My wife's S5 died. She uses all the social crap and her phone gets a lot of use. The Samsung shop in Udon Thani wanted 7,000 baht to replace the motherboard. Since the phone was just over a year old, I elected not to have it repaired.  I no longer trust Samsung. Instead I ordered a  Xiaomi Mi5 3GB RAM 32GB ROM Snapdragon 820 Quad core 5.15" 3000mAh M5 16MP NFC Dual Sim 4K Video Fingerprint ID. My wife is thrilled with this phone. She says it is much better than the S5.

 

I hated seeing that S5 in the drawer so I contacted Dr. Smartphone in Bangkok. They wanted to have a look at the phone to give me an estimate for repairing it. They did tell me that if the motherboard needed to be replaced, the replacement motherboard would be genuine Samsung and the replacement would cost 5,000 baht. They also mentioned that they have had good luck repairing rather than replacing. I boxed up the phone and sent it to them. They checked out the phone and told me they could repair the motherboard for 3,000 baht and guarantee it for three months. I told them to go ahead with the repair. The repair is finished and the phone is on its way back to me.

 

I told my wife that I had good news for her. Her S5 was repaired and she could have it back working again. She told me emphatically that I could use the S5 because her Xiaomi was a much better phone and that she did not want the S5 back. It looks like my old S3 will be a backup spare and that I will be using the S5.

I just ordered the same brand but a different model based on outstanding reviews

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http://m.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_289037.html

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3 hours ago, mcfish said:

http://m.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_289037.html

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I've had the "Redmi  Note 3" for nearly 2 months and like it very much.  Miui takes a bit of getting used to and I wish it were easier to change default, built in apps like the music player but overall, it's quick and smooth.

Cases are hard to find but AliExpress had a decent selection. Liked this one for $4

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Case-For-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-3-Pro-Wallet-PU-Leather-Cover-For-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-3/32575699569.html

Edited December 8, 20169 yr by dddave

11 minutes ago, dddave said:

I've had the "Redmi  Note 3" for nearly 2 months and like it very much.  Miui takes a bit of getting used to and I wish it were easier to change default, built in apps like the music player but overall, it's quick and smooth.

Cases are hard to find but AliExpress had a decent selection. Liked this one for $4

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Case-For-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-3-Pro-Wallet-PU-Leather-Cover-For-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-3/32575699569.html

 

My wife didn't like the Mi launcher so I downloaded the Google launcher from Playstore. It looks and works great. It made the phone more user friendly.

On 12/8/2016 at 2:54 PM, Gary A said:

 

My wife didn't like the Mi launcher so I downloaded the Google launcher from Playstore. It looks and works great. It made the phone more user friendly.

My previous phone was a Xiaomi Note 2.  I had tried downloading the Google Launcher on that phone but it never functioned properly and I returned to the Miui interface.  That phone came to a sad end: fell from my shirt pocket into a toilet. 

Maybe I'll give the Google launcher a try on my Note-3 since it has worked well for you.  I really prefer the Google Music player.

I have only had one other Chinese phone. It was a 5,000 baht Lenovo. It died a month after the warranty expired. I really never liked that phone because it had some Chinese apps that I could not remove. That's the reason I was skeptical about another Chinese phone. Fortunately the Xiaomi has no Chinese apps on it. Google play store came installed and works fine.

I've had the "Redmi  Note 3" for nearly 2 months and like it very much.  Miui takes a bit of getting used to and I wish it were easier to change default, built in apps like the music player but overall, it's quick and smooth.
Cases are hard to find but AliExpress had a decent selection. Liked this one for $4
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Case-For-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-3-Pro-Wallet-PU-Leather-Cover-For-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-3/32575699569.html

Lazada have some in stock, just ordered a see through rubber back case and will get gorilla glass, But just missed the courier with my new phone by 5 minutes! Next delivery Tues. Oh well at least I have something to look forward to lol

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Dr. Smartphone in Bangkok repaired the mainboard in my Galaxy S5. I got it back and it failed within a couple of days. It cost me 3,000 baht. I contacted the company and they told me they were sorry. They told me to send it back to them. They have now replaced the mainboard and charged me an additional 1,500 baht for the new Samsung supplied board. For 4,500 baht, hopefully the S5 has a new life. I was told in advance that the repair may not hold up and if the mainboard needed replaced, it would cost 5,000 baht. I got a 500 baht discount and they credited the 3,000 repair cost towards the new one. So it cost 4,500 baht rather than the 7,000 baht Samsung wanted. Hopefully the phone will hold up longer than the original. I was also pleased that a new battery was included in that price.

4500 baht for repairs to an old phone? Honestly I would had bought a new phone if I was in your shoes.

 

I just bought(BananaIT) a J7 prime for my teenage daughter, 9400 + for free: 32 gb sd mini card, 10.000mAh battery bank and some cheap Bluetooth speaker, the selfie stick also supplied fell apart when she tried setting it up, ha-ha. 

 

The J7 prime is fairly good, nice screen, speed okay with 3gb ram, the main camera is quite good in low light situations. 

 

It's important she can show her school friends that she got a brand phone, she had an 2nd hand iPhone before but I refuse to spend top$ on any phone.

 

My own UMI super comes without any Chinese crap apps pre-loaded.

 

I managed to drop it on the floor tiles in the house and expect for a very small dent in one corner of the aluminum housing, all is okay.

The S5 looks like new and I just got tired of seeing in in a drawer. Time will tell whether it was a waste of money or not.