Update, Feb. 2: After only one day of sales, US Mobile came under fire from both Xiaomi and T-Mobile and has stopped selling the devices. No Mi for you! Full story.

Original story, Feb. 1: Xiaomi and Meizu are huge. According to IDC, Xiaomi is one of the top five smartphone makers in the world, ahead of better-known names like LG, Sony, and Motorola. But the two companies are largely unknown in the U.S., although they've both promised to enter our market from time to time.

Now Americans can see what the fuss is about, thanks to an unusual little wireless carrier run by a former phone importer. US Mobile, which uses T-Mobile's network, is selling, servicing, and supporting a few Xiaomi and Meizu phones as of last night.

"U.S. consumers have traditionally had to compromise to afford incredible devices," Ahmed Khattak, founder and CEO of US Mobile, said in a statement. "Now, with the launch of our marketplace, we are thrilled to offer complete range of exceptional smartphones for low monthly payments and to give our customers access to exceptional phones otherwise not available in the U.S."

The phones going on sale include the Xiaomi Redmi 2 for $119, the Xiaomi Mi 3 for $139, the Meizu Note 2 for $149, and the Xiaomi Mi 4 for $219. The point here is value for money, especially in build quality. Many of the Redmi 2's specs, for instance, are similar to the $129 Blu Life XL, in terms of processor and camera. But the Xiaomi and Meizu phones are known for very good builds. Khattak said that the carrier would provide service and support for the devices.

US Mobile's plans are also very inexpensive, for less heavy cellular users. The carrier has a mix-and-match plan structure that's like competitor Ting, but cheaper. You can get 500 minutes, 500 texts, and 500MB for $24 per month, for instance. Or you could go to 2.5GB with unlimited texting, but only 100 minutes of talk time, for $37. There are 150 different possible plan combinations.

There are some down sides to these new phones. Most notably, the phones can't get LTE in the U.S. They just weren't designed for our networks, and they don't have U.S.-compatible 4G bands. That puts them behind Blu's competing product line, which can get LTE on US Mobile's (and T-Mobile's) network, as well as behind the Moto G and Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 ($249.99 at Amazon) series.

We found the Mi 3 to be extremely impressive. I really like its rounded metal body, which feels a lot like the high-quality polycarbonate that was used in Nokia phones a few years ago. The screen is very punchy. It has an older Qualcomm processor, which still feels fast. But the fact that it runs Android 4.4 is disappointing, even at this price point, and I really miss LTE.

It'll also be interesting to see how the phones do when stripped of their services layer. One reason Xiaomi and Meizu are so popular in China, for instance, is that Google services aren't available in China, so Chinese consumers are more accustomed to heavy Android skins and customized app stores. That's one reason why Huawei is so popular in China, yet U.S. reviewers tend to recoil at its very non-Googly EMUI skin. Both Xiaomi and Meizu also have pretty aggressive Android skins.

US Mobile works with any T-Mobile-compatible phone, but it also has an outright amusing array of phones in its own Web shop: the BlackBerry Passport , some iPhones, and even the Nokia 106, a $29 voice phone I'd really like us to review. But the Chinese models will clearly become the price-performance stars in this lineup.

Khattak promises an ongoing relationship with Xiaomi and Meizu distributors, and says that their future devices may have U.S. LTE bands. Millions of people around the world love these brands now. I think there's a chance Americans could as well, and I'm glad to see US Mobile giving them the chance. You can find the phones in US Mobile's Web shop.

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