Over this year we have seen some really stunning looking Chinese Android smartphones launch either from a hardware, or price point of view. For this list though we are going to focus on the top 5 most stylish Chinese phones so far. Take a look and see if you agree with our choices.
China is the go to country for high-end, super powerful, premium phones, and it is also fast becoming the place to be some of the most stylish Android smartphones on the market today. With super slim designs, high quality materials, and beautiful designs these 5 phones, we believe, are the most stylish by far!
UMi Zero
The UMi Zero hasn’t launched yet, but after holding an early producing model in my hand last night I couldn’t imagine making a list without this phone on it somewhere. Throw out all your previous thoughts of UMi phone design, material choice and quality, as the UMi Zero is in a completely different league!
As the rumours have already confirmed the UMi Zero is a slender phone and as far as I could tell it does measure less than 6mm. The depth of the phone isn’t what struck me though, instead it is the level of quality and design. A beautifully crafted alloy chassis with two slices of Gorilla Glass either side are what really set this phone off. As for specs, well I have confirmed that the phone will have an 8 mega-pixel (selfie approved) front camera and a Super Amoled display, and dual sim support, the rest of the specs are top secret for now.
iOcean X8 mini pro
The iOcean X8 mini pro is another phone to take the all glass design approach, but uses a much lighter alloy body to the UMi Zero. Personally I prefer the added weight and feel of quality the UMi’s body brings, but for those of you who like something lighter in the palm then the iOcean X8 mini is one possible way to go. The iOcean is still a thin phone at 7.6mm and manages to offer a sim tray with room for a single sim and SD card. Powering the phone is an octacore MT6592 processor and there is even 2GB RAM and a 5-inch 720p display too.
Gizchina News of the week
Huawei Ascend P7 Sapphire
Aiming further up the price scale sits the newly launched Huawei Ascend P7 Sapphire edition. Front a design perspective the Sapphire version of the P7 is very similar to the standard version and features the same alloy body and dual sim tray design. What is different though is the immensely rugged (while elegant) Sapphire glass panel which promises to make this stunner a chore to smash or even scratch.
OPPO R1
OPPO’s R1 is similar in looks and feel to the iOCean X8 mini pro but comes at the added cost the brand name demands. For your extra hard earned cash you do get better audio performance and the main camera is the same 8 mega-pixel F2.0 unti as found in the iPhone 5S. The Oppo R1 runs Oppo’s ColorOS, which while ugly does have some wonderful features, and there is even a LTE version of the phone available.
Gionee Elife S5.1
Finally we have the Gionee Elife S5.1, the current slim phone champ and the thinnest LTE smartphone on the market at an amazing 5.1mm thick. Tech specs for the S5.1 include an Amoled 4.8-inch display, 2100mAh battery, 1GB RAM and a Snapdragon 400 processor the phone also supports LTE, and there is a 5 mega-pixel 88 degree front camera for wide angle selfies.
What do you think of our choice if stylish Chinese smartphones? Which one could you picture yourself strutting about town with, or which one do you think would make a great gift for a speical someone? Let us know in the comments below!
sexy list 🙂
where can you buy oppo R1? its basically an android in an iphone packet!? seems only available in india
Glad you liked it. R1 is available in a few markets and resellers should have them, however pricing will be high 🙁
Where can I buy the UMI ZERO? Does it support 3G 900MHz? Thanks in advance Andi.
did you not read the first line! they havnt even released the specs! or Andi has been sworn to secrecy 😉 and he will leak some info soon i hope haha I cant wait 2 months though, guessing it wont be finished and released for sale til November. The Oppo is too expensive for me anyway and ive decided it looks too much like an iphone5 for my liking
haha, you are right about the first line. i realized my error just after posting my message. i mean that i was a bit too excited about the phone. i am looking as well for the right phone and like everyone i dont have the budget for a flagship. it is tough to find the right phone in a good price range. Andi please accept the misunderstanding.
Andi please forget my question, I posted my message too quickly. You have posted all the details you have regarding the phone. I will wait for additional information.
You have a thing for thin and glass and don’t agree at all with that.
I hate huge upper and lower bezels and most of your choices are like that and those are ugly to me.
what would you have liked to see?
Lenovo vibe z2 pro,
Huawei ascend mate 7,
Gionee elife e7,
Sharp aquos crystal x,
Lenovo s860.
You like the Elife E7? I thought it was a super plasticky mess with great cameras.
If it had an matte look it would be beautiful.
Thin bezels , in the end for all i care the back can be made out of guano.
Not sure if i would equal stylish with design and i don’t really care about stylish. So ,from a design point of view , the MX4 is nice enough , the Mate 7 is not bad although both have not so great backs.The Vivo Xshot Deep Blue had a nice back. The new Lenovo X2 is kinda funky but maybe that’s just because of the music in the promo video.
Not easy though to remember older devices and my focus is on price and specs , less on looks (but i hate huge bezels)
From an esthetic point of view, I agree with your choice of #1 UMI zero. If it keeps its promise of decent specs and doesn’t bankrupt me in the process, this will replace my Honor X1.
I would have chosen the Xiaomi mi3 instead of the refreshed P7. (even though I shall never forgive Xiaomi for not actually delivering the red and the blue versions)
great idea for s story… will try and come up with my own list and post.
I’d say:
Find 7
Vivo Xshot
IUNI U3
Xperia Z3 Compact
Meizu MX 4
none with touch to wake?
double tap to wake is on all of them except xperia
I saw double tap to wake on Nokia Asha 230 (35$ phone)
sexy list 🙂
where can you buy oppo R1? its basically an android in an iphone packet!? seems only available in india
Glad you liked it. R1 is available in a few markets and resellers should have them, however pricing will be high 🙁
Where can I buy the UMI ZERO? Does it support 3G 900MHz? Thanks in advance Andi.
did you not read the first line! they havnt even released the specs! or Andi has been sworn to secrecy 😉 and he will leak some info soon i hope haha I cant wait 2 months though, guessing it wont be finished and released for sale til November. The Oppo is too expensive for me anyway and ive decided it looks too much like an iphone5 for my liking
haha, you are right about the first line. i realized my error just after posting my message. i mean that i was a bit too excited about the phone. i am looking as well for the right phone and like everyone i dont have the budget for a flagship. it is tough to find the right phone in a good price range. Andi please accept the misunderstanding.
Andi please forget my question, I posted my message too quickly. You have posted all the details you have regarding the phone. I will wait for additional information.
You have a thing for thin and glass and don’t agree at all with that.
I hate huge upper and lower bezels and most of your choices are like that and those are ugly to me.
what would you have liked to see?
Lenovo vibe z2 pro,
Huawei ascend mate 7,
Gionee elife e7,
Sharp aquos crystal x,
Lenovo s860.
Thin bezels , in the end for all i care the back can be made out of guano.
Not sure if i would equal stylish with design and i don’t really care about stylish. So ,from a design point of view , the MX4 is nice enough , the Mate 7 is not bad although both have not so great backs.The Vivo Xshot Deep Blue had a nice back. The new Lenovo X2 is kinda funky but maybe that’s just because of the music in the promo video.
Not easy though to remember older devices and my focus is on price and specs , less on looks (but i hate huge bezels)
You like the Elife E7? I thought it was a super plasticky mess with great cameras.
If it had an matte look it would be beautiful.
From an esthetic point of view, I agree with your choice of #1 UMI zero. If it keeps its promise of decent specs and doesn’t bankrupt me in the process, this will replace my Honor X1.
I would have chosen the Xiaomi mi3 instead of the refreshed P7. (even though I shall never forgive Xiaomi for not actually delivering the red and the blue versions)
great idea for s story… will try and come up with my own list and post.
Huawei phones have good looking design however they usually always fails on camera pic quality. If they can make great camera handsets I will start buying their phones.
The Ascend P7’s camera was pretty good. Not the best, but it could definitely hold it’s own against the other flagships.
I’d say:
Find 7
Vivo Xshot
IUNI U3
Xperia Z3 Compact
Meizu MX 4
none with touch to wake?
double tap to wake is on all of them except xperia
I saw double tap to wake on Nokia Asha 230 (35$ phone)
I saw double tap to wake on Nokia Asha 230 (35$ phone)
the common spec in all the above phones( xcept umi zero) all are slim and when the screen is turned off athey all would look almost same. my list would be:
(1) Umi zero
(2) Xiaomi Mi4
(3) Meizu MX4
(4) Vivo Xshot
(5) IUNI U3
(6)Oppo FInd 7
(7)Oneplus One
(8) Lenovo vibe z2
One Plus One is a good phone but its the least stylish phone on that list of yours. It is boring and plain kind of like the Nexus 5. That is not a bad thing as simple often is elegant but it is far from stylish.
Huawei phones have good looking design however they usually always fails on camera pic quality. If they can make great camera handsets I will start buying their phones.
The Ascend P7’s camera was pretty good. Not the best, but it could definitely hold it’s own against the other flagships.
I cant believe than UMI can do something good, because they cant even make their own logo (UMI is stealing from Xiaomi’s MI lol).
the common spec in all the above phones( xcept umi zero) all are slim and when the screen is turned off athey all would look almost same. my list would be:
(1) Umi zero
(2) Xiaomi Mi4
(3) Meizu MX4
(4) Vivo Xshot
(5) IUNI U3
(6)Oppo FInd 7
(7)Oneplus One
(8) Lenovo vibe z2
One Plus One is a good phone but its the least stylish phone on that list of yours. It is boring and plain kind of like the Nexus 5. That is not a bad thing as simple often is elegant but it is far from stylish.
I cant believe than UMI can do something good, because they cant even make their own logo (UMI is stealing from Xiaomi’s MI lol).
Wozers Umi just seriously stepped up. Thing I always find mad is that a company like Umi who lets face it aren’t a major player can come out with with crazy ultra thin hardware like this, yet major players like xiaomi don’t or can’t. Like the mi4 is nice and everything but hardly pushing the depth or material boundaries like this umi looks like it will be.
Wozers Umi just seriously stepped up. Thing I always find mad is that a company like Umi who lets face it aren’t a major player can come out with with crazy ultra thin hardware like this, yet major players like xiaomi don’t or can’t. Like the mi4 is nice and everything but hardly pushing the depth or material boundaries like this umi looks like it will be.
for me i’d say
1. mi4
2. mx4
3. iuni u3
4. Jiayu s2
4. Vivo x3s
6. oppo R1
6. iOcean x8 mini
8. aquos crystal x
did that huawei P7 really have to have those huge bezels on the bottom?
not to mention the imprinted name..so you NEVER FORGET??
I hate front screen branding with a passion lol, one reason I avoided the p7, they learned their lesson with the honor 6 tho.
for me i’d say
1. mi4
2. mx4
3. iuni u3
4. Jiayu s2
4. Vivo x3s
6. oppo R1
6. iOcean x8 mini
8. aquos crystal x
did that huawei P7 really have to have those huge bezels on the bottom?
not to mention the imprinted name..so you NEVER FORGET??
I hate front screen branding with a passion lol, one reason I avoided the p7, they learned their lesson with the honor 6 tho.
Nubia Z7, Oppo Find7, Gionee S5.1, Motorola X in wood (if OPO weren’t so annoying a 1+ in wood).
Can’t think of the name – half priced 6582 launched a while back (Sml & black/Chrome).
The new Note is innovative at least.
Still waiting for a real leather / alligator / ceramic with sapphire and waterproof, slim and decent battery.
Motorola ain’t a Chinese company
Title:
Top 5 stylish Chinese phones
I could only think of four stylish Chinese phones 🙂
Google agreed it seems 🙂 They have some style 🙂
Nubia Z7, Oppo Find7, Gionee S5.1, Motorola X in wood (if OPO weren’t so annoying a 1+ in wood).
Can’t think of the name – half priced 6582 launched a while back (Sml & black/Chrome).
The new Note is innovative at least.
Still waiting for a real leather / alligator / ceramic with sapphire and waterproof, slim and decent battery.
Motorola ain’t a Chinese company
Title:
Top 5 stylish Chinese phones
I could only think of four stylish Chinese phones 🙂
Google agreed it seems 🙂 They have some style 🙂
Hi, may I ask how much the signal strength is lower in Umi zero because of the metal chassis? Or did they consider the shielding effect and developed the phone considering that? Thanks, Petikaa
Hi, may I ask how much the signal strength is lower in Umi zero because of the metal chassis? Or did they consider the shielding effect and developed the phone considering that? Thanks, Petikaa