Fake BlackBerry Storm, Genuine Android OS.

By Benedict Wee

We're still waiting for the bootleggers over at Shenzhen, China to launch an Android phone as we've seen many prototypes but none have made it to the shops so far.

The Broncho A1 is latest of those prototypes to have appeared online, looking like the abysmal BlackBerry Storm but running a genuine version of Android 1.5 (a.k.a Cupcake). The A1 features a 600MHz processor, 128MB RAM, a 3.2-inch touchscreen, 3.2MP camera, WiFi/GPS/FM Radio connections and even comes with a trackball from the HTC Android models.

No price and release date has been set for the phone yet but we'll be keeping an eye out for this counterfeit as it'll definitely be cheaper than the one that we have available on our shores right now.

Source:

Cloned In China - Broncho A1, A Blackberry 9500 Clone, Runs On Android

Delve Into The Shadowy World Of Fake China Gadgets.

By Benedict Wee

The people over at shanzai.com have made a mini-documentary about their recent visit to the home of gadget knockoffs, complete with hidden camera a la Fair Go.

The place: Shenzhen, China. The gadgets: mobile phones, and man are there tones of these things. So sit back and enjoy the wacky world of Buddha handsets and fake iPhones, where trademarks and likenesses laws do not exist.

Source:

Engadget - China's KIRF Marketplace Captured On Hidden Camera.

THIS Is The PSPgo Everyone Can Afford; A Fake China Gadget.

By Benedict Wee

Sony made a big mistake when it decided to maket a smaller-screened, non-removable battery, expensive hardware and software version of the PSP (a.k.a PSPgo), proving that they have no idea how to cater to the gaming market... wait. We did this already.

If you have do not own a PSP Slim to modify into Tim's PSPgo killer then perhaps you might want to give this China-made knockoff a look.

The PXP-2000 is a power-packed handheld that runs NES/Famicom, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, SFC and MD (32-Bit Rom) games and plays a whole list of video extensions such as RM, RMVB, WMV, ASF, MPG, MPEG, MOV and MP4. It also has a voice recording function, speakers, a 3.5mm headphone jack, camera with photo and video recording and a TV-Output that supports PAL/NTSC televisions.

The price of this knockoff? US$84/NZ$114.40, a pretty good deal considering this has more functions than the US$250/NZ$340.48 PSPgo. Yeah it won't play PSP games but they're way more expensive to download compared to their UMD counterpart anyways.

Note to Sony: When a China knockoff has better functions than the original product you're selling, it means you have failed big-time.

Source:

PMP Today - PXP-2000 MP5 Player and Gamer > Than PSP Go?

Fake Gadget Tuesdays: The Meizu M8

By Benedict Wee

The folks over in China are an innovative bunch when they want to be. After sifting through all the cheap electronic knock-offs, we've seen some decent gadgets popping up from time to time which could potentially give current phone manufacturers a run for their money. The Meizu M8 is one such device.

Obviously inspired by the iPhone, the M8 comes in a sleek 108 mm x 59 mm x 12 mm with a 3.4-inch touchscreen, 3.2 MP camera with video recording capabilities, plays multiple audio and video file extensions and comes WiFi-ready. Unfortunately it only works on 900/1800 MHz frequencies so there's no 3G. A pity considering the in-house programed Operating System -Mymobile- they use is optimized for mobile internet usage and it has an open SDK (read: App Store).

I can't find the exact price of the mobile and where it's being sold as the info I've dug up on my research seem to suggest that there are many places which sell pirated versions of the M8 or they're scam sites. Either way it's not something I'd recommend right now with the influx of budget Android phones hitting the overseas markets soon. Speaking of Android, Meizu has hinted strongly that their next smartphone will run Google's mobile OS so we could expect 3G capabilities to be present then.

FGTs: How I Tried To Buy A China Phone Finale And The Sunno HDi Buying Guide (Latest update: 25th November)

By Benedict Wee

Latest Update:

11th October: After weeks of waiting and no contact from FastCardTech I decided to write an email to them asking for a refund as what I had in my possession was essentially a phone I didn't order and I was getting sick and tired of their delaying tactics to get a WinMo 6.5 phone.

They replied on the same day, admitting what I knew all along: the phone had to be exchanged for a new one and I had to send it back. It seems that only by threatening them do you get any productive results.

12th October: Sent my phone back to FastCardTech to be exchanged. Estimated delivery time is 6 days.

27th October: They sent an email acknowledging that they've received my phone. This is 15 days after I've sent it back. Obviously another tactic to delay the exchange.

6th November: They've sent another email, explaining that they've got the new phone and will be shipping it "ASAP". They took 10 days just to get a replacement phone.

16th November: It has been another 10 days. Still no sign of the phone. I send them an email telling them I'm very frustrated.

17th November: They send an email back, telling me that they sent the phone back "last saturday". This means that they only shipped the phone on the 14th, 8 days since getting the new replacement phone. So much for "ASAP".

18th November: They send a tracking number to me. The number is suspect as the last two letters are 'SG' which means that the phone was being sent from Singapore. Over the next couple of days I've checked both Hong Kong/Singapore post office websites but there are no details about the package.

24th November: I wrote another email to them, tell them that the number does not appear on the post tracking sites. They write back explaining that they have to use some shady mailing method in order to circumvent authorities. They send the phone from Hong Kong to Singapore, and then Singapore to New Zealand so customs will not check the packages.

25th November: FastCardTech has left me without a phone for 44 days (and counting). I don't think I need to explain how highly questionable their business ethics are as you can see probably see it for yourself after reading this.

I've totally given up on FastCardTech which, despite offering cheaper China phones, have terrible after-sales service. I don't think I'll ever see the replacement phone at all as I suspect the number they gave me doesn't exist. As such, I'll be taking measures to obtain a refund via PayPal and will use the money to purchase a phone from a more reliable website.

I'll continue to update this post if any new drama arises from this situation. Till then let my horrendous experience be an example to those who are thinking of exploring the shady world of China phones and the companies that sell them.

Updated 22nd September: FastCardTech is now selling the phone with the Windows Mobile 6.5 Rom and Route 66 (a GPS program) installed. Unfortunately for those who bought the HDi early with promises that they will support 6.5 were not informed that the update was available and I had to personally visit the page to find out myself.

It started to go downhill when I was told that the installation program I was given can only be used with Windows XP which means Vista users and those who have upgraded to Windows 7 will have to search for a compatible computer to install the update. The fatal shot came when the 6.5 rom I installed didn't work and I ended up with a phone with an unresponsive blank display that ran a supposed Windows Mobile rom (I don't know which as I could only hear the startup sound).

I immediately contacted customer service (via Live Messenger) and was assured that the Rom was working perfectly before being told to try again. I did. It didn't work. I told them about it and it turns out that I was sent a phone from another factory which didn't support the rom. They then sent the 6.1 restore rom which returned my phone to its original state.

Although I am thankful that -once again- customer service came to the rescue I am starting to lose faith in the way FastCardTech does their business. Why didn't they inform us of the availability of the update? Why weren't we told earlier that we'd need Windows XP to run the installation program? Why are there 2 versions of the HDi phone? Does this mean those who purchased the phone earlier are now being punished for doing so as those who buy the phone now are able to get the ones running 6.5?

It's bad enough that the price has dropped and new buyers get Route 66 for free but we can't even get the Windows Mobile 6.5-run phone we originally paid for. Like I've said, I'm happy that customer service is always there to help with the problems but I am deeply disappointed that I had to contact them repeatedly with a litany of them that I've encountered.

Until the situation gets sorted I'm retracting my recommendation of purchasing any mobile phone from FastCardTech and I'm placing a 'Buyer Beware' warning, buy at your own risk.

Original Article:

It took almost 17 days for the Sunno HDi to arrive, the latest drama unfolding on the 19th of August when the phone reached customs and was sent back due to them giving the wrong description of the package. It finally reached me on tuesday last week and after testing it out for a couple of days I'm ready to put up a buying guide for the China-made phone.

Tuesday, 25th August 2009:

First impressions - Not happy. The phone is not the shining sophistication of technology they made it out to be on the website as most of the details on the site and in my previous post I made are absent. There is no headphone jack, no TouchFlo UI and the Sunno logo is present on the phone. They also provided me with two batteries but one isn't working. So either they gave false information about the HDi, or I've received the wrong phone. I decided to contact FastCardTech's customer service.

12 hours later:

They haven't replied to the message I sent them so I contacted the company's service rep on Windows Live Messenger instead. He apologized for the delay in shipping and explained that they have no control over the factory who manufactures the phones. Turns out it was they who decided to remove the headphone jack and imprint the Sunno logo on the screen. He offers to replace the battery, saying that they usually have testers to ensure everything is working well. When asked about the missing TouchFlo UI he told me he'd send an alternate one which worked better. And surprisingly enough, it did.

Before we continue:

I would like to point out that the phone I thought I was going to get is completely different from the one I have now. The specifications and software of the phone have enough significant changes that warrant it being classified as a completely separate model. As such I've decided to redo the feature article and reevaluate the Sunno HDi.

Gadget: Sunno MyTouch HDi

Place of Origin: China

"Inspired" by: HTC Touch HD

Main features: 533Mhz Processor/128MB RAM/WQVGA 2.5-inch touchscreen/5MP camera with flash/runs Windows Mobile 6.1 with an alternate user interface.

Why I hate it

Runs Windows Mobile 6.1: My original reason for purchasing the HDi was primarily because it was supposed to run Windows Mobile 6.5 which has a full finger-friendly interface. 6.1 was developed in 2007 and it shows its age as navigating the OS is done completely with a stylus.

The keyboard is unusable and if you try using your thumbs to touch the icons of programs be prepared to launch all the wrong ones. The only decent input method I found was the handwriting function and that barely made the cut as it relied on the use of a stylus and no one uses two hands to scribble on their handhelds anymore.

I personally believe that a device is only as good as its operating system and the HDi's is terribly flawed. That being said, the guys at FastCardTech promise to offer 6.5 as an update when it is available so there is hope that the frustratingly clunky interface will be replaced with a much better one in the near future.

Why I like it

Application "Store": It doesn't exactly have a program where you can browse and download applications to use on the HDi but being a Windows Mobile phone you can search the internet for programs to install into the mobile. The files end in .cab extensions and can be downloaded from the HDi's browser and installed into either the phone's internal memory or the microSD card. Alternatively you can download a .cab file onto your computer and transfer it onto the memory card and install it from there. This is a unique feature only available to Windows Mobile phones without needing to hack into the operating system (ala Android).

I've managed to download a better web browser (Opera), VoIP (Skype), maps (Google), Youtube (also Google), Media Player ( and it doesn't stop at just individual programs. There are applications which make using Windows Mobile 6.1 a better experience by changing the user interface and improving the input method. For example: FingerKeyboard 2.1 is an excellent program that replaces the tiny Windows Mobile keyboard with one that works like the iPhone's or Android's so typing can be done using fingers.

Alternate UI: To continue the application "store" love, the alternate UI emailed to me by the service rep is fantastic. How come? It is completely finger friendly, easy to use and is beautifully seamless.

Android-like Home Screen

Like the Android OS, the main screen is divided into 3 parts which can be scrolled horizontally and you can put shortcuts and widgets onto the pages for easy access. If you're at work you can switch to a "Professional" version of the screen by sliding your thumb down.

"Professional" Home Screen

Access to programs are located at the bottom of the screen and switching between the other available UI screens is done in a HTC Touch Flo style which works smoothly.

Switching alternate UI screens

The service rep has promised that until the Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade gets released, all HDis will come with this alternate UI.

Camera: One of its better features, the 5MP camera comes with flash and autofocus and the test pictures came out looking pretty good.

HDi Camera Test Shot

Conclusion

I was initially very unhappy when I received the HDi (days of waiting and being given the wrong information will do that to you) but after using the alternate UI provided and finding ways around the terrible input methods I've changed my mind about the mobile and have come to a conclusion that it is a pretty good phone to have.

It isn't the Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone extravaganza I was promised but if you look at the mobile by itself you would see that its features provide decent competition against the other well-known phones you can find from our telcos and it comes at a low price tag of NZ$400 (NZ$9 for posting the faulty battery back) which makes it a really good deal.

If you're looking for a budget smartphone, I highly recommend trying this one out.

About FastCardTech: Although I've been burnt by them on numerous occasions, I'm willing to just brush it off as a one-time hiccup and a personal spate of bad luck. Their customer service rep was truly apologetic when he went though the list of problems I encountered and was very willing to help me in whatever way possible which is a very good indication that the company is legitimate and that it's not some scam site they're running.

The phones that they're selling are also cheaper than most sites as well and the separate-purchase accessories they offer are worth considering, especially the memory cards. If you're thinking about getting the HDi or another China-made mobile then I would recommend buying from them. The link to their site can be found here.

Fake Gadget Tuesdays: Identity Crisis

By Benedict Wee

Gadget: Hantel777

Place of Origin: China

"Inspired" by: Unknown

If -like me- you're constantly thinking about swapping that recently purchased mobile for a one with a different form factor then you might want to think about multiple phone purchases. Or you could get the Hantel777 which couldn't decide what kind of phone it wanted to be so it chose to be both a bar and clamshell mobile.

First impressions of the phone are that it looks like one of those budget under-$100 mobiles you can buy from a telco provider that can only call and text but once you realize that you can flip the keypad and screen up; touchscreen goodness awaits under its deceptive cover.

Well "touchscreen goodness" might be stretching it too far. From what I can tell they're using one of the many poorly made China MTK touchscreen phone OSs which are slow, clunky and overall difficult to use. The Hantel777 comes with standard Chinese mobile features like dual SIM card slots, FM radio, Mp3/3GP/Mp4/Avi player and it runs on 900/1800 MHz networks.

The price of the phone: 705 RMB/ NZ$150.56 which does seem a bit on the expensive side for a non-smartphone with the most basic of functions. No score for almost-the-real-thing-ness and it gets a B- for creativity, a good concept but it's been poorly executed and if it looks cheap in pictures, think about how badly it'll look in real life.

Fake Gadget Tuesdays: The Nokia Swivel Phone That Never Was

By Benedict Wee

Gadget: NOKLA E81-1

Place of Origin: China

"Inspired" by: Unknown

I've never heard of Nokia giving a sub-number in their 'E' or 'N' line of mobiles before. But if they did this phone is so cool that it would deserve its own letter instead of being put in a sub-category of the E series.

The Nokla E81-1 is the first 108 degrees swivel mobile phone I've ever seen. It comes with pretty decent specs like a FM radio, multi-format video player, camera with video recording functions and an mp3 player but what makes this phone an eye turner is the its swivel design which reveals a full QWERTY keyboard similar to BlackBerry smartphones.

Also included is a mirror on the back for the ladies to check on their makeup (and for guys to check for vampires or something) and it comes with a big enough hole to easily thread a lanyard through (or to hang from a necklace).

The only flaws of the Nokla E81-1 are that it uses only GSM 900/1800 MHz networks and it doesn't have Wifi so don't expect to do anything except calling and texting on this mobile. It's retail price: 630RMB/NZ$137.90, cheaper than most dumbphones out there in the market right now.

I can't put an arbitrary score for almost-the-real-thing-ness since this phone isn't a copy of any model out in the market, but I would give it an A for sheer ingenuity and technical know-how. It's pretty amazing what these copycat makers can create sometimes.

Fake Gadget Tuesdays: Get Windows Mobile 6.5 Before Everyone Else? And Bonus Article: How I Tried To Buy A China Phone

By Benedict Wee

This article is continued and concluded here.

Okay, so it's Wednesday. I'm a bit late cause I was caught up in all the "Drop The Rate Mate" excitment of yesterday. But better late then never no?

Also, this article comes with an extra play-by-play notes about my journey to get today's featured fake gadget so it contains helpful information should you decide to enter the world of mobile knockoffs.

Gadget: Sunno My Touch HDi

Place of Origin: China

"Inspired" by: The HTC HD

I've been meaning to get a new mobile for my 2degrees SIM but I don't have the urge to buy an iPhone 3GS as I once did after Apple's dubious ethics and the phone's security issues got aired to the public. That and all the bad handling of its initial launch by Vodafone was enough to turn me off the mobile completely so the only other option I'm left with is a Windows Mobile smartphone.

Windows Mobile 6.5's Marketplace Prototype

Being the gadget lover that I am I'm always looking for the newest shiniest toy that the tech world has to offer so when Microsoft announced that their new mobile OS would be touch-friendly I got pretty excited. Even better, I saw a video a week ago where a person managed to hack a HTC HD China knockoff and get it to run a version of Windows Mobile 6.5.

A HTC HD Knockoff Running Windows Mobile 6.5

The original specifications of the HTC HD were pretty impressive during the time it was launched in September last year. The 528 MHz processor with 288 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM powered Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional smartphone came with a 5 MP auto-focus camera and a 3.5mm headphone jack with Wifi, 3.5G and bluetooth connections. Its features would've distracted gadgetphiles from the underpowered iPhone 3G any day. It was a pity that this phone did not get released in New Zealand, otherwise consumers would have a better variety of smartphones to choose from.

The HTC HD

Its knockoff version -the Sunno My Touch HDi- has surprisingly similar specs: a 533 MHz processor with 256 MB RAM and 128 MB ROM, 5MP camera, 2.5mm headphone jack and it comes with Wifi and bluetooth connections. The best bit is that they've managed to install a similar build of Windows Mobile 6.5! This would make the phone one of the first to carry Microsoft's new mobile OS. Sweet!

The phone comes at a pretty low price of US$234 or US$234.99 (NZ$351.59 and NZ$353.01 respectively) with shipping. Why the two prices? I'll explain later. The HDi looks like the real thing and I'm pretty impressed at the way the pirates managed to create an almost perfect replica. Too bad about the 2.5mm headphone jack though, this means that you won't be able to plug in your earphones and having to rely on a crap usb-converter. This phone runs on GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz networks so there is no 3G which is expected since it was developed in China.

The Sunno My Touch HDi

My arbitrary score for almost-the-real-thing-ness: 11/10

The phone looks exactly like a HTC HD and it's not like your mates would know the difference since the actual mobile wasn't sold here. It gets an extra 1 because it runs Windows Mobile 6.5 which doesn't come out till Spring, making it really unique and rare.

Bonus Feature: How I tried to buy a China phone

As I mentioned earlier, I needed to look for another smartphone to put my 2degrees SIM in and since the iPhone 3GS is out of the question I decided to purchase the HDi, mainly cause of Window Mobile 6.5. The company I chose to buy the smartphone from is called FastCardTech.

I've visited this website before on numerous occasions to research China knockoff mobiles and they looked pretty legit despite the terrible spelling, glaring grammatical errors and their fondness for repeating the specifications of a mobile in different colors and fonts ad nauseam. What drew me to try purchasing from the site was the huge variety of phones they offered and the different ways you could contact them should any problems arise. And boy were there problems.

One thing that did concern me was the way they answered inquiries about the phones they sold. It was not so much the bad english but the way they tried to avoid questions that would shed a negative light on their products. One of the most common inquires people would ask was if their phones had 3G connections and they would reply by giving the available connections that the phone had like "It has Wifi" or "It uses GSM so and so" instead of just saying no.

Besides that I was pretty confident that this wasn't a scam site so here is the timetabled version of my China knockoff phone journey.

Sunday, 9th August 2009:

- Saw the Sunno My Touch HDi on the "Smart Phones" tab of www.fastcardtech.com and decided to order it straight away. Signed up for membership and was instantly granted access to my profile and orders page. Ordered the phone plus a 4GB microSD card.

Total cost: Phone (US$209) + 4GB China Brand microSD card (US$12) + Shipping (US$25) + Poundage (US$11.59) = US$257.59/NZ$387.03

Notes: "Poundage" means PayPal charges which they make you pay at 4.7% of the total cost. They also accept Western Union Money Transfer and MoneyGram but sending money though those methods would be tedious, more expensive and less secure. At least with PayPal you could dispute any errors and getting a refund would be easy.

- Paid with PayPal and since credit card is tied to an overseas address wrote the correct address in the notes section of the payment so they could send to the correct country. Also sent them an offline message via Windows Live messenger to confirm address.

- Was returned to the www.fastcardtech.com website with an error message stating that the payment failed. Panicked and sent them a message on the phone's Q&A section. Returned to my profile and saw that the order was processed. Relief.

Monday, 10th August 2009:

- Woke up to an email from fastcardtech.com, they told me they couldn't process my order as my address stated an overseas address despite the note I put in. I sent them an email back immediately explaining that I've done this with ebay before and encounted no problems. Waited for them to reply back.

- It's late afternoon and I've received no reply. I get concerned but the customer service officer I left a Windows Live Message to has logged on and I talk to him directly. He explains in basic english that I should have added: "Do not send to postal address but this one instead" to the PayPal reciept. He then suggests that I call PayPal customer service to see if I can amend the note, if I'm unable to do so they'll issue a refund.

- I do. they can't. I tell him. He then sends a message to request a refund.

Notes: The Windows Live customer service person, although helpful, replied to my questions really slowly. I got about a total of 4-5 sentences worth of replies in an hour and because english isn't their first language expect to simplify your questions and get simple answers (some I got were just an "OK") in return.

- I ask how long will it take for them to issue a refund and he tells me the US office isn't awake yet (it was 4pm here) so it will be a couple of hours before I can get the money back and I will have to create another order.

- It's 11pm and I've still not gotten the refund. I message customer service on Windows Live again and he tells me they're still not in yet and I should receive it a couple more hours. I go to sleep.

Tuesday, 11th August 2009:

- I wake up and the refund has been... refunded. I decide to play it safe and create a New Zealand PayPal account. I make an order on the site again.

Total cost: Phone (US$209.99) + 4GB China Brand microSD card (US$12) + Shipping (US$25) + Poundage (US$12.45) = US$259.44/NZ$389.81

-"Wait. What?" you say? Yep, they've increased the price of the phone by US99 cents. I was wondering if I chose the wrong mobile or there was a mistake in the calculation. After adding/deleting the quantity over and over again for about 20 minutes I realized that I was better off just checking my previous invoice. I did and lo and behold, they did increase the price of the phone. Yeah it's only a US buck but it did increase the PayPal charge as well (4.7% of the total cost remember).

- Am a bit irked by them changing the price but I resign myself to the situation and proceed with payment. Wanting to get an answer but not wanting to provoke anything I send an anonymous message in the phone's Q&A section asking about the price increase.

- Am thinking every is going to be alright now. I've paid for my order, used a New Zealand PayPal account and a New Zealand address. Nothing can go wrong. Yay!

- It's 8.25 pm and I get an email from the company's after-sales team. Their english was equally difficult to understand so I tried to get a rough sketch of the situation:

• The HDi has AWESOME processing speeds.
• The HDi will come with equally AWESOME Windows Mobile 6.1.
• This is because there is a software problem causing Windows Mobile 6.5 to crash every so often.
• So they're sending out the Windows Mobile 6.1 version.
• When the factory releases the new Roms of Windows Mobile 6.5 they will support install it on their phones.
• They hope I understand the situation.
• If I encounter further problems or need a Windows Mobile 6.5 HDi they will offer a refund.

Notes: By now I'm feeling really crestfallen. I have two theories; either they never had a Windows Mobile 6.5 HDi in the first place and were just trying to offload their old stock (the 6.1 version has been around for awhile) by saying it did or they truly found a problem with the OS and were being honest. I decide to give them the benefit of the doubt and op for the latter since they did inform others of the error on their site as well.

- I do not want a Windows Mobile 6.1 HDi. The reason I bought this phone was because they said it runs 6.5 and I request a refund by replying to their email.

Wednesday, 12th August 2009:

- Woke up. Checked email. Refund wasn't there. Went to the page and sent a message through the invoice. No reply. Went to the phone's Q&A section and they've replied to my price hike query. They claim to have never increased the price. What they don't know is that I still have the two same orders on my account with the different charges. They did answer me (which is good) but they lied about it (which is very bad).

- Came back home just after lunch and saw that their Online Live Support was active on their website. Went in and told them about my situation. No reply.

- Cooking dinner. Tried Online Live Support again and asks if anyone is there. Someone finally comes through. The guy's name is Philippe. He says "Sure, how can I help you?". I tell him my situation. He doesn't respond.

- Decide to try Windows Live customer service. I get an answer! He explains that even though they're only shipping the HDi with Windows Mobile 6.1, they will release a software update that will allow current users to upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5 and it will be available at their site for download when it becomes ready.

Notes: So now I'm thinking, do I take the bait and trust them? They were being dishonest about the price hike and it's been an uphill battle trying to get a phone sent to me.

- I do because I still need a 2degrees phone and hey, it makes for writing a good article. I tell him not to refund the payment and wait for the phone to arrive.

To be continued.

So there you go, a personal journey of purchasing a China knockoff smartphone. I will post this part of the blog again as a new post when/if I receive the phone and will probably give my first video review as well. I'll also share my thoughts about what I've learnt about this experience. For now though, if you're thinking about buying a knockoff, proceed with caution.

Fake Gadget Tuesdays: When Luxury Phones Go Bad

By Benedict Wee

Gadget: Vertu Ferrari Mini F8

Place of Origin: China

"Inspired" by: The Vertu Ascent TI Ferrari

Question : What happens when you take the worlds most expensive (and least featured-filled) phone and combine it with a luxury sports car company?

Answer : A ridiculous phone that you don't need.

But someone out there obviously couldn't think of another vulgar way to show off their wealth so the people at Vertu created a limited edition mobile for said someone/s to spend their unending fountain of cash upon.

So we've got the Vertu Ascent TI Ferrari, a phone designed by the Nokia subsidiary with Ferrari's symbolic red and black leather encasing and the Prancing Horse logo located on the back of the phone. The phone comes with a 3MP camera, 4GB memory and GSM 850/900/1800/1900 support.

But can it take 2 SIM cards and play videos?

Well the Vertu Ferrari Mini F8 can. It also has a microSD card slot that supports up to 16GB, a FM radio receiver and an E-book reader. Granted it only has a 0.3MP camera and supports GSM 900/1800 bandwidths, but it's a good deal at US$137/NZ$204.72.

The Mini F8 obviously lacks the polish and steel-like appearance of its original counterpart, that and the design is completely different but it's not like anyone would notice. Chances are the general public never even knew a phone like that existed so they'll probably take your word for it that its a "Ferrari Phone". Your mates/family would probably call your bluff though cause they know you enough to know that you can't afford something like this.

My arbitrary score for almost-the-real-thing-ness : 3/10 for wrong design, 10/10 cause most people won't really know what it looks like or if it is real so you could just lie your way though.

I wouldn't be seen holding one of these though. If you can't carry it with the style it demands it'll definitely look fake, and if you can it'll cause more problems (like explaining why you would buy something so decadent) than it's worth.

Fake Gadget Tuesdays: The HTC Magic runs Windows Mobile?

By Benedict Wee

Gadget: HTC G2 Running Windows Mobile

Place of Origin: China

"Inspired" by: The HTC Magic

Like the iPhone, when HTC announced their successor to the G1 and released pictures of the mobile, the copy masters over at China began their process of making a mold to make a fake version of the phone.

The phone was not named specifically in the beginning (it was first called Ion then it took them awhile to come up with Magic, then the US called it myTouch 3G), so everyone just called it the G2 to identify it as HTC's next Android running smartphone. The name stuck with the fake-phone makers and thus we get the HTC G2.

The G2 runs on a Huawei K3 460MHz processor with a Windows Mobile 6.1 OS, has EDGE (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) and that's all I know about this phone. Oh, it comes with a stylus.

You can tell the differences between this phone and the real thing. The most obvious ones being the lack of the Android-required buttons: Home, Menu, Back and Search and the missing trackball (it's replaced with a D-pad which looks like the rumored HTC Click's with a smaller middle). Subtle alterations are a smaller touchscreen with the 'htc' logo (which kinda looks like 'ntc') making up for the loss of screen space and the top speaker is only half complete. What? Did they poke holes and then gave up halfway?

What's pretty interesting about the mobile is the back carries a very familiar logo:

Yes, Vodafone. I guess the makers decided to put the telco's name since the HTC Magic was announced to be a Vodafone exclusive in the EU. Don't know what's up with the logo though, it's not a flame is it?

This phone has not been released yet so we've got no price tag but expect it to come in at around NZ$400 plus shipping. I will update this post as more information is released.

My arbitrary score for almost-the-real-thing-ness : 5/10

Gotta stand about 3 meters away for it to look real. Even then you shouldn't be waving it around.

Fake Gadget Tuesdays: The CiPhone C6

By Benedict Wee

I'm adding this new segment in attempts to provide some entertaining insight into the dark, shadowy world of fake gadgetry. You can't be a gadget lover if you're not interested in the creative imitations that are floating around the world somewhere and they can range from the ingenious to the ridiculous. Some of them even work pretty well. Most of these gadgets are based on the designs of original brands and come from countries where the trademark law is flexible or downright nonexistent (see: China).

Behold! A Rolex phone!

Before I continue, a word of advice: most gadgets you see here are meant for entertainment/educational purposes. Unless I specifically mention it I don't recommend you purchase them because they might be shoddily made and you can never be too cautious when dealing with gadgets that run on electricity. That and most online shops that sell such stuff are a dime in a dozen and they're known for shutting down without bearing any responsibility to the buyer. If you're adventurous enough I can offer some sites which I find quite legit but if you're a casual browser just sit back and enjoy my inane segment which I've spent some time researching on.

Gadget: The CiPhone C6

Place of Origin: China

"Inspired" by: The Apple iPhone

There hasn't been such a great mobile phenomenon as Apple's iPhone. But way back when it was first introduced in January 2007, it was only available in certain countries and came with a hefty price tag in addition to a 2 years calls/texts/data plan which made it near impossible to import from the US. So the rest of the world could only look upon with envy those countries lucky enough to sell Apple's first smartphone.

With so much talk about the new mobile globally it was bound to get the attention of the not-really-but-mostly-still communist country, China. And with that attention came their ability to produce a certain kind of product that they're well known for: knock-offs.

Thus came the influx of fake iPhones flooding the market. There are too many of these phones to identify but the most common brands of these knock-offs are Cect, HiPhone, SciPhone and CiPhone. Today we'll look at the one that most resembles the iPhone 3G/3GS, the CiPhone C6.

Steve Job's head would explode if he saw this

Unlike most other China fakes out there the C6 mimics the iPhone aesthetically right down to the 3.5" screen in the front to the apple logo on the back . What's also similar is the program that runs a UI very close to that of the iPhone's OSX which can be launched from it's default OS; Windows Mobile 6.1.

The C6 runs on a Samsung 450MHz processor with 256MB of ROM and 128MB of RAM, and has 8GB of storage space. It also has Wifi, Bluetooth, Edge (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) and an internal Srif Star III GPS.

Looks similar from behind

Programs-wise the phone has all the standard software you'll find in Windows Mobile 6.1 like Office, Adobe Reader and Windows Live Messenger. The player reads the usual media files like avi, 3gp, mp4, asf, wmv and rm for video, mp3, mp4, wav and wma for audio.

The CiPhone and its accessories

All these features so far are pretty decent, it even comes with a host of accessories including a portable charger. The only gripe I have is that the phone's audio jack is 2.5mm instead of the standard 3.5mm and it does not work on Vodafone's 2100 MHz 3G network.

The price for this knock off? US$275 (NZ$420.23). About 2.8 times lesser than what Vodafone is charging for the 16GB iPhone 3GS. You can't compare both of em side by side of course, am just painting a contrast.

My arbitrary score for almost-the-real-thing-ness : 8/10

Take it out for about 5 minutes and you'll be able to fool someone, but don't let anyone hold/play with it cause you'll give up the facade.

(Forex: US$1 - NZ$1.52)

Shopping for gadgets on a global market: a reflection on the price of the iPhone 3GS

By Benedict Wee

Our world has grown significantly smaller since the amazing military invention; the internets was brought to the public. In our current age we are communicating with people all over the globe and we never run out of people to talk to since someone, somewhere has just gotten up and logged on. News isn't something we get from a rolled up paper on our lawn in the morning or a show we watch at 6 pm anymore. We get information almost instantly when a major celebrity passes away, when a serious sounding virus spreads and when a communist country decides to be a jerk and test nuclear weapons.

Aside from the heavy/important stuff, we also have up to date information on things that we're interested in. Like knowing when a movie adaptation of a beloved childhood cartoon about vehicles and robots sucks so bad you might want to block out that 2 1/2 hours from your memory or when french rugby people lie about getting hurt on the street and then come out with some convoluted story that makes as much sense as aforementioned movie. Or weather.

My intrests are gadgets and videogames.

I like to know when new stuff about them is announced, its price and its availability. It's good to know what technological advancements the rest of the world is getting and if you're on the short end of the stick. The best bit about the internets are that not only do you know if you're at a disadvantage, you could be pro-active about it and change your circumstance. Like say if videogames are out in the US and won't reach our shores till over a year later (hello Final Fantasy XII) I could just purchase an american set and have the games sent to me when they are released.

The fact is our shrunken world brings people together faster which makes us want to have the same stuff at the same time. To be held back even for a month means that you're likely to miss out on the newer stuff people are getting (choughhtcmagicchough). Everyone is aware of who gets what and how much they're being charged and in our current economy, they do not want to pay boatloads when they can get the same thing for cheap out there. One of the other great features of the internet is that you're not confined to what is being sold at a mall. Shopping, like chatting, can be done 24/7 and there are great deals floating out there somewhere if you're willing to look. Let me provide an example: The iPhone 3GS (3GS for short).

Ooooh.. shiny..

Vodafone has just released the price of their phone here in New Zealand and it's pretty expensive. Instead of just giving in and shelling out the extra $200-$250 more than I was expecting to pay for the 3GS I decided to venture online to check if I could get a better deal since unlocking the iPhone is an easy task these days with simple video tutorials on YouTube (another fabulous feature of the internet). The first place I checked was ebay.

Now online auctions aren't alien to me. I used to do them quite a bit when I was a penniless student looking to score some dvds and videogames for cheap back in the day and I helped some of my mates in the UK to get cheap used iPhones last year, taking advantage of the new iPhone 3G launch. With the knowledge of how auctions worked I went online to take a gander at auctions on the phone specifically in the US since they were the first to get it (and because the exchange rate is lower than it has been for awhile).

What I found was a pretty good deal. I sampled the market to see how much both the 16GB and 32GB models were going online by putting multiple auctions on my watchlist and letting them end. In addition to that I calculated the shipping costs of the phone to New Zealand, first from the US Post Office, then the available quotes from the sellers themselves. The price from the Post Office:

• Express Mail - US$32.50 (US$29.90 for online orders) taking 6 days to deliver
• Priority Mail - US$26.50 (US$25.18 for online orders) taking 6-10 days to deliver

The quotes from the sellers were between US$30 and US$35.

From a sample of 6 16GB 3GSs I found that the prices the phones were sold for ranged from US$590-US$721. From a sample of 5 32GB 3GSs the price were between US$672-US$931 (the highest price included free next-day express delivery). This meant that the cheapest price I could get the iPhones from the past two days in the US were:

• 16GB: US$590+US$25.20= US$615.20 (approx. NZ$953.56)
• 32GB: US$672+US$25.20=US$697.20 (approx. NZ$1080.66)

Of course I do not expect to get the same price for the phone in my bidding but it was a mark to which I could start estimating how much I should expect to pay. One of the rules in auctions is to give yourself a gauge of how much you're willing to fork out. I'd give myself until NZ$1000 for the 16GB and NZ$1150 for the 32GB. That is still NZ$179 and NZ$229 lesser than what Vodafone is asking for which is a huge saving. There are other rules I should bear in mind too.

• Always check the ratings of the sellers: This is very important, making sure the phone I'm bidding for is sold by a reputable person. I'll check his ratings and take time to read the feedback left by people he's sold stuff to. It's easy to spot the scammers as they've got low ratings and the same people leave feedback on his profile. I usually go for people with a rating of 250 or more and I prefer a Power Seller status which means he's a trusted vendor.
• Ask questions: Also important. Finding out if the person selling the phone is willing to send it overseas and getting a rapport going with him. If he is willing to ship I will ask about the cost so I can always mentally insert it into the total price of the mobile when I'm bidding. If I really want a great deal, I'll offer him shipping alternatives that I've researched on. The US Post Office's online postal order for Priority Mail is US$25.18 and if he is willing to use that service I'll save around NZ$7.50-NZ$15 which could make a big difference when I'm bidding on the phone.
• Expand your range: I do not focus only on one auction and put a couple on my watchlist. That way even if I do not win the phone I can gauge how much it's being sold for in that time period and if it's a good time to be looking for the phone as I will elaborate below.
• Time and space: I usually look at US sites to get my mobile as they've got more sellers there. I also take into consideration the time zone difference and the weeks' schedule and plan accordingly. My sample size was taken across the weekend which meant that more people could be biding on the auction so a good day to look for a phone might be at the start of the week and the lowest price on the 16GB 3GS was sold at 5am US Pacific Time which meant that not a lot of people were up at that time to bid and that's why it was sold for cheap. Taking such things into consideration does help improve your chances on scoring a good deal.
• Other stuff: The usual things to know are not placing a bid too early (I usually place my highest in the last 30 seconds) and not going over your intended price you're willing to pay. Knowing this I always give myself a generous yet sensible maximum price bid.
• Finally, be patient and have fun: If I was not used to bidding for an item, it might take some time to get the mobile and it could get frustrating but I'll always remember to enjoy the adrenalin rush that comes from competing for an item and the satisfaction I'd get when I've gotten the phone for cheap.

By the powers of ebay. He has the powerrrrrr!

The world is full of opportunities and thanks to the internets, they are not only full but overflowing. Shopping for gadgets at great deals has never been this easy and anyone can do it. You don't need to be a gadget lover to be able to get such stuff for cheap, all you need is a bit of effort. Thanks to the web we can finally break free from the tyranny of companies that think that they can overcharge us because we live in one corner of the world and we can send a message out to them that we won't stand being taken advantage of. And who knows, maybe they'll listen.

Forex Rate: US$1 = NZ$1.55