazy how little the phone costs compared to the specs!
I can relate to this. People were giving me shit for buying a redmi note 5. Now, close to a year later, my father, his co-worker, co-worker’s son and 3 of my close friends all have the same xiaomi phone.
It’s ridiculous to spend 500€ just for a brand name, even though you can get that kind of perfomance for a third of the price.
My parents was like : “Why are you going to buy a phone that’s not in the TV advertisement? Why don’t you choose Huawei instead?”
Lol the ads are what make things expensive. No ads = cheaper. And huawei’s future are still in doubt.
Same bud!
> You are going to buy a Chinese smartphone? Lol
As opposed to their totally-not-made-in-China iPhone?
Last year, while still under warranty, my iPhone 8 decided to die, I did not abuse it, never even dropped once because I really liked it and cared for it. Until i droped it on a shallow part of the pool but rushed to get it so it wasn’t submerged for more than 10 seconds. With the IP68 rating you wouldn’t think that this would be an issue, but screen failed after a week from the pool incident. Went to my carrier because it was under warranty with them, was passed to the official Apple repair partner and was told that water damage was found and warranty is now void. Was asked for almost 80% of the current SRP of an iPhone 8 ad repair cost. I just snapped, went home, went to ebay and sold the iPhone 8 for parts, i did some no research and almost always the Pocophone F1 always came up when talking about flagships and was always dubbed as a flagship killer. Went to the mall the next day and was greeted by a Xiaomi sale. Got the Poco F1 64gb, with free Micro SD card, also 64gb, the AirDots, and 25% off the Amazfit Bip. I came home happy that day. And I’m now in the process of getting my wife a mi 9se.
They have no idea about it, they see the logo, they buy :/.
You are making some smart choices pal.
Keep it up!
The phone i bought for 200$ is now like 140!
The irony 🤣🤣
Yeah. The redmi 5 plus is the phone that made me see that my money is spend on something wisely. It gives me a lot value compared to cost of it. 🤣 but now it raise my standard to choose a phone, guess I gonna upgrade soon haha.
Well, K20Pro is waiting for you haha
I got mocked for buying a Chinese phone, specially here in The Philippines where people are not very happy with Chinese nationals treating our country as one of their new provinces. And with the Huawei issues owning a Chinese phone wasn’t a very smart decision on a lot of peoples eyes. I just wish they can experience the value for money on Xiaomi’s line-up. I’m glad my iPhone 8 didn’t get repaired or replaced. I might have stayed as an iSlave if I got a working phone back. I’m also glad that i didn’t have a lot of money at the time, i could’ve bought an overpriced galaxy note 9, or an Asus ROG phone. All of my xiaomi devices are working perfectly. Glad I’m out of that ecosystem, gave my MBP to the wife last week. I’m free!
I like to think of it as them subsidizing the movement forward of the technology for all of us. They pay, we benefit.
You went from a fake galaxy s5 mini to a Redmi K20 pro?! Wow that’s amazing!!
Is that no a bad one?
That’s a myth. Products have economies of scale and if you had two companies making identical products the one doing the advertising will generally find even with the advertising costs that they spend less per unit to produce it because they expect to sell more due to the advertising so they have to buy parts in bigger bulks etc etc. And the fixed costs are also spread across more units as well.
The only reason Xiaomi is cheaper is because they are willing to take a lower markup than many of the other Chinese firms and even though many of the other countries firms will use Chinese production plants other staffing costs are much higher as Chinese workers will work for less than say American workers
> Sometimes, the biggest risk is not taking any risks.
You are a wise person
I’m in the same boat. I’ve had a Note 3 Pro SE (Kate) since 2015, and yesterday I just put in my order for the Mi9T (global k20). Can’t wait for my new phone, but there’s really thing wrong with my current phone either.
Im still using my Redmi Note 3 Pro (writing this comment from it)
Its been 4 good years. It holds up pretty good with all the rough love it has been given. Now my whole family has xiaomi phones.
I want to buy another budget, up-to-date xiaomi phone but I don’t want to throw my Redmi Note 3 before draining every single drop of life it has :/
Speaking of xiaomi. I should have waited for the Xiaomi Mi A3. Now I kinda regret buying the Samsung A50. But it’s fine and all, I got this phone pretty cheap.
I concur that Xiaomi does offer products at very decent and affordable price point. That is their selling point. Personally, I’m using an A2. it is my secondary phone and I do not want to have 2 iPhones hah. I’m glad that my A2 has 6GB rams with Snapdraton 660. Not an ultimate top performer but I would rate it very very decent for day to day usage!
I just want the Pocophone 2 when it releases. Can you hook a brother up, lol.
I fall in love with my Mi 8, my best smartphone so far!!! And for the price it’s a bargain.
It released, its called the K20/K20Pro
My first phone I bought myself was a Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime, didn’t know anything about phones, it sucked.
After that I was watching YouTube video’s and learned A BIT about specs and bought a Vernee M5, it sucked because the WiFi stopped working every 20 minutes.
Now I’m here with my Xiaomi Mi 9, I know how specs work and I think I’ll never leave Xiaomi in my life. My first phone I bought myself was the Grand Prime what was just 2 years ago…
You have a very similar story like mine.
Back in the day, I was thinking too about Vernee M5, but chose Xiaomi. My intuition was right once again.
We gave Xiaomi a chance and became customers for life, I will never leave Xiaomi too! ✌️
Great! And so cool you was thinking about Vernee as well, happily for you you didn’t buy it! Followed you btw!
Me too.
😂
🤣🤣
> K20
Not with that popup it’s not.