Indeed!
Read Chinese!
I can't even speak it!
You must be an expat then, like myself. Now is probably a good time to start learning the Putonghua.
I have yet to find any tech-savvy local Chinese. Those that have tech products buy iPads.
The tech-savvy Chinese that I know also buy iPads and Android tablets from the more well known brands like Huawei, ZTE, Asus, etc.
To be frank, many of the cheap off-brand ones, the ones that you've never heard of, nearly all come from Shenzhen. Well many of them are rubbish. Buggy software, design faults, reliability problems, frequently seeing posts about problems with them right here on AF (General Tablet Talk). e.g.
"Help with Chinese tablet - it sucks"
BTW just before the Lunar New Year holiday, I bought an MP4 player. Went through four of the things until I found one that worked properly. First one was stillborn/DOA, second one lasted five hours before it died, third one would only work properly in Chinese, select English and it would crash. Got lucky with the forth one, and it's still working. Basically cheap Chinese tech is often not good.
I bought the MeizuM9 for my wife, and it does what I need. I was about to buy the Huawei X5, but my wife fell in love with a Samsung Galaxy Ace, so I inherited hers.
I know Meizu, they're in Zhuhai, quite a reputable make with they're own stores, been around for a while.
When buying here I usually try to search products that are popular in the west, and find the Chinese counterpart. The tablet market is a bit more difficult, as there are too many players. So, if I could find a suite of .apk files to run and test in-shop, I could make a choice. I hope!
Thanks for your input - I will be looking to those brands. Any idea on software to assess performance and where I'd look for internal component info?
David.
Try looking for benchmarking software, That's not something I'm really into. I'm more concerned about, does it work properly, not going to give any trouble, and will it still be working in six months or a year. One thing though, do you require Google Market and the associated Google apps? Because no devices sold in the Mainland have Google. If you're in Guangdong province, I suggest you get to Macau or Hong Kong. Prices are much lower for reputable brands and most devices there have Google.
Michael
