Fake -- Engadget

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

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 13th 2009 at 3:13PM

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.

Gallery: Genuine Android shipping on a counterfeit Storm

[Via Cloned In China]

China's KIRF marketplace captured on hidden camera

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 7th 2009 at 2:29AM

Love 'em, loathe 'em, or love to loathe 'em as you will, but the humble KIRF has a big place in our geek DNA -- that's why we were tickled when the gang over at Shanzhai.com paid the markets of Shenzhen, China, a 60 Minutes-esque visit complete with hidden camera. Although we've been hearing tales for years now about the legendary stalls deep in the heart of KIRFdom, Western visitors have rarely made the trip -- until now! And this clip has it all, including one of our all-time favorite head scratchers: the Buddha handset. But don't take our word for it -- grab yourself some popcorn and move on past the break to see it for yourself.

Continue reading China's KIRF marketplace captured on hidden camera

SciPhone smells success with Android-powered clones, orders up an army

by Paul Miller posted Oct 5th 2009 at 9:34AM

You know that N12 we were thrilling about back in June? After faking Android with the Dream G2+ as a skin over its regular OS, SciPhone decided to put real Android on the N12 much to our surprise. Now in the works are the N16 (a phone that looks so much like the Magic that SciPhone just stole the real Magic's press shot instead), the LG-styled N17, and a Storm-esque N19 (pictured). At least the N12 and N16 have 624MHz Marvell processors and 3G, while the N19 sounds to be a non-3G phone running a mere 400MHz chip and 128MB or RAM. The N12 is due this month wherever clones are sold, no word on when the rest will follow.

[Via PMP Today]

Keepin' it real fake, part CCXXXIII: MacBook Air loses two inches, adds a Windows key

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Aug 26th 2009 at 10:05AM

If we've learned one thing 'round here, it's that the KIRFsters love taking on Apple. And you know, at first glance this KIRFacious take on the MacBook Air doesn't seem half bad. Of course, check it out in profile and it looks a lot more like your average netbook than it does Cupertino's ultraportable -- but at least the shanzai manufacturer in question as thrown in a few things that were neglected in the original, including: two USB ports, a removable battery, and a PCIe slot for a 3G module. That said, they also went with an 11.1-inch display (as opposed to the Air's 13-incher), which could be a good thing or not, depending on your POV. Of course, with a 1.6GH Atom processor and 1GB RAM, this thing isn't exactly a workhorse, though it's safe to assume that the price point will fall far below that of the "real deal." But don't take our word for it -- check out a couple more views of the thing after the break.

Continue reading Keepin' it real fake, part CCXXXIII: MacBook Air loses two inches, adds a Windows key

Keepin' it real fake, part CCXXXII: Nokla strikes again with E81 rehash

by Paul Miller posted Aug 16th 2009 at 10:17AM

Due to Nokia's continued dismissal of the ripe-for-the-picking E81 model number, the diligent folks at "Nokla" (fresh off their E97 design win) have seen it fit to issue a second handset under that fake moniker. Surprisingly, this one actually boasts a rather unique swivel design -- even beating Nokia's own effort in this regard -- a QWERTY keyboard and some decent specs. There's even a mirror on the swivel-up back (we hear that women love mirrors), along with a hole at the swivel hinge for working a lanyard through. We'd venture to say it's the best E81 Nokia never made.

[Via Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]

The MacBook Micro is here, also might have a camera

by Laura June posted Aug 15th 2009 at 1:52PM

Guys, the MacBook Micro has been announced. You're going to love it. It's three things: a Powebook from 1998, a student's art project, and a really short email. We hear it may boast a camera, too. Check out the gallery below to see this wonder of modern technology doing its thing... you will not be disappointed.

Update: Grace K. sent in a Flickr link, complete with video of the Micro. Check it out after the break. It doesn't make this thing feel any more "real," but what else were you planning on doing today outside of looking at Apple rumors? Mow the lawn? Pshaw.

[Thanks, James]

Gallery: MacBook Micro

Continue reading The MacBook Micro is here, also might have a camera

Keepin' it real fake, part CCXXI: Apple's iPhone and iPod nano hook up, combine

by Darren Murph posted Jul 9th 2009 at 9:44AM

Hey, Apple -- you know that inspiration you've been looking for in order to concoct a proper iPhone nano? We just found it. Over in some seedy warehouse in the depths of Shenzhen, the aptly titled iphone nano has emerged. As you could likely surmise, this completely improper knockoff gentle combines the best features from Apple's iPhone and the iPod nano to create a singular, if not awkward device. Heck, there's even a 5 megapixel camera, which easily trumps the 3.2 megapixel shooter on the iPhone 3GS. It's all yours for just 90 bones, and you don't even have to sign your cellular soul away to AT&T. Look out Apple, we get the feeling this thing's going to be huge.

[Thanks, facelessloser]

Keepin' it real fake, part CCXIV: Fake iPod shuffle offers most of the minimalism, none of the perks

by Paul Miller posted May 28th 2009 at 2:45AM

The current generation iPod shuffle is a funny beast in its own right, but the "Clip-On Mp3 Shuffler Player" from Digital Rise really takes the form factor to new comic heights. There appear to be two physical buttons, a presumptive hold switch, and no headphone controls to speak of. At the same time, the player packs in FM radio, audio recording, an equalizer, a bevy of playback modes and even tempo adjustment. We're sure Digital Rise has solved the usability problems here with unwavering elegance.

[Via PMP Today]

Keepin' it real fake, part CCXII: Nokia's N86 cloned ahead of release

by Darren Murph posted May 20th 2009 at 1:06PM

It's a sad state of things in the smartphone arena, folks. Nokia can't even get its forthcoming N86 out of the door in official fashion before the cloning labs in China push out a suitable impostor. Of course, it's not as if this hasn't happened to Nokia before, but with such an anti-knockoff mentality, you think it'd take a little action to make the nightmare stop. Or maybe it secretly adores the attention -- yeah, that has to be it.

[Thanks, Jason]

Keepin' it real fake, Part CCXI: MeiLi M8 is a Meizu clone, sans the drama

by Paul Miller posted May 18th 2009 at 11:16AM

There's just too much inherent greatness here to bothering nursing it out: Meizu's iPhone-aping M8 just got its very own imitator in the $99 MeiLi M8. The phone harbors all of those design distinctions that Meizu so carefully implemented into its hardware to differentiate from the iPhone, but oddly goes for an iPhone cloning interface. Best of both worlds? Something like that.

[Via PMP Today]

Keepin' it real fake, part CCIX: Fake BlackBerry Storm adds some gold trim, beats the Storm 2 to clickscreen-free living

by Paul Miller posted May 16th 2009 at 4:35PM

Well, no need to wait around for the Storm 2 to right all of the BlackBerry Storm's wrongs, the Cool9500 is here to make it all better. Namely, the Cool9500 brings the all-important gold trim, something we always felt was a major shortcoming of RIM's first stab at this form factor. There's also an all-important TV tuner -- another wild misstep in the original. Sure, we'll miss SurePress and the usable software, but we'd say Cool9500 really hit RIM where it hurts with this impressive followup.

Keepin' it real fake, part CCIV: Nokla beats Nokia to the touchscreen N98 punch

by Paul Miller posted Apr 30th 2009 at 4:33PM

Good ol' Nokla, with its punny branding and utter shameless, has taken upon itself to build the touchscreen N98, based on a sketchy Nokia concept that was making the rounds last year and never materialized. There's a 3-inch QVGA screen and dual-sim support, but things lean into the realm of Nokia parody with the complete lack of 3G or EDGE data. The worst part is that this phone actually looks kind of nice. All this unintentional humor can be yours for a mere $78.

[Via SlashGear]

Keepin' it real fake, part CCII: meticulous G1 clone forgets the keyboard, a reason for being

by Paul Miller posted Apr 25th 2009 at 8:52PM

We were already scratching our heads over the SciPhone Dream G2+, which went to all the trouble of ripping off Android for little apparent reason -- most of the OS is free for the taking. Well, things just got weirder with the new "G1 Quad band GSM Google Android Style Touch Screen Mobile phone." The handset not only has a fake version of Android, but also mimics the G1's looks pretty extensively -- ironic for a phone that was a bit long in the design tooth by the time it hit the market, despite its adorability factor. The fake G1 also lacks a slide-out keyboard, and we're having trouble making out the trackball -- it might be fake as well. We suppose a 3.5mm headphone jack would be a bit much to ask for?

[Thanks, Patrick K.]

Gallery: Fake G1

Keepin' it real fake, part CXCVIII: TAG Heuer Meridiist gets way-too-low MSRP

by Darren Murph posted Apr 16th 2009 at 2:18PM

You know how we know this here TAG Heuer Meridiist isn't the real deal? Not because it isn't sexy, and not because we don't really, really want to believe. No -- it's because the authentic handset can't be found for under five or six grand, while this little impostor can be had for the unfathomably low price of just $290. So yeah, you'll miss out on the fancy box and veritable bragging rights, but you will get twin SIM slots and a choice of black or red "leather." You know, come to think of it, maybe we would be willing to deal with a fake in order to save a few mortgage payments...

[Via Tehnozona]

SciPhone Dream G2+ adds WiFi to the Android KIRF madness

by Paul Miller posted Apr 16th 2009 at 9:02AM

Months later we're still thrilled at the discovery that the original Dream G2 doesn't run the free and open Android OS, but instead a carefully built, stylus-driven clone. Well, SciPhone's Dream G2+ followup continues in that noble tradition, running with some tweaked looks and the addition of WiFi on top of what looks to be that same Android-cloning interface. It's pretty thrilling stuff, and not at all bad for the $185 asking price.

[Via PMP Today]