I'm looking to buy a Galaxy Note 2 and I think I can get a better price from Taobao. Does anybody know of a reliable link to purchase one. There are many sites on Taobao that sell it but I'm wary of buying one that in all likelihood will be a 'fake' one. If you can put a link it would be great. What have been your experience. That's for all your input.
Ha haa, this is my phone I bought a while ago.
I am laughing because I just posted on the other tech thread about not buying any Android product unless you want to get familiar with rooting/flashing the ROM as all the google services are stripped out of them and replaced with Chinese govt backed "services" and stores (like the Play store is replaced with Chinese stores, which have about 1/50th the selection of the Play stores apps). This is the downside of Android being open source - the Chinese govt hates google so change the OS to their requirements... which can really mean anything. When I say "Chinese govt" I am really talking about Chinese telcos, which of course are owned by the govt.
However, if you really want to buy one, I can help you flash it with another ROM which will enable you to use the phone like its a US phone with all the google services installed and can show you how to connect it to the genuine US google play store (requiring the use of a VPN if you don't have one already!).
Yeah I know about that. Actually they have a program so you can root the phone here: www.samsungupdate.com/tag/toolkit-for-galaxy-note-2
What I really want is to find a Taobao website that has the genuine stuff but at a cheap price. I think that the prices in the brick and mortar store are too high. www.yaya888.com/product/2864.html
www.ch999.com.cn/
Cool if you are comfortable to do this yourself, note though that your link only tells you how to root the phone, not how to install or select a custom ROM. I got mine from a brick and mortar store in the end as it was only 50 kuai more than what I could find for the cheapest online (after my Chinese wife did some bargaining to knock down the price) and I had the assurance of it being genuine and recourse for warranties.
The other thing to note (ha haa) before flashing a new ROM is to backup the old one as your warranty is void if you change the OS. You can then reinstall the original chinese OS before taking it back for a warranty claim and they will assume you changed nothing and be happy to process your warranty.
Thanks will keep that in mind. Where did you buy it and for how much if I may ask?
I'm sure you know already but the Note 3 will be out some time around September - at that point you can either get the new model or get the Note 2 at a much cheaper price.
Yes. I heard about that. Even if the Note 3 comes out, the Note 2 is good enough for me.
I wouldn't trust any store in the Mainland for selling (complete) originals. A few months ago there were customers reporting that even JingDong were selling refurbed iPhones as brand new.
I always prefer to wait until I go to Hong Kong and buy branded stuff there. This way, there are better chances at not getting equivalents of Nibe, Addidos, Bucksstar Coffee, Pizza Huh, Dolce&Banana.
That's so true. You always have to think twice before buying anything here. Counterfeit soda,beer, baijiu, eggs, rice, phones, books, electronics are everywhere. Just about everything gets counterfeited.
The price I paid over 5 months ago is definitely not what you will pay now so telling you how much I paid is a bit irrelevant! I paid just over 4000 then, but they were for around the same price on taobao then too.
If you get from an authorised Samsung reseller (check the web) I would be very surprised if they were hocking off refurbished ones. My one was all boxed/bagged up all new like so I assume its fine. The warranty period is still for the same time so no problem for me. I would be a bit more concerned buying off taobao as I wouldn't be able to play with the actual device before buying it, to check for wear/if its genuine or not.
The Note 2 should be fine for the next 3-4 years, to be honest, Google hasn't even optimised Android yet to take advantage of 4 cores... so 2 cores are going to waste now, but ready to be utilised in the future. At 1.6Ghz and 2GB of RAM... it still has plenty of life in it. Hell, my PC back in NZ isn't even as grunty yet still serves my parents well for surfing, writing music and doing documents using XP!
