There are litreally hundreds of Samsung Galaxy S3 clones on the market from various Chinese manufactures making it extremely difficult to know which one to buy. Luckily we Gizchina has an exclusive review of the Star B92M HDC Galaxy S3 by our guest writer Daniel Ahmad!
[Note]This review of the HDC Galaxy S3 Ex was written by our guest blogger Daniel Ahmad. If you are also interested in writing a guest post/review for Gizchina.com please feel free to contact us now with your ideas![/Note]
Hi guys, I have been a long time reader of Giz China and like many of you, I have been looking around for the best dual sim phone that is cheap, reliable and has great specs. For the past few years now I have always had to carry around 2 phones, one for work and one for personal usage. So this year I decided to take the plunge and buy the Star B92M (also known as the HDC Galaxy S3 EX).
HDC Galaxy S3 Ex Review
I had considered waiting for the Jiayu G3, or one of the many quad core devices that have been announced recently. But as I soon found out, The Jiayu G3 and many other high spec dual core phones had either been delayed or cancelled. Also there was no chance of me getting a quad core dual sim phone until the new year. Because I had smashed my HTC One X screen recently, I took the plunged and purchased the phone from AliExpress for £135 inc shipping and tax.
Now here in the UK, The HTC One X costs around £450, The Samsung Galaxy Ace costs around £129. And I had just got this phone for £135, according to the specs it should be very similar to the HTC One X but with a dual core processor rather than a quad core processor. The Star also had other advantages like a micro SD Card slot, it was dual sim compatible and had a removable battery. So for £135 I was very pleased. I will be reviewing this phone, comparing it to my old HTC One X, HTC Sensation, Motorola Atrix 2 as well as the similarly priced Galaxy Ace.
Here is a run down of the specs-
- HDC Galaxy S3 EX/Star B92m
- 4.7Inch IPS Display 1280×720
- 1.0GHz MediaTek MT6577 Dual Core
- 1GB RAM + 4GB ROM (Up to 32GB Micro SD Card)
- 12MP Camera (rear) + VGA Camera (Front)
- 2000mAh Battery (x2)
- Android ICS 4.0.4
- £135/$215/€170/¥1360
This phone has been on the market for 3 weeks now. I have had it for 1 and a half and I believe this is enough time to tell you the good, bad and the ugly. Lets start with build quality.
Star B92M HDC Galaxy S3 EX Build Quality
The phone is a Galaxy S3 Clone, and so from the outside you could easily mistake it to be a Galaxy S3. However, the phone comes in black rather than “pebble blue”, a much welcome addition for me as I can’t stand the pebble blue colour of the actual S3. A few other differences include the volume rocker being where the power button should be, and the power button being on top of the phone. The power button being on top can make it a bit hard to turn the phone on if you have small hands, but I’ve found that if you press the physical home button on the bottom of the phone it unlocks the phone as well just like the normal S3 does. Problem solved!
The back cover and front is made from plastic just like the actual S3. It does not have the premium feel of the HTC One X, Sensation or Atrix 2. However, when compared to the actual S3 and Ace it feels roughly the same. If anything the B92m’s home button feels much sturdier than the S3’s. Like I said, it is not a premium build, but it isn’t rubbish either. It was better than I was expecting. I haven’t dropped it yet so I can’t tell you how it fares there. The phone is very much a fingerprint magnet, been having to wipe them off much more than on the One X etc…
Star B92M HDC Galaxy S3 EX hardware
The Processor it uses is a MediaTek Dual core processor clocked at 1Ghz. Now compared to the One X or S3 it’s not as fast. But when I was comparing it to the Atrix 2 and Sensation which both have dual core processors the MediaTek processor was much faster at opening apps and multitasking. In fact I found that compared to the One X the Mediatkek was actually better at multitasking. The processor is speedy and fast, it’s not the huge downgrade I was expecting coming from the One X. However, the one place the phone completely falls over is in the Graphics department. The phone uses an older graphics chip and even small animations such as entering and exiting the app tray can be choppy at times. With that being said though, it can easily play back 1080p video/games but like i said, at times you can see it’s struggling to keep up. HD games are great as well.
The phone is running Android 4.0.4 ICS out of the box. It is fast and fluid and works great. There are even a few extra features which I love that stock android does not have. One is having a battery percentage built in, another is having a large number of toggles to choose from in the notification bar just like the S3 has. Like I’ve mentioned, the graphics chip isn’t amazing, so while the processor is fluid at navigating the OS and opening apps, the animations can be a little slow and choppy, not as smooth as the One X/Sensation etc… similar to the Galaxy Ace. The phone only has 4GB of onboard storage, with the OS installed this only leaves around 600mb available to the user. Not enough if you plan to install lots of apps and files. However, the phone comes with Micro SD card support and the OS has a setting to save everything to the SD card as default to save space. This is really great and something I really missed from the One X. The OS has proved to be quite stable but I have experienced a few graphical related crashes. A reboot fixes this. No word on any updates from the manufacturer, but there is a small dev community on XDA who have rooted the phone, got CWM working and are working on a custom rom.
The 1GB of RAM is great. On the Ace there is not enough RAM to multitask. On the Sensation my phone would slow down sometimes due to Sense taking up too much ram. On boot with the sensation I would only have 150mb free ram. On this phone I have over 450mb free on boot. This allows for seamless multitasking, like I said above I can easily compare the multitasking to the One X and in some cases this phone beats the One X for multitasking. Those of you with HTC phones will know that the speaker volume can be quite low. The speaker on the B92m is much louder than the Sensation and One X. Notifications and incoming calls can be heard easily and clearly. Music playback is loud as well. Not as clear as the One X but it’s good enough.
Star B92M HDC Galaxy S3 EX screen
The screen is a large 4.7 inch IPS screen, same as the One X and S3. .Text is clear and sharp, colours are a bit unsaturated, the viewing angles are impressive, not as good as the One X, but much better compared to the Sensation, Atrix and Ace. . The screen is really bright, not as bright as the One X but brighter than the Super Amoled screen on the S3. It’s easy to see and a breeze to use because it is capicitative. I don’t think it is gorilla glass but i haven’t had any scratches so far (touch wood). The screen is better than the Sensation and Atrix 2 if you ignore the fact colours aren’t amazing/100% accurate. But compared to the One X it is not as good. One X has much better colours and viewing angles and is gorilla glass. Plus the screen on the Star does pick up fingerprints quite easily. The screen is multi touch as well.
Star B92M HDC Galaxy S3 EX call quality
The voice quality is good as well, it can sound a bit tinny and distant at times but it’s not far off the One X’s call quality. Compared to the Motorola the sound quality is not as good, but like I said the quality is good enough. The speaker phone isn’t amazing. It is good enough but I think all the other phones are better, apart from the Ace of course! The Dual sim functionality is great. I can use both sims at the same time in a dual standby mode and the OS has a management setting so I can set certain preferences for each sim. E.g which one makes calls/texts to certain numbers & which one uses the internet.
Moving on to connectivity, you have Wi-Fi which works as well as my other phones. 3G and 2G support. The radio is surprisingly good and holds a signal similar to the One X. Infact in some fringe locations it has been better which I found shocking. There is Bluetooth as well, I haven’t used it yet so can’t comment there. The one thing I will say is that the GPS is goddamn awful. I can get a fix but it takes around 3-5 minutes each time, sometimes it doesn’t even pick up a satellite indoors or outdoors. There is a fix in the works and I will let everyone know how it gets on.
UPDATE: The fix means gps fixes straight away now. No waiting, thanks to XDA member vesien for fix!
Star B92M HDC Galaxy S3 EX battery
One of my worries was battery life. Thankfully i got 2x 2000mAh batteries in the box which are bigger than the Motorola and HTC’s batteries. And i was shocked that they actually worked well… Got over 4 hours on screen time with heavy usage. Thats over 8 hours on screen time with two batteries. it is easily able to get me through a day, maybe two on low usage for me. I could probably just use 1 battery tbh, no need for battery swapping. The only thing I would say is that the standby time isn’t amazing. Obviously this is due to the fact that two sims are working at the same time. To give you an idea of what I mean, if you don’t use the phone at all you’ll lose about 50% of the battery in 24 hours due to the phone trying to keep the signal on both sims. The phone is not as thin as the S3, but i find that better as it is easier to hold in the hand.
Star B92M HDC Galaxy S3 EX Camera
The camera is 12mp on the back and vga on the front. This means that you can take picture in 4000 x 3000 resolution. However the MT6577 only supports up to 8mp camera so my guess is that it is a 8mp camera with software to allow it to take 12mp. Camera is your stock android camera with all the settings including panorama etc…
It’s good enough, does not live up to it’s “12mp” potential though. It is good for taking pictures in natural light, colours are accurate if just a little washed out. Low light pictures are not great and can be pixelated. Flash is bright and makes low light pictures better but still pixelated. I compared it to the 8mp on the Sensation and i was getting similar shots, infact the Star seemed better quality in some pictures with natural/artificial light. Not as good as the One x due to the fact you can’t record/take pictures etc… plus the One X is a better camera in other ways.
Here are a few pictures to have a look at. Some indoor and some outdoor. The video quality is 720p and is good as well. The autofocus could be quicker and the sound quality could be a lot better. Not the best video camera in the world. It’s better than the Ace but the Sensation Is better I would say.
Star B92M HDC Galaxy S3 EX Conclusion
When I compare this phone to the similarly priced Galaxy Ace all I can do is laugh. There is no competition at all, the B92m is miles better, when compared to the Sensation and Atrix 2 I would say they are quite similar. The B92m does beat them in a few departments and vice versa. The current UK prices for these phones are £280+ So I am happy that I can get a dual sim phone for under half the price with similar performance. For those of you that wish to know, the highest Antutu score I got was around 5313.
When compared to the One X and S3 the B92m is not as good, it is better at certain things like multitasking and having a removable battery and SD /dual sim.
But the One X and S3 are better phones with support. Overall I am very happy with being able to get this for £135 inc shipping/tax. When I was comparing to other dual sim dual core phones this was the cheapest price I found. Only the Jiayu G3 came close in price/spec but seeing as there were too many delays and I needed a phone right now I wasn’t willing to commit.
So if like me you are looking for a phone with similar specs/price I really recommend this phone. It can be bought of Ali Express for £135/$215/€170/¥1360.
Note- At the time of writing this review, the 1GB RAM version seems to have been replaced with 512mb ram with the same price. I have heard a 1GB version will be released at a higher price soon. The reason for this according to the manufacturer is the increases in price of RAM. If you can find 1GB version from trusted seller go for it. However even with 512mb ram I feel the phone would be good, just not in multitasking dept.
I would like to thank Andi of GizChina for giving me the opportunity to write up this review on this website. I wish him the best and hope this site becomes very well-known and so that a community can be built up based on the idea of technology in China today.
[Author Info]
About Me- I am a fan of this website and have been for sometime now. Without this site I would have been lost when it comes to Chinese dual sim phones and buying them from China. I hope with this review I can give something back to the site that has helped me so much
–Daniel (AhmadCentral)[/Author Info]
Previous post 
Next post 
I was hoping to see AnTuTu benchmark screen shots. Guys at fastcardtech had alot of problems with this model. Mislead buyers with false specs 512 RAM instead of 1gb. Also i have my doubts about the 12 mpx camera.
Hi Igor, antutu score is 5131 for me.
I have the 1gb version. Like I said they seem to have stopped 1gb version at the moment. But I heard they will be selling soon.
Also like mentioned in review. Camera is 8mp interpolated to take pics at 12mp
Sorry, that should be 5313!!!!
I will update the review soon, with a bit more information.
Hi Daniel, Great Review on the Star B92M!!! I purchased one directly from China & am fairly happy with it.. I’m in the U.S. and have service through AT&T. One problem is that because it is a non-AT&T phone, they won’t provide 3G service. They will only provide 2G (EDGE) service. I’m paying the same amount of money for the service that others pay, but they won’t provide the better service… So now I’m looking for a new carrier. Do you know if anyone experienced this problem in the UK or from other countries? Thanks for your insight..
Very well written, gives a fair clue about how good the MTK6577 platform is. I hope to see more Chinese phones with original design instead of clones, and more modesty; in the sense, no 12mp gimmicks and stuff.
Thanks Daniel.
Hi. Some info from me
ROOTing guide- forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1952991
As about the RAM, the first phones got 1GB but cause of problems in production the sell now with 512MB.
Anyway, Andi can u tell me please if it has greek (Ελληνικά) language in settings?
I just checked and i cannot see any greek language support, sorry. However i am sure you can download Greek keyboard from market. But i think phone will be in english.
These are all languages- English, Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, Bengali,Deutsch, Espanol, French, Italiano, India Urdu, Hindi, Nederlands, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Turkish, Russian, Persian, Thai, Simplified/ Traditional Chinese
ok thank you!
It’s on Amazon UK @ £150.99, but no mention of how much RAM, just 4GB ROM
Very nice review, from this review I wonder if a 720p screen with an MT6577 is just to much and maybe an QHD screen would be better with this chipset?
Overall I feel this MT6577 chipset is very good, but I can see the GPU part is not as good as the next from the HTC Evo 3D.
The GPU isn’t amazing, it can handle HD youtube and videos ok though, what i find strange is that sometimes i can get graphics errors or the animation in certain things will be choppy. For example scrolling animation is fine. But a small app animation can be slow or choppy. Games are ok but sometimes suffer from this choppy/slow animations. Processor is very fast though.
I can’t wait to get my hands on the MT6588/6589 to see what quadcore will bring to dual core phones.
Overall though, this is a very good phone and i’m impressed with it. Chinese phones have come a long way. Tbh i rate this phone above the Sensation. Much faster! only thing like i’ve said is graphics. Screen is nice + responsive though.
Gpu is not so bad. I have ZOPO ZP900 and I must say that Im really impressed with the overall performance. I’ve tested few games . For example GTA 3 and Dead Trigger both work great on high details. So if such graphic intensive games are playable with high details, mtk’s Gpu couldn’t be so poor.
Little tip for you guys who have a problem with launcher fluidity. Try nova launcher from Google play it works like a charm.
No it’s not bad, but it’s not great either. I was comparing it to the other phones like sensation and One X. Even with Nova or Go Launcher it is not as smooth as the other phones.
Like i said it is good enough to play back HD Youtube and 1080p videos but it does stutter every now and then. As do the animations, it does annoy me coming from phones that have run very smooth. That being said the graphics chip is better than the Ace and a number of phones, but it has caused a few crashes and choppy animations. Maybe it’s just this phone though? But i would say it is probably one of the only downsides to the handset.
That’s weird because I didn’t notice any stuttering. Maybe 720p resolution is to much for mtk’s Gpu. ZOPO ZP900 has only 960×540 resolution, but it reminds me that at the beginning I was using class 4 micro SD card and some stutter appeared during dead Trigger game, but after I’ve changed sd card to class 10 SanDisk everything disappeared. Maybe the issue is with performance of storage.
I think it is the HD resolution, the stuttering is definitely there. Plus I have 32gb class 10 micro sd card so I think it has to be Res.
I also have this phone
Here’s a video for you people that want to have a look at the phone.
Nice review Ahmadcentral ….whats the name of the GPU in the device?…and how well can it run HD games like modern combat 3 and shadowgun
Thanks Aeonia,
The GPU is a PowerVR SGX531. I think maybe in my review i was being a bit too harsh, the GPU is powerful to play HD Youtube, HD Games & 1080p videos, however it can stutter every now and then. Plus some small animations can slow down the phone and stutter etc… It’s not 100% smooth like previous phones but its not terrible by any means.
I tried out shadowgun and temple run, Temple run plays well but stutters when collecting coins or jumping for a power up, not all the time but you can see it’s not fully smooth animations. Still you can play the game fine though.
Shadowgun runs fine, but agan stutters during lots of action or shooting.
Expect to get my UMi X1 by Friday.. can’t wait =)
Awesome, let me know how you get on!
I want to see if you have the same impression as me when it comes to the MT677. Umi X1 is a very good spec phone similar to this one as well.
Most definitely. =)
Hi Daniel and Andi,
Just wanted to leave a word saying thanks for both your reviews and efforts.
I think having guest bloggers is a terrific idea – understand that Andi may not have all the time and resources to review most of the phones/tablets available.
Having a second set of eyes and opinions also allows us to critique products more.
Good work guys
Thx Andi for the idea and support and Daniel for the review. Nice review, i love the fact that it compare with well known cell phones so we can have a most accurate measure or rating to know what exactly we get.
I understand that the one x’s colour calibration is the best in the market (actually one x and iPhone) so it’s nice to have the one x’s screen like a reference. Regards.
Just a quick heads up guys, for those of you in the UK, a company called dracotek on amazon sell a number of chinese dual sim phones, this stops you paying import tax/relying on a chinese website to ship to you.
Obviously they do not sell all phones from xiaomi etc… they just sell some dual sim phones. For example the phone i got for £135inc shipping, these guys are selling for £160inc shipping. So bit more, but you get a good warranty and service as shown by the reviews written.
Hero handsets are rebranded Zopo handsets btw^
Some of the hero phones are re branded ZOPO, but there are some small differences. For example camera in ZP900 is made by Sony and hero’s clone is not. Support is also a big difference. ZOPO has quite good support for a Chinese handset.
cool review…
Is anyone having VERY slow data speeds when using a gsm carrier?
Im from canada and i am with ROGERS, i am getting very poor DATA speeds……
Are you getting a 3G or H symbol on your phone? Maybe Rogers is not compatible with 2100Mhz 3G. That means you will only get 2G. Is there a carrier in your country that uses 3G on 2100Mhz, this is the only frequency the phone supports.
I am with rogers as well. I though this phone had 3g on 850Mhz – according to the spec. Is this not correct?
thanks
Nice review! Could you please tell us how you fixed the Gps problem? Thanks
There is a fix on XDA here- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1952991
Also go to settings- location services, and turn gps on then go to EPS settings and press download at the bottom.
My latest review here on YouTube
Onya Greg. Great review.
Hi. I was wondering is it possible to flash this phone with untouched android 4.2?
No, nothing would work. You have to wait for manufacture or developer to make custom rom.
Hi Daniel,
Great review! u rely went into great detail.
I just want to ask, is this the phone and supplier you bought from on aliexpress: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Star-B92M-S3-4-7-IPS-Capacitive-Touch-Screen-1280-720-Android-4-0-Smart-Phone/658712778.html?
If so were you happy with product and service? And If not please recommend other suppliers to me. I want to buy this phone but I just need to find the right place to get it. Alot of people recommend FastCardTech.com on their phone reviews but ive read alot of customer reviews from very unhappy people!
Anyway, would appreciate if you could back to me,
Thanks.
get it from merimobiles, it has also the 1GB RAM mobel
I got from this seller-,
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/5-Capacitive-Screen-Android-4-0-ICS-Phone-N8000-MTK6575-CPU-512MB-RAM-4GB-Nand-3G/566077614.html
But the other seller has good feedback as well so recommend them too!
thx so much! and were you happy with the product and service?
Yep, the delivery was fast, took them a while to process it though. About 3 days waiting for confirmation. Then 3 days total time for shipping. So got it after 6 days.
I sent them an email confirming if this was 1GB version and they responded next day with a personal email. (not stock response read from a script)
So yeh, good experience from them. I have not used merimobiles as recommended above so cannot comment there
I used DHL for shipping. Preferred to pay more for DHL as they are a good company + you get a tracking number from them.
Oh also, beware about shipping time now as it is near christmas. I can guarantee it will take longer than 6 days now. Maybe 10 or something.
Yep the delivery companies are rammed at the moment
Oh! and I was looking at this phone on FastCardTech, http://www.fastcardtech.com/goods-7497-HDC-I9300-GALAXY-SIII-Pro-ultimate-thin-86mm-MTK-6577-2GHz-CPU-Android-404-3G-Dual-sim-47-inch-8MP-Camera.html
Would you recommend it? or is the Star B92M just as good?
Im also abit worried about ordering from FastCardTech, would you recommend it? or just stick with aliexpress?
Thanks!
The phone is not as good. Worse screen, battery and ram.
The b92m is better for the price. I don’t recommend fastcardtech I never ordered with them but they lied to me when I asked a question about a phone.
Look at umi x1, jiayu g3 as well. They are similar spec to this one. There are reviews on this site for them
Thank you soo much!:)
Its fantastic to have this kind of help that I wouldnt have gotten otherwise, and I would have been completely clueless as to which is the best phone to buy and the best seller to buy from.
Thanks again!
No worries at all. Thats why i’m on this site, i got loads of help as well when i was buying my first dual sim phone. Wanted to give something back to the site that has helped me so i wrote this review.
So yeh i recommend a good seller on aliexpress. Or a website called etotalk. They’re a bit more expensive but they install english rom and send the phone pre rooted etc… So any of those two sites are good.
The B92m is a good phone but the GPS is the only main problem. Takes a while to fix. Therefore i recommend Umi X1 to look at as well as Jiayu G3. The phones are the exact same spec with the Jiayu being a bit thicker and having a larger battery. And the difference is the price as well.
So i recommend any 3 of those phones. It’s just up to you to choose which one you want to go for. Remember when importing to pay for DHL to UK. It costs but it’s worth it because you getting tracking number + it’s quick and almost zero chance of it being “lost in post”.
When using search in aliexpress filter the search by orders/feedback and then read reviews of seller to make sure you get the best seller.
Here is a good seller for Umi X1
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Pre-Sale-Original-UMI-X1-MTK6577-Android-phones-Android-4-0-3G-4-5-1280-720/623764276.html
Jiayu G3 is expensive it seems :/
I know theres the HDC s3 plus aswell but apprently thats not as good.
Would you recommend the HDC s3 EX LTE over just the EX? I dont know what the difference is but im sure you can explain it.
I also want to ask, can you buy regular samsung galaxy s3 cases for the phone? Like these: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/NEW-High-Quality-PU-Leather-case-Pouch-Slim-side-Flip-Cover-for-Samsung-galaxy-S3-SIII/605158299.html
If not, is there anywhere you know that I could buy specially made cases for the phone? Because im struggling to find a supplier that includes a decent case.
Thanks
Hi Tom,
Sorry for the late reply. The S3 EX LTE is the same as the EX. Just make sure you buy version with 1GB ram. And no, those cases won’t work. It is very hard to find cases that fit the phone. Thats why i suggest looking at Umi X1 as some sellers have better cases.
Hello Daniel
Can I ask 2 things please?
1. Do I assume that GPS is still taking too long to get a lock on, even after using the XDA fix etc you mentioned on Nov 9th?
2. Where should I look (on the AnTuTu system info screen) to see amount of ROM installed?
[If it is under 'Memory size (available/total):', mine shows '270.7 / 492.1 MB'.]
Thanks in advance.
1- It still takes a while but it works much much better. I find that going to engineer mode to get a lock, then going to the app is the best way. Get a lock in under 30 seconds then.
2- Do you mean RAM or ROM? For Rom if you go to storage under Android settings you should see 500mb for apps and 2.1GB for user (external) and then you’ll also see Micro SD card size as well.
3- If you mean Ram, it’s under ram size in antutu.
Hello Daniel
Thanks for the prompt reply.
For ROM, within ‘settings’ > ‘storage’, my phone shows:
492Mb total space under ‘internal storage’,
2.16Gb total space under ‘phone storage’.
Thanks for clarifying that.
Thats good, everything seems right there. If you follow this thread there is now a custom rom for the phone (haven’t tried it), GPS fix (works) and CWM (works).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1952991&page=15
Hello again Daniel
Sorry to hassle you, but I wonder if you could point me in the correct direction again please (re GPS)? I’ve been through the thread, and I can see what I think are several different references to fixing GPS. However, I’m not sure which is the correct one to follow to cure the problem of lack of fix. Can you tell me please?
Also, as I’m unfamiliar with the idea of playing with smartphone internals (although I’m happy with Unix / Linux), are you able to tell me please how to get to a point when I can actually start carrying out the instructions that are listed in the relevant thread?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
That was a great review thank you for sharing. I do agree with what you said about the camera in particular. I actually just made a full review of this phone which you can check out here: http://youtu.be/fvlleNgt518
I bought this phone a week ago from aliexpress, although I like this phone and its price vs value is great but what I didn’t like is I searched all over the internet for reviews mentions the cons of this phone but I didn’t find, so Im going to mention them myself.
- Lousy Gps fix: I get a gps fix in my galaxy tab and sony ericsson live almost immediatly but in this phone I don’t.
- speaker quality is very bad: when listening to music the speaker on my sony live is way better than this phone, even my galaxy tab has a more decent sound quality.
- GPU and hardware rendering is bad: the phone renders 3d games pretty good because of the dual core cpu and 1 gb ram, no thanks to the graphics processor.
- I travel frequently out of the country so I always store my contacts numbers with the international codes to make it easier to call them from abroad, I never faced a problem with that in any phone I had except this phone, it doesn’t show the contact name if the stored number does not exactly match the incoming call number.
To be fair I will mention that the cpu, 1 gb ram and 720p ips 4.7 screen are great, and the price tag is very cheap and I will buy a similar phone again.
GPS fix: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=35318245&postcount=281
speaker on mine was very good
GPU has a problem in games cause the HD screen resolution
contacts problem is of android (although i didn’t have it)
I just installed the GPS fix but I haven’t tried it yet, thanks.
Speaker is okay but no as good as my other phones.
If you install this rom-
it fix gps, gpu, and stability issues.
Also install nova launcher, should work great.
I don’t know about this speaker issue mine is quite good. Yes not amazing but it’s better than a lot of phones.
Link-
http://www.movilesdualsim.com/foro/threads/18399-PORT-ModRom-DRX-B92M-Beta-2-ICS-4-04-Basada-en-DRX-1-7?s=3376412bbbd8037b25c02189a8343394
Thanks, I did install the ROM and it fixed the gps and other issues.
I did face another issue with this phone which is it does not accept charging from my laptop at home.
I have an old toshiba laptop and I charge all my phones from its usb, but this phone does the “ghost clicks” whenever I charge it from this laptop, the screen starts clicking by itself like crazy, and it keeps doing so untill I drain out the battery and charge it from somewhere else, like my desktop computer or the wall charger, that is really weird.
I told the seller about it but he was surprised just like me.
Hmm, this sounds like the issue a while back on some tablets where the USB charging was not powerful enough to charge the phone properly so caused the ghost click touchscreen problems.
Weird how it works on another PC.
Really sorry but i’m not knowledgeable enough to help with a fix. Please inform me if you find one.
Good thing the rom fixed a lot of the issues!
hi.i had the same problem with the lousy speaker.try and download speaker booster from play store.it really works and boosts the volume by more that 50%.try it.
Hi ahmedcentral.
i just got this phone and its be really amazing.for that price it really is worth it.though the speaker is a little wack but that is a minor con.i was wondering if you have any links to sites where i can get accessories like wallets cases for the pone.i see alot of cases for the s3 but they wont fit the B92m.do you use any accesories with your phone?
thanks
Because this is from a small manufactuer it is very hard to find cases. Even i can only find screen protector but no cases.
The seller i bought from did send me a hardback plastic case in light blue (which i don’t like tbh) but it might be worth contacting the seller you bought from to see if they have any cases avaliable. But unfortunalty i canoot find any case for this phone. I don’t use a case.
Thanks.i guess i have to make do with the YELLOW!!! plastic case that came with the phone.i ordered a flipcase online but i haven’t received it so i dont know if it would fit.do u have any tips,trick.great apps you use with the phone?pls share.
tnx
Yep, cases are very limited.
I recommend first rooting the phone, then install superuser, mobileuncle MTK Tools. Also install titanium backup, then Delete Cavis.app. This stops the chinese SMS messages coming through. You can also delete any Chinese Apps on the phone using this method.
You can go to this thread here-
There is Custom Rom, Root & CWM files + tutorial, GPS Fix, New official firmware from Star + much more discussion about the phone.
You can install custom rom and it makes the phone smoother, fixes GPS and other small things.
Or you can install Nova Launcher on Stock rom and just use the GPS fix to get it to work.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1952991
hey tanks,as i said i just got the phone and i’m scared of rooting and BRICKING it!the Chinese text msgs are really annoying.i tried translating them but it comes out at gibberish.if i can find a way of stopping the msgs without rooting it,i’d appreciate.but rooting it….not yet!!!
I am also really REALLY annoyed by all the Chinese spam SMS messages that I get from this phone. I’ve tried three different SMS blocker apps and none of them can stop them from coming through. Big up to anyone who has a solution that doesn’t require rooting the phone.
Hi guys,
If you go to settings>Apps> then click “all” at the top.
Scroll down and you should see something like cavis.app or com.cavis.app (can’t remember the full name but it has “cavis” in the middle)
If you can find it then click it and press disable/uninstall/whatever comes up.
If you can’t find it or can’t disable it then i apologise. The only way would be to root it. It is quite easy to root. I think i posted a link earlier. All you do is plug in the phone then run a .bat file. (tell me if you can’t find the link and i’ll post it again)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1886460
Here is link for root-
1- Download V18 (latest)
2- Unzip folder
3- go to phone and make sure USB debugging is on
4- plug phone into pc
5- run the windows.bat file from the unzipped folder earlier.
6- phone will ask to restore, click restore and phone will reboot a couple of times
7- then install superuser (it might already be installed)
Big up ahmad. I deleted the cavis file and i no longer receive the annoying chinese messages.I’ll try and root the phone with your instruction.but is it a custom room or what.I wouldn’t mind alittle education about this rooting and rom stuff.also I notice that sometimes the phone just goes blank. The screen goes all white for some secs then restores itself after a while.it also goes black when I play the nfs shift.will rooting it solve this problem. Will really appreciate your response.thanks
hey tanks ahmad.i deleted the cavis file and i no longer receive the annoying chinese text messages.i will try and follow your instructions on rooting the phone.will rooting it delete my data?and is this a custom rom?i would appreciate a little tutorial on this rooting and rom stuff.
Also i notice atimes the phone just goes blank.the screen turns white and freezes.it also goes off when i’m playing NFS Shift.will rooting it solve these problems?i’d appreciate ur respone.are u on facebook if we can chat or can i have ur email.
thanks
finally succeeded in rooting the phone and its really running more smoothy.what else can i do with a rooted phone?
I want to give this a go but I don’t have a Windows machine. Does anyone know how I can run the .bat file on my mac?
Hi guys,
I apologise for the delayed response. i’ve been busy recently and haven’t had time till now to post.
As far as i’m aware there is a Mac & Linux file in the Zip folder which does the same as .bat file
DMY= You can edit a lot of system files (so like GPS file for your country) You can delete chinese apps and install back ups of your apps etc… You can do a lot more as well. Google it for full list of everything.
Hi Daniel,
Its been a while since my last question.
Anyway, i was all set to buy the phone, i had found the right seller, delivery method etc., then the seller i found told me about about the newer version of the phone:
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Fast-shipping-Real-8-6mm-HD-1280-720-new-arrive-MTK6577-1-1-I9300-S3/614955_716845811.html
I dont know which one to go for, the B92M seems like a great phone but this looks good also. what do you think?
Thanks,
Tom
The difference between B92m and this is that B92m has 1GB ram. The one in your post has only 512mb ram. But it does come with Android 4.1 apparently. It;s up to you whether you think 512mb ram would be enough. Personaly i would go for the B92m with 1GB ram or any other phone with 1GB RAM.
So i think B92m is the best one. Or any other of the phones i mentioned before. Like Umi x1 or Jiayu G3 etc…
Hi everybody, maybe that a weird question but how can I get the b92m in china? My phone got stolen, so I need a new one early. Aliexpess is just for international orders and I didn’t find it on alibaba.com. Do you know if I can get it at the fakemarket?
Hello petra.
Sorry but i cannot help you here. I am not in China. Maybe you can get similar phone from China phone stores. Not sure about this exact model. Maybe try taobao search.
Hi all I just wanted to ask if this phone would work with 3G in the uk on Vodafone? Would I get the H sign or just 3G?
I also see this is only wifi b/g and not N, quite shocking for a new phone in 2012
Yes it will work.
I use Three and O2 here in the UK.
I recommend maybe waiting till new year and see what MTK6589 phones are released. Maybe they will be same price/cheaper.
So i just got this phone yesterday and i am frustrated the gps is does not work. I have spent many hours trying to figure out how to fix it. I found several fourms that talk about installing different software to fix the problem. However i have also found a french website that talks about physically adding a conducting material to fix the problem. I am confused. Which one is best? I have been through page after page of fourms and don’t know what the best option is. any current advice would be helpful.
The french antenna
http://forum.frandroid.com/topic/131508-fix-antenne-gps-b92m/
fourms discussing software fixes.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1952991
Hello Greg
Had same problem with mine too, and found forum entries confusing and contradictory. Having said that, everything I’ve done has come from the forum, but it’s been hard work distilling the useful bits.
Anyway, my GPS is now working, but as it’s my first smartphone, I can’t say how it compares to others. (It gets a 1st fix in less than a minute. It means that it now does the job I needed, which is to tag my photographs with location info. Please have a look at my photo website http://www.RobBolerShootsPeople.com).
What I’ve done is as follows, although I can’t be sure if this is the order I’ve done them in. Also, I don’t know which of the steps, if any, has got my GPS to start working. NB: I’ve not done any rooting, and I’ve therefore not altered any files manually.
0. Ensure you have GPS, and, a data-connection both active.
1. Download and run the app called ‘GPS Test’.
2. Take the phone to an area free of obstructions, and run the ‘GPS Test’ app for 5 minutes. (Make sure the phone is set to stay awake for sufficient time).
3. Tape (not solder) a 12cm-long aluminium-foil aerial to the inside of the phone body. This is on the top LH corner as you look at the rear of the phone, and it obviously sticks out approx 10cm from the top of the phone after you’ve put the back of the phone on again. Before taping the aerial to the phone, I first stuck it onto a piece of backing adhesive-tape. When taping the aerial to the phone, ensure the aluminium side, not the adhesive-tape side, is physically against the phone body.
4. Key *#*#3646633#*#* into the phone-dialling app, which puts you in engineer mode. Choose ‘YGPS’, then ‘Information’. Run ‘full’, then ‘cold’, then ‘AGPS restart’. Exit out of engineer mode.
5. Go into the ‘settings’ app, then choose location services. Click on all the tick boxes. Also, go into ‘EPO settings’, click on ‘auto download’. Also, try a manual download. (I’ve found that it’s best to do this late at night. Even then, it only gets to 50% before ending, but it does update the ‘start time’ and ‘expire time’ values).
Hope this helps.
Rob Boler
i recive my phone just today and see gps didnt work , could you share what rom and how you install to fix it ?
i’m considering buying star b92m, jiayu g3, or umi x1.. they are all on HD resolution 720×1280 . i’m worried that the processor can not handle this res…also does the screen size influence performance? is there a big difference between watching qhd or hd res. on a mobile phone, is hd necessary for certain games etc?..as it may be better getting a qhd 540×960 Pixel phone with MTK6577, 1 gb ram and similar specs, like the jiayu g2s, for a better price and without having to worry about choppy/slow animations in certain apps and games.. what is your opinion on this?
Hi, bought this phone after reading your review and I totally love it! I am struggling greatly to get a mobile data connection. Im with talktalk and have input APN but still no connection. Im sure this will be something simple. Ideas would be gratefully welcomed!
Try these settings: http://www.geeksquad.co.uk/articles/chapter/595-02-how-to-set-apn-settings-for-the-talk-talk-mobile-network#android
Re link to TalkTalk Android APN settings, in my previous reply:
Sorry, setting for APN type may need to be ‘default’, not ‘Internet & MMS’
Thanks for taking the time to respond Rob. Alas the settings have already been tried and failed along with all others i can find online! Any other ideas?
Very odd, because those settings work on my Star B92.
When using those settings, and you touch the ‘data conn.’ icon, does the icon give any indication that it’s trying to make that connection?
What precise version of Android do you have?
Are you using the TalkTalk sim card in the correct slot of the phone?
I have android 4.1.2 on phone.
The icon indicates that is searching and then stays on but no internet connection. I have called talk talk and verified the settings which are correct. Technical department say there is nothing else I can do but contact manufacturer.
I have tried the sim card in my old desire s and it works fine so I guess its not the sim. I have tried a tmobile sim in the B92m and it works fine so i have to guess its not the phone either. Frustrating!!!!
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but you do realise that the settings I pointed you to, are NOT the ones that TalkTalk themselves tell you? If TT tell you that the settings you are using are correct, they are NOT likely to be the ones I pointed you to.
Also, which of the 2 sim slots do you have the TT sim card in?
Yes I did realise and have tried the settings on the geek squad link you provided. I had already tried these and several other ones from various forums and research. None work
.
I am putting sim card in ‘w’ slot although I have tried the other one (with fingers crossed) in the hope this would work!!
Sorry then Erika, the only other thing I can suggest (in desperation, rather expectation): have you tried to get a connection when you are in another physical location, such as a couple of kilometers away from where you normally try? I say this because I did once fail to get a connection when I was in a different location to normal, although I did succeed later (in that same place).
My personal approach after failing initially with the standard TT APN settings, was to play about with them, in conjunction with the alternatives from the Geek Squad. It worked eventually, although I acknowledge that you may already have exhausted all the combinations.
Good luck with it.
I am pleased to announce I now have a mobile data connection!! I had to factory reset the phone and learn a small amount of chinese but happiness levels are high now!! Thanks for help.
Hello Erika
That’s very interesting to know. Thanks for that, and I’m pleased you’re now sorted.
Hi, 3G at 850Mhz?
Some specs on some sites mentino WCMDA at 2100Mhz only, some mention WCMDA at 850 and 2100 Mhz. Can somebody confirm from experience that it works on 850Mhz? We onlyhave 850Mhz 3G in Costa Rica. Thanks!
Hola Bart. yo tengo uno similar a este, solo que de 8 Megapixeles. Lo uso perfectamente en 3G tanto con Kolbi como con Claro, con los dos simms al mismo tiempo. De hecho , con Claro alcanza hasta 2 mbps en internet. La cobertura es la misma que de cualquier otra marca. Su rendimiento es muy bueno descargando y corriendo vídeos incluso en HD. No hay queja alguna con el aparato, sus prestaciones son incluso mejores que algunos de marcas reconocidas y su pantalla es una delicia para juegos de gama alta y ni que decir para multimedia. Solo bueno en relación precio-calidad. Saludos y pura vida mae.
pura vida mae. donde lo compró? Enviaron a CR o a una casilla en Miami?
Hola amigo fijate que aqui en Mexico se trabaja la banda 3G: 850 pero mi telefono no logra conectar 3G solo el E de edge osea 2G, estoy en duda me podrias decir cual es tu version de banda base? Gracias
Hi Daniel,
I bought this phone and now I am very worried:/. Irish Customs have detained it and are going to get someone from samsung to look at it and decide weither to confiscate it or not. I had my supplier on aliexpress put the samsung logo put on the phone so that is probably the reason. Do you think they might decide to confiscate it and if they do, do you know if theres any way I could possibly get my money back from aliexpress? This is really worrying me..
Thanks,
Tom
hello!how do i take screenshoot with star b92m,i’ve tried the s3,s2 way,but stil nothing.Please tell me if u know.Thanks!
Volume down+power keys simultanesly for 1 second
OLA PESSOAL!!TENHO UM CELULAR DESSE QUE SE ENCONTRA BLOQUEADO POR MUITAS TENTATIVAS PADRÃO.PEDE PARA DIGITAR USUÁRIO E SENHA DO GMAI E EU NÃO ME LEMBRO MAIS.JA REDEFINI A SENHA PELO COMPUTADOR MAS SÓ ACEITA SE FOR A 1° SENHA CADASTRADA.ALGUÉM SABE COMO RESETAR ESTE MODELO B92M?PRESSIONANDO OS 3 BOTÕES CAI NA TELA PORÉM NÃO DA ENTER.
I’ve had my B92M for a few months now. I just followed the steps to disable the com.android.caivs.app, those text are very annoying. I still need to try some of the above methods for the GPS. Unfortunately I dropped it a few days ago and the top glass is cracked. Is there any known video that shows how to replace the top glass and where is the best site to purchase the replacement glass. Any help would be great. I appreciate this website it rocks! P.S. outside of these things the phone has been great. I also have the UMI X1 and I really enjoy it. Thanks!
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/B92M-Original-New-Touch-Screen-Panel-Digitizer-Replacement-for-STAR-B92M-Free-shipping-Airmail-Hk-tracking/682980755.html
here you can buy screen for star b92m