knock-off
Latest
Goophone copies the all new (still-unannounced) HTC One
If you're going to clone one of 2014's hottest Android flagships, you might as well clone others, right? Goophone certainly thinks so. It just launched the Goophone M8, a smartphone that bears an uncanny resemblance to the all new (and still-unannounced) HTC One. Not that the similarities are much more than skin deep, mind you. Goophone's attempt at keepin' it real fake uses capacitive keys instead of the new One's on-screen buttons, and we doubt that the middling (if octa-core) processor, 1GB of RAM and 3G data speeds will have HTC breaking a sweat. It only costs $230 to get Goophone's knock-off, though. And hey, it comes in gold -- if you're only looking for an ostentatious design, you might as well save some cash.
Goophone took just two days to rip off the Galaxy S5
Goophone's a bit like a covers band that just happens to make knock-off smartphones. Not content with just plundering better artists' catalogs, the company has apparently managed to copy the Galaxy S5 in under two days. The Goophone S5, yep, has a 5-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 display, paired with a 2GHz octa-core MediaTek chip and 2GB RAM. Keep looking, and you'll find 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, dual-SIM slots, 32GB storage and a 2,800mAh battery, in addition to 13-and-5-megapixel rear and front cameras. It's available in white, black, gold or blue and is priced at $300, making it the ideal companion for your Lucci bag, Tammy Hilfinger shirt and Seanheiser headphones.
Keepin' it real fake: four SIMs, two memory card slots, one identity crisis
It takes quite a bit for a KIRF smartphone to turn our heads these days, but this specimen spotted by one of our readers in an Indian newspaper checked off just enough boxes to get us to take notice. As you can see, the company behind it has merged a fairly faithful iOS knock-off operating system with a device reminiscent of something from Samsung's Galaxy line, but it didn't stop there. You'll also get no less than four SIM card slots and two memory card slots, not to mention an antenna to pull down some free over-the-air TV channels. Specs otherwise remain a bit of a mystery, but those curious enough to find out more can take one home for just over $60. [Thanks, Mahesh]
Konka W900 hands-on
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, consider Konka the number one practitioner of that "craft." The company, (in)famous for its OEM-copycatting ways, has set up a booth here at CTIA 2012, letting us get some up close and personal time with its W900. The HTC-esque handset, previously released at this past Mobile World Congress, is yet another in a line of underwhelming Android offerings that subsists on design without delivering on performance. Although, the phone's official spec sheet lists it as running Ice Cream Sandwich, the build we encountered was actually that of Gingerbread 2.3.6 -- a very buggy version, at that. So, don't let your eyes deceive you, what you're seeing on the homescreen is simply a third-party launcher made to ape ICS's more streamlined UI. Beneath that 4-inch WVGA display lies quadband GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900) and WCDMA (2100) radios, VGA front-facing / rear 5-megapixel cameras, in addition to support for WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth. Unfortunately, the company couldn't confirm what processor's powering this lackluster affair. But no matter, this is one uneven device you can safely ignore. Terrence O'Brien contributed to this report.
Apple strikes settlement with NYC vendors accused of selling counterfeit products
Remember that lawsuit Apple filed against a pair of Queens stores accused of selling fake iDevice accessories? Well, it looks like it's coming to a close. According to Reuters, Cupertino has reached a settlement with the two Chinatown-area retailers, both of which have agreed to hand over all products emblazoned with the Apple name or logo. If the settlement is approved, the two vendors, Fun Zone and Apple Story, will have five days to clear all counterfeit iPod and iPhone accessories from their inventories, along with any allegedly trademark-infringing promotional materials. The defendants, who maintain their innocence, would also be barred from destroying any records of sales, manufacturing or distribution of the unauthorized cases and headphones -- presumably as part of Apple's ongoing crusade against counterfeiters. Apple Story, meanwhile, would have to change its name, which bears an obvious similarity to another well-known outlet. The proposed settlement was filed with a Brooklyn District Court on Thursday and now awaits the approval of US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto. Neither Apple nor the defendants have commented on the case.
WikiLeaks cables shed light on Apple's battle against counterfeit wares
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but if you're Rolex, Gucci or Apple, you probably aren't very interested in being flattered. Due to Apple's intense popularity, an entire industry has arisen that thrives on knocking off the iconic wares Designed in Cupertino. We've seen plenty in our day, and while it may strike some as if Apple's doing absolutely nothing to curtail the aping, a new WikiLeaks release confirms otherwise. According to an electronic memo from the Beijing embassy dated September 2008, Apple began to put obvious and deliberate pressure on China to act against businesses who were copying its wares a few years back. As it turns out, knocking out the knockoffs isn't exactly high on China's list of governmental priorities, and progress on halting the KIRF extravaganza has been sluggish at best. The entire story is quite the exhausting read, but it's worth delving into if you're curious -- per usual, you can get educated in the links below.
PSA: Sony says counterfeit PS3 controllers could explode
We're not sure why anyone would buy a knock-off DualShock 3 or SIXAXIS gamepad, considering the trouble Sony's taken to make sure they don't work, but the PlayStation 3 manufacturer has another reason you might want to steer clear of counterfeit pads -- they could be tiny Li-ion bombs poised to explode. Talk about force feedback! Yes, the company that brought us exploding laptop batteries says that third-party products "which are practically identical in appearance to genuine PlayStation®3 wireless controllers" may burst into flame, and as you might expect, Sony suggests that you run out to your nearest retailer and purchase the real deal instead.
BleckBarry raises the bar for KIRFs, casually crawls under it
BleckBarry! This is the handset that puts the "phone" in smartphone but, sadly, leaves out the "smart." Featuring a 2-inch display, Bluetooth, a whopping 506KB internal memory, FM and TV (with antenna!), and all the dual SIM action your heart can take, this $62 wonder does one thing well: it makes the BlockBerry look great in comparison.
Breaking: Fake white iPhone 4 is not delayed
If the KIRF arrives before the KIRFed, then it's debatable who's KIRFing who, right? Either way, we ordered two.
Keepin' it real fake: Nokia X5 goes shanzhai in record time
Is this a new record? Not twelve hours after the Nokia X5 slider got official in Singapore, our friend Albert spotted this curious square-shaped, Nokia-branded KIRF in a flea market in Manaus, Brazil. Of course, this raises the horrible possibility that this odd-ball form factor just might be catching on somewhere -- but we're going to try and put it out of our minds it for the time being.
Pedal-powered Porsche made out of Balsa wood doesn't fail to impress
You've always wanted a knock-off, pedal powered Porsche that was actually constructed largely out of Balsa wood and tin foil painted gold, right? Well, who wouldn't?
Keepin' it real fake: next-gen iPhone has a bold, KIRF-y impertinence
With all the hype surrounding the next-gen iPhone, we can understand if your "iPhome 3G" feels a little, well, old hat. That's why we were as excited as you must be to see this iPhone 4 KIRF. Featuring a relatively svelte form factor, stereo speakers, USB port, a removable battery, and dual SIM card slot, the only real let down is the 3.2-inch screen. That, and we're sure that the UI will have a general, KIRFish nature that will appeal to very few of us. Get a closer look after the break! [Thanks, Corey]
Keepin' it real fake: Dell Adamo and HP Mini 5102 feel the knock-off effect
Shanzhai Dell Adamos have been popping up quite a bit lately. We've seen these things in both white and black (um, Onyx), and now MIC Gadget has hepped us to a red model (try getting that from Dell!) that features an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive and either an Atom N450 processor with GMA 3150 graphics or a 1.2GHz Intel Celeron ULV processor and GMA X4500 graphics. The former will run you 1,900 yuan (about $280), and the latter 2,600 yuan (about $380). If that ain't enough for all of you Shanzhai freaks, we've also spotted yet another HP Mini knock-off, this time branded Phecda and sporting a brilliant blue paint job. The source doesn't mention a price, but we're guessing that the device -- which features a 1.66GHz Atom N450 processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi will run you no more than about $360. It does mention, however, that you can order one with an HP logo -- that'll cost you an extra 10 yuan (or about seven cents). That's what industry insiders call "the HP tax."
Keepin' it real fake, part CCLVIII: shanzhai PSP Phone dampens our excitement for an actual PSP Phone
When one thinks of a PSP Phone, they usually imagine a handset with a number of cool, gamer-centric features, such as some sort of integration with the PlayStation network or -- imagine! -- the ability to actually play PSP games. What they don't imagine -- correct us if we're wrong -- is some sort of KIRFy cellphone shoved inside what is essentially the shell of a PSP. That said, we do have to give our friends in Shenzhen some props: not only have they beat Sony with this knock-off, but with the way things are going, they might have the PSP Phone market all to themselves in perpetuity. No specifics on this one yet -- price, stats, or street date -- but you probably weren't going to buy one anyways. Get a closer look after the break.
Keepin' it real fake, part CCXLV: the Nokia iPhone
Alright, so iPhone and N97 knock-offs probably aren't the rarest of gems around these days, but how many handsets do you know that can lay claim to being both? The Cooli902 takes the iPhone's 3.5-inch touchscreen, spit-shines a pretty realistic iPhone OS clone-job, and then adds the Nokia flavor with a fully fledged QWERTY keypad ripped straight from the heart of the N97. Not only does it open to that familiar angle, it also sports the same layout and what we can only imagine to be the same violent opening mechanism as found on the original Nokia handset. And to think that poor Philippe Starck had to pick between these two phones, when for only $143 we could have had both. More pics after the break, or hit the read link to get your own.
Keepin' it real fake, part CCXL: HTC Hero gets iPhone flair
It's just like the old riddle: what looks like a Hero, thinks it's an iPhone, and does double-duty as an old-school FM handheld? Why, it's the TVG3 -- and when combined with some prototypical shanzhai flair, its (con)fusion of attributes from all over the cellphone space make this one a stunning exemplar of KIRFness. Behold! 3.2-inch touchscreen, G-sensor (aka gyroscope), dual sims, Bluetooth, WiFi, built-in TV tuner, HTC looks and an almost-iPhone UI: not bad for $130, eh? In case you won't be in Shenzhen any time soon, you can get a closer look after the break. [Thanks, Jules H]
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.%Gallery-75447%[Via Cloned In China]
Keepin' it real fake, part CCXXXV: TigerG3 looks like a Hero, doesn't act like one
If we weren't too terribly impressed when the HTC Hero made the leap from Europe to the States, at least our funny bones are tickled by the device's inauguration into full-blown KIRFhood. Reports differ on the OS of the thing, but the features are 100% iPhone knock-off, including: dual SIM support, 1.3 megapixel camera, analog TV, FM radio, WiFi, and support for a host of audio and video formats. It's too bad this thing is only supports overseas (900MHz / 1800MHz) GSM -- for $140 we might be tempted to play. If you're in Oceania and looking for a new phone, hit the read link to see for yourself. [Via Shanzai.com]
PS3 firmware 3.0 locking out knock-off controllers?
Well, here's a bit of a curious situation. As Joystiq reports, it wasn't long after the PS3 firmware 3.0 went live that the first reports of problems started cropping up, with one particularly nagging issue being that some controllers (specifically the CECHZC2H Ceramic White DualShock3) seemed to be locked out of the console once the update was installed. After hashing it out a bit on the official PlayStation3 forum, however, users apparently determined that the controllers in question were in fact knock-offs and not official Sony product, which raises some different but just as interesting questions. Namely, is Sony locking the knock-offs out on purpose, or is firmware 3.0 just too much for them to handle? For its part, Sony doesn't seem to be saying anything on the matter just yet, but we'll keep you posted. [Via Joystiq]
Keepin' It Real Fake, part CCXIX: Gemsta's Vaino knock-off
If the Vaino "ultraportable" seemed a little too... well, aspirational, the style mavens at Engadget have dug up a netbook that will certainly correlate with both your awesome sense of style and your self-identification as an OG (that's "original gemsta"). Dug up by some eagle-eyed KIRF-hunters at 2009's Shenzhen International Netbook Industry Fair & Forum, this guy sports an 8.9-inch display, an Intel Atom (Z515 / Z520 / Z530), 1GB RAM, up to 64GB storage, 3G, WiFi, SD card slot and more. We don't have a street date yet for you, but the price should be about 2000 yuan (that's about $294). And the best part? You won't have to worry about these guys stealing your thunder. One more pic after the break.[Via PMP Today]
