Faked in China

Few years ago, the knockoff phones weren't that widespread, and the ones on the market were so different from the genuine ones that they looked like separate models.

Today there is a huge variety of mobile devices and the manufacturers keep flooding the market with new models. The more expensive ones do not fit everyone's budget, but at the same time, the quality and the technology of the knockoffs is improving. Now you can find fake phones, which are almost identical with the original model at a considerably lower price.

Main source and market for such “fake phones” is China, but they are often sold on EBay and other global sites. The most attractive brands to be cloned are Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, and the well-known iPhone, the first being the most copied.

Most frequently distinguished features:

To keep it on the safe side, the knockoff manufacturers often change the brand name in such a way that makes it hard to spot. For example SanyEricsson, SangEricsson, SnogErisscon, SunyElicsson, SunyElicssom, ScnyEriosson are only few of the names given to knockoffs of the Swedish-Japanese concern.

There also are many Nokia clones, having a slight change in the name so it still reminds of the original. The logo of the Finnish cell phone manufacturer (the two shaking hands) often appears on the start screen of the fakes.

Naturally, all this is done to mislead potential customers into thinking they are buying genuine products. But the price difference, which is usually huge, should make you think twice. It’s almost like buying a $3000 Rolex for $300 of that guy on the street (though with knockoff phones is more like purchasing a $600 phone for $250).

Software:

Even though they look like the originals on the outside, the menus of the knockoffs are totally different. The presence of some logos (e.g. Windows, Nokia) shouldn’t fool you, because the Chinese made phones (the fake ones we are talking about) are very different in functionality and software. Sometimes you can find such a unit with even the software looking quite authentic. Most of the time, the OS, which the fakes are running on is identical on all of them and possibly is a product specifically developed for the purpose.

Hardware:

One thing we should say about the hardware of the knockoff phones is that very often they have a touch display or pretend to have one. This happens even if the genuine device doesn’t have touchscreen. You can figure this out by inspecting the package (look for a stylus) or if you see these icons under the screen. Another funny thing the “smart” guys tend to do is, putting a sign on the camera saying 3.2-megapixel, when it is only 2-megapixel for example. We can only speculate about the rest of the surprises under the surface.

Examples:

Below, we will present few particular cases, showing the skillsdeveloped by the Chinese counterfeiters. Keep in mind - we do not try to show all fake phones, their number is enormous! We just show you a few cases, as others are very very similar.

We will start with Sony EricssonW810 and its knockoff brother.



As you can see, there are very few differences in the design – thedistance between the display and the speaker in the clone is slightlybigger. Another thing easier to notice is the altered brand name andeven the "touch screen" inscription. Nevertheless, considering the factthat it’s a 2006 model, the copy is pretty good.

A significant advance in the knockoff industry was noted in 2007, andwe will show you Sony Ericsson T650 and its clone as a particularexample. In this case, the differences are not that easy to catch,which is pretty impressing. Aside from the name change, the fake one ismissing the side buttons, but it still looks almost identical to thegenuine T650.



Striking was the case with the cheeky fake Nokia N73, which only hadthe last letter changed - Nokir N73. The only visible differences fromthe original were, the larger display, the symbols added below it andthe size of the numeric keypad buttons.



The most frequently cloned model is Apple’s iPhone, which untilrecently was offered only by the US carrier АT&T. That may havebeen the reason for the attention it gets, plus the fact that itsunlocked version has only been available for a few months now and at apretty high price on top of that. The Chinese counterfeiters didn’tneed much more inspiration and very quickly, they managed to give birthto a quite successful look-alike of the device. Just take a look at thepictures and you’ll see what type of skills we are talking about. Weare speechless!



The most interesting case of all though, is the one where the phonecloned is a concept model. Yep, we have the Nokia Aeon in mind. TheFinnish company had to only release few images of what the futuredevice might look like and it went on sale at EBay, which was quitestrange. That of course is a clone that looks pretty good. However, themost striking is the Aeon knockoff, on which you can even see the nameof the manufacturer and of the model on its back. It is very impressivethat they have managed to make a real phone by just looking at threeofficial images and we can only guess what to expect from these guys inthe future.



After we gave you an idea about the level of expertise thecounterfeiters have achieved, it wouldn't be surprising if knockoffsstart coming out before the genuine phones. You never know, maybe intime the manufacturers will become the counterfeiters…