Importing the One Plus One From China - LTE Bands & What You Need To Know

Discussion in 'Mobile Devices' started by InsaneNutter, Jul 16, 2014.

  1. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

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    What is the One Plus One?

    The One Plus One is a phone which has the highest specification of any phone currently on sale, at a mid range price point. However the catch is you need an invite to purchase one. Its been two months since invites started to be handed out, and so far only a few 1000 have been. Chances are you already know this if you happen to be reading this post and know that you can walk in to shops in China and purchase a One Plus One.

    So what if you were to skip this ridiculous invite system and just purchase the phone from China? will it work in your home country? The short answer is unless you live in North / South America or Canada most likely, however I will explain how you can work it out for yourself.

    The main difference between the international One Plus One and the Chinese one are the LTE / WDCMA band's the phones support.


    Comparison of the One Plus One GSM frequencies and WCDMA / LTE bands for the International version and Chinese version:

    13874d1405256957-oneplus-one-high-end-phone-300-a-331olte.jpg
    As you can see above the Chinese One Plus One does not support LTE bands 4 and 17, along with WCDMA band 4. So basically you want to know what bands your mobile network operates on before importing a One Plus One.

    The Wikipedia article: List of LTE networks is a great resource for this.

    As im from the UK we will use the United Kingdom as an example:

    uk-lte-bands.jpg

    Above we can see that the mobile operators EE and 3 use LTE bands 3 and 7 which are supported by the One Plus One, however o2 and Vodafone use band 20 which neither version of the One Plus One supports.

    So if you are from the UK you could purchase either the international of Chinese One Plus One and get 4G here in the UK on the 3 or EE. Of course the One Plus One will work on any other network here as it supports all the GSM bands used here in the UK, so you can use 2g /3g fine. Given that 4g is only really in major citys here at the moment that's not a total deal breaker.

    Show me some 4G proof:

    Here are some 4G speedtests taken here in the UK with my Chinese One Plus One on the Three network.

    This test was taken on a moving bus:

    one-plus-one-4g-1.jpg

    This test was taken stood outside my workplace:

    one-plus-one-4g-2.jpg

    So as you can see if your network supports the LTE bands you have nothing to loose by importing a Chineese One Plus One.

    You have convinced me, where can I import a One Plus One from?

    Aliexpress is the place i imported my One Plus One from, think of it as the Amazon / Ebay of China, except with sellers that are focused on selling outside China. You are probably a bit concerned about purchasing from a seller on Aliexpress, however if you read up on the website you will find out like with Ebay the site really does favour the seller. When you purchase something the money is held in escrow by Aliexpress. The seller then has x amount of days to ship your item with a tracking number, otherwise you are automatically refunded. Once you receive the item you have to mark it as received on Aliexpress to complete the transaction. If you dont receive the item you can open a dispute, just like on Ebay. Like Ebay / Amazon market sellers have feedback scores and reviews, so i would say in general buying from Aliexpress is as safe as buying from Amazon Marketplace or Ebay, if not maybe even more so.

    This is the seller i purchased my One Plus One from, i was very happy with the communication and service offered. This seller / company shipped the item to Europe somewhere, then on to the UK so i did not have an import duty to pay. I was provided with a FedEx tracking number to track the progress of my shipment. Once my order was despatched it arrived exactly a week later, which I thought was very fast considering the distance it had to come.

    English Software:

    The Chinese One Plus One ships with "Colour OS", basically a Chinese version of Android, however you can flash Cyanogenmod 11s, which is the English version of Android the international version of the One Plus One ships with. This is very easy to do and you will find a lot of the Chinese sellers will have done this anyway for you, the seller i purchased form had. I will have a guide up soon shwoing you how to flash Cyanogenmod 11s anyway.

    Final words:

    If your mobile network uses LTE bands which the Chinese One Plus One supports i see no reason not to import one. The total cost for myself was actually cheaper than what i would have been if i had an invite to purchase the international version. In total i paid £268 for the 64gb version, this was the cost delivered to my door. To purchase one directly would cost you £269 which does not include shipping, and possible customs charges from what various people have said.

    one-plus-one-aliexpress.jpg
    Personally I am very happy with my decision to import a One Plus One, the phone is the best you can basically get at present, sold at mid range prices.

    The 64gb iPhone 5s is £709, for that price you could purchase 2x One Plus One's and still have £173 left over. Likewise Google's flagship device the Nexus 5 is £339 for the 32gb version making it £71 more expensive than the One Plus One. Neither the iPhone 5s or Nexus 5 are in the same league as the One Plus One either. I really am very impressed with the quality of the device.

    If you have any question's i will do my best to answer them, stay tuned as i plan to have a guide on how to flash Cyanogenmod 11s on a Chinese One Plus One and a review of the device too.
     
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  2. MrNitvit

    MrNitvit Resident

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    I'm planning to get one, only problem is I may have to wait a while to get an invite! :P However, have you received the phone yet? If so I might buy it from the website mentioned. Finally I've heard that there is a Chinese regional version of the phone and an international version, if I were to buy it from Aliexpress which one would it be?
     
  3. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

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    Yes i've had my One Plus One since Monday, after it was despatched from China it arrived on my doorstep exactly a week later via Fedex.

    If you order from Aliexpress it will be the Chinese version of the phone you get, you might have to flash Cyanogenmod 11s (the English version of Android for the phone) yourself, however a lot of of the sellers are doing this before shipping the phone out. The seller i linked to above will pre flash it for you.

    A photo comparing my old HTC Desire (2010) and Galaxy Nexus (2011) to the One Plus One:

    2ch4byf.jpg

    My One Plus One compared to a mates Galaxy Note 3:

    one-plus-one-galaxy-note-3.jpg

    I'm currently working on a review of the phone which i expect to get up within the next week or so, however if you have any questions i'll do my best to answer them.

    In my opinion it really is the best phone out at the moment, both in terms of hardware, software and value for money.
     
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  4. MrNitvit

    MrNitvit Resident

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    I've also noticed on the website you linked, that you can buy the pre-order or the in-stock version, could you tell me what the difference is? Also what would the warranty be if it was bought from Aliexpress because if you bought it through the official website, you would get a 1 year warranty. If you bought it through Aliexpress and it broke about 3 months after you received it, what would happen? Would the person you bought it from give you a new one or would you be completely stuffed. (Only asking this because my dad is paranoid)
     
  5. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

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    The pre-order option is basically a special offer, you get the phone a bit cheaper, however it will take them 2-3 weeks to dispatch it. That's what I did as I thought if I get an invite in that time I will cancel my Aliexpress order.

    As for the warranty I don't believe you would have one. In general phones are pretty reliable, if the phone breaks its most likely going to be an accident e.g your dog ate it, which no warranty covers anyway.
     
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  6. MrNitvit

    MrNitvit Resident

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    All I need to do now is to convince my dad to buy it for me! xD I've told him it's better than most phones and for the price it's being sold at it's ridiculous, yet he refuses... -_-
     
  7. seanpr92

    seanpr92 Godlike

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    Just got my one plus one 64gb mine was actually duty free from GrossoShop.net importing to UK I've also rooted mine which is very easy
     
  8. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

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    How are you finding the phone? my brother recently got one too. Dispatched from China to our doorstep in 7 days, not bad at all.

    GrossoShop are £30 more when you include the £17 shipping, however still a great phone for the price (Y)
     
  9. seanpr92

    seanpr92 Godlike

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    I'm finding the phone very good all round its pretty solid never heard of one plus before as not big brand but one I got phone my issues were laid to rest if I had to choose between a Samsung galaxy s5 or nexus 5 and one plus one I'd choose one plus every time the 4G for me isn't an issue as I find 3G sufficient as I'm on giffgaff which piggybacks on 02 as mentioned on various sites the phones raw specs beat even the top price phones for price it is you can't go wrong
     
  10. Bamxcore

    Bamxcore New Member

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    Importing the opo from grossoshop next month. Just wondering if it comes in the original box and with original accessories?
     
  11. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

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    I imagine it would do, however i guess it depends on where you buy from.
    I got everything you should do, all in the original box.
     
  12. Bamxcore

    Bamxcore New Member

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    Oh thanks for that. I was going to buy one from the seller you posted as it was cheaper than my source, plus I know there is at least one person who has had good experience with it.

    I just sent you a message before seeing this reply so disregard that.

    Thanks.
     
  13. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

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    Let me know how you get on, i can't see you having any problems though.

    The seller has sold 734 phones now and has 99.3% positive feedback.
     
  14. CurlySteve

    CurlySteve Elite Member

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    Just ordered my OPO on their website on the 27th "1" hour pre-order (turned out to be 3 due to the website crashing). I was lucky and should get it this week. I hope its as good as everyone says. I found this thread today on the oneplus website. It shows how not to handle a situation when something goes wrong. Please be advised it has very strong language but also very funny: https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/order-100719107-canceled-are-you-serious.172206/
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2014

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