Chinese Mobile Phones In India 2: An Overview
This post was guest blogged by Sneezy Melon of The Goofy Express.
I earlier posted about how there had been a sudden outburst of Chinese products in the Indian Cellular Market. The fact remains that most of these Chinese makes are copies of other trusted brands and you are pretty likely to find lots of Nokla’s, K-Touch’s and LPhone’s. But does their apparent lack of originality mean that they are unreliable? I don’t really think so, especially after personally experiencing their ruggedness and stability.
Yes, questions regarding whether you should trust your money in something absolutely crap do come up. But when you’re going to throw away your cellphone after a maximum of two years in any case, would it be a $200 one or a $500 one?
For example, let’s consider one of the popular cell-phones at this website (which, by the way, offers delivery to India)-
M888 (Video Demo)
This phone is basically an Apple iPhone copy.
*It has a 3.2 inch screen with 260,000 colors and a resolution of 240 x 320.
*Supports a wide range of ringtone formats including mp3, midi, wav, wma and amr.
*For music, there is an mp3 player supporting lyrics and complemented with dual loudspeakers.
*Video formats include 3GP and MP4 with full-screen play at 320 x 240 resolution.
*2.0 megapixel camera with up to 1600×1200 picture, full-screen MP4 video recording, recording time varying with the free memory space.
*51MB inbuilt memory along with a free 128MB Memory Card (expandable upto 4GB).
*Data Transfer facilities include Bluetooth (voice/data/music) or USB cable.
*JPEG and GIF picture formats.
*Java 2.0 Game Platform.
*Other features include TV-out and IP dialing.
*The best part: It’s insanely light.
Something like this, from a more popular brand like Nokia would come in no less than $400 (Indian Rs, 16000). However, this little Chinese guy would cost a mere $210 (Rs. 8200), shipping included. And that’s almost half.
People who have gone ahead and purchased Chinese Mobile Phones seem happy, at least those I’ve met. Even people on forums have given positive response, So, I guess there’s really nothing to worry about the durability.
As for the guarantee part, do we really use our phones for anything more than 2 years? I dont think so. Technology moves so fast, and Moore’s Law promises that you’ll have twice as faster phones in 2 years than you have today.Then why not stick to something that’s cheaper, AND shinier?
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Apoorv Khatreja on 
General Maximus on 
March 16th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Lots of people are using these phones. The “genuine” phones are expensive just because the idiots at Nokia/Sony/Apple want to make as much money as possible.
Actually, that Nokia “original” is also made in China or Taiwan (outsourcing, anyone?). Apple’s iPod is manufactured in China, shipped to California, branded “Made in California” and then shipped around the world. The cost price is roughly the same for both the genuine and the “pirated” phones.
The upside is that you get almost the same quality (minus the customer support/warranty which is useless anyway) but you get much more freedom with the Chinese phones. These are all Linux based and with a little bit of hacking you can get into their internals and modify to your heart’s content.
The Chinese have realized that mobile phones are no longer a luxury item, but a commodity. People keep changing phones every year or so. Why not make cheaper phones and sell more of them instead of making expensive phones and selling less of them?
March 16th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
“The Chinese have realized that mobile phones are no longer a luxury item, but a commodity.”
Exactly!
April 17th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I WANT TO BUY ACHINESE MOBILE WORTH OF 3500 TO 5500 INCLUDING ALL FETURTES MAINLEY TOUCH SCREEN BLUTOOTH GPRS DUAL SIM MP3 MP4 AN ETC PLZ HELP ME TO SELECT A GOOD DEVICE AN SEND ME MODEL DETAIL IN MY E MAIL ID GSRATHORE2007@YAHOO.COM
April 29th, 2008 at 10:40 am
I WANT TO BUY ACHINESE MOBILE WORTH OF 2500 TO 4500 INCLUDING ALL FETURTES MAINLEY TOUCH SCREEN BLUTOOTH GPRS DUAL SIM MP3 MP4 AN ETC PLZ HELP ME TO SELECT A GOOD DEVICE AN SEND ME MODEL DETAIL plz
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I WANT TO BUY A CHINESE MOBILE WORTH OF 3500 TO 4000 INCLUDING ALL FETURTES MAINLEY TOUCH SCREEN BLUTOOTH GPRS DUAL SIM MP3 MP4 AN ETC PLZ HELP ME TO SELECT A GOOD DEVICE AN SEND ME MODEL DETAIL IN MY E MAIL ID himanshu.jain@sunlife.com, 9818475666
May 6th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
from which place of delhi i can get this cell?
May 6th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I think these phones are available in Ghaffar Market near Karol Bagh, maybe you can find them in Pallika Bazar, CP, too.
May 7th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
i have interested to by a chines mobile worh 3500,so plz send to me a message with model no&price of mobile
May 9th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
need a nice pda based phone in the price range 4500 -6000 rs
May 10th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
This is vikas from delhi.. i wanna to purchase a chinese mobile handset between Rs.4000-5000. including all the features like dual camera, dual sim & having 4-6speakers & high range of megapixel of camera.. can u please tell me from where i can buy in new delhi & which model inludes these features in this cost or aading Rs.1000 in the above mentioned cost.. Please mail me about the regarding querry ay soon as possible.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
@all, Go to Palika Bazaar, Gaffar Market or Nehru Place in New Delhi and enquire about Chinese cellphones will the shopkeepers. I assure you will get good stuff and nice bargains
May 19th, 2008 at 11:32 am
i’m plannang a china mobile in rate between 5000 to 6000 please send me some details about it
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
need a nice chinees mobilephone in the price range 4500 -6000 Rs.Please send to me a message with model no&price of mobile.
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I’ll be posting soon about shops in Delhi where cheap chinese mobiles are available. Keep reading this blog
May 26th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
tell me the price.
May 28th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Iwant to buy a chineses mobile from @3500-4000 range only. give me the information which model is good.where can i buy this phone in delhialso tell me. please send me mail on my email id
May 28th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
This is dharmendra from delhi.. i wanna to purchase a chinese mobile handset between Rs.4000-5000. including all the features like dual camera, dual sim & having 4-6speakers & high range of megapixel of camera.. can u please tell me from where i can buy in new delhi & which model inludes these features in this cost or aading Rs.1000 in the above mentioned cost.. Please mail me about the regarding querry ay soon as possible.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I WANT TO BUY A CHINESE MOBILE WORTH OF RS 5000 AROUND, INCLUDING FETURTES LIKE TOUCH SCREEN, BLUTOOTH, TV, GPRS, MP3-MP4, GOOD CAMERA, ETC. SEND ME SUCH MODEL DETAILS IF AVAILABLE.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
i required one chinies mobile range between 5 to 6thousand rupees with main following feature ie. dual sim,3.2 m.p. camera with flash,mp 3&4 player,blutooth,gprs,4-6 speaker,tv output,send me reply.thanyou.AJAY from LUCKNOW
June 5th, 2008 at 10:05 am
i want to purchase a chinese mobile handset between Rs.3000-4000. including all the features like dual camera,high range of megapixel of camera,mp3 and 4 .. can u please tell me from where i can buy in new delhi & which model inludes these features in this cost or aading Rs.1000 in the above mentioned cost.. Please mail me about the regarding querry ay soon as possible. tell me at vin4682@gmail.com
June 6th, 2008 at 10:12 am
thease phones r realy cool
althoght they come without warrenty
but they r gud ,
i have been using s3 for past 8 month
its work great
didt creat any problum 2 me
June 6th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Right. That is a matter of pure luck. Sneezy Melon’s handset is working fine, except that the touch screen has got a thumb impression on it which isn’t going away now
.
June 8th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Hi,i need to know if there are gprs settings available on spice mobile for these chinese phones.
June 11th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I LIKE TO BUY MOBILE BETWEEN 2500 TO 5000 Rs. MAIL ME PRISE LIST ON MY ID.
June 12th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
i have china model N958 model phone from last 8 days but bluetooth and fm is not working what is the problem.please send me suggession to my mail.
Thanking you.
June 12th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Plz mail me pricel list of chinese mobile phones. range between Rs.3500 to Rs.6000.
June 20th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Plz send me details of sets available in range 2500 to 4500 with all latest features.
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I want to buy a chinese phone with all facilities(bluetooth,FM,external memory card,gprs,mp3) with the price between Rs2500-4000
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
tell me the chinese phone with all facilities ranging between Rs2500-4000
June 24th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
hi this is raj, I WANT TO BUY ACHINESE MOBILE WORTH OF 2500 TO 4500 INCLUDING ALL FETURTES MAINLEY TOUCH SCREEN BLUTOOTH GPRS DUAL SIM MP3 MP4 AN ETC PLZ HELP ME TO SELECT A GOOD DEVICE AN SEND ME MODEL DETAIL plz
June 26th, 2008 at 1:21 am
As far i think, companies like okia and sony use to manufacture their comodities especially 4 this part of the world due to lesser labour cost and that is from were the chinese mobile companies gets the design and manufacture them in their owne way. Thus i think technologically as far as hardwqare is concered thes mobiles are equally good.
he only part were chines mobiles lack is the s/w part. As s/w is not prepaired in China thus these mobiles uses s/w made by themselves and thus these s/w are not so good.
If by any means the s/w of thes mobiles could b changed with something standard or well developed like symbion , windows or apple i-phone’s, they could definetely beet thes giants like sony , nokia and motorola.
If any one know the way how to do it plz tell me. I intend to do it.
my mail address is: vikram.mark@gmail.com
June 28th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I WANT TO BUY ACHINESE MOBILE WORTH OF 2500 TO 4500 INCLUDING ALL FETURTES MAINLEY TOUCH SCREEN BLUTOOTH GPRS DUAL SIM MP3 MP4 AN ETC PLZ HELP ME TO SELECT A GOOD DEVICE AN SEND ME MODEL DETAIL plz
June 30th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I Think this mobile gonna be boon on other stupid company and i also said that this mobile has so may fetures so budy make cheers in your face and say hello chines mobiles
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:13 am
I WANT TO BUY ACHINESE MOBILE WORTH OF 3500 TO 5500 INCLUDING ALL FETURTES MAINLEY TOUCH SCREEN BLUTOOTH GPRS DUAL SIM MP3 MP4 AN ETC PLZ HELP ME TO SELECT A GOOD DEVICE AN SEND ME MODEL DETAIL IN MY E MAIL ID
tpmanju@rediffmail.com
July 4th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Tell me the price of this pda mobile in indian rupees.