The scandal around Russian customs and Xiaomi smartphones does not subside: more than 10 thousand people have already signed a petition against the ban on the import of devices. We will learn from experts whether the actions of the customs and the Xiaomi distributor are legitimate.
What happened?
In Russia, cases of delays at the customs of postal items with Xiaomi smartphones have become more frequent. People buy them from Chinese online stores, but the parcels do not go through customs. The reason is the appeal of the Xiaomi distributor in Russia (Smart Orange LLC): they own the rights to the XIAOMI trademark and declared all devices passing customs to be counterfeit. Therefore, customs prohibits the import of Xiaomi smartphones through mail.
According to rough estimates, more than a thousand Russians are faced with this situation.
Whose side is the law on: what the experts say
Hi-Tech Mail.Ru talked to lawyers about this situation and found out some interesting details. Experts reported that they had not heard of similar cases in other countries.
It is entirely possible that customs will be bombarded with lawsuits, since despite the completely legitimate claims of brand owners, according to the law of the Russian Federation, a material carrier can only be recognized as counterfeit by a court.
As Ivan Nikitenko, an intellectual rights lawyer, explained:
A material carrier can be recognized as counterfeit only by a court. That is, until the entry into force of the court decision, it is correct to consider the disputed goods as “goods with signs of counterfeit”. The concept itself is legal. Therefore, it is up to the court to decide.
Under Russian law, a product can only be recognized as counterfeit by a court decision.
However, the Head of the Moscow Human Rights Center, Mikhail Salkin, said that the actions of the distributor and Xiaomi are completely legal:
Customs has the right to do this - this is regulated by various laws, as well as agreements. Under Russian law, customs may require you to provide a document that authorizes you to use a trade or trademark in Russia.
Mikhail Salkin
Lawyer, head of the Moscow Human Rights Center
Lawyer Alexei Yegorov also called these actions legal:
The situation is indeed quite loud. However, from the point of view of the law, the distributor, alas, is right. He is the owner of the brand in Russia. This is supported by the decision of the FCS. Now, upon receipt of a smartphone, customs is obliged to send a request to the distributor, and he, of course, will answer that it is counterfeit. Therefore, Internet sites selling gray models can already be considered violators of Russian law. It is easier for them to agree with customs and send the order back than to have problems with the law. Well, or at least not write that they sell a smartphone of this particular brand (this is just a trick, and not a legal way of selling).
Position of Xiaomi and Aliexpress
Hi-Tech Mail.Ru contacted the Xiaomi press service in Russia. to find out their attitude to this situation. They are aware of the situation with Russian customs and distributor:
Xiaomi is aware of the situation and is working with our partner RDC Group to resolve the issue. Our fans have always been the company's top priority.
Press service of Xiaomi in Russia
It should be noted that Aliexpress representatives declined to comment officially.
Is there a war with the “seryakom” coming?
So, Xiaomi smartphones are being held up at customs - this is annoying, but another question arises: will this become a trend? Other companies, such as Meizu or Apple, may also claim ownership of the brand and declare counterfeit all devices ordered from other countries. Then a large-scale war awaits us between official distributors and sellers of "gray" devices.
Customs' actions set a precedent for other companies. There are already reports that devices from Sony, Blackberry, Chuwi and some other companies have been “wrapped” in this way.
As Yuri Salkin said, such an outcome is quite possible. Customs services received new equipment that allows them to examine parcels without opening them. Therefore, there is a possibility that some iPhone ordered from an uncertified online store may also get stuck at the border. So far, there have been no such cases, but be careful.
So far, all cases have occurred in the Yekaterinburg and Orenburg customs, which is strange. For some reason, parcels with smartphones are not detained at Moscow customs and other cities. Perhaps so far only new equipment has been introduced there and it is being tested. So in the future, probably other customs will also begin to stop parcels with smartphones.
Why do people generally order equipment in China
The reason is simple - the price difference between the "white" and "gray" device reaches an average of 30-40%. Let's say Redmi Note 3 Pro in the Smart Orange store will cost you 13490 rubles. On Ali, a similar copy with global firmware is estimated at 8700-9500 rubles. In the upper price segment, the percentage difference is smaller, and in absolute terms it is higher - the “official” Mi Note 2 is given for almost 35 thousand rubles, and the “Chinese” costs 28781.
"Wrap" at all points?
Not really. Among the indignant buyers, Yekaterinburg and especially Orenburg customs points are notorious. Users note that Xiaomi smartphones pass through Vnukovo almost without problems. A trend has also been noticed: several devices that arrived in Yekaterinburg in early May have been tested, but the ones from April are still lying around. Community subscriber Irina K. from a certain moment began to collect statistics - which smartphones passed the control, and which failed. From these data, it can be seen that a lot of devices hung tightly in Orenburg, and the “May” ones, no, no, and even leave Yekaterinburg:
Why did Smart Orange do this?
As in the case of consumers, suppliers are simply looking for their own benefit - "parallel" imports somehow hit the contents of the pocket. It is problematic to calculate the volume of "left" deliveries, but, judging by the hype of the deceived investors, a certain percentage floated past the official importer. The senior vice president of Xiaomi himself spoke about the intentions to “strangle” gray smartphones at a presentation in Russia. Another thing is that such a step, it seems, was designed primarily for wholesalers - Internet shuttles, which they bought cheaper there, sold more expensive here. Alas, he hooked and ordinary users.
Will others do the same?
In this regard, the behavior of Meizu, a direct competitor of Xiaomi for the attention of the Russian consumer, is indicative. Meizu also has a representative office in the Russian Federation, but no one is fighting the flow of gray imports - apparently, they want to drown it out not with bans, but with service and other advantages of “white” smartphones.
But there are also opposite examples, moreover, from the well-known Sony company. The story about a guy from Surgut who ordered a PS4 Slim in Germany and received a fine has recently spread all over the Internet - but there it’s more about the imperfection of the bureaucratic system: the new “slim” simply did not have time to register in the registry database of notifications about the characteristics of encryption tools and goods. But the story that an employee of the press service of the Khabarovsk customs told to AmurMedia deserves close attention:
“There was a precedent when we turned back a package with Sony PlayStation, because the copyright holder said that he did not give permission for import,” Victoria Aleshina, press service of the customs office of the Khabarovsk Territory.
Victoria clarified that if a product included in the list of Rospatent is found in the parcel, then a request is sent to the copyright holder whether he gave permission for import. If the manufacturer refuses, the goods are returned to the seller. Judging by customer reviews, Sony is now adhering to just such tactics.
Ok, I bought a smartphone and it got stuck in customs, what should I do?
Strictly speaking, you have two options. Of these, only one is capable of leading to a satisfactory solution to your local problem.
Option 1. To sue the FCS, which is long and dreary. Even in the case of a successful outcome, the trial may last more than one year. By that time, the smartphone will lose its relevance. Plus, the overhead costs of litigation should be taken into account.
Option 2. Try to get money back. This option is preferable at least because there are successful precedents. For a refund, you need to make a request to the customs office about the reasons for the return, then open a dispute and attach a scan of the answer there, explaining that the transport company returned the goods.
The distributor of smartphones of the Chinese brand Xiaomi, Smart Orange LLC, now has the full right of the copyright holder in Russia. As a result, the customs makes a mass seizure of parcels with Xiaomi smartphones and accessories and returns them to Chinese sellers. And at the moment, you can buy Redmi and Mi series smartphones in Russia with an impressive markup. We want to tell you how you can replace Xiaomi smartphones with other worthy Chinese smartphones.
Xiaomi phones can be replaced with decent alternative Meizu smartphones. The most important thing is that you do not have to overpay. And you can buy a decent Chinese phone for the same price.
What can replace Redmi 4A?
Smartphone Xiaomi Redmi 4A belongs to the budget series. It has a 5" HD display. Powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 425 processor with Adreno 308 graphics. This is a budget solution, and you should not expect high performance from it. RAM is only 2 GB and 16/32 GB permanent. The smartphone is equipped with a 13 Mpix main camera and a 5 Mpix front camera. Xiaomi Redmi 4A has a 3120 mAh battery and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with MIUI 8.2 interface. You can see the full review.
A good alternative would be the Meizu M5 smartphone. Yes, indeed, many may not like the special corporate design of the company and even the interface. But, it's all trifles.
The M5 smartphone belongs to the budget series and has a plastic body, like Redmi 4A. Meizu M5 has a 5.2 inch HD screen with 2.5D protective. Powered by Mediatek MT6750 octa-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz. Two memory options are available, 2GB + 16GB will cost $103 and 3GB + 32GB will cost $132. 13MP F/2.2 aperture main camera with PDAF, fast auto focus and dual tone LED flash, and 5MP front camera. You can see a full review of the smartphone.
Replacement option for Redmi 3S, 3X, Redmi 4, 4X smartphones
The main advantage, which is also its main drawback, is a huge 6.44-inch display with Full HD resolution, covered with 2.5D glass. Powered by a 6-core Snapdragon 650 processor, 3 GB of RAM and 32/64 GB of permanent memory, a 4850 mAh battery.
Both smartphones have Full HD resolution, Corning Gorilla glass protection, but different displays. The PHAB 2 Plus has a 6.4-inch display with 2.5D curved glass, while the Mi Max has a 6.44-inch display. Lenovo PHAB 2 Plus is powered by an octa-core MediaTek MT8783 processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage + microSD card slot up to 256GB. phablet Mi Max runs on a higher quality 6-core Snapdragon 650 chip with 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal memory + a hybrid slot for microSD cards up to 128 GB. The phablet has a dual rear 13MP camera and an 8MP front camera, while the Mi Max has 16MP and 5MP for selfies. The Mi Max has a 4850 mAh battery, while the PHAB 2 Plus has a slightly smaller 4050 mAh battery.
I also want to note that it is another worthy competitor for the Xiaomi Mi Max smartphone. Phablet Nubia Z11 Max has a 6-inch Full HD screen, a 16-megapixel main and 8-megapixel front camera, an 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of internal memory expandable with microSD cards up to 200 GB. 4000 mAh battery.
Options for replacing flagships Xiaomi Mi 5, Mi 5S, Mi5S Plus, Mi 6
Xiaomi Mi 5 is the first smartphone in the history of Xiaomi devices, which was equipped with a physical front button, instead of the classic three capacitive keys. Smartphones and have very good technical characteristics. I wonder what they can replace?
After a wave of complaints to the ICR, the FAS, the prosecutor's office and the media, customs officers stopped "wrapping" parcels from China
Parcels with phones ordered by Russians in foreign online stores, customs began to skip. Recall that in April, the Federal Customs Service froze thousands of orders, mainly with Xiaomi brand mobile phones, seeing signs of counterfeit goods in them. The buyers, who did not wait for the orders, considered these actions to be arbitrariness and suspected the customs officers of conspiring with dealers who sell the same devices in Russia for one and a half to two times more expensive, and began to complain to the regulatory authorities. After the hype raised, smartphones began to be produced, but it is not known whether the conflict has been resolved: the FCS considers its actions legal, as does the Association of Internet Trade Companies. Details are in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
Telephone amnesty, or Customs gave the go-ahead
The Federal Customs Service began to allow smartphones from China to pass through. On the page in the social network, which was created by the Russians who did not wait for their parcels, there is a joyful revival. If a few days ago they posted samples of complaints about the actions of customs officers to the prosecutor's office, the Investigative Committee and the antimonopoly service, now they are screenshots with tracking packages with the long-awaited "released by customs". Almost all parcels hung at customs for 16-20 days.
“Oh, they released it on May 3rd. It looks like an amnesty. Or “Smart Orange” gave the go-ahead,” Irina Koroleva writes in the comments.
Recall that problems with the delay of smartphones ordered in Chinese online stores began in April. The Federal Customs Service included the Xiaomi trademark in the register of intellectual property objects based on the request of the copyright holder, which in Russia was Smart Orange LLC. According to the law, customs must notify the representative of the right holder about the importation of a suspicious phone into the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union. Smart Orange, in turn, replied that this product had signs of counterfeiting, and objected to its import. Thus, customs officers began to return thousands of phones back to China.
The Federal Customs Service included the Xiaomi trademark in the register of intellectual property objects based on the request of the copyright holder. Photo anrt.info
As representatives of the Federal Customs Service commented to Realnoe Vremya, “in accordance with Article 111 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union, customs officials, when performing customs operations, check documents and information, during which they send appropriate notifications to copyright holders about the identification of goods in the MPO that have signs of violation of rights intellectual property (counterfeit). When sending this notification to the right holder, the customs authority decides to extend the period for the release of goods. If, according to the information provided by the copyright holder, the goods being sent are counterfeit, the customs authorities, in cooperation with the Russian Post Federal State Unitary Enterprise, take measures to prevent the import into the Russian Federation of prohibited goods arriving at the MPO, and ensure their immediate export from the Russian Federation. .
Have phones suddenly ceased to find signs of counterfeit goods?
According to media reports, Smart Orange LLC asked the customs to take a closer look at phones from China in order to stop the "gray" shipments of smartphones and accessories under the Xiaomi brand. Perhaps the company saw the main threat in private entrepreneurs supplying gadgets bypassing official channels, but as a result, retail customers who order smartphones for personal use began to suffer. The actions of the customs officers, "deploying" such parcels, the president of the National Association of Distance Selling, Alexander Ivanov, called lawlessness.
I have serious doubts about the legality of this. With us, this story - with the rights of individual distributors - does not apply to goods for personal use. Goods for personal use are not subject to certification or law in any way. What has happened now is an outrage. The question is whether the victims will sue and prove their case. A private person has a weak position in this regard - it is practically powerless against the state. And the Chinese seller will not go to Russia to sue - for him this is a microscopic part of the business, - Alexander Ivanov told Realnoe Vremya.
What happened, since the phones started to come to customers, did the customs officers change their position or did Smart Orange LLC suddenly stop finding signs of counterfeit goods in Xiaomi ordered directly from China? Smart Orange was unable to promptly comment on its position to Realnoe Vremya, we sent a request and are waiting for a response.
Buyers believe that an original Xiaomi phone bought in China from an authorized dealer cannot be considered counterfeit - it is, without a doubt, original and made in the sender's country. Photo miui.su
Discounts for victims of "greed"
From dissatisfied buyers, a shaft of criticism fell upon the official distributor. They believe that the original Xiaomi phone bought in China from an authorized dealer cannot be considered counterfeit - it is, without a doubt, original and made in the sender's country.
According to buyers, the distributor's attempts to stop the supply of smartphones directly from China are connected "only with greed." The petition sent to the management of Beijing Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd, says that the official distributor of Xiaomi in Russia sells phones at excessively inflated prices.
“On average, it is 2 times higher than the price set on the official website of the manufacturer,” writes Aleksey Sadchikov, the author of the petition.
In the official group on the social network, representatives of Xiaomi in Russia are already tired of answering what the price of the product in Russia is made up of.
“The pricing policy has already been discussed earlier, however, we are ready to repeat it. The price of our products in Russia depends on many factors. Taxes and customs tariffs of the Russian Federation are one of the most important. In addition, we offer a number of services included in the price of the goods: warranty service, localization, adaptation to the local market, and much more,” the official distributor answers.
It is noteworthy that, as soon as problems with the delay of phones at customs began, the distributor offered buyers whose phones were sent back to China "the maximum possible discounts on official Xiaomi products." To do this, it was necessary to send confirmation that the goods were returned to the seller. From the messages under the post, one could understand that the discounts were meager and they were in no hurry to use them.
According to Fedorov, cross-border e-commerce has long become a channel for obtaining small consignments of goods for commercial use. Photo allinvest.ru
AKIT protected the customs
The actions of Smart Orange LLC, which declared war on Chinese online stores, were opposed by the public organization RosKomSvoboda and the National Association of Distance Selling. However, there are experts who agree with the position of the Federal Customs Service and the official distributor.
ACIT believes that the activities of the FCS are fully justified and correct from the point of view of the law. In our understanding, it is the right holder in the country where products under his brand are sold that must determine whether a particular product is counterfeit or not. With the rapid development of the Internet, cross-border online trading has become the main channel for counterfeit products to enter our country. At the same time, for example, in classical imports, customs has long learned to stop the supply of counterfeit products. Cell phones coming from abroad in parcels do not undergo certification and security checks (at the same time, all phones officially imported into the territory of the Russian Federation must be certified by the security agencies of the FSB and FSTEC), cannot be used when working with our telephone communication standards . And this means that such goods cannot be legally sold in Russia, - says Alexei Fedorov, President of the Association of Internet Trade Companies.
According to Fedorov, cross-border e-commerce has long become a channel for obtaining small consignments of goods for commercial use. Increasingly, for example, in the regions, a resourceful entrepreneur orders a batch of phones in several parcels “for personal use”, keeping within the duty-free threshold of 1,000 euros in the Russian Federation. The sale of goods in this case takes place on the territory of the buyer, at the place of receipt of the goods, that is, such products are considered purchased on the territory of the Russian Federation, and not abroad.
The Association advised not to purchase goods from unofficial sellers and always remember that "the miser pays twice." Photo miui.su
“Marginality of sales of Apple phones is less than 3%”
Often, goods in foreign online stores are cheaper than analogues in Russia. ACIT believes that this is due to the fact that some models are not designed to work in our telecommunications networks. In addition, they lack warranty and post-warranty service and maintenance.
In our work, we have repeatedly come across a big misconception that Russian sellers receive 300-400% of the profit from the sale of one phone, which, of course, is not true. So, for example, the marginality of sales of Apple phones is less than 3%, while sellers receive income from the sale of accessories and maintenance of equipment, but the difference in customs payments that Russian companies pay and their foreign competitors do not pay reaches 28%. We are well aware that today the Chinese counterfeit everything. At the moment, even on the Runet, you can find a huge number of sites selling copies and replicas (which, in fact, is just a beautiful name for counterfeit products). China has a powerful production of modern technology, but in parallel with this, a huge number of clandestine factories for the production of well-known brands, which can be bought at very low prices, are developing, says the president of the Association of Internet Trade Companies.
The Association advised not to purchase goods from unofficial sellers and always remember that "the miser pays twice."
After receiving the goods, in most cases you simply cannot return the money from a foreign seller, - Alexey Fedorov is sure.
It should be noted that the Federal Customs Service in the case of Xiaomi smartphones did not confiscate the goods, but sent them back to the seller, who returned the money to the buyer.
Daria Turtseva
Meizu M5
All the fuss with customs restrictions began with the order of Xiaomi Mi5, but the de facto distributor "covered" the supply of all models that are officially shipped to Russia. The youngest of them is Redmi 4A.
Enthusiasts are well aware of what this Redmi is - this is the only truly budget smartphone in the modern Xiaomi model line. That is, not when “we are creating an inexpensive mobile phone, but just in case, there are eight cores in the processor, a metal case, 3 gigabytes of RAM and a hefty
battery". Redmi 4A has only the "vital" bells and whistles for a new smartphone - 4 cores / 2 GB RAM, LTE, HD display, 16 GB of internal storage. For all this, depending on the color of the case, the Chinese are asking 5500-7000 rubles.
The alternative will not be to the taste of all enthusiasts (the more you know smartphone models, the less choice seems), but it is.
Even slightly cooler eggs of the characteristics, and even the design of the iPhone are absolutely free. Display 5.2 inches (and more bright and contrast), HD, eight Cortex-A53 cores in the processor, this time MediaTek MT6750. Not as respectable as Snapdragon, but MediaTek's eight low-frequency cores are better than Qualcomm's four high-frequency ones. Meizu's speed is noticeably higher, and there is a 3/32 GB option for those who are willing to pay a little extra.
The case is about the same in quality, but in black it looks very expensive - much more presentable than the black version of Redmi 4A. Yes, and a fingerprint scanner is present, unlike the similarly priced Xiaomi.
The “victims” in comparison with Redmi will be the volume of the sound in the headphones and the volume of the speaker (it’s generally a problem), which can only partially be brought back to normal using the engineering menu. In terms of the quality of shooting on cameras, smartphones are approximately equal, but Meizu has no expanse for firmware lovers (and MediaTek too, hee hee) - you definitely won’t be able to “put on” some Android 9 smartphone on an old smartphone after a couple of years. But there is a global multilingual firmware that does not have to be Russified through “hard-to-reach places”, as is the case with Meizu smartphones for the Chinese market.
Replacement options for Redmi 3S, 3X, Redmi 4, 4X
Same thing with different sauce. Models with a 5-inch HD display, a Snapdragon 430 processor, unprepossessing cameras and 4100 mAh batteries. Not much, in fact, differs, except for the design of the cases and the fact that Redmi 3S / 3X are “elite” modifications of the third generation of Redmi, and Redmi 4 and 4X are fourth-generation medium-equipped options.
So that life does not seem like honey to newcomers to the Xiaomi world, all these smartphones are also available in two versions - with 2/16 and 3/32 GB of memory. But the junior equipment is still more popular, because instead of the “luxury”-Redmi 3S, it is much more reasonable to take the Redmi 4 Prime with a much faster processor and a Full HD display. All these models are Chinese
sellers today estimate at 8500 - 11000 rubles, depending on the color, modification and impudence of a single seller. From here we will dance.
Be mentally prepared for the fact that you will not find a smartphone comparable in terms of autonomy and openness to flashing at a similar price, you will have to make compromises.
Meizu U10
In this article, the number of Meizu will certainly set you on edge, but there is nowhere to go. Because, minus Xiaomi, this is one of the few manufacturers that, unlike all sorts of Elephone and Doogee, produce high-quality smartphones without "childhood diseases", but still do not ask for impressive amounts for them, like Lenovo and Huawei.
So, Meizu U10 is a "clone" of Meizu M3/M3s mini in a glass-metal case. Gurus will say that it would be wiser to counter the mid-range Redmi trim levels with Meizu's symmetrical answer - M5s, but this model is so "neither fish nor fowl" and self-quoting M3s mini that it is better to prefer the U-series. Moreover, the smartphone is very beautiful in black.
Everything that was said about the Meizu M5 is also true for the U10, with the only difference that you get not 5.2, but exactly 5 inches of the display and unsightly autonomy (“would last until the end of the day”) in exchange for a much more humane price - about 6700-8000 rubles for models with 2/16 GB on board. The quality of the display, cameras and speed are about the same as Redmi in the title, the sound is worse, the autonomy is worse (alas).
Well, or you can still buy the M5s, it’s already doing well with autonomy, and the body is metal. It's time to give Meizu a medal for the ability to "spread" the same model into several families, in the best traditions of the classic Zhiguli.
ZTE Blade V7
No need to grin, gentlemen geeks - let ZTE release not the most functional and hassle-free smartphones for its price, but after Oukitel or Leagoo you will understand that it can be worse.
ZTE tried to sell this model in Russia, but to pay 16 thousand rubles for a smartphone in which the proprietary shell periodically “hiccups”, and the case is cheap even in appearance, there were few who wanted to - they were all taken away by Huawei and Samsung.
But for 10 thousand - quite an option! Let it be a little “curve” in color reproduction, but still a Full HD display, an eight-core MT6753 processor, a good front camera and “one-day” autonomy. In terms of sound quality, GPS / GLONASS reception level, design and speed of the system, autonomy, the smartphone is inferior to Redmi, but the display and front camera are cooler, the rear camera is similar in quality to Redmi, and the performance in applications is also not bad. An equivalent alternative if you don't need custom ROMs or super stamina.
Replacement options for Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime (Pro)
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
If you should miss any of the Chinese Xiaomi “banned” in Russia, then Redmi 4 Prime is one of the best smartphones of 2016, and generally an all-time cool “state employee”. If only because the same combination of a capacious (4100 mAh) battery, display clarity (Full HD) and processor performance (Snapdragon 625) in one model is still
so far no one offers. And, by and large, 11-12 thousand in Chinese stores versus 16 thousand in Russian retail no longer look like an exorbitant overpayment, but let's not be like the metropolitan jaded colleagues, for whom 4 thousand rubles is not money. Let's look for alternatives.
ZUK Z2
Hand on heart - there is no full-fledged replacement for Redmi 4 Prime. Any analogues will either be slow, or not so hardy, or without a Full HD matrix (that is, they will smell like an “economy class”). But if you arm yourself with the idea of a model (a powerful geek budget non-phablet), you can find analogues.
For example, the most “exclusive” right now (because Lenovo is burying this subsidiary brand) is a glass smartphone with a 2016 flagship processor, Snapdragon 820, and a Full HD matrix at the core. Exciting? Highly! Against this background
The Redmi 4 Prime smartphone is a “brake”, especially since Xiaomi looks cheaper even after the Chinese screwed a design in the style of the spectacular Redmi Note 4 to the younger model. Yes, and the cameras in the ZUK Z2, although not masterpieces in themselves , but certainly better than the despondency that roams in Xiaomi's compact state employees, starting with Redmi 3.
But there are no freebies even on Aliexpress (or “especially on Aliexpress”, as buyers of fake flash drives would say), so read the shortcomings of the Beetle right away, and don’t say that we didn’t warn you:
- The case is glass and very slippery, so any " broads" becomes more likely and, more importantly, "deadly" for the body panel, even if the smartphone falls on its "back". Scratches on the case also appear very quickly even without any extreme sports. In Redmi 4 Prime, everything is much better with durability.
- With firmware, everything is rather gloomy - new smartphones do not always come with a Russian language pack, flashing this model is quite "dreary". Although, in terms of the degree of "dirty perversions", nothing compares to modifying the USB cable in order to "fill in" the global firmware in Redmi 4A. Everything is relative, but be prepared to modify the smartphone software yourself.
- The brightness of the display is so-so. Using a smartphone on the street is painful.
By and large, ZUK Z2 is such a “degraded” and more affordable Xiaomi Mi5, but in the absence of fish among the search for replacements for Redmi 4 Prime, it is good in its own way.
Huawei nova
Perhaps, officially imported Huawei will be the main "gravediggers" of Xiaomi in Russia, if there are no smartphones at prices from Aliexpress on the market. But with foreign models, not everything is so simple - the Chinese carefully “castrate” Huawei and Honor for the Celestial Empire in such a way that they do not operate 4G (and sometimes 3G) frequencies in foreign markets. Therefore, it is better to bypass the very attractive Honor 5C and 6X on Aliexpress. Or not to bypass, but before that, find the only workable version of the Chinese modifications and make sure that it has multilingual firmware installed. Why live like this?
Therefore, better grab a rare look - a Huawei smartphone with a Qualcomm processor! The Chinese are importing American chips with their Kirin if you don't know. Huawei nova started as a mid-range mobile phone with an emphasis on glamor and your endless selfie beauty (when automatics remove pimples from the "face" of the face, widen the eyes and mask the double chin) at a not very adequate price, but now it has fallen in price on Aliexpress to about those the same 12 thousand rubles that they ask for Redmi 4 Prime. For a smartphone with 3/32 GB of memory with exactly the same Snapdragon 625 processor, no longer budget case materials and incomparably cooler cameras - a good exchange, isn't it?
By and large, nova is inferior to Redmi 4 Prime only in terms of speaker quality, sound in headphones and autonomy. All other functions in it work at the same or higher level. And, of course, do not expect support for LTE Band 20 in models for the Chinese market, but the standard B3 / B7 are available in absolutely any modification. You can take it without looking.
Replacement options for Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro/Note 4/Note 4X
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
A hardy 5.5-inch phablet with a very fast processor by the standards of "state employees" - this is the whole Redmi Note, of any generation. Among the people, of course, most of all we love Redmi Note 3 Pro with its Snapdragon 650, good endurance and reliability, but the more beautiful Redmi Note 4 with a ten-core MediaTek, which eats up charge indecently quickly, but “heaps” in benchmarks, is also to many liking. Redmi Note 4 with a Snapdragon 625 processor is, frankly, not that interesting, but it is just the golden mean between the first two models. One way or another, we are talking about smartphones with a Full HD display, a powerful processor, so-so cameras and good autonomy at a price of 10-12 thousand rubles. There are not as many alternatives as we would like, but they do exist.
Meizu MX6
When the MX6 appeared on the Russian market and they asked for 28 thousand rubles for it, the first thought was - “who needs you at all?”. For almost 30 thousand, it was already possible to aim at much more thoroughbred and faster models, and a beautiful “shovel” with a cheap processor without outstanding features did not impress anything against this background.
But the Chinese sell the same Meizu for 12 thousand, and these, as they say in Odessa, are two big differences. Because the display in Meizu is slightly brighter than in Redmi Note 4, the processor is the same, and the cameras are much better. Autonomy is approximately at the same level as that of Xiaomi, the sound in headphones without adjustment is better than in Redmi, with adjustment it is worse. There are no problems with firmware (that is, there are, but they are easily solved), the ranges of Russian LTE cellular networks are supported at the Band 3 and Band 7 levels. You can take it.
LeEco Le S3 X522
Offering a Xiaomi fan to buy a LeEco instead is like giving a pink Volga to an American muscle car lover. But after Smart Orange unwraps your package at customs, you may change your mind.
In general, LeEco has not been feeling very well lately - just look, it will “give oak” due to the fact that the costs of promotion were significantly higher than the profits from sales of mobile phones and TVs. Specialists who had previously joined the company from JD and Lenovo “ran” from the Russian LeEco - is the trend clear?
But we do not buy a painting by a classicist artist in order to predict whether it will be valuable for several years ahead, so we will not delve into the jungle. Let's dive deeper into the new LeEco model - Le S3. Well, like a new one - this is such a “rethought” Le 2, from which custom (“amateur”) firmware is even suitable for the new model.
A slightly more advanced smartphone than Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro in terms of hardware - Snapdragon 652 (against Xiaomi's 650), a slightly more elegant case and a brighter screen. Disadvantages - sound quality in headphones, less endurance, amputated headphone jack (as an alternative, there is an adapter with USB Type-C). Well, the rear camera is worse. That is, not “so-so”, like Redmi Note 4, but “bad”.
But it's still a good smartphone, which "brings all the money" in benchmarks and in real use, and it costs only 9-10 thousand with full Russification and good performance. Who knows if the reliability of budget LeEcos has improved since Le 2, but outside of Xiaomi and Meizu in the same class of devices, a more sensible alternative does not come to mind.
Replacement option for Xiaomi Mi Max
I don’t envy fans of “shovel phones” - smartphones with a near-tablet display diagonal are already few, and Mi Max is one of the best among them and certainly the best in terms of price / quality / autonomy, if we are talking about
Chinese prices. But all this is lyrics, and here we have “counterfeit”, so here are options for large-sized high-quality smartphones worth 13-18 thousand rubles.
ZTE Nubia Z11 Max
An unpopular phablet, but in vain. Yes, it doesn't have the wow factor of the standard bezel-less Z11, it doesn't even have an audiophile chip like the 5.5-inch model. But this is the only model in the category "6 inches or more" at a price of up to 20 thousand rubles, which cannot be called a "budget bucket". Apart from Mi Max, of course.
ZTE Nubia Z11 Max
At the same time, you can’t call Nubia cheap either - it looks much cooler and more expensive than Xiaomi, the proprietary shell is also beautiful, the characteristics are about the same (Snapdragon 652, 4000 mAh, 4/64 GB), except that the display is smaller (6 inches exactly). The Russian language is already included in the firmware, there are no problems with frequency support, the quality of the cameras is about the same as in Mi Max, or even a little better. Autonomy is worse, but also not bad, and the main problem is the disgrace with software support. For a long time, owners were content with Android 5.1, and Android 6.0 was released when smartphones of the same age as the Z11 Max began to upgrade to Android 7.0 Nougat! And in general, in the case of Nubia smartphones, it is enough when the developers said “yes, this phone, we changed our mind!”, And users were left with nothing, sometimes even without custom firmware at all.
We recently talked about how Smart Orange LLC, which officially supplies Xiaomi smartphones to Russia, influenced the actions of the Russian customs, as a result of which the latter began not to allow gadgets of this kind bought in Chinese online stores (for example, AliExpress) at the border. manufacturer for personal use:
Of course, we began to find the necessary loopholes in the laws for this pressure on human rights, but this does not change the essence.
At the moment, the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation has already “wrapped up” about 1,000 smartphones at the border, calling them counterfeit at the behest of Smart Orange (although they were not bought from “gray” sellers in Russia and not for resale), or encryption means not allowed by us. (Interestingly, if I bought a smartphone abroad on vacation, would they not let me on a plane with it?)
In response to lawlessness - a petition
Not wanting to endure such arbitrariness of our customs, the Russians created a petition against the ban on bringing Xiaomi devices into Russia. Of course, for personal purposes, and not "gray" resale. There she is, sign:
The petition has been sent to the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation and the leadership of Xiaomi in China (Beijing Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd). We are also invited to boycott Xiaomi gadgets officially sold in Russia at shamelessly inflated prices. However, due to problems with customs, prices for “gray” deliveries of devices from this brand began to rise.
To date, the petition has already been signed by 12,387 people.
Result?
Only the blind still do not see that in Russia now only money and power rule. If the powers that be are not in the hands of some laws, they are increasingly ignored or changed with impunity. Therefore, whether there will be any sense from the petition - think for yourself. The FCS is not obliged to consider such appeals from third-party resources; in legal terms, the law does not require this from government agencies.
Push
I see two conflicting points here:
1. The prices for Xiaomi devices, which are 2 times inflated by Smart Orange LLC, are really a reason for a boycott (and for the attention of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, perhaps). Everything has a limit.
2. Another thing, all sorts of Chinese stores - AliExpress and the like. It turns out an interesting picture. In our country, state regulators are so revealingly fighting "gray" imports, it seems to ensure that part of the funds from officially imported and certified devices go to the Russian treasury in the form of taxes and other fees. However, at the same time, our authorities are not at all against the fact that billions and billions of rubles constantly flow away from us straight to China, enriching their economy at our expense. Stunning situation! We have only bans, fines, inspections and pressure on business, while the Chinese have a really wide tunnel to Russia. Withdraw money there through "Ali" without any "impossible" there! At the same time, our friends, relatives or acquaintances, who open offline or online stores here, then “sit” penniless and watch how their customers pay the Chinese. And try to touch this "Ali"! International relations with China will be threatened. On the other hand, we cannot even buy goods for sale in China without having a contract with a factory, a foreign currency account, customs clearance at a wild cost and obtaining all sorts of “certificates”, which a small business simply cannot afford to do. And with these requirements, how can you still make affordable prices in Russia? Prices will be wild, but no margin. Why, one wonders, do they crush their own compatriots in our country and let citizens of another country live at their expense? Sad and hopeless.