i own a xiaomi mi3 for 2 years and i've been a lot into chinese phones lately. my 2 cents:
- xiaomi software support is very good. the mi3 is 3 years old, it started on miui v5 & android 4.4, now it's on miui8 and android 6, with weekly updates. there are plenty of custom roms, too. most xiaomi hardwares are cheap, but well put together, and pretty reliable. the mi note pro had some heating issues (as basically most snapdragon 810 devices), otherwise, they are good workhorses.
- hardware-wise, meizu phones are comparable to xiaomi phones. either way, you basically get a similar chipset, ram, rom, camera, build quality for the money. flyme os and locked bootloader are my only concerns with meizu phones. (i'm looking for a phone with outstanding audio quality through the headphone jack, and meizu pro 5 is one of my top choices, the only reason i'm reluctant to pull the trigger is flyme os.) flyme is not updated as frequently as miui, also missing some basic miui features like hide contacts with no phone number from the phonebook, and meizu phones are not updated for 3+ years like xiaomi devices. the locked bootloader means you can't install custom roms, there's no community development on xda either.
if i were about to get a dual sim chinese phone on a budget, as @Dino_mk, i'd also buy the redmi note 3. it's a solid device, easy to use out of the box (if you install a global rom), and cheap. there are several versions of it, and while it may be confusing at first sight, it's actually good news for european guys: they came out with a version lately that supports lte band 20, which is essential in europe if you're about to use 4g/lte a lot.
what's your actual budget, @JCK? there are very few mid-range 5,5" phones that could compete with a redmi note 3, but if you're on a higher budget, either the zte axon 7 or the oneplus 3 are excellent choices.
Buy on AliExpress.com
Well, welcome to 2018.
