Keepin' it real fake, part CCXXXIX: Genuine Android shipping on a counterfeit Storm

Looks like someone in Shenzhen had time to kill overnight at the Storm factory -- and they've put it to good use. Instead of giving us a faux-BlackBerry with a horribly mangled KIRFed-out UI (or at most WinMo) what we have here is a genuine clone with a trackball thrown in for good measure running honest-to-goodness Android 1.5. Dubbed the Broncho A1, this guy features a 600MHz CPU, 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, WiFi, GPS, and an FM radio. That's the good news. The bad? 128MB RAM isn't going to do much for you, app-wise. Oh, well. Price and ship date to be announced at a later date. Get a closer look in the gallery below.

Genuine Android shipping on a counterfeit Storm

[Via Cloned In China]

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:18PM]

You think this Storm still has the counterfeit press keyboard?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:32PM]

Scroll Wheel? Android? Is this the Storm 3 we're looking at?!?

[projectdecember Posted Oct 13th 2009 10:56PM]

I acctually think I like it.

[N900 Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:18PM]

"horribly mangled KIRFed-out UI (or at most WinMo)"

now I know who "WinMo is trash" is.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:27PM]

I am eagerly waiting for the Storm2... but minus the trackball this one looks very attractive.

[iLuvvGoogleAndroidz Posted Nov 26th 2009 9:38PM]

@(Unverified) what's wrong with the trackball?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:25PM]

what makes this guy think this is storm? also I bet there's microSD support to install what ever app you want besides that 128M, this is KIRF world, not APPLE.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:44PM]

128MB of RAM isn't the same as 128MB of storage.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 6:40PM]

... But speaking of "apple", What gives engadget? 128mb RAM and 400MhzCPU was "the total shiznit" on the iPhone up until a year ago.. Now 600MHz CPU and the same 128mb RAM on a sweet looking, cheap KIRF with cool open OS is considered "bad news"?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:27PM]

Can we start using numbers instead of roman numerals when we get to numbers this big?

[EI8HT Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:31PM]

aka 239

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:31PM]

The Chinese are obsessed with throwing FM radios in everything aren't they?

Not that I mind.

[ArhcAngel Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:32PM]

Throw an HD radio in there and I'm sold!

[MarcusMaximus Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:33PM]

Is it 128MB of RAM or built in flash? Your read link says built in flash but your "Via Cloned in China" link says RAM. The 2 are drastically different with very different implications.

[jfalkingham Posted Oct 13th 2009 4:25PM]

Are you angry?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:34PM]

There's a international student from Guandong in my Business law class, I wonder if she can get me all these knockoffs cheap.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 4:03PM]

You can buy these for fairly decent price in the US. Just have to wait 1 month for it to arrive.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 4:10PM]

I know a guy called Ebay, he can get me anything.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 4:13PM]

I'm hoping for free...

[helfrez Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:35PM]

What's sad is that some of th KIRFs in the past didnt look half bad.. With an android makeover and cthe right price, they could be half decent phones. Give me a meizo M8 running android and ATT 3g bands..i'd rock it.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:36PM]

Yet another bland android smartphone,The ui on that phone looks horrid btw.

[nitrous9200 Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:44PM]

I actually like the look of that a lot, plus it's got a decent specs (and a capacitive screen of course).

[spiky32kobe Posted Oct 13th 2009 3:48PM]

is it possible 2 get the heros ui on it??? i wouldnt mind carrying this as a second phone :)

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 14th 2009 4:22PM]

woot I've been looking for the right kirf, the capacitive touch screen and android has me sold now when can I buy it on totobay?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 4:02PM]

If this gets the usual KIRF price tag of under $100, I'm down. Cheapest Android device out there FTW!

[saintdavid Posted Oct 13th 2009 4:07PM]

It's only a matter of time before the KIRF'ers knock up something thats actually better than what its trying to imitate.

[ChazClout Posted Oct 13th 2009 5:04PM]

Android. The choice of a KIRF generation.

[telepheedian Posted Oct 13th 2009 5:25PM]

How much? This thing actually looks half-decent.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 5:34PM]

With android and Palm's mobile OS's so easy to copy, it was only a matter of time before the copies stated showing up with genuine software. The software is probably the hardest part of making counterfeits. Up next... a new and improved Pre!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 7:43PM]

This is what Google wanted Android to be like. thousands of fakephones with Webkit full browser, Smartphone-grade freedom, and Google as default search engine.

now I wonder if I can ever root or flash these guys... htc can.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 13th 2009 8:35PM]

It's not the same phone. The website you list indicates a 400mhz cpu and the article refers to a 600mhz.

[Invisiblemoose Posted Oct 13th 2009 9:02PM]

Look at it compared to the guy's hand... It looks gigantic... (The phone not the hand...>.>)

[evilspoons Posted Oct 14th 2009 5:19PM]

I think it's a bit bizarre we're living in a world where a CELL PHONE with "only" 128 MB of RAM is a limitation.

I could start mumbling about my PC-XT with 640 KB, but people would probably just start talking about Commodore 64s and the like.

I'm quite happy my desktop PC has 4 GB of RAM now with an investment of less than $100. Yay progress!

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 9th 2009 10:45PM]

you can see the video for broncho a1

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTMwNTI3ODk2.html