It’s a fact that the phones available from China today a lightyears ahead of those from just 12 months ago! And the great news for us is as quality and performance increase, prices are decreasing! Here are Gizchina’s top 10 Chinese phones for $200.
What you should expect from a $200 Chinese phone
A $200 Chinese phone gets you a lot of phone for not much money. For this price you should expect at least a 4inch screen or bigger (although we do have a 3.5 inch retina display on the list), a dual-core CPU in the form of an MT6577 processor and rear camera of up to 8 mega-pixels.
Remember though that these bargain phones are very cheap and usually out spec foreign brands of the same cost, and to do this corners are sometimes cut (resolution or RAM) or they might not work on 3G networks in every country.
About this list
I’ll be writing these phones in no particular order, they are all great in their own right you should check the specs carefully and choose the one which suits you best.
Gizchina News of the week
Not all the phones here are $200 some are less and others a little bit more. If I have included a phone with a higher price it’s because I believe it is worth the extra, but don’t worry they are all around our $200 target price.
Gizchina’s Top 10 Chinese phone for $200
Contents:
- Xiaomi M1
- Xiaomi M1S
- Zopo ZP100 Pilot
- Zopo ZP500+ Libero
- Bluebo L100 HD
- UMi X1
- Newman N1
- Hero H2000+ iPhone 5 clone
- JiaYu Gu
- Freelander L10
A good offer to choose from.
Great analysis, Andy. I only have one major qualm with china androids: low resolution sharpness. Is there any way of doing a top 10 for resolution sharpness vis-a-vis the htc and apples of this world?
§ btw, light-years is a measure of distance not time. Common mistake 🙂
Andi i think u missed Huawei G500 pro aka u8836d its d best of all of them & now only $260 something. I got 1 & its huawei
I’ve always said (despite the copycat style of Chinese manufacturers) that they really are GREAT at designing and released reasonably priced products that are as good as, and in some cases better – then the branded versions of similar products from the big manufacturers. On 3 year contracts it’s hard to find a phone here in Canada that is under $200.00 All of these you can buy and own outright!
It’s a shame none of the phones that you listed are widely available outside China, and probably difficult to get inside as well.
Pointless…
A good offer to choose from.
Great analysis, Andy. I only have one major qualm with china androids: low resolution sharpness. Is there any way of doing a top 10 for resolution sharpness vis-a-vis the htc and apples of this world?
§ btw, light-years is a measure of distance not time. Common mistake 🙂
Andi i think u missed Huawei G500 pro aka u8836d its d best of all of them & now only $260 something. I got 1 & its huawei
I’ve always said (despite the copycat style of Chinese manufacturers) that they really are GREAT at designing and released reasonably priced products that are as good as, and in some cases better – then the branded versions of similar products from the big manufacturers. On 3 year contracts it’s hard to find a phone here in Canada that is under $200.00 All of these you can buy and own outright!
It’s a shame none of the phones that you listed are widely available outside China, and probably difficult to get inside as well.
Pointless…
lol…all these phones except the zopo are on backorder or presale….
hey look, it’s a top-10 buyer’s guide for phones that can’t be bought… love how it was unnecessarily split into 10 pages as well.
Hey Andi,
What about the Amoi 820? It looks an exceptional phone as well.
What do you think?
Freelander I10 and Newman N1 is the same phones! just called differently!
Is it possible to get “Flyme OS” on other android phones other than the Meizu MX?
The reason I’m asking this Is, because I found an almost 1:1 Meizu MX dual core clone running Android 4.0. I’m thinking about purchasing it, as long as I can get Flyme OS on it.
Are any of these phones for sale right now without the problem of waiting weeks-months to receive it?
Andi, towards the Christmas season you should create an article on good affordable phones/tablets thats available now without the long waits.
Just a suggestion of mines, but I think that would be a good article.
lol…all these phones except the zopo are on backorder or presale….
hey look, it’s a top-10 buyer’s guide for phones that can’t be bought… love how it was unnecessarily split into 10 pages as well.
Hey Andi,
What about the Amoi 820? It looks an exceptional phone as well.
What do you think?
Nice article, you should write an article about websites for foreign people to buy phones from. Taxes, Customs, other useful info. I guess it might be tricky writing about a site though and then it’s a fake / dodgy site. But still, would be good just to list all the above phones then say 10 sites and price on each site hyperlinked with a disclaimer – do your own research on if this company will stuff you over.
Freelander I10 and Newman N1 is the same phones! just called differently!
Is it possible to get “Flyme OS” on other android phones other than the Meizu MX?
The reason I’m asking this Is, because I found an almost 1:1 Meizu MX dual core clone running Android 4.0. I’m thinking about purchasing it, as long as I can get Flyme OS on it.
Are any of these phones for sale right now without the problem of waiting weeks-months to receive it?
Andi, towards the Christmas season you should create an article on good affordable phones/tablets thats available now without the long waits.
Just a suggestion of mines, but I think that would be a good article.
Nice article, you should write an article about websites for foreign people to buy phones from. Taxes, Customs, other useful info. I guess it might be tricky writing about a site though and then it’s a fake / dodgy site. But still, would be good just to list all the above phones then say 10 sites and price on each site hyperlinked with a disclaimer – do your own research on if this company will stuff you over.
What about the Thl W3+? it has the same specifications as the JiaYu G3 but is available right now! Price is a little above $200 but not that much.
Yeah, what’s about this phone? Nice specs,good looking,good price,but you never mention anything about THL W3+. Why?
What about the Thl W3+? it has the same specifications as the JiaYu G3 but is available right now! Price is a little above $200 but not that much.
Yeah, what’s about this phone? Nice specs,good looking,good price,but you never mention anything about THL W3+. Why?
I wish Zopo would release a Zopo ZP100 Pilot+. It was always my favourite Zopo phone.
I wish Zopo would release a Zopo ZP100 Pilot+. It was always my favourite Zopo phone.
Are the native apps in English or Chinese ? and does the handset get shipped WITH play store app and WITHOUT the chinese apps like weibo, GO Market etc
Andi why you wrote about Newman N1 “don’t pay more than $160, as it isn’t the best quality phone in the world!”? Now it cost about 180-190$, could you describe its quality? What is better deal in simmilar size phones? What do you think about Umi x1 quality?
Are the native apps in English or Chinese ? and does the handset get shipped WITH play store app and WITHOUT the chinese apps like weibo, GO Market etc
Andi why you wrote about Newman N1 “don’t pay more than $160, as it isn’t the best quality phone in the world!”? Now it cost about 180-190$, could you describe its quality? What is better deal in simmilar size phones? What do you think about Umi x1 quality?
ХУЕТА! Есть и другие хорошие модели
ХУЕТА! Есть и другие хорошие модели
Hi im looking at the N800 android phone could you let me know what you think as it look ok, or the S3 i9377 which is best please x
Hi im looking at the N800 android phone could you let me know what you think as it look ok, or the S3 i9377 which is best please x