Five Chinese Android Smartphones Available for Purchase in the US

[dgstorm]

Here in the US, the predominant market for Android smartphones is dominated by companies like Samsung, LG, HTC, & Motorola. Because of that, there are several Chinese OEMs for smartphones which make excellent devices, yet because of their limited availability (and notoriety) they are mostly an afterthought in this country. Some of them only sell in limited quantities, while others don't actually directly distribute in the US at all. Another complication arises from technical and/or policy limitations causing only certain carriers (like T-Mobile and AT&T) to even have the ability to utilize some of these lesser known devices.

In fact, it can be a bit confusing to figure out which devices from companies like Huawai and Xiaomi can be found here. It turns out that you can actually get quite a few Chinese smartphones in the US through third-party retail sites like Amazon, Expansys & Newegg. We thought it would be worthwhile for some of you to have a quick list of the best phones from the biggest names in the Chinese biz that are available in the US. We won't share an exhaustive list, but instead will offer up a single example from each of the Chinese OEMs and include a link for you to check out how to get them. Below we have a device from OnePlus, Xiaomi, Huawai, ZTE & Meixu.

OnePlus One - Amazon

• 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 IPS Screen
• 4G FDD-LTE
• Android 4.4
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 801(8974AC) - Krait 400 Quad Core 2.5GHz
• 3GB RAM
• WCDMA/GSM
• 5MP Front and 13.0MP Rear Camera

Huawai Honor 6 - Amazon

• 5.0 inch IPS Display
• Android 4.4
• Kirin 920 8 Core 1.3GHz
• 3GB RAM
• 16GB Storage
• GSM Network Micro SIM

Meizu MX4 - Newegg

• Android 4.4.4 KitKat, with Meizu's Flyme 4.0
• 5.36" display
• MT6595 octa-core CPU with four Cortex-A17 cores - clocked at 2.2 GHz & four Cortex-A7 - 1.7 GHz
• 2GB RAM
• 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB
• 20.7 Exmor RS rear camera
• 2MP front camera

ZTE Nubia Z7 - Amazon

• 5-inch 1080p display
• 13 megapixel camera with flash
• Two SIM card slots
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 - 2GHz quad core processor
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB storage expandable via a microSD card slot

Xiaomi Mi4 - Expansys

• 5-inch 1080p - fully laminated display
• Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 clocked at up to 2.5GHz
• 3GB of RAM
• Battery 3080 mAh - supports quick charging
• 13-megapixel rear camera
• 8-megapixel shooter with a Sony sensor up front
• 16GB or 64GB of internal storage - ultra-fast eMMC 5.0 variety

 

[grenefroggie]

Thanks for this post @dgstorm as I have been looking for a nice phone, one with a large amount of storage, decent RAM and a nice processor.

I have been looking at the Xiaomi Mi4 after reading an article about it. I am also looking at their tablet as well. It does not support the 700Mhz LTE band AT&T uses though.

These are affordable phones ($399 for the Mi4, as opposed to the $700+ US flagships) with good specs. They are all definitely worth a look.