In china whilst discussing the most recent mobile phones and gadgets the term shanzhai is bandied about to spell it out fake or counterfeit phones with similar features to those of the mainstream manufacturers.The fake phone market is booming with high end mobile phones being cloned and reproduced as quickly while the big brands can manage to get thier products to the market. OldIronsidesFakes The fake handsets are attractively priced, often undercutting the genuine phone by a huge selection of pounds, but there are obviously potential pitfalls the buyers may encounter.
On the facial skin of it, the phones are supplied in by reputable shops in shopping malls across China, and are supplied in sleek well produced packaging which looks a as effective as the genuine product, a number of the phones is likely to be have now been carefully copied using logos from Sony Ericsson, Apple, and Nokia, whilst others are rebranded with a phony id similar to that particular of the phone they are trying to fake.
The phones with a phony id will take the proper execution of slight alteration to the spelling of manufacturers, for instance Nokia becomes Nekia, and for the most part, only careful examination of the phone reveals it is really a convincing fake handset.
Cutting the Corners
Producing cheap phones requires even cheaper components, many users will quickly discover this, usually the fake mobiles will employ a basic os with limited scope for an individual to improve even the most basic settings, the limited functionality also becomes apparent with too little support for common applications such as for example java. The digicam fitted to the fake handsets will often not live up to the customers expectations or of these quoted on the box, often an alleged 5 mega pixel camera will materialise as a 1-2 mega pixel camera, an unhealthy sensor will add to the disappointment returning small images that’ll not scale up when used in a pc.
The set of inadequacy continues, the music players on lots of the fake phones only support a limited range of file extensions, mp3 is generally supported but the most frequent file type wma isn’t, resulting in frustration amongst customers as music tracks have to be converted on PC before being transferred onto the phone. Exactly the same may be said for the video support the phones offer, dated technology can be used to provide some function, but the typical quality of 20fps video provided by the fake phone manufacturers is likely to be below that of the genuine product. Furthermore, the quality of playback is likely to be vastly affected by the utilization of low power and low quality speakers.
Other drawbacks that may be apparent on these fake or shanzhai handsets is quality of other key features, GPRS, TV reception and gaming. Of the phones tested many could receive GPRS signals, due never to having a phone fitted, the fake phones will sometimes manage to receive TV broadcasts, but usually the display quality is inadequate because of the internal phone aerial being of inferior quality.
There’s widespread support in china for the manufacture of fake mobile phones, excessive cost of the large manufacturers phones is cited as the key reason for producing the fake phones at low prices. Other critics though argue the shanzhai market for everything fake is damaging Chinas reputation to effectively trade on world markets, as consumers become reluctant to source products stated in China, due to concerns about fake goods, and insufficient warranties.