I am in Shanghai now and yesterday I went to that place mentioned above (for details see below). It is very easy to find. Use the links and take a look at the center of the map. It's inside the "Block 1, Kerry Everbright City". For correct alignment of map and satellite-images within China use
ditu, otherwise try
maps.
One however has to know that the entrance is on the back of the building. If you come directly from the railroad station it looks like as if it is closed down. So just walk around and go in.
I got my MI3 WCDMA 64GB for 2750,- RMB instead of the "official" 2499,- RMB. To me, this difference in price is acceptable.
The only not so great thing - so far - is this: The serial number on the back of the phone and the package are identical. Both stickers look like as if they have not been tempered with. But the serial number that is shown if you run the build-in hardware test (call: *#*#64663#*#*) is a different one. But my phone seems to be not the only one showing this. And it already a big topic on a spanish
forum. I know some Spanish, but little only, so for now I have not reached the end of this topic.
According to the
Xiaomi's service page , I got what I wanted, but as a Unicom-model. Someone at the
Xiaomi Service Center in Shanghai (see details below) where I went before I bought my phone told me that the only thing different between a "branded" and a "non-branded" phone could - depending on the provider - be a logo on the screen. But mine does not even have that. Whoever tries to use this service page should know that the captcha is math-related. So typing in "8x4" does not do the trick. Typing "32" instead does.
About my Unicom-MI3: It accepted both my German and my China Mobile SIM-cards without any issue. WARNING: If you are within China and you put in a non-China-SIM-card once you switch it back on you should go directly to settings as Data-Roaming - at least on my device - was activated! You will find this option here: Menu, Settings, Mobile networks.
Where I bought my phone:
Address : 188 Tian Mu West Road, Zhabei, Shanghai at the south-east-corner of Tian Mu Road and Min Li Road.
Opening times: Unknown. At around 8:30 pm I was still inside, people started packing new customers did not get in. So I assume that that's time when they close.
The entrance is at the south-east corner of that building. I got it from the dealer which is the furthest away from the entrance, right across that room. By the way: The dealer does neither speak nor understand any english! I was lucky as a chinese customer understood what I wanted and translated for me.
The building was slightly changed after hat picture was taken (like the CD on top is gone) and it already was dark at 8 pm when I got there, but I still recognized it easily:
Update (August 31st, 2014):
The building was completely remodelled from the inside and the main entrance is now open again. The best of all: There are not just a few dealers anymore. Instead you will find now 3 huge floors packed with lots of booths of different sizes. If in here you do not find the smartphone you are looking for, I guess that that phone does not exist. It's just amazing. But we warned: Some of them do try to sell you fake phones. This is what happened when I got in and looked for a Mi2S for my wife. The first dealer gave me a phone and called it a Mi2S. So I took a look in the "About phone" section of the General settings. It looked ok. Next step: Recovery mode. This looked so not-MIUI-like and with all of the sudden the dealer wanted to show me another phone. I just said thanks and went to a different place. The 2nd dealer gave me a box, that looks like the one I got with my Mi3. It had a seal that looks original and it still was wrapped in clear folie. She opened the box up and gave me the phone: It looked good, brand-new and the recovery-mode looked like what I expected. This phone officially is not available anymore so I thought the price would go up again. However, I wanted that phone and I was willing to pay up to 1750,- RMB. And guess what: I got it for 1450,- RMB. I know that a Mi3 is not much more expensive anymore. But my wife just did not want it. She said it would be to big for her. So, here is what this building now looks like (the picture was taken on August 23rd, 2014):
Xiaomi's Service Center in Shanghai:
Address: 901, B Building, Shanghai Movie plaza, 595# Caoxi Road (North), XuHui district, Shanghai (
ditu,
maps)
Opening times: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00
Telephone (within China): 021-33685788
Another place to buy the Xiaomi Mi3 is here.