I was thinking of buying a xiaomi phone, I was at the checkout when a person came up and said it wasn't suitable for foreigners as you couldn't get Google Play on it. The shop assistant said that it may be possible but they didn't know how.

Does anyone else have experience of this and getting whatever is missing in the Chinese versions loaded on to the phone?

By not having Google play am I seriously missing out?

it's fairly easy to install google play and other google apps on xiaomi.
www.techtricksforum.org/install-google-play-store-on-xiaomi/
I usually use the Google Installer apk (谷歌安装器), which can be found easily enough without a vpn www.wandoujia.com/apps/com.ericxiang.googleinstaller

No need to install Google apps if you don't have a vpn, it won't work. Actually in most case, you'd better learn how to use your phone without Google apps.

You can find most apps on third party app stores like wandoujia: www.wandoujia.com
although in Chinese, it's easy to use. The Mi app store is actually enough, as you find most apps, but also redirects you to Wandoujia or Baidu if your search doesn't return what you want.

Also, you'd better buy your xiaomi phone online directly from xiaomi mi.com, it's sometimes a lot cheaper

Cheers for that. Much appreciated.

From memory the Xiaomi website used to allow you to download two different ROM's for their phones. The one they pre-load in China and one for outside China. I know you still need a VPN for the Google services but rooting the phone and installing the non-Chinese ROM might unlock the Google apps.

Philou,, can I ask, will your method work for other phones ... e.g. Gionee (金立）？ And does the phone have to be rooted? (it sounds a bit scary). I find a lot of the apps on Chinese app stores seem to install OK but then don't work.

@cloudtrapezer it should work, and no need to root...

@hotwater yes, Xiaomi provides both chinese and global roms for many phones: en.miui.com/download.html
and no need to root either: en.miui.com/a-232.html

I have been a Xiaomi user for several years. I just jumped ship to the new

Huawei Honor 8 which is far better now. Xiaomi has thrown its customers under the bus now and their support is very bad. MIUI has so many bugs they refuse to address. Better give it a think before you buy.
Xiaomi ear buds are the best and you should get these @ 99RMB and worth every penny.

It's a pity to hear this, since their hardware is good. I wish there were a well written review explaining the pros and cons all of these Chinese UI, compared to stock android. And most importantly to have an idea which is going to be the manufacturers ready to provide or update your phones to Android N. Because to be true I often heard complaints about the Huawey version of android, in the past...