Things You Should Consider Before You Order for a Chinese Phone like Xiaomi or Elephone

China boasts of many smartphone manufacturers that you might even be overwhelmed by the phone to choose. Amongst them are Tecno and Infinix which have physical presence in Nigeria. But considering the amount these companies sell their flagship, one may be tempted to buy a UK used phone or from the numerous Chinese smartphone makers who do not have physical presence in the country.

There are great advantage purchasing smartphones from these companies like better specs for low price. You could get a smartphone that has similar specs with a Tecno flagship but for a lower price. Perhaps you want to purchase a Xiaomi or Ulefone smartphone from a Chinese store like GearBest, here are some things you should understand..

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Is a Service Center Available?

Smartphones manufacturers like Tecno have service centers in Nigeria that you can easily run to in case of a problem with your phone. You need to find out if the smartphone you’re buying has a service centre, a place you can go to should your phone screen be damaged. Software issues may be easily solved by you if you’re a geek but in case of hardware damage, you’d have to contact a service centre. If there are no service centre for your phone, then you may have to take it to a third party repairer.

What About Warranty

The device your from China purchasing may or may not have a warranty. If it has warranty, it may not even cover your geographical location. So if a faulty device is shipped to you, then you’re on your own.

The best that can happen is that you’ll be able to return the device for another one if it is within the time frame covered by the return policy. The only thing is that you may have to pay for the shipping fee back to China.

So if you’re getting a device like Xiaomi, Ulefone, Oukitel from Gearbest or any other store, be sure about the store return policy. A 45-day money back guarantee and a one-year repair warranty is available on Gearbest but you’ll pay for shipping charges.

What Are the Advamtages?

No! I’m not saying you should not buy from Gearbest or the likes at least there are things to appreciate those phones for like…

Value and Affordability

Most of these companies like Xiaomi roll out devices at unbelievable price. These device are top notch in terms of specs, build and design. So in essence, you get good value for your money.

Helpful Support Forum

Support is necessary especially when you encounter problems with your device amd you don’t know how to go about it. Other users share tips and guides to help solve problems like software bricks

What to do…

If you wish to buy a Chinese phone with no active presence in the country, be sure to arm the phone with a case and tempered glass. You can purchase them along with the smartphone. Reason being that most smartphones are fragile and a drop could damage it.

Never try to root or unlock the bootloader or flash custom ROMs unless you know what you’re exactly doing. Soft bricks can easily be solved by you if you knew how you caused it. If you know how to deal with a bootloop, then you have freedom to do whatever you like.

Have you ever bought a device from a Chinese store? How was your experience with the phone. Share in the comment