I'm really interested in HarmonyOS and other Chinese domestic market (CDM) phones and OSes after reading so many discussions about Huawei, Vivo, and OPPO phones. I was hoping we could compile some details on them and how one might get one from outside of China. A place where we could discuss the advantages, disadvantages, and distinctions of using them on a daily basis, perhaps with some reviews?
Xiaomi 13 and MIUI
The good: The build quality outperformed any previous iPhone or Pixel I've used. Super fast charging, It took less than 15 minutes to reach nearly full charge. Also everything I used ran quite quickly, including the OS.
The bad: It was nearly difficult to properly receive notifications due to MIUI's battery management. There were no basic aesthetic modification options available; I got the impression that Xiaomi was pressuring me to purchase themes.
The meh: The language barrier was somewhat inconvenient when the keyboard would automatically switch to pinyin, could chalk this up to the pre install rom and my own skill issue of not being able to read hànyǔ or zhōngwén.
How do I get one outside of china? I have seen these on AliExpress, but I'm not sure whether I can help with this one as I acquired it from a close friend.