Keepin' it real fake, part CCXLIV: Zoho's E72 is made in China, has Finland doing a double-take
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted November 28th 2009 1:17PM
posted November 28th 2009 1:17PM
Having trouble getting your hands on that Nokia E72? Perhaps you favor a handset with a TV tuner? Zoho's KIRF E72 features the aforementioned tuner, dual sim, QWERTY keypad, WiFi, JAVA, FM tuner, and both rear and front-facing 1.3MP cameras. Rest assured, the UI looks nothing like what you'd get with from Finland. But did we mention that you could watch TV on the thing? Video after the break.
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I can't even understand the guy talking..
@gd31892
Really? I thought his English was quite good. His accent may be a tad heavy but is by no means incomprehensible.
Anyone else noticed that the Chinese KIRF's always have dual SIM and a TV Tuner..?
@FORDY
Dual Sims are common in Asia where signal overlapping is less than common.
@FORDY
That's because they are all the same inside and only make minor surface changes to imitate various phones.
@FORDY chinese people like unnecessary features, like tv tuners and dual sim cards, putting them in their knockoffs, hoping other people like it too
@weinerschnitzelboy
I'd hardly call a dual sim an unnecessary feature.
I'd say being able to watch sky sports 1 on the iPhone is...
@SamUK Have you ever been to ASIA? How the hell you know the signal there is so usually weak, so people need to use dual sim cell-phones?
That's BS. The only reason why people make 2 sims cellphones people it is more convenient if you are a business man or yo have more than one number, so you dont have to carry many cellphones around or wasting money.
But i really don't understand why the Chinese's fake phones always have dual-sim cellphone while brandy cellphones have only a few products of this kind such as Samsung.
@SamUK I dont think so if you are in some Asian countries. For example, in Vietnam, you can buy a numbers without signing any contract (kinda PAY AS YOU GO). The fee is extremely cheap. A minute is around 4 cents/minute, but if you refill the balance, the value of the card you buy will be double ($100x2 = $200) and so other advantages. So most people who i know always have at least 2 numbers.
@weinerschnitzelboy I think TV tuner is a kool feature.
Why do we have to pay 30 bucks a month for ATT or verizon for this service while we can watch for free on our cellphones?
if yous said not necessary, but some people want to have a number for business only and another one for family and friends. why HTC or blackberry don't have these features even though most of their costumers are business people? As far as i know, some HTC cells have FM radio. Hello HTC, it is 21st century.!!!
@FORDY
thats coz we love dual sim and tv :)
@FORDY because of it's convenience. if you have friends using different operators people often use two phones to stay in touch with them because calling from one operator another (example you're a sprint user and calling your friend on at&t for more then 5min each call) is just pricy. so it makes sense to build a phone that can carry two sim cards. the reason why they make kirfs is also simple..the original ones are just too expansive. regular employees in asian countries often don't earn more then 1000$ per month so buying a nokia for 500$ is kind a impossible while a copy one justs costs around 100$ or less.
and the TV out thingy is just cool and handy for people spending more then 1 or 2 hour to get to work and back home.
At least this KIRF comes with some decent software.
I wouldn't waste my money on 1 but it ain't that bad looking.
Well it LOOKS nice...
@frewster
... until it explodes in your face. and your hand falls off.
@shadowj0 Till he pulled out that giant ass antenna it looked ok.
It looks really nice, and dual sims are great, especially for a work phone.
I can imagine Nokia will have trouble when Symbian will be opensource... KIRFs not just looking like Nokia's, but also compatible with Nokia software...
@Pyronick
won't happen as bad as you think, but if you follow Symbian's website,they are working hard to prevent this KIRFing internationally.
@Pyronick Android is already opensource, but they don't use it. Why ? Because one also need the cpu power and memory to run that stuff, while this cheap and crappy phones are essentialy less capable and powerful than any 2005 smartphone. I'd rather buy a used nokia N70 and replace his cover and battery, than this bulky plastic chinese imitation.
So why they're able to sell those kirf ? Because most people don't understand anything about their phones, they can feel good with a "lookalike" without ever realizing the software differences, and that is.
I bet this dual sim/ dual imei frankensteins have emissions and noises way over the safety and law levels in US and EU.
i kinda like it more than the real one...
where do i buy one of theses?
This honestly doesn't look as bad as most KIRFs, the screen looks ok, java applications actually work and the GUI doesn't look like it's from 2002.
And it has Wifi too. Why are they even making it look like a Nokia, they could sell this phone under whatever brand their company is supposed to use.
Meh, meh, what's meh mean?
Anyway, android has over 17,000 apps according to adrolib.com/appstats.aspx and this probably has none.
@AndroidRokz It seems that it is compatible with Java apps, but I agree that it is inferior to Andriod.
@AndroidRokz androlib.com/appstats.aspx*
KIRF has warranty card too :D
I never knew such a market for replicas existed until I started reading these articles.
@lightark
in a country with nearly 2billion citizens and monthly salary less then 1000$? you've got like 80% of the population as a potential customer who're looking forward to get a cool KIRF. Included all the crazy tourists who want to have some crazy gift for their loved ones ;)
why decide to create a fake product. They probably go through the same amount of work that creating a new one would entail
@Lightbulb9
Thats what im thinkin, with their skill, they could make some nice phones. That dont suck software wise btw.
@Jeff the fact that they also do have to go through the whole manufacturing process also makes this slightly weird. By designing a new phone they could also get publicity, which they wont with a fake one unless it comes from features like this.
@Lightbulb9
Hello? they save on R&D and all the other licensing costs needed. It's a copy for a reason, it's cheaper.
This looks really nice, the KIRFers should dedicate themselves to one or two OSes and devote their resources to those so they don't bring the phones down.
These have to work with digital, not analog tv signals in the USA.
Seems like a nice snappy phone.
The OS on this phone looks better than Symbian on the actual E72... Nokia should honestly throw in the towel on that turd of an OS. Yeah it was cool in 1992 but even WinMo looks nicer these days.
Wish these guys would use Android in their phones, the hardware is awesome.
Thanks CannedCorn...you're the type of person that made the rest of us deal with, among other things, the Vista nightmare.
If looks matter more to devices than functionality, we're all doomed. One of these days you computer noobs (when you've been here for 30 years, most people rate as "noob" :p ) will realize that and the nightmare of crap, poorly tested but oh-so-flashy for the unwashed masses "release" software will end.
@dinoSnake whoosh! thats the sound of my comment going over your head. I was taking a jab a Nokia's OS being crap. Obviously this is a joke of a operating system.
One thing for sure, for those phone companies that wants to know if their products are selling good in China, look at the KIRF stuffs...did anyone notices that nobody is faking the Motorola Cliq or the Droid?
How much would this phone be? Doesn't look too shabby
@bossman: I live in Shanghai, China and these KIRF phones sell for around 500rmb, about 50EUR here on the fake markets. They are quite good quality fakes. Cheaper fakes like the E72 pro (google it) sell for 250rmb, about 25EUR.
Man, all these generic China-phones need some serious Android!
It looks pretty nice for dumbphone users that want others to believe that they have smartphones.
In Japan in the 1600s there was a sword smith who made forgeries of swords from several centuries earlier. At some point, his forgeries became so fine and desire in their own right, that he quit making copies of earlier famous sword smiths and began to forge swords with his name.
Soon KIRFs will be good enough to be originals and not copies.
This set has touch screen,java,wifi,FM and a TV tuner .. Awesome product , I am gonna get this tomorrow . We have biggest China mobile market of Asia in Pakistan.
http://cybermondaywii.co.cc/
nice features even tho its a clone,makes me wonder why they did they bother with cloning when the ui shows such originality?
The KIRF'ers should really stop wasting their time (and thus money) on their own OSes, and just use Android...
Anyone know how to confirm your comments?