Best Chinese phones 2016/2017 / Part 2

Best Chinese phones 2016/2017 / Part 2

11. Xiaomi Redmi Note 4

• Rating: 
• Reviewed on: 29 September 16
• RRP: £192.93 inc. VAT

• Buy from GearBest

The Redmi Note 4 isn’t a huge upgrade over the Redmi Note 3 in terms of core hardware, with simply a greater amount of storage and a faster processor, but the design changes are a huge improvement over its predecessor. If you don’t care about looks and can make do with less storage then the cheaper Redmi Note 3 may well meet your needs. The Redmi Note 4 remains a great buy, but the omission of Google Play support may put off some users. O2 and Giffgaff customers should also note the lack of support for 800MHz 4G.

Read our Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 review.

12. Ulefone Future

• Rating: 
• Reviewed on: 14 July 16
• RRP: £188.57 inc. VAT

• Buy from Ulefone

Ulefone has attempted to build a futuristic phone with the Future’s edge-to-edge display and USB-C port. For a mid-range Android phone performance is good, and the design is good, even if the phone is on the heavy side. We can’t turn a blind eye to the camera quality, although a software update should be able to fix the issues we saw.

Read our Ulefone Future review.

13. Xiaomi Mi Max

• Rating: 
• Reviewed on: 29 June 16
• RRP: £212.04

• Buy from Xiaomi Tech

If you want a huge phone and you don’t want to pay as large a wedge of cash, the Xiaomi Mi Max is a fantastic phablet with good looks, decent performance, strong runtime and, most importantly of all, a gigantic screen. Not ideal for novice users, but otherwise the Mi Max is a highly recommended smartphone.

Read our Xiaomi Mi Max review.

14. Lenovo ZUK Z1

• Rating: 
• Reviewed on: 6 November 15
• RRP: £228.47 inc VAT (free shipping from EU warehouse)

The Z1 is a good first attempt from ZUK. It's not a super-cheap budget phone, but we think the price is about right given the hardware inside. Standout features include the 5.5in full-HD screen, large battery, 64GB of built-in storage and USB-C port. Although there's no removable battery or microSD card support, you could argue that you need neither.

Read our Lenovo ZUK Z1 review.

15. Xiaomi Redmi 3

• Rating: 
• Reviewed on: 2 February 16
• RRP: £114.95

The Xiaomi Redmi 3 is a very decent budget Android phone, but it isn't intended for a UK audience and doesn't come with Google Play installed out of the box, so we wouldn't recommend it for those not familiar with Android. It has a plasticky but decent build, with good performance for the money. 

Read our Xiaomi Redmi 3 review.

16. Meizu M3 Note

• Rating: 
• Reviewed on: 19 June 16
• RRP: £132.58

• Buy from Meizu

The Meizu M3 Note is a great phone, with outstanding battery life and a nice metal unibody design, but it isn’t a patch on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, which is faster and comes with a better camera, more up-to-date software and, importantly, a cheaper price tag. That said, it’s difficult for us to recommend to UK users (particularly novice UK users) the Meizu M3 Note over other budget Chinese smartphones we’ve tested, given that Google Play is not preinstalled and so much of it has not been adapted from Chinese.

Read our Meizu M3 Note review.

17. Bluboo X9

• Rating: 
• Reviewed on: 25 January 16
• RRP: £82.02

• Buy from Bluboo

We never fail to be impressed by how much value you can get for your money if you're prepared to buy a smartphone from China rather than the UK. Bluboo might not be well known over here, but its X9 is a stylish phone that packs in both a fingerprint scanner and a 5in full-HD screen for just £110. General performance is capable, and there's plenty of space here for all your apps and media. 

Read our Bluboo X9 review.

18. Elephone Vowney

• Rating: 
• Reviewed on: 7 March 16
• RRP: £235.78 (plus import duty from China)

Elephone has focused so hard on the specs, it’s dropped the ball somewhat on the build quality. The Vowney has an awesome specification for the money, but at a glance you really wouldn’t know it.

Read our Elephone Vowney review.

19. Huawei Nova Plus

• Rating: 
• Reviewed on: 24 October 16
• RRP: 429 Euros

While the Huawei Nova Plus certainly looks the part with a premium design and a bright, crisp display, the internals let it down. Despite featuring an improved camera with OIS, the photos produced by the smartphone are barely improved when compared to the Nova. However, we could look past the camera if it wasn’t for the sub-par CPU and GPU, which produce fairly disappointing results when compared to other mid-range Android smartphones. While the Nova Plus isn’t a terrible mid-range smartphone, there are better options on the market.

Best Chinese phones 2016/2017 / Part 2

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