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Obscure Chinese phone update help

M

Mpie

Newbie
Hello,

I bought my first android phone and it's an Mpie G7 ( MPIE G7 + Free Shipping | GearBest.com )

It came with android 4.4.2 installed.

The battery life is terrible. It drained more than 40% within 4 hours of normal usage (no media, no internet, just browsing my phone and settings etc.) Battery saver is one and auto screen brightness is turned off and turned all the way down too, location settings are also turned off.)

I don't know how to update android OS (i'm only familiar with iphones, ie. jailbreaking)

So, can someone help me here, I can barely use this phone for a day without it dieing on me.
 
Hi Mpie. Welcome to Android Forums.

Unfortunately there is no universal updater for Android. You must have firmware specific to your device. These, other than the Nexus line of devices, would come from the phone's manufacturer. With these off-brand phones, it's probably not going to happen.

You might want to read through this thread... http://androidforums.com/faqs/631594-off-brand-phones-tablets-worth-low-cost.html

Your problem is probably not the version of Android as 4.4.2 is a very recent version. It is either a grossly under-spec'ed battery, a defective battery or bad circuitry in the phone. If possible you should look into returning it.
 
Thank you for the quick reply, I appreciate it.

Hmm, I plugged my phone into my computer and it said "MT65xx Android phone" and debugging mode enabled .

Does this hint towards any possible good news that it can be updated to a newer android version ??
 
Mpie said:
Thank you for the quick reply, I appreciate it.

Hmm, I plugged my phone into my computer and it said "MT65xx Android phone" and debugging mode enabled .

Does this hint towards any possible good news that it can be updated to a newer android version ??
Click to expand...

No, not really. All that tells me is that it's a Samsung clone and can use generic drivers. Any updates have to be tailored specifically for your hardware.

Condisering that the latest version of Android is 4.4.4, you've probably got the best that that phone will have.
 
Regarding battery life. All my friends have Android phones (brand names) and none of these works for more than a day without charging. The monitor itself drains more battery than anything else. The most efficient battery save is to reduce brightness of the screen. Try this and you will be amazed of the difference.

If I do not use my phone, but the phone is on with wifi or Internet network, the battery will last for days. Therefore, the display is the key.

Okris
 
Battery life on android haha. Personally I've never had fantastic battery life on android. And its really noticeable if you've recently come from iOS to a Chinese android samsung clone.

The best thing I'd suggest if you don't like it is to return it.. If you see other android devices to not be to your liking.. IOS really does have good battery life. Its all subjective tho.

Best of luck!
 
Thank you all for the awesome comments. I really do appreciate them.

So umm, what I've concluded from them is ;

1. Chinese android clones suck
2. Android OS is not a system you turn to for battery life

___________

I really like the android os "style" but this whole battery thing turned me off (no pun intended, maybe).

I don't like the IOs style system or the windows os system for smartphones.

So can someone just flat out recommended me a smartphone with above average battery life around the $350 price range ???

I was looking at the nexus 5 for sometime now ( but I ended up getting this Chinese phone instead , thinking everyone must be fools for buying name brands... lol, guess I learned the hardway).
 
Yes something like the nexus lines or anything big brand will still get you better battery life than the Chinese clone. But it will still be not as good as on iOS. The one I'd suggest is the one plus one. If your into slightly bigger screens anyways. I like that device but maybe other people have suggestions as well.

And a side note; Chinese devices aren't always bad, its the Chinese clones with no name brands. I.e. the name of it is what processor its running. The mtk lines are huge on eBay as an example.
 
boyo1991 said:
Battery life on android haha.
Click to expand...

boyo1991 said:
But it will still be not as good as on iOS.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of phones with better battery life than the iPhone line. It's generally not the OS that's the biggest factor but the battery size and hardware design.

Take a look at this chart.

The Chinese Xiaomi Mi 3 scores better than the highest rated iOS device (iPhone 6+). You will notice that of the phones in the to 50, you are not seeing a lot of budget models.

Of course, based on patterns of use, battery life may not adhere to this chart exactly, but it's a good comparative reference.
 
lunatic59 said:
There are plenty of phones with better battery life than the iPhone line. It's generally not the OS that's the biggest factor but the battery size and hardware design.

Take a look at this chart.

The Chinese Xiaomi Mi 3 scores better than the highest rated iOS device (iPhone 6+). You will notice that of the phones in the to 50, you are not seeing a lot of budget models.

Of course, based on patterns of use, battery life may not adhere to this chart exactly, but it's a good comparative reference.
Click to expand...

I just know in my experience android devices battery life are not as good. I'm still all android.. IOS sucks IMO don't get me wrong I'm not trying to defend iOS here.. But I know every device I've had, I need the charging port more than the iOS users in a long car ride..

Thanks for that link btw!

Edit*

As I went to the link I got a 404 error, could you repost the link?
 
If you're browsing from a mobile device, it might not get the page right.

The URL is http://www.gsmarena.com/battery-test.php3

There are some battery life benchmarks here as well. The results look relatively similar.
 
lunatic59 said:
There are plenty of phones with better battery life than the iPhone line. It's generally not the OS that's the biggest factor but the battery size and hardware design.

Take a look at this chart.

The Chinese Xiaomi Mi 3 scores better than the highest rated iOS device (iPhone 6+). You will notice that of the phones in the to 50, you are not seeing a lot of budget models.

Of course, based on patterns of use, battery life may not adhere to this chart exactly, but it's a good comparative reference.
Click to expand...

Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G at number 2, slightly lower than the Nokia Lumia, there's a Chinese phone with a long battery life...and well above all the iPhones. :D But then makes like Huawei, Xiaomi, OnePlus and Oppo are anything but obscure, cheapo or fake.
 
This forum is fantastic. I should've signed up here before I bought a phone !

The link posted in this thread about battery comparisons is pretty cool .
Battery life tests - GSMArena.com

But, my only worries now is about "product support" (as in, the phones company providing software updates) , for example. I clicked on the second highest rated phone, the "Huaweu Ascend Mate2 4G" and someone already commented quite recently (oct 31 2014) that "Huawei USA has just announced it will no longer support it. No KitKat and no Lollipop updates anymore..."

So, I'm slightly nervous on that end. I do want a phone with great battery life but I also want to have solid (prolonged) software support with it.
 
If you want the longest support life, then buy a Nexus. They get updates until the hardware no longer supports it, and even then the development community will probably get later versions of Android to work on them. That said, firmware updates are both the holy grail and unicorns of smartphone world (everyone wants them for their magical powers, but they are elusive. ;) )

Updates that add features or support new hardware often times don't perform well on older devices. Apple has a real problem with allowing older iPhones to update to the latest version because it really drags them down. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.
 
Thanks for the quick reply again Lunatic59.

I'm going to go only slightly off topic here, but its still concerning my phone that I have now (mpie g7).

I received a response from their support department (from gear best) after asking them for a full refund.

This is what they say in part of an email attachment that I need to print out for the return process

"All products are covered by a 3 month warranty, so please don’t worry. We will help you to solve this problem. We will contact you when we receive the returned package. We will deal with the returned products after conducting in-house testing, so it may take some time, however you are welcome to phone or email us for an update."

Although, when I was communicating with them through their ticket support centre on their website they said "Please return for a full refund" .

What are the chances here of me actually getting my money back ?
When these things happen do they just "check" the phone and assess it themselves then contact me saying there's nothing wrong with it ? etc .
 
Mpie said:
Thanks for the quick reply again Lunatic59.

I'm going to go only slightly off topic here, but its still concerning my phone that I have now (mpie g7).

I received a response from their support department (from gear best) after asking them for a full refund.

This is what they say in part of an email attachment that I need to print out for the return process

"All products are covered by a 3 month warranty, so please don
Click to expand...
 
I paid for it using a prepaid Visa ( Vanilla ) . ....

I'm not sure how its going to work out with that.
I understand the restocking fee and I'm ok with that.

I just don't want to end up with store credit or no credit given back at all.
 
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