These phones seem like really good deals... too good to be true? I'm in the market for a cheap phone coming from a moto E 1st gen and these seem like promising options.
Depending on your country, you may have to pay import charges if you buy direct from China or Hong Kong. Even with import charges, Xiaomi phones still usually work out to be a good deal. Warranty coverage is limited if you're outside of Xiaomi's core markets, but parts are cheap and readily available if you need to replace a cracked screen or a weak battery.
I wouldn't recommend other Chinese brands like Doogee, Leagoo or UMI. The hardware is usually good, but the software is often poor and you can forget about updates.
Those names sound like Dodgy and Leakgoo, easy to remember, don't get those. Thanks.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7748542
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12171276
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12787766
For people who just like their Android flavour, they also provide ROMs for other devices: http://en.miui.com/getrom.php?m=yes&mobile=2 Presumably the same suspicion of Chinese goods coming packaged with spyware would apply to those images too I guess.
The Samsung 2017 A3 is what I wish I could get but thanks to pointless market segmentation, the only variant that works well in North America is impossible to buy and it's now being obsoleted by a replacement with a 5" screen.
A sample search: https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mi+5+not+turning...