Note or 1S w/Snapdragon - Which one to buy...or are they both trouble?

[Bodgerx]

I am trying to buy a phone that has ok battery life and, above all, decent GPS performance.

My iOcean G7 has pretty awful GPS.

Thing is, the new 1S with the snapdragon processor would be ideal, but apparently there is a problem with 3G connectivity and resultant battery life problems.

The Note would be nice, with its better display, but that has a big question mark over its GPS given the Mediatek processor and apparent lack of EPO support. I also hear reviews stating it has GLONASS which seems to be impossible given its a Mediatek processor. Some review say the gps is fine.

Can anyone advice on the performance of these two and give advice on wether these concerns are real?

 

[Mic806]

I own a Hongmi 1s and I would recommend it. It's true that 3g connectivity is an issue for this device, but you can use a temporal workaround setting "3G only" option as default. Battery life is ok in my opinion. And snapdragon processor does quite a good job.
The downside? As it is a low end product, it doesn't receive updates very often (probably every two months). This means that support for bugs will not be given immediately. If you want a Xiaomi device because of its weekly updates, you should consider another product (mi3 o mi2s).

Inviato dal mio HM 1SW utilizzando Tapatalk

 

[Sere83]

Yeah agreed, I don't think Xiaomi can be trusted really for low end devices anymore. Not at least until the firmware is more mature and crucial bugs have been ironed out, hadn't realised when I got a 1s that they wouldn't be supporting the phone in the same way they do other phones, shame really as it was one of the things that set xiaomi apart from the competition.

I've heard mixed reports about the MTK redmi models, some say the GPS is good, others have had issues. Same with the Sanapdrogon 400 redmi 1s, the 3g and battery problems are well documented as you know. Pretty bad really, especially the 3G issue. You just hope they will fix with a firmware update.

Ironically my old MTK phone the Vowney V5 has absolutely amazing battery, standby time is literally weeks. But obviously GPS basically doesn't work.

The xiaomi mi3 has just seen a pretty big price drop. Not sure how much you want to spend but can pick one up for about $293/£172 shipped which is still an excellent price for the spec and you will get proper rom support. It is also a more mature product so i would expect firmware to be more stable.

 

[Bodgerx]

Yeah, Mi3 would be good. Just pushing the admittedly, tight budget though...maybe.

 

[kiswum]

I've reviewed the Redmi-TD(scdma), Redmi-W(scdma) and the Redmi 1s-W.

If you put the Multi-Language ROM on the phone. It will be very good phones. The GPS of the Mediatek Redmi is very good and accurate. In 95% of the cases you won't find any problems. I think it is the best GPS-phone with a Mediatek processor.

The Redmi 1s started at me with a very hot battery. It was about 35 degrees. The first day it didn't do much with this phone, I just tested it a little bit. The day after I installed the ML stable 24 ROM. This is very important: always do a factory reset after you change from a different ROM supplier or Android release!!
What can happen if you don't do it?
FC's, problems with the camera, problems with new/removed apps, strange behaviour of the phone and old+new data combined.
(A battery will be on full speed after 3 complete battery charges.)

On the second day I did my benchmarks, after 5 hours of benchmarks I had to charge my battery. 5 hours is not bad on 1 battery charge, during benchmarks. The battery did not got very hot this time. It stayed around 27 degrees during the benchmarks.

After 3 days I tested the phone with 2 SIM cards and I was able to use it for about 2,5 days.

GPS on the Redmi 1s is probably the best there is.
Why? Because it supports American GPS, Russian Glonass and the Chinese Beidou! The Mi3 doesn't support it yet!

If you want a dualsim phone with good specs, then you should take the Redmi 1s
If you want to have a great small phone with weekly updates, then you should go for the Mi2s
If you want to have a 5" phone with one of the best specs, you should go for the Mi3

Sent from my Xiaomi mi2 with Tapatalk. This is why my message could contain spelling mistakes.

 

[Bodgerx]

I've reviewed the Redmi-TD(scdma), Redmi-W(scdma) and the Redmi 1s-W.

If you put the Multi-Language ROM on the phone. It will be very good phones. The GPS of the Mediatek Redmi is very good and accurate. In 95% of the cases you won't find any problems. I think it is the best GPS-phone with a Mediatek processor.

The Redmi 1s started at me with a very hot battery. It was about 35 degrees. The first day it didn't do much with this phone, I just tested it a little bit. The day after I installed the ML stable 24 ROM. This is very important: always do a factory reset after you change from a different ROM supplier or Android release!!
What can happen if you don't do it?
FC's, problems with the camera, problems with new/removed apps, strange behaviour of the phone and old+new data combined.
(A battery will be on full speed after 3 complete battery charges.)

On the second day I did my benchmarks, after 5 hours of benchmarks I had to charge my battery. 5 hours is not bad on 1 battery charge, during benchmarks. The battery did not got very hot this time. It stayed around 27 degrees during the benchmarks.

After 3 days I tested the phone with 2 SIM cards and I was able to use it for about 2,5 days.

GPS on the Redmi 1s is probably the best there is.
Why? Because it supports American GPS, Russian Glonass and the Chinese Beidou! The Mi3 doesn't support it yet!

If you want a dualsim phone with good specs, then you should take the Redmi 1s
If you want to have a great small phone with weekly updates, then you should go for the Mi2s
If you want to have a 5" phone with one of the best specs, you should go for the Mi3

Sent from my Xiaomi mi2 with Tapatalk. This is why my message could contain spelling mistakes.

Superb information - thank you.

Looks like they are both good then...with the 1S being excellent for GPs.

Still a tough decision!!

 

[Sere83]

I've reviewed the Redmi-TD(scdma), Redmi-W(scdma) and the Redmi 1s-W.

If you put the Multi-Language ROM on the phone. It will be very good phones. The GPS of the Mediatek Redmi is very good and accurate. In 95% of the cases you won't find any problems. I think it is the best GPS-phone with a Mediatek processor.

The Redmi 1s started at me with a very hot battery. It was about 35 degrees. The first day it didn't do much with this phone, I just tested it a little bit. The day after I installed the ML stable 24 ROM. This is very important: always do a factory reset after you change from a different ROM supplier or Android release!!
What can happen if you don't do it?
FC's, problems with the camera, problems with new/removed apps, strange behaviour of the phone and old+new data combined.
(A battery will be on full speed after 3 complete battery charges.)

On the second day I did my benchmarks, after 5 hours of benchmarks I had to charge my battery. 5 hours is not bad on 1 battery charge, during benchmarks. The battery did not got very hot this time. It stayed around 27 degrees during the benchmarks.

After 3 days I tested the phone with 2 SIM cards and I was able to use it for about 2,5 days.

GPS on the Redmi 1s is probably the best there is.
Why? Because it supports American GPS, Russian Glonass and the Chinese Beidou! The Mi3 doesn't support it yet!

If you want a dualsim phone with good specs, then you should take the Redmi 1s
If you want to have a great small phone with weekly updates, then you should go for the Mi2s
If you want to have a 5" phone with one of the best specs, you should go for the Mi3

Sent from my Xiaomi mi2 with Tapatalk. This is why my message could contain spelling mistakes.

Cheers for that info. When you say 'factory reset' after flashing a new rom do you mean from within MIUI? or from recovery?

 

[kiswum]

I mean from within miui, but you can also do a full swipe from the recovery.

Sent from my Xiaomi mi2 with Tapatalk. This is why my message could contain spelling mistakes.

 

[sanyasi420]

I must say the battery drain is apparent with 3g data and games. On standby or idle there isn't much of an issue. As soon as tasks start running it drains rapidly.

 

[Sere83]

I mean from within miui, but you can also do a full swipe from the recovery.

Sent from my Xiaomi mi2 with Tapatalk. This is why my message could contain spelling mistakes.

Nice one, will try

I must say the battery drain is apparent with 3g data and games. On standby or idle there isn't much of an issue. As soon as tasks start running it drains rapidly.

Yeah this is really disappointing, just don't get why xiaomi are not on top of these FW problems. Their support for phones used to be so good now they are leaving customers to wait months with no word on fixes or when a new update might arrive. I have a 1s I want to sell but dont want to give it to someone if the battery is not up to scratch or there might be 3G problems.

 

[kiswum]

What is rapidly?
I've run my benchmarks for 5 hours in a row, this was in the second day I got the device.
5 hours running on full speed is not bad when the battery has only been charged one time (a battery is perfect after 3-4 full charges).

Sent from my Xiaomi mi2 with Tapatalk. This is why my message could contain spelling mistakes.

 

[sanyasi420]

When I say rapidly .. a 15-20% drop in battery when using 3g data browsing/surfing for 30 minutes. That's rapid - not that it wouldn't drain. So if I use 3g for browsing for 3-4 hours I would be out of battery.

Check this thread - http://en.miui.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=21993&extra=&highlight=battery+life&page=3

 

[Pasko505]

Before I had RedMi and worked great. Unfortunately I bought RedMi 1S ... phone is slightly faster and has more memory, but if you donot want mess with further adjustments, installing applications that will propel him to work somewhaw normal, I do not recommend it. These days I'm thinking to sell it and to buy the Note.

But now i see that Note dont have so goood picture/camera quality, and yet it is very important for me and I will remain on the S1 as the pictures here are very brilliant