Keepin' it real fake, part CIII: half Nokia, half HTC, all ripoff

As if the N73 wasn't already up for the "most knocked off cellphone of the century" award, here we have yet another rip that wasn't even so kind as to stick solely to the Nokia motif. Rather, the ZTC 8898 threw in a dash of HTC to flavor things up, and apparently, this unit can even handle its fair share of NES (SNES?) emulation. Specs wise, we're lookin' at a 2.5-inch external display (and a 2.8-incher on the inside), dual SIM card slots, built-in camera and a pair of janky speakers to boot. We understand that buying both of the handsets this thing mimics wouldn't be cheap, but seriously, don't do yourself the disservice of plunking down $189 on this.

[Via Technabob]

[NG @ Dec 20th 2007 8:54AM]

it runs mario.. good enough for me :D

[Grant @ Dec 20th 2007 10:10AM]

for real,
I'll take 6!

[Flashpoint @ Dec 20th 2007 8:55AM]

That looks like SNES up there - not NES.

If this thing has SNES and NES Emulation, I'd damn sure buy it !

[Carbonize @ Dec 20th 2007 9:58AM]

No it's NES emulation. Super Mario World was a NES game as far as I recall. And the site says, "Support up to 4000 NES Games, NES Game Simulator Built In"

[insertAlias @ Dec 20th 2007 10:17AM]

Sorry Carbonize, Super Mario World was most definitely a SNES game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_World

[Carbonize @ Dec 20th 2007 10:30AM]

Like I said, "as I recall". I mean it has been a good few years now. But the website clearly states NES emulations so possibly just a photoshop. Or possibly a Paintshop or a GIMPed photo or even a Paint.NETted image.

[Carbonize @ Dec 20th 2007 11:10AM]

Actually I wasn't pointing out anyones failures I was just posting what I thought was correct but wasn't. I even said I wasn't sure.

BT W what is with the comments system? I rarely get email notification of replies and then things like this happen where Flashpoint's reply ends up attached to a different comment despite my getting a rare email telling me they had replied.

[insertAlias @ Dec 20th 2007 12:27PM]

@Carbonize
Well, I personally wasn't trying to be rude in my comment, just trying to jog your memory (and I played the hell out of Mario World, so it was easy to remember for me.)

It probably is a shop job. Screen images are usually simulated anyway, and I guess somebody at the art department had a brain fart.

[L.Cyphre @ Dec 20th 2007 9:12AM]

YES, BUT CAN IT PLAY DOOM?
No, I mean seriously! There was a SNES version, wasn't there? Wonder if this thing's processor could handle it... Probably not. Too bad, I might've bought this then.

[ssuk @ Dec 20th 2007 9:32AM]

Depends on the snes emulation in the first place.

[L.Cyphre @ Dec 20th 2007 9:43AM]

I'm asking because I think the original cartridge actually had an additional chip built in to handle some of the calculations.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 20th 2007 9:48AM]

The SNES version ran really crappily.I rented it.

[JohnTitor @ Dec 20th 2007 10:28AM]

it takes less to run Doom than a SNES game. A number of PMPs can run Doom but only manage NES emulation. Its cause for Doom you just need an interpreter and not a whole emulator

[Superevil @ Dec 20th 2007 9:12AM]

If it was $89 instead of $189 I would get it just to mess with.

[PG @ Dec 20th 2007 9:12AM]

It's too bad this puppy will not work in North America (no 850/1900 bands support) I'd buy one just for shits and giggles.

[debugy2k @ Dec 20th 2007 9:59AM]

Well I saw more pics of it on Deal Extreme http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1509 ...it seems like this phone doesn't have dual sim slots.

[NHAnimator @ Dec 20th 2007 9:38AM]

Worst. Keyboard. Ever.

[john @ Dec 20th 2007 10:21AM]

looks to me like the best mobile keyboard ever.

If you can add software to it, like an ssh client, then you could use it as a real mobile computing device (control keys, etc.). Plus it has an actual number row instead of mashing the symbols onto the letter keys.

The question is: does it feel as good as it looks. The answer is probably no. But at least one manufacturer finally tried putting a full keyboard layout on their mobile device. More should try it.

[NHAnimator @ Dec 20th 2007 10:54AM]

Uh, how do you type a . or a ?

[john @ Dec 20th 2007 11:10AM]

On my qwerty phone, I find I need the comma far more often than I need the period. But, I'm willing to bet that the double-quote/comma key does a single-quote/period with the windows key. I bet that windows key is actually some form of symbol/fn key that does some magic.

So, maybe question-mark/slash are on the colon/semi-colon key.

But, yeah, I hadn't noticed those two keys missing. Probably would have made more sense to make those four symbols (period, single-quote, question-mark, and slash) be primary over the four symbols on those 2 keys.

[Samo @ Dec 20th 2007 9:40AM]

Judging by the windows icon on the keyboard's lower right, it runs on a winmob platform, and for $189, that's not bad... If I convert that to £ => £95 for a new smartphone is very cheap, esp. if it'll play Doom :p

Of course, nothing's stopping from dying 2 months in, which it'll probably do :(

[Ishimaru @ Dec 20th 2007 9:48AM]

The OS doesn't look WM at all, even though the Windows key is there...

[Jon @ Dec 20th 2007 9:48AM]

Looks nothing like any HTC I've ever seen and I have seen a lot of their phones.

If anything it looks like a rip-off of the LG Voyager. Same speaker location, d-pad and with the front ripping off Nokia E90.

[Warhorse @ Dec 20th 2007 12:20PM]

Keyboard looks HTC, it does look Verizon-esk (is that a word?) though.

[Surur @ Dec 20th 2007 9:51AM]

You have to wonder why they bother pretending to put WM on it. For an extra $10-15 they could put real Windows Mobile on it and sell a pretty awesome form factor unlocked for $200 all over the world (minus the SNES emulator of course).

At least they keyboard has 5 rows (but it makes you wonder how huge the device actually is)

[Matthew Hilario @ Dec 20th 2007 2:57PM]

windows mobile /wrists.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 20th 2007 10:57AM]

I HAVE NO IDEA HOW YOU FORGOT SUPER MARIO WORLD WAS AN SNES GAME.

HERE IS A TIP.

Before you try and point out some one's failures, be sure you are intelligent enough to have a decent memory and express yourself

[silverblackvoid @ Dec 20th 2007 10:36AM]

thats pretty nice for a knock-off. i for me please.

[Markus @ Dec 20th 2007 12:41PM]

"SPACE"

[The Dude @ Dec 20th 2007 1:23PM]

The exterior of the phone doesn't look all that bad. It's the interior that looks like it's made out of a few cents worth of plastic (and lead.) Build quality is likely to be shit either way. If it was cheaper it would be purchase worthy like the novelty PolyStation.

[Richard @ Dec 20th 2007 2:10PM]

In case it hasn't been said yet (I didn't see it above):

IF YOU LIVE IN THE USA OR CANADA, DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE.

This phone is dual band, 800-1900 GSM, NOT quad band GSM.

http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_us.shtml

Notice no large national US providers us 800 or 1900? They're all 850/1900.
THIS PHONE WILL NOT WORK ON ANY US GSM NETWORK.

It doesn't have the radio to transmit to it.

Cool phone, and if it were quad band at that price, I probably would pick one up... but all the "cool" phones like this are dual-band, and not functional in NA.

[Richard @ Dec 20th 2007 2:12PM]

Excuse me, I made a typo:

Should read:
Notice no large national US providers use 900 or 1800? They're all 850/1900.

[Lemmiwinks @ Dec 20th 2007 3:21PM]

We don't need no stinkin' backspace key.

[Lemmiwinks @ Dec 20th 2007 3:22PM]

Or a period key, for that matter...

[Neeko @ Dec 20th 2007 3:34PM]

I dont understand the reasoning to not atleast appreciate the knockoff devices. Why is Engadget soo against knockoffs?

[Lance Gross @ Dec 22nd 2007 10:54AM]

That is wack I would rather get the real deal then some junk that will not last more then a week

[ifeng @ Dec 26th 2007 12:13AM]

It also calls zhongtian 8898, right ? I found it in this site: http://www.totobay.com/zhong-tian-8898-multi-media-phone-with-bluetooth-p4935.html#description

Need USD 236!!! Too expensive for me !!

But there are many affordable dual sim card phones with bluetooth. Unfortunately, Most of them are not support triband.