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China Mobile A3s 4G Smartphone 2GB+16GB Snapdragon 425 8MP 2800 mAh $59.99 USD ($78 AUD) @ Geekbuying

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Never heard of Chinamobile before but it's a super cheap 4G mobile packing a quad core Snapdragon 425 under the hood. For an extra $1.25 USD you can opt for express shipping that will get the device to you in 8-15 days.

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  • +5

    chinamobile is the telstra in china

    • Isn't china mobile owned by the Chinese government?

      • ok Telecom in China?

  • +14

    I love the comparison to the Xiaomi on that page:

    China Mobile: smart beautiful function
    Xiaomi: N/A

    • it's why you sometimes get a xiaomi phones with the chinamobile logo engraved, some sellers get them cheaper than global ROM and reflash and sell overseas.

      you will also see some sellers offering the chinamobile version cheaper vs global official phone and you can reflash it yourself.

  • Just curious how to know the sales

  • +1

    I have a feeling google play services will be dodgy on this after google's crackdown.

    • +2

      What did they do? My legit copy of Poweramp stopped working.

      The author provided an alternative download but frankly it would have been easier if it was pirated, it would still work.

      • PowerAmp is the best Android Audio player with the worst copy protection. They screw their legit users.

        Take it on holiday and it will stop playing two hours into the flight as it cannot contact its licence servers.

    • +2

      not sure about this phone, but I had a xiaomi Redmi note 4 that can with Chinamobile logo and chinese ROM …. I reflashed it to global, playstore, etc worked fine.

      Took me a few hours to reflash on windows 10 PC, next time I'd just pay extra and get global.

  • +3

    No B28 for the B28 watchers.

    • Years ago I thought 700 MHz was meant to be the future or something and there was talk of China joining in on the action. With so many features now standard at amazing prices I think my frustration is only growing…

      • +1

        China didn't end up jumping onboard but Taiwan did. That's why there was a special edition of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 released years ago with B28. Disappointing as a few South American, African and Asian countries now use it.

        • a few european countries also use band 28 already and EU has reserved it for mobile phone use.

        • @garage sale: France currently uses it.

  • +2

    China Mobile is the world's largest mobile network provider in terms of subscribers in the world. As jzjzjjz87 said the Telstra of China.

    Refer to here to compare mobile bands to see if compatible.

    • Phone has some bands for telstra, though others will know better.
      How important is Band 28 in remote / rural areas? I'd like to run it on aldi.

      • +1

        very in rural and remote, my son had redmi note 4 (now has A1) , no band 28, over christmas holidays i had coverage all the time on my V20, he tethered off my phone in the car, and usb dongle in the holiday house, was only an issue 15% of the time when on the road. was same coverage for optus and telstra as he has dual sim phone ( runs an telstra sim and an optus sim).

        • @garage sale, so the dual sim model works in the cities, right? What model is that please A1 or Redmi Note4? Thanks.

      • +1

        Just be aware ALDI does not run the full Telstra network.

        • Care to elaborate?

        • @knk:

          ALDI only has access to part of the Telstra network.

          The coverage is less.

          It is part of the ALDI/Woolworths etc T&C.

  • After adding it to cart and applying code its AU$ 80.64?

    • +2

      Pay in USD

      • cheers mate :)

  • +9

    All the bullshit aside, 10 years ago I couldn't fathom buying something this powerful for under 500, let alone 100, and wouldn't dream of being able to pocket it.

    Technology is (profanity) great.

    • +3

      As long as you arent in the Apple ecosystem, where markets are manipukated to keep prices high

      • +6

        the markets in apple aren't manipulated, it's supply and demand, if sellers want to charge top dollar for used phones they can and if buyers want to pay those amounts they can to.

        And because you get 4-5 years of IOS updates for most of their phones, people will buy used apple phones and pay top dollar as they get latest IOS, Android phone after 2 years lucky yo get new version of android, so buy a 2 year old android phone it's end of the road for IOS updates.

        I own android now, used to own apple.

        • Well said and it’s completly valid

        • +1

          Paying high prices for 4, 5 years hardware, because you're getting iOS upgrades?
          Talking about priorities…

        • +5

          it’s all about software …. without software you have brick.

          great software on older hardware is bearable if it has the apps you want…. bad software on new hardware makes it unuseable if it can’t run the apps you want.

          functionality come from software and updates.

          my pcs or laptops go to hardwaste when they can’t run windows 10, oldest is 2nd gen I5, runs fine and it has gone from win 7 to win 8 to win 10.

          it’s all about software.

        • +3

          @garage sale: Except Apple has had the history of turning your phone into a brick when new firmware updates came out.. "because of your battery". Most people still agree it is planned obsolescence and was caught with their pants down.

        • +1

          @garage sale:

          With phones hardware is a factor in the longevity of a device. I think phones that have at least a snapdragon 800 (2013 hardware) is still more than capable now. Usually what kills the older devices is after two years the battery turns to crap. And finding a genuine replacement that hasn’t been sitting on a shelf for 12 months or more is hard. Usually this what kills older Android phones. Even if software stops being updated, you can usually use custom roms to keep upto date.

        • Supply is deliberately kept low and competition stifled so that usual market forces cant act upon them as they have on the Android market. This is done by controlling the hardware and software. Since forever Apple has hated the wholesale and reseller network and put impositions on resellers and forced them to operate on extremely skinny margins to the point where its practically not viable for them to bother with their products. They are also one of the most vertically integrated business of all time, now also controlling not just hardware and software but the apps run on the software and the music you play through it. The fact they want 30% of revenue just to run some servers is amazing, and now they want to own the bulk of the profits from payments. All the while they still wont make a phone for the 3rd world.

        • +1

          apple have world wide warranty, go into an apple store anywhere in the world and it’s honorured, cant do that with other brands ……… and that costs money.

          there is no supply issue ….. haven’t ever gone into an apple store and they said you can’t have a particular model ….. might be day one of release but within a month you can have as many as you want …….they don’t manipulate supply …….. how many iphone 8 do you want , they will sell them to you.

        • @garage sale:

          I installed Win7 on an i7 recently. Runs beautifully! Windows 10 on the laptop and other i7 m2 SSD has caused me all sorts of grief. Brand new software works nicely on the i7 rig. (6700k)

        • @garage sale:

          apple have world wide warranty,

          Not for necessarily for iPhones and iPads.

          Apple may restrict warranty service for iPhone and iPad to the country where Apple or its Authorized Distributors originally sold the device.

  • +2

    preloaded with bonus malware i presume

  • +1

    Does anyone know where to order covers?

  • I got a cover from AliExpress wasn't cheap.. I think it was $12

    • covers are a pain …. i use ebay, if it’s local stock it’s ok , wanted a genuine leather for a phone and i’m still waiting after 6 weeks from HK ….. luck of the draw on which seller you get if from overseas.

  • I look but could not find, has the phone got a quick charge option.

    • +1

      There is no QC in this phone.

      • -1

        What about Quality Control ?
        Does it have that ?

  • Ta Thanks

    • +5

      it’s an $80 phone, QC is good for emergencies but slow overnight charge prolongs the battery life ( QC generates a lot of heat which shortens battery life).
      I only QC if phone is about to go flat and i’m heading out or in the car between destinations, else it’s overnights.

      • Makes good sense …

      • I'll probably smash the screen or break the phone in some way before quick charge kills it lol

  • +3

    Comes with free spyware. They don't mention that in the specs.

  • Since this is a SD phone, is it easy to flash with a 3rd party ROM? Thanks in advance Ive no experience in this area.

  • -1

    Just wonder if this is truth?

    Quote from https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/kryptowire-adups-news/

    "Chinese Android software transmitted personal data including text messages, call details, and contacts from tens of thousands of phones. The code, which comes preinstalled on certain Android devices, sends the data surreptitiously…"

    Another link: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/are-chinese-smartphones-safe,ne…

    • no …. just like when you upload your stuff to google as backup …… they have their own stuff in china for that ….. they don’t use facebook they use weibo ….. don’t use whatsapp they use wechat and those companies have servers in china not usa.

      hopefully the facebook debacle will. make people turn off apps instead of one …..

      as zuckerberg said “ people agreed to share their data, and sync their contacts we didn’t force them”

  • +2

    Wow that's a crazy good price. Can chuck it in the car for Android Auto. Do China Mobile make tablets? A 7/8 inch tablet with those specs (SD425+2GB) at ~AUD100 would be awesome! Even if it does come with spyware, who cares.

    • +1

      There are no Chinamobile tablets unfortunately.

      • Ahh daam, that's upsetting :(.

        • +1

          Plenty of cheap Android tablets but they're more in the $150+ range.

        • @Clear:

          Yea, I feel pretty upset at not jumping on the 150 TGG Lenovo Tab 4 8 ebay deal. The 10 Plus at 277 was also a steal. Will hopefully jump on the next time they come around.

          Really hoping Nokia step into the tablet game soon. We need more quality stock Android tablets!

  • Will this work on Aldi Mobile? Will it be an issue in country areas as discussed above?
    Thanks,
    Matt

  • Is the OS in Chinese? Is it easy to switch it to English?

    • It has English.

  • +2

    Come on man, China Mobile is essentially the largest telecom company in the whole world and you haven't heard of it? It is ranked 47 in fortune global 500.

    However I believe this is just some non-branded Chinese phone subsidised by Chine Mobile, which is mainly targeting China's rural area. The quality could be pretty poor, and I doubt if it has an "international version" firmware - if not, then it means that no Google Play Store, Google maps or any other Google products can be installed. But anyway, $78 is a good price for any smart phone, so just make sure that you know what you are buying before you pay for it.

    • +1

      It has Google Play.

  • +2

    want this phone, if only to experience the industry first, "large rhemary"
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaLO_UUUwAAUsZx.jpg

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