Changes in the Mobile Phone Industry

[Admin]

Every morning whilst having my coffee I read the latest technology news and the last few days have been stories on a little heard of Mobile Phone brand.

 

Samsung is the highest seller of mobile phones world wide however they have experienced a 50% drop in profits this year which is causing a lot of comments and questions.

 

The 2nd largest mobile phone seller is Apple who have had steady sales in the last 12 months however the storms brewing for them is the lack of supply of the new large version of the iPhone 6 PLUS the bendgate stories that are showing that the iPhone 6 is having a massive issue of their phones being bent when in a person's pocket. This is the only major issue that can be ticked by the store when someone returns a bent one, and there are many. The last issue is the hair gouging iPhone 6. Many users are reporting that when they take the phone away from their ear, their hair has become caught in the iPhone 6 housing causing painful hair removal every time they use their phone.

 

The biggest story in the mobile phone market is that the 3rd largest selling mobile phone in the world is now Xiaomi. Have you heard of this brand? Not many people have however it is a Chinese manufacturer and their phones are budget priced compared to the pushing $1,000 latest mobile phones from Samsung and Apple. Watch this space as you will see Xiaomi phones coming at you from all directions and priced to make them a viable option to the non must have the greatest and latest brand hugging consumer.

 

I dropped my Samsung Galaxy S4 the other day after many many other accidental manoeuvrings that I have done with my phone which only has shown that these Samsung Galaxy S4 phones are built like brick sh!thouses however this time, it fell flat on its face on concrete. The glass is cracked in a way that I like to show off to people my new phone background image but alas, the cracks do get in the way but the phone still works perfectly.

 

I took it to a couple of stores and received quotes to fix it between $120 and $180. Crikey, I could buy a brand new Xiaomi phone for this. But, I was clever enough to purchase a new glass screen, with a DIY installation kit for only around $15. Who is making money in this world and does a mobile phone from the top 2 brands have to cost up to $1,000 but then is this worth it just so you can say "I have an iPhone 6 hahaha" to which you could reply, "So that is why you are bald"

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Is Xiaomi a Chinese brand that comes with free spyware?

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

So years back with the iPhone 4 replacing glass meant replacing the LCD as well and to do that the glass was pretty much the exact last thing to remove from the phone so complete disassembly required. That phone also had very fragile glass and it was not at all unusual to have to replace the glass/digitizer/LCD 3-4 times in its useful life. I know because I have done exactly that for my eldest daughter. Of course the simple solution was to buy an appropriate case...but that was too uncool....whatever.

 

Anyway, the amount of effort and rework required to replace the glass in those phones forced the replacement price to reflect the rework risk and effort. Manufacturers have changed, for example the iphone 5 disassembles from the glass in, so replacing that glass/digitizer/LCD is much more simple...but the prices never came down....and the parts prices went up as the LCD moved from medium resolution to a pixel size that almost requires an electron microscope to see..... but the labour charges.....Nope never decreased and as a standard was set whose interest was it to reduce?

 

Some other manufacturers split the glass/digitizer from the LCD so that you can replace Glass/Digitiser without being forced to replace the LCD.....

 

But all that said, at the end of the day have an appropriate case...it might look ugly, might hide the fact that you are a "brand" warrior if young enough that that still matters... but it means that a $2-$10 investment up front will mitigate against $100+ repair and downtime.....

 

Lastly I think most really need to ask if they need the latest and greatest...will you really use the extra CPU cycles/extra pixels etc.....for me, I prefer to have tier 1 brand and pay for it, but know that parts availability is their from the tier 1 supplier and also the aftermarket gang at pretty cheap prices if you need. but I don't have the latest model Im usually 1 or 2 models behind because the premium brand with newest model is a +$60 per month solution, 1 or 2 back is a $30/month solution.....

 

Andy

 

 

[Admin]

Is Xiaomi a Chinese brand that comes with free spyware?

Yes and No, it is Chinese however if you buy from a respected dealer you can be assured that it is a clean OS without Baidu on it. For those that don't know, Baidu is the Chinese version of Google but with more reporting of your browsing habits being captured. Yes, Google does also capture your browsing habits but then you can turn this off but Baidu doesn't let you and even if it did I wouldn't trust it. This has been the issue with Xiaomi and the likes of other Chinese phones however Xiaomi is making a huge push to the western world and in doing so having anything like Baidu on it will instantly kill the billion dollar plans. I think it would be safe to say that they just can't financially let this happen. However, these reports centered specifically around one Chinese mobile phone called the Star N9500 which included other spyware

 

 

[fly_tornado]

mobile phone screens are a blessing to the mobile phone industry.

 

I have watched my niece's iphone screen slowly increase the amount of cracks. Almost done

 

 

 

[Admin]

Almost identical to mine but rest assured, the new Clear Prop shop will have stock of Glass Replacement kits. They are on their way and should arrive soon. The first lot are for the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4. That's what happens when you rub me up the wrong way with $120 - $180 quotes, now everyone will benefit

 

 

[2tonne]

I have heard good reports about Xiaomi phones. I recently bought a Xiaomi power bank and it is very nice product. Looks and feels high quality and more importantly works exactly as it should. I was even considering a Xiaomi phone recently, but lack of 4G turned me off it.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

have a look @ android one and android auto

 

ggl are coming up with some very neat mobile integration

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Baidu is fine, one of the better Chinese software firms, but as with any Chinese software expect to start finding pop-ups and other advertising scams.

 

Stay away from anything to do with 360 software products (primarily anti-virus), it's a shocker, half a billion people can be wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qihoo

 

 

[Bernie]

I'm not as 'young' as red750 but I'm like him with phone, its just that a phone I can ring and others can ring me. I can take photos but don't I have a camera for that.

 

I cant send photos on my plan anyway, but I can text and be texted? Unlimited and all for just $44 per month.

 

Don't need a computer in my pocket, I have this one at home.

 

Bernie.

 

 

[Admin]

Here is another interesting bit...A very little known Chinese smart phone manufacturer has the 2nd fastest download speed mobile phone. But what is even more interesting is Apple makes the slowest upload speed phone and Australia doesn't even rate in the speed area

 

http://www.zdnet.com/who-makes-the-fastest-downloading-smartphones-in-the-world-hint-its-not-apple-7000035282/

 

 

[old man emu]

It's one thing to be buying the latest mobile phone just to be a dedicated follower of fashion (good line for a song, that), but my son is a senior IT manager who has a need to keep abreast of the State of the Art. Consequetly, there are more mobiles phones than Ma Bell abandoned around the house. Fortunately, most have been supplied through his employers, so costs are minimal.

 

I must agree that replacing screen is a massive cost and difficult job.

 

Does the Clear Prop DIY suit an iPhone 6?

 

Also, don't you need a very specific heating tool to remove and replace the

 

 

[Admin]

Just the iPhone 5 and Galaxy 4 at this stage are coming but I am waiting for the best prices on other versions and then order them. Soon I will be able to say how hard it is to replace the Galaxy 4 glass when they arrive and I do my one

 

 

[old man emu]

Spoke to my son about the $120 replacement cost -v- your $15 part.

 

He agreed that your price is pretty fair for the part, but what you are forgetting is that the rest of the cost of the repair pays for business overhead, labour, specialist tools etc, etc.

 

The biggest thing you are paying for is the skill of the repairer. He estimates that about 99.9999% of the population (including electronics DIYers) don't have the skills to be efficient in replacing the part. I've seen him battle away for hours replacing one screen, and he has studied the technique.

 

That having been said, he said that your quoted price for the part is a reasonable retail price.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

[Admin]

Don't forget that many people get mixed up between the glass screen and the actual digitiser. The digitiser is a much more expensive part and extremely harder to replace

 

 

[old man emu]

Yeah. He was talking about the glass. He told me that the rest of the stuff within the case was the province of a real electronics expert.

 

OME

 

 

[kgwilson]

My LG P690f Smart phone cost $45.00 from Coles 2 years ago. I added a 16GB card for $7.00 & it cost me $2.00 for the unlock code to rid myself of Telstra. The screen is now very marked, it's been dropped heaps of times, & I got fibreglass resin on it & some other epoxy while answering it in the middle of plane building. It works great, has GPS, WiFi & bluetooth & I use it as a hotspot while away from home with a tablet or laptop. The camera is also superb & photos I have taken on it have been published in newspapers & Sportpilot & there are over 2000 of them still on the phone. I no longer have any CDs in the car as I have 50 albums of music on it as well. I have heaps of useful & some useless apps on it. I don't need anything more except that eventually I will need one with a later version of Android as this one is only V2.3.4 so it can't run some of the later apps.

 

Other than for vanity or techno geek reasons I can not see why anyone needs the latest $500 to $1000 phone as my $50.00 one does 90% of what they will do. It is like when buying video recorders back in the 1980s. They had a million features & 90% of users used just record & play.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

mobile phones are getting to the point where their is little left to improve, a bit like the PCs where in 2007

 

 

[Admin]

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[fly_tornado]

how many consumers will want to pay for that though?

 

I reckon the android auto would be pretty sweet, jump in a friends car and login to your account and you have all your contacts, maps and music available.

 

 

[old man emu]

And just to hijack the topic:

 

 

OME