Keepin' it real fake, part CII: Chinese iPhone knockoff thinks different (with infomercial)

Consider the iPhone knockoff market's bar officially raised. No longer is it enough to swipe designs and iconography, now you must master the fine art of infomercials to hock your wares. This iClone thinks different with maps, photos, a motion sensor (which apparently causes its users to keep shaking the thing like a maraca), orientation sensor, Bluetooth music playback (but apparently not stereo?), 1GB of memory (via microSD), and a whole lot of impressed, devout fans in the commercial. Video after the break.

[Via Engadget Chinese]

[ThePengwin @ Dec 16th 2007 6:09PM]

1GB of memory (via microSD)

at least the knockoff has some expandable memory!

[Genjinaro @ Dec 16th 2007 6:34PM]

+1 point for iClone..I can't believe there a infomercial for it.
Though you have to wonder if it has SDHC support.

1600 is the neame/series?

[kingofwale @ Dec 16th 2007 7:16PM]

1600 on there means 160,000,000 colours.

At least that's what it kept on advertising, It might also be the name though.

Shake your phone to replace the "call" button, geez, how many prank calls while you make in a short jog?

[JAmerican @ Dec 16th 2007 8:41PM]

Also,

Is it just me or does the 3.2 stand for 3.2 megapixel camera. I'd rather get that :)

JAmerican

[kingofwale @ Dec 16th 2007 9:52PM]

lol 3.2 stands for "3.2 inch" screen. I don't think this thing has a camera. It didn't advertise at all about its camera function.

[thomas @ Feb 8th 2008 9:56PM]

yes, the actual model is the d99i by DigitalRise... the infomertial just says 160,000... there is a newer D800i HiPhone model that was just released before the chinese new year though... it is tri-band whereas the D99i is only dual band which means it is not for the US... http://www.chinagrabber.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1531&HS=1

[Homeboy @ Dec 16th 2007 6:16PM]

I may not understand Chinese but I'm sold. Like Tiger Woods would say if he dumped the Black community for the Asian, "So long fried chicken, hello fried rice".

Me want that telly.

[Richard Lai @ Dec 16th 2007 6:18PM]

As a Chinese, I feel so embarrassed...

[tits @ Dec 16th 2007 9:44PM]

dont, I love chinese! they copy but they do it with so much heart!!! did you saw the fake disneyland there in the news... that was priceless! its close now but its sad... it was so creative, mixing Mickey with Hello Kitty, Lion King and Gundam!!!

[Richard Lai @ Dec 16th 2007 11:15PM]

tits: I know of the fake Disneyland thing in Beijing, but didn't know it's now closed for good. I didn't even know that Gundam was in it!

[chris @ Dec 16th 2007 6:20PM]

where can i get one of those?

[Josh @ Dec 16th 2007 8:35PM]

i agree - it looks a lot like an iPhone. Then again, everything does through these nifty iGlasses Stevie J gave me...

[Ireland @ Dec 16th 2007 9:50PM]

China.

[Laurence @ Dec 16th 2007 10:32PM]

well, it advertises that phone is launched worldwide, but i doubt it...
try ebay... but search iphone, then check the cheapest price.. lol

[Hutch81 @ Dec 16th 2007 6:32PM]

TO STEVEN:
DONT READ THE ARTICLE IF YOU DONT CARE.

[Alex @ Dec 16th 2007 6:32PM]

Y'know, that flick to answer thing actually seems kinda cool.

[wixostrix @ Dec 16th 2007 7:03PM]

it does, [sarcasm]but what if your avoiding someone and they call u and u dropped your phone? Thats what im worried about [/sarcasm]

[Cory @ Dec 16th 2007 7:18PM]

wixo, you seriously just put "sarcasm" in parenthesis. you fail

[mlb @ Dec 16th 2007 6:34PM]

What is the lead content of this device?

[Ian @ Dec 16th 2007 6:38PM]

2 curics for every ounce of plastic

[Jeff @ Dec 16th 2007 6:44PM]

As much as you want it to be...you put it in the last box in your order form.

Cause we all take our electronics internally to get our daily dose of lead :D

[paul34 @ Dec 16th 2007 10:26PM]

Actually, its lead-lined recycled condoms.

[Dave Malone @ Dec 16th 2007 6:34PM]

Why bother commenting about posts about crappy DAPs of no consequence? NOBODY CARES!

If you don't like it, why not start your own gadget blog?

[mlb @ Dec 16th 2007 6:35PM]

Man, you need to relax. Its Sunday night in the US, and there isn't exactly much going on in the world of technology at this moment. Get up, go upstairs from your mommas basement, and have a moon pie or something.

[L.Rawlins @ Dec 16th 2007 6:40PM]

Can you blame them?

The cut those Eastern guys get for making the originals probably warrants xeroxing the blueprints and churning out a few replicas.

It's the capitalist way.

[modsoul @ Dec 16th 2007 6:48PM]

Thats not what happens.

its more a matter of getting the idea and using it, like reverse engineering the product and making another one with improvement (alteast what you feel are improvements).

[abadtooth @ Dec 16th 2007 6:53PM]

Me want cheap iphone clone :P will it work in the US? and is there one on ebay I wonder...
and Steve, if they didn't post this kind of stuff, they wouldn't have very much to post...

[4honor @ Dec 16th 2007 6:56PM]

1990 yuan is about $270 USD, that ain't too bad... But then you get what you pay for... so...

[amiga_tone @ Dec 16th 2007 8:42PM]

I bet it turns out like the Vii, nothing but this tiny breadboard sticky taped to the inside ;-)

[Backlin @ Dec 16th 2007 6:57PM]

Lol, the video quality makes the show look like it's from the '80s.

[js @ Dec 16th 2007 7:04PM]

But will it blend like the iPhon3?

[blaktornado @ Dec 16th 2007 7:12PM]

Probably, but I wish that the hands which use numbers instead of letters would.

[brian @ Dec 16th 2007 7:26PM]

I wonder if you can use your mp3's as ringtones on it...

[thomashayes @ Dec 17th 2007 6:30AM]

mp3's what?

[David W. @ Dec 16th 2007 7:35PM]

I care :) so don't speak for me!

[Raúl C. @ Dec 16th 2007 7:43PM]

I love the way you pick / hang up the phone calls though. At least that's innovative! Shake to pick up, shake to hang up. Shake to pick up, slip and fall to hang up. Run with the phone in your pocket to consequently pick up and hang up calls, without the hassle of even taking it out of your pocket, it's that easy!



That was kinda freaky. I need to stop watching infomercials.

[Rk @ Dec 16th 2007 7:54PM]

Can someone not make an iPhone mod/app that lets you answer a call like this?

[jd @ Dec 16th 2007 8:05PM]

next time when apple release new product, they should release the proto type so the copy cats will copy the proto type. and then on the release day, apple will relase a totally new designed product.

whats your thought?

[James Yopp @ Dec 16th 2007 8:35PM]

Apple did that with the iPhone. Remember when the guy from Digg spilled the beans about one of the prototype phones, and it turned out to be a bunch of bunk and nothing whatsoever like the iPhone?

In fact, I think that what he described may have turned out to be the inspiration for that Samsung phone that has a music player on the back side. Or it could have been the phone itself, and someone lied about it being from Apple. There are too many feints and dodges lately.

[Constable Odo @ Dec 16th 2007 10:13PM]

My thought is....
There's no need to do what you suggest. If Apple gave those stupid handset manufacturers the exact design prints, they'd still manage to screw up the device. Can you imagine an iPhone with WinMobile 6 on it? Use it with a stylus....? What a crock. They'd try and design it by committee and it would end up looking like something three blind men touching an elephant might design.

To consider themselves improving on the design they'll put every feature they can think of on it and either wind up with two hours talk time or make it about two inches thick. These companies think like bimbos. If a touch of makeup is good, an inch more of makeup is that much better. Yuck.

I'm fairly sure there are industrial spies trying to glean all the information they can in anticipation for the iPhone 2, but it's a waste of time. People with any pride want genuine APPLE IPHONES, not some crappy, piss-poor almost-iPhone imitations.

It'd be like trying to pass off some effin' Karmann-Ghia as a genuine Porsche Boxter. All the while proudly saying it runs just as good and is a whole lot cheaper.

I do think that shake to answer is a pretty slick move, even if it looks downright dorky. Good for practicing jerkin' the funky monkey. I'm not making fun of China or anything of the sort. Their culture is much different from the US and they view things differently. More power to them. In ten, fifteen years, we'll be copying their devices.

[skhawaja @ Dec 17th 2007 3:01AM]

@@@ Constable Odo

HEY! I resent the remark about the Carman Ghia - but your trekky leetness sure dishes out a brow beating :[

anyways - back to the random mayhem - i guess it's been a fad that just won't die on engadget

I'm just here for the fun :]

[ryan @ Dec 16th 2007 8:08PM]

at one point in the video u can see the iphone background...the one with the clownfish or whatever. thats funny..

[Michael @ Dec 16th 2007 8:10PM]

are they watching a mandy moore music video from like 1999 lol

[Det. @ Dec 16th 2007 8:28PM]

...
it's still better than the viiII.
http://www.cnbeta.com/upimg/071127/LonelyJames_214052.jpg

[roole @ Dec 16th 2007 8:34PM]

Reading many of the comments here (including from other similar stories on this forum), it is obvious that a lot of you salivate over this kind of trash from places such as China. Despite the fact you are aware that it shows complete disrespect for intellectual property. Why? Because (you think) it gets you what you want for a few bucks less, and therefore deserves encouragement. (And, clearly, anything that offers an opportunity to bash Apple, Microsoft, etc., can't be half-bad, right?)

When that job or service that you perform gets outsourced, I hope that the other part of your brain realizes exactly what happened, and why.

Good luck.

[Ram @ Dec 16th 2007 9:30PM]

I think it also has a lot to do with it being trendy to hate the iPhone.

[mik @ Dec 16th 2007 9:54PM]

pretty sure 99% of the comments above yours were sarcism. no one is gonna buy this crap.

[Archietype @ Dec 17th 2007 6:46AM]

Woah, easy there! No need to turn what should be an interesting and humourous look at an iPhone knock-off into a slanging match. No amount of fuming about intellectual property rights is going to stop these devices being made and I doubt the majority of Chinese people have to money to shell out for something as expensive as the iphone so it's hardly cannibalising Apple's sales. Quite frankly, even here in the UK people aren't that willing to pay the premium for it either.

It's not that it's 'cool' to bash big companies, it's just that it's hard to see why a large corporation with massive budgets can't add the multitude of features that these smaller electronics manufacturers can. You can't help but feel shafted when one of these major companies puts out a product with limited format support, basic/common features missing (the iPhone is very guilty of this), not enough storage space, etc etc.

I find these things fascinating in terms of what they're like to use and whether they've managed to come any where near the standard of the original...plus, some of them are just so silly it's hilarious. The knock-offs may lack originality but the one thing I do hope they do is encourage lazy manufacturers to give people a reason to keep coming back to their products for more than the name.

[roole @ Dec 17th 2007 11:00PM]

Let me respond to just a couple of your points (admitting that I was being a bit harsh in generalizing, knowing fully well that some of the posts were just attempting humor; but it was on purpose, since I have seen similar sentiments expressed way too many times on this forum, and rarely has someone taken the trouble to point out the other side of the argument):

1) You said: ".......No amount of fuming about intellectual property rights is going to stop these devices being made and I doubt the majority of Chinese people have to money to shell out for something as expensive as the iphone so it's hardly cannibalising Apple's sales......."

Response: The issue is not whether the Chinese can afford it; it is really about whether you and I, in the West can afford it, and cheer this on because of the few extra bucks that we are trying to save.

2) You said: ".... it's just that it's hard to see why a large corporation with massive budgets can't add the multitude of features that these smaller electronics manufacturers can. You can't help but feel shafted when one of these major companies puts out a product with limited format support, basic/common features missing (the iPhone is very guilty of this), not enough storage space, etc etc."

Response: You have absolutely no idea why some of these things might be missing from a large corporation's product. (And, your holier-than-thou reaction is typical.) Perhaps there were unresolved or expensive IP issues involved, I don't know. However, I can **confidently** tell you that some Chinese knock-off company -- one that gives a hoot whatsoever about any IP issues in the first place -- cares little about any one of the "multitude of features" it adds to anything. After knocking off the look, the feel, the interface, and (heck) even the tag-line of a product, do you seriously think this company worries about offering lots of knocked-off "format support" or whatever else?

[ark_v2 @ Dec 16th 2007 8:35PM]

Infomercial...nostalgic. I used to watch infomercials when I was little :'(