yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Device Reviews and Information] BloodRose:
Absolutely, I agree. And it's because there are so many people from abroad buying these things now that the Chinese manufacturers and, especially, the resellers simply don't care. After my experience with GearBest in the last couple of weeks for example, there is no way in hell that I will ever buy from them again. I ordered something from GeekBuying today too but I'm starting to think that might have been a mistake if I'm honest.
[Device Reviews and Information] dragon2knight:
Yep I've had my share of grief for Gearbest as well...but I've also had some smooth as glass dealings from them as well. They take a loooooong time to get some stuff out the door, and they are pretty honest about it in the descriptions(2-5 days processing), so I buy from them and expect I'll get it whenever. I never use them if I'm in a hurry, lol. Same can be said of many dealers over there. They are wholesalers primarily, and our individual orders are not treated with the same respect as those with huge orders, fact. That's the reason why you will get great service one day and lousy service the next. It depends on their order load at the time you're putting your order in. I find that individual sellers like the ones on DHGate to do a better job, you actually matter to(most of) them. Forget Allibaba, they suck, period. Favorite seller on DHGate for now? ibaby888. Several great orders from them so far. This changes quite often. It's trial and error, unfortunately, and that's the way it is. Here's to hoping for better as China matures into the next superpower they are slated to be.
[Device Reviews and Information] BloodRose:
Thanks for the recommendation there, I'd actually forgotten any dhgate tbh and I am always cautious of making big purchases on aliexpresss because they don't accept PayPal. I'll check out dhgate tonight.

I think you're definitely right though. I actually had a pretty good experience with tinydeals just recently but I know a lot of other people hate them. Service from these websites appears to be unfortunately inconsistent.
[Device Reviews and Information] dragon2knight:
GAAAAA!!! Never,ever use Aliexpress, they are all thieves on there ;) Honestly never had a single order go right on there.....

As for DHGate, they don't accept paypal as well, but they also do not release your money to the seller until YOU give them the go ahead to do so after the sale. Their dispute system is one of the best as well. Nice way to do it IMHO. Never used Tinydeals yet simply because they don't do accessories very well, and I like to order my stuff all in one place if possible. I haven't heard too much bad about them, though. Everyone is gonna have their own personal experiences on which shop works best, and depending on where you live, said experiences will vary greatly. Only you can find the best one for you. Like I said, trial and error.
[Device Reviews and Information] BloodRose:
I've only ever ordered small accessories from aliexpress, worth no more than just a few dollars each. I would be a bit cautious over using it for a big purchase though although I've seen people on other forums highly recommend it as a solid alternative for Chinese phones because they've found the sellers to be faster and more responsive.

I had a look on the dhgate page that you mentioned but it seemed a bit expensive unfortunately. A P8000 is $220 on there and has a lead time of 30 days. It could obviously just be that they are being more honest than the other sellers though obviously.
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
BloodRose, you seem to be a bit too heavily invested in this thread. You declared pages ago that you've cancelled your order but you're still here posting the same thing over and over again.

- You hammered UMI for delaying the Iron without providing any excuse. Since then, the have, which is more then what most Chinese base companies have done in the past, and that hasn't received any praise from you.

- You continually blast Chinese manufacturers for their poor work practices, and then talk about how promising the Elephone P8000 looks. Not sure if you noticed, but Elephone are a Chinese manufacturer with a very recent history of loooong product delays. You seem to be very forgiving to them, but ready to rain fire down on UMI.

We get it! You're pissed that the phone was delayed! Move on with your life and let this thread continue on it's own.
[Device Reviews and Information] mondohow:
Maybe he secretly works for Elephone and these comments are like how Samsung paid ppl to talk **** about the iPhone 5/6. :silly:

I'm on to you Mr. Elephone rep. LOL. kidding kidding.

You guys should check out some of the comments on the FB post. Hilarious.
[Device Reviews and Information] dragon2knight:
I've been on top of that post since this morning....lots of, shall we say, "misguided" folks over there ;) It's like the end of all things there, lol. Really, it's like no one has ever had to wait for a single thing in their entire lives....but I DO understand why it's happening. The recent uptick in China phone sales(MLais M52 anyone?) has attracted a ton of newbies, new folks who have never had to experience the "fun" of dealing with China's subpar, but workable, infrastructure.

I think that it's really the fault of the bigger makers in China for not really striking out of their home turf fast enough, leaving it to the lower end, and more ill equipped, makes to spread the word....and it's starting to backfire big time. This isn't UMI's fault, not at all, it's China in generals fault for not doing a better job of introducing the western world to its products with a more dedicated approach to selling their wares. There is no easy fix to this either. Hopefully the damage caused at this point in time won't be too detrimental, China has a lot to offer here.
[Device Reviews and Information] BloodRose:
This is definitely true. The only Chinese brand which has really taken off in its own right in Europe for example is Huawei but they are obviously in a different league to the likes of umi etc. There are quite a few ZTE phones in Germany and the UK but they're rebranded by networks and given a completely different name.

Anyway, I've used this thread to vent a bit today and I'm sorry. It definitely wasn't my intention to annoy anyone but I realise it probably wasn't the best place for it.
[Device Reviews and Information] KURT.Beadles:
Believe me I sympathize with your agony. A month ago I ordered a Teclast T98 on mistertao. But man this has been a ride Tim Burton would envy. I will post the whole conversation if you'd like me to do. But to cut a long story short; they sent me a plastic copy of a no-name brand and are willing to refund me $10.

Well, they started off with being "kind" and where offering me $3 as a refund. My card company is in the process of investigation of this matter.

As I said I'm willing to put the whole conversation here.

But please stay away from mistertao.
[Device Reviews and Information] BloodRose:
Well that goes beyond incompetence or laziness really and is basically fraud. Hopefully your credit card company will be able to sort it all out for you.
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
Well... some sites (geekbuy and coolicool) have indicated that they have stock and some people have received shipping details. Not sure how accurate this is, but we'll wait and see!

Also, it looks like UMI have set up a dedicated forum for users (http://community.umidigi.com/). Might be a good place to go to get updates/details/further reviews of the IRON. No information there about the shipping from those 2 shops though.

If anyone gets one delivered let us know!
[Device Reviews and Information] Alfredo Aguirre:
Where did you find this information? I ordered from geekbuying and i checked out their site and coolicool and they didn't mention anything about full stock arriving. Maybe just the first batch?
[Device Reviews and Information] BloodRose:
Someone on hot UK deals received a shipping confirmation and queried it with umi who advised him that it looks strange. Coolicool posted a picture on Facebook but the boxes in it are a bit nondescript really.
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
There's also a picture of stock in the product description on the umi iron page on coolicool. They look like umi boxes but may just be a photo from when they got one of umi's other phones.

Still no confirmation or denial from anywhere yet. So I'll just assume it'll be shipped mid August.
[Device Reviews and Information] shedshort:
Yesterday eFox told me they will get the iron roundabout 15th August, today i recieved an Email telling me its on stock now (chinese warehouse).

So lets see
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
Well that's 3 places now... That's sort of promising.
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
And it's now been confirmed on UMI's facebook page. They have fixed the issues and sent out the first batch with the second batch to go out on the 15th of August. So it depends on when you ordered it as to whether you will get it now or later. I think coolicool mentioned they are shipping anyone who ordered before July 25... which should include me!
[Device Reviews and Information] snowbord:
Wow, such a high horse and unrealistic righteous expectations. What about Microsoft and delays to each OS? What about Xiaomi and the MI4 and just about EVERY western / global manufacturer these days. Some people..
[Device Reviews and Information] BloodRose:
Well I wouldn't consider Xiaomi to be that much different from Umi tbh. They are still a Chinese manufacturer but they are just one that has managed to make it further into the business development cycle than the like of Umi, Elephone etc.

And Microsoft have not delayed an OS in a while AFAIK. Windows 10 is pretty much already out and Windows 8 was delivered on time. At the end of the day, Umi set customer expectation and failed to meet it. They wasted people's time and people therefore have a right to be annoyed. Whether or not you agree is kind of irrelevant.
[Device Reviews and Information] snowbord:
Opinions are like arseholes. Everyone has one. As such, your opinion and many others' are also kind of irrelevant. It depends on your perspective and values. What's relevant here is how much your nickers get twisted when there's a somewhat short delay between ETA and reality when it comes to high-tech product engineering, production and delivery in such a fast moving market, especially when QA has to be met. If the product is rushed, no doubt you'll be complaining that Umi didn't take the time to release a quality product.

I'd argue that it's down to your perspective and approach to dealing with situations, not what Umi are doing. They're not doing a Jiayu like a few years back, so calm down. The phones are actually shipping now, so really!? Was it worth it for a 2 week delay? Was 2 weeks actually a delay worth throwing a tantrum about? From a retailer / manufacturer's point of view not to mention a side observer I'd be left with the impression that you are nothing more than a difficult customer, considering the reality of the circumstances.
[Device Reviews and Information] BloodRose:
Who is throwing a tantrum? I'm not, I just gave up and bought a different phone. I was only annoyed because Umi set a date and then failed to meet it. Nobody forced them to set that date, they did it of their own accord and it subsequently blew up in their face.

It's simple business, you don't set user expectation unless you can meet it. If you do set it and don't meet it then you lose customers and clearly that has happened to Umi over the course of the last week or so.
[Device Reviews and Information] snowbord:
^^ To reiterate... lots of companies face delays when it comes to product delivery. That's real life.

It's not simple business. There's the 80/20 rule, where most businesses get 80% of the hassle from 20% of the customers, hence you. Most businesses don't want to waste their time with such customers. They'd rather cater for the 20% of their customers that bring in 80% of their revenue - those that are chill and can appreciate the realities of life, especially when it comes to hardware / software development and mass manufacture. Most businesses are happy to be rid of you, and will not care that you are not shopping with them with your 'heard earned money'.

Some futher reading. Do a Google search on '80 20 rule customer service'

Don't be afraid to be selective when it comes to your customers. 80 percent of your customer service effort is spent on only 20 percent of your customers. If some of those "needy" customers are customers who don't contribute financially to your business in an extensive way, don't be afraid to make their customer service needs a lower priority. You need to provide "A" service to your "A" customers, but if you burn all of your energy providing exceptional service to your "B" customers, you may let down your top customers.

Fire your problem customers. Inevitably, there is another 10-20 percent of customers who rack up support tickets and chew up phone time, and take away from you servicing your most lucrative 20 percent. If you've tried to fit a square peg into a round hole too many times with them, just stop. I've done that. I've said to customers, 'I should not be consulting for you anymore.' I've occasionally even blacklisted customers -- or at least made a point to ignore them until they go away. Be polite and gracious about it, because you don't want a bad online review. But still do it.
[Device Reviews and Information] luchtgitaar:
Jeez guys!
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
Alright... everybody just relax and enjoy the fact that the world is still spinning and we are on it. Oh... and that your ordered UMI Iron is on it's way... if you were patient enough to stay on board.
[Device Reviews and Information] BloodRose:
So in other words, you personally blacklist customers when you fail to meet their needs or any promises that you have previously made? I'm sure you must be very successful at what you do.

Tbh, I don't think Umi need to worry about that anyway. Most of the people who expressed their distaste on Facebook, forums etc just ended up ditching them and choosing a different manufacturer anyway, myself included.

---------- Post added at 12:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:31 PM ----------

Yeah, I totally agree with this. If you stayed on board and kept your preorder then you definitely deserve to get it a bit earlier and I hope the phone doesn't disappoint.
[Device Reviews and Information] gesamgr:
I am in dilemma!!! which of these three?

* UMI Iron

* Elephone 8000

* MEIZU Note 2
[Device Reviews and Information] lopusina:
If you like to customize your phone, changing roms, recovery etc. then you can write off Meizu.

Both Iron and p8000 will be available after 15 Aug. if you order now. I have ordered both and plan to sell the one that is inferior :)
[Device Reviews and Information] amitbhullar:
To be honest Doogee F3 pro. I really like that phone. I did order umi iron but cancelled the order as I ended up not liking the phone after looking at lots of reviews.
[Device Reviews and Information] lopusina:
I'm looking at F3 Pro also, but that small battery, only 2200mAh.
[Device Reviews and Information] amitbhullar:
It does have small battery compared to all the new phones but it does have fast charge feature to charge 70% in 30 minutes.
[Device Reviews and Information] lopusina:
Well i would like to go out sometimes and take my phone with me :)

Sometimes i have heavy usage day and I want my phone to last through the day.
[Device Reviews and Information] El greco:
the doogee with that battery is a joke, come on. Ah, and forget any kind of updates.

By the way, It seems the Iron will be shipped with rom v.1.03, which is a couple of revisions ahead of what most reviewer had in hands (mostly the old v05). It seems camera performance, audio, eye unlock, notification led and other things have been improved and are now a lot better.
[Device Reviews and Information] s7yler:
Is the Doogee F3 pro out? and in stock? haven't seen any reviews. I find it very strange that someone is preferring and ordering a phone that no one yet have reviewed, there are even not real videos of it yet?! How can someone say that it is better if there are no tests/reviews of it yet?
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
Hi amitbhullar, have you used the F3 Pro? I haven't seen it available anywhere or heard anyone's experiences with the phone yet.
[Device Reviews and Information] s7yler:
He can't unless he is from Doogee. The phone is not even in production yet, and will not be ready to be shipped out to anyone before 17/8 2015
[Device Reviews and Information] amitbhullar:
Calm down people. I said I have looked at the reviews for UMI Iron and wasn't too happy with the phone overall. I have only seen the marketing material for Doogee F3 and 1 video in spanish where someone reviewed the prototype. Its just my personal opinion and I like the look of F3 better and hence I have put through a pre-order. Each to their own, I like F3 over Iron.
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
Oh, that's fine. It was just that the wording of your post made it sound like you'd had some experience with it. I find it hard to really like a phone when there is pretty much 0 information about it that isn't just the manufacturers specs.
[Device Reviews and Information] El greco:
I think I'll cancel my Iron's order to order The Galaxy s7 :D
[Device Reviews and Information] gesamgr:
will Iron have custom roms like the other models?
[Device Reviews and Information] Alfredo Aguirre:
Yes it will. That was one of the reasons Umi claimed they were goijg to delay the Iron since they werehaving trouble rooting the phone allowing it to easily just be flashed by their RootJoy software. I think they have a version of CM and MIUI available. There is a picture in the descripion of most if not all resellers showing the Rootjoy flashing tool and i think three roms under it.
[Device Reviews and Information] gesamgr:
ok that is good!!
[Device Reviews and Information] Alfredo Aguirre:
Has anyone who ordered the iron from geekbuying heard anything about shipping information? I'm in the first batch and haven't heard anything fromtem other than the free flip case will be included
[Device Reviews and Information] mondohow:
Well TO2C apparently sent theirs back to UMi because of "problems". They didn't specify what these problems were. Will be interesting to see what the other authorized re-sellers do.

http://www.to2c.com/umi-iron.html#comment-2168685427
[Device Reviews and Information] gesamgr:
Oh no!!! elephone and UMI have quality and soft problems !!
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
I spoke to a UMI rep about this and they just confirmed that the phone should work fine out of the box. The suggestion was that to2c had just posted this to appease buyers who were still waiting for their phones. They mentioned they would have a chat to to2c about this as well.

Haven't heard of any other resellers mentioning this... I'm still waiting for mine from coolicool so I'll let you all know what it's like when I get it!
[Device Reviews and Information] gesamgr:
To2c bad seller if they did this.....I want also buy it from Coolicool , what is your opinion is good store? (will be my first purchase from them) , when made your order and how much it cost?
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
I placed the order during the UMI accessories sale. So got the phone for US$170 with a bunch of accessories for dirt cheap. I had ordered another product which they since told me wasn't in stock. So I asked them to refund it, which they did easily enough.

My only criticism is that if you need to talk to them via email, they tend to only reply once a day. So the discussion around the other product took a long time to sort out (but they refunded, no questions asked). The language barrier can also be challenging, but this is pretty much the same at any of those Chinese resellers.

However, this is my first ever order with them and I don't have the product yet, so I'll reserve a final judgment until then! :)
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
I know this is about the UMI Hammer S and not the iron. But if anyone is interested, UMI are running a competition soon with a chance to get a Hammer S for $59.99 (http://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=308) now that would be a good get!
[Device Reviews and Information] gsmyth:
OTA update

Anyone received the update, thoughts?

http://www.gizchina.com/2015/08/05/umi-iron-receives-v1-4-ota-with-multitude-of-updates/
[Device Reviews and Information] s7yler:
Yeah I got it now on mine, so far it runs fine. Now I can also move the back and menu buttons, if I for example want the back to be in the left side instead of in the right. That option was not possible before. I asked UMI for this some weeks ago, and they now actually implemented it :)

And now it is actually also pre-rooted, so Rootjoy now can be used without any problems.
[Device Reviews and Information] gsmyth:
I was just about to ask about root, thanks! How do you find battery life (not with the new update as you've only got it!) overall?

Do you have any photo samples taken with the camera?
[Device Reviews and Information] gesamgr:
s7yler how long have the unit? is it working perfect? problems?

root joy is working? other roms exists?
[Device Reviews and Information] lopusina:
Can you move buttons to hardware part? i have read somewhere that it can be done.
[Device Reviews and Information] s7yler:
Batterylife is good IMO, and photo samples can be found here http://www.mediafire.com/folder/apel4plfdmyhn/UMI_IRON_Camera_Samples
[Device Reviews and Information] s7yler:
I haven't found anyway to do that yet.
[Device Reviews and Information] s7yler:
It is working perfect yes, no problems. Rootjoy is working but there are still no other roms out. I guess that will come later in the future, when also more people have gotten it.
[Device Reviews and Information] lopusina:
a cut out from umi iron review on gizmochina http://www.gizmochina.com/2015/08/05/umi-iron-review/

"6. 3 keys (return/home/manu)is customziable, change location base on your habit; as well as move them to the hardware part via setting if you don’t fancy the software keys"

I don't know how they did it but i would surely like to see how it works.
[Device Reviews and Information] s7yler:
That just means you can change the back and menu around. How it should be possible to change to hardware part? I don't understand. It doesn't have any hardware touch buttons.

PS: more info about v1.4 here

http://community.umidigi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=317
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
I had a chat to a UMI rep who said that there are actually capacitive buttons installed in the panel below the screen that will work when activated (which should be in ROM v1.5). They won't be illuminated or anything, but rather "zones" in the logical areas on the panel (and will match the order that you've chosen to orientate the on-screen buttons). The on-screen buttons would then disappear and the screen image will adjust to full screen... supposedly.

[MENTION=5270979]s7yler - Did you do a tear down of an Iron at any point? If so, did you find anything under that front bottom panel that would indicate that something like this could work with a firmware update?
[Device Reviews and Information] lopusina:
So it will be available in next update, nice.
[Device Reviews and Information] gsmyth:
Would you be able to make a video update to show the new features?
[Device Reviews and Information] s7yler:
I will do that when v1.5 is out, that also then should add the "hardware buttons" (if it works...)
[Device Reviews and Information] Gruffles01:
I have to say... watching your teardown of the iron (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvEF9RToYLg), I didn't really spot anything that would allow any harware capacitive buttons under the bottom panel.

Interesting...