i-mobile phones. Any reviews, opinions, advice appreciated.

[Gary A]

I have an IQ X Slim 2 model. It was a 5,000 baht phone. Dual SIM cards work well, the camera is pretty good. Everything is smooth and and works as expected. The battery life could be better but it is not too bad. It came with a free memory card and a hard plastic clip on case. I like the cheap case because It is difficult to press buttons while it in in my pocket. I doubt the case gives much protection but I'm sure it is better than nothing. At least the IQ phone doesn't have a lot of Chinese junk on it like a Lenovo I had.

[sumrit]

Please, Please, Please....do NOT buy an i-mobile phone!!!!

i am a very clumsy Brit, dont know how i did it but i have broken my i-mobile front screen twice now, each time it cost 2,000B to repair compared with 800B for a Samsung, during Songkran a couple of weeks ago i accidentally got it only very slightly wet as it was actually covered up, not good enough i know, as I said, it got slightly wet, took it into i-mobile service centre in Chonburi inside Tesco and they kept it for 4 days, never bothered ringing my wife to advise how much it would cost to repair, went down personally again and they wanted 5,000B

one of the problems I am told is that no normal mobile phone repairer can repair [ or dont want to repair ] i-mobile phones so they can charge what they like

The phones are...ok-ish for a cheap phone but certainly NOT happy with their after sales service!!!

I actually know this phone and the poster.

The phone is an IQ XPRO 2 which, when bought some six months ago, was i-mobile's top of the range model and cost 8900 baht.

Yes, he's broken the phone's screen twice during that time but what he hasn't added is that, prior to then, he owned a Samsung Galaxy Grand for around four months and also managed to break the screen in that phone THREE times. And yes, i-mobile did charge him 2000 baht each time for a genuine replacement screen while a local Tukcom repair shop charged him 800 baht for each (copy) replacement galaxy Grand screen. But the IQ XPRO 2 screen has a much better resolution, definition and quality display than the Galaxy Grand so I would guess that would account for a large portion of the difference in price he's complaining about. I-mobile completed both repairs within two hours.

And as to his phone getting 'very slightly' wet at Songkhran. it was absolutely soaked, completely saturated, I was there. When it still wouldn't turn on after a couple of days he took it to the i-mobile repair shop. On further investigation, after trying to dry the phone out naturally for a day or two, they decided that the multi layer circuit board was warped and damaged internally, so beyond repair. The 5000 baht he was quoted was for a replacement circuit board. Unhappy with the quote he then went to the tukcom repair shop who initially quoted just 800 baht. This got him angry because he thought i-mobile were trying to con him. But after two days of trying to clean the board and find out what was faulty they gave up and just said the phone was un-repairable.

As a retired electronics engineer I am familiar with multi layer circuit boards and the irreparable damage that can be caused when external heat is applied to them (for example from a hair dryer) in an attempt to dry out liquid damage, although I don't know if a hair dryer (or any other form of heat) was used in this case. His partner did say they'd tried immersing the phone in rice (which is a total fallacy and doesn't work) so they had attempted to dry it out themselves first.

I do feel sorry for the poster. Just after he came here last year he had his Samsung Note 3 stolen and has had problems with each phone he's had since. Phones are costing him a small fortune. A protective case would have been a cheaper option though.

As a footnote I have two i-mobile phones, an IQXA which is over two years old and an IQX 2 that I've had for about eighteen months and have been happy with both of them. The only problem I've had was three months ago when the non removable battery in the IQXA swelled up. The local Tukcom repair shop quoted me 300 baht for a copy replacement while I paid 400 baht for a genuine (and guaranteed) replacement. I personally don't think the i-mobile charge was excessive.

[Turkleton]

We have two IQ-II (Android One), a IQ XPRO 2 and a IQ 9.1.

All of them running without any problems, even the old IQ 9.1 with it's crappy Mediatek SoC.

I-Mobile phones are usually generic Chinese phones/clones, so a better/newer firmware is probably available.

IQ 9.1 = Wiko Darkside (Wiko Rom is much more stable)

IQ XPRO 2 = Wileyfox Storm (official Cyanogenmod 13 and also official Cyanogen-OS available)

IQ-II = Wileyfox Swift = General Mobile GM4 (official Cyanogenmod 13 and Cyanogen-OS and also Android 7 Dev Preview available)

But as mentioned above, its hard to find a cover/case.

The "silicon" case of my IQ XPRO 2 is cheapest junk, but I can't find any replacement, not even at the I-Mobile store!

[Gary A]

In the past six months my wife's Samsung S3 died. No complaints there because it lasted a long time and had a hard life. I went through two Samsung S4's. Both mainboards failed. I also had an Samsung S5 that I gave to my wife. She loves it. She uses all the social crap that I never used. Since then I bought three cheap phones. One a 5,000 baht IQ X Slim 2, and a 3,900 baht Samsung J1. Both are dual SIM. Since I always wanted to see what a Windows phone was like, I bought a Lumina 640 LTE for 3,990 baht. The more I played with the Windows phone, the more I like it. it is now my daily user. I also now know that I am finished with high end phones. I really had no idea of how capable these cheap phones are. Call qualities are excellent on all three phones. The battery life on the Samsung is the worst but still acceptable. After I discovered the built in battery saver on the Lumina, battery life is quite good. Reception on all three is good. I have AIS and Dtac SIMs on both the dual SIM phone and a single AIS SIM in the Lumina. I have thrown away all the True SIMs. Good riddance to True.

[theodoros]

IQ 6.3 worst mobile I ever had. Bought October 2015. Returned twice to  Plaisio supplier's service In Greece still under warrantee because wouldn't work. Everything was replaced inside both times. To this day I have to factory reset it every couple of days in order to work briefly. Frustrated and very angry having spent 150 euros for nothing. Never buy an iq-mobile   

[Gary A]

My IQ Slim 2 died. It was still under warranty and it took six weeks to get it back from the shop. Now the warranty is up and it is acting strange again but is still working. I don't know what they did with the phone but now the battery life really stinks. This will be my last IQ phone.

 

Yes I know this is an old post but maybe useful for someone.

[BsBs]

Hello, any cheap but good enough imobile phone similar to old IQX ? I just need it as a spare phone that stays in the car. Thanks.

[Gary A]

My IQ Slim 2 battery life is pathetic. I checked the battery with apps from playstore and they say the battery is fine. I ordered a new battery from Lazada anyways. The battery I received was defective and upon further checking I found that the battery is not a genuine IQ, Lazada refunded my money and told me not to bother sending the battery back. I did a factory reset on the phone thinking I may have had a bad app. Battery life still stinks.

[Turkleton]

Why not just go to to an I-Mobile store and buy, or order, a genuine battery?

[Gary A]

5 minutes ago, Turkleton said:

Why not just go to to an I-Mobile store and buy, or order, a genuine battery?

 

The shop where I bought the phone doesn't have a battery for this model. I don't want them to order a battery because the original is not much older than a year. If a new battery acts the same way, I would be really irritated.

[balo]

Worst brand you could ever buy .  I needed a spare one and It lasted 2 months .   When you can buy Samsung for 1500 baht more , then you should not even think about i-mobile.

 

[Turkleton]

4 hours ago, balo said:

Worst brand you could ever buy .  I needed a spare one and It lasted 2 months .   When you can buy Samsung for 1500 baht more , then you should not even think about i-mobile.

 

Nonsense

[Gary A]

I sold my spare Samsung J1 to a friend of mine. I'm tired of listening to him complain about how slow the J1 is and what a piece of crap it is. I'm going to meet him today and give him his 2,000 baht back. That J1 is only good for hello, goodbye phone calls.

[balo]

8 hours ago, Gary A said:

I sold my spare Samsung J1

Tell him to buy J5 or J7 instead , great phones with everything you need.