Watch Out for Those Fake Windows Mobile Phones

[Darius Wey]

<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20070508-notwm.jpg" /><br /><br />It's a sad reality. When a brand reaches a level of success, others will want to use said brand to sell their products. Take a look at the <a href="http://www.phonedaily.com/news/?news_id=5605">777</a> and <a href="http://www.phonedaily.com/news/?news_id=5679">1688</a>. Microsoft's Luna theme features prominently in the "Window XP and Window Mobile" (sic) boot screens, and the 1688 goes the extra mile to have the "Pocket PC" and "Windows Mobile" names slapped all over its plastic shell. But don't let first impressions fool you. Both devices deliver a user experience that is quite unlike that delivered by the real Windows Mobile.<br /><br />Yes, we live in a rough world, folks. Exercise caution the next time you shop for your next Windows Mobile phone.

[SteveHoward999]

Wow - if these actually have the suggested funtionality, someone has gone to a lot of expense to create these 'fakes'.

I don't play games, but I do like the idea of the plug-in game controller. Makes me wonder if a similar-style qwerty keyboard would be useful. My problem with 'full size' keyboards for mobile devices has always been that you have to have a flat surface to be able to use them. This style would remove that need ... OK it would tick of the touch-typists, but what do I care? ;-)

[T-Will]

I wonder what OS they're running? And come on, quit giving this company a hard time, they were clearly not trying to copy Windows Mobile, anyone can see that these are "Window Mobile" devices. :lol:

[isajoo]

looks like there may be an iphone clone sooner then hoped. maybe the alarm feature will actually work in theses WINDOW MOBILE devices. this may actually be GOOD news for prices for ppcpe's.

[virain]

Chinese is not one of my strongest skills, but how do you know it is not WM? :?

[Foxbat121]

Chinese is not one of my strongest skills, but how do you know it is not WM? :?

Because the original article in Chinese said so. :lol:

[Darius Wey]

Chinese is not one of my strongest skills, but how do you know it is not WM? :?

Sorry, I neglected to mention that it was stated in the article. I'd have offered a Babel Fish translation, but unfortunately, the quality of the output is grammatical murder.

[bnycastro]

so what OS does this run? Linux? palm? One of the pics looks like the UI for Samsung well the icons atleast.

[iclark]

Ona recent trip to China were we do a lot of work I thought I would buy a local SIMM card instead of paying $Rude amounts to call the kids to say good night.

While waiting at the Phone store I thought I should probably just buy a local handset with Charger etc. Something like an old model Nokia etc would be great I thought.

Most phone stores sell local product only. Much cheaper. Much more plastic. I asked to see one of the Dual SIMM phones (handy for your average international traveller).

Guess what it booted with the Windows Logo on the screen. Wow. I thought I had just found the dandyest little phone on the market. Then I look more closely and saw the XP logo next to Windows.

It was basically a back drop only. It ran a local OS made by the phone manufacturer. Focus was on games, MP3 and ring tones.

To give you an idea how basic the OS was I got the shop person to change the language to English so I could see if it handled GPRS.....Unfortunately only the top Menu items were in English. As soon as you went into the second level of menu it was back in Chinese !!. Lots of annimated cartoons.

Can recommend buying a China SIMM. Very cheap. I called home / work in Australia + Local calls in China for a good 200+ minutes for around $25 AUD / $20 USD. I had China Mobile and Go Tone SIMM card.

What I found absolutely amazine was the coverage. Never lost a call. Got in and out of evelators ever on the subway it worked perfectly. I think the subway guys figured out the revenue that people would spend calling on the way home in the train and got it working. I would say that 1 in 10 people on the subway were making phone calls from the moving train.

GPRS coverage was also brilliant. Had to use my Australian VODAPHONE SIMM card to get GPRS and I am not wanting to see that bill.

Now if only my return flight to Australa was on one of the QANTAS Airbus 330s fitted with inflight email and SMS I could have told you how that went. Maybe on the next trip in a few weeks.

[yves]

well, it's quite rude.
SteveHoward999, about the Gamepad, look here:
http://www.mypocketpc.ch/Reviews/Hardware/15818.aspx.

[SteveHoward999]

SteveHoward999, about the Gamepad, look here:
http://www.mypocketpc.ch/Reviews/Hardware/15818.aspx.


Bluetooth? Nice. I'd still like to see a keyboard though - I really don't care about games :-)