Harsh Chinese 'tin' or iPhone 4 from the basements of the Celestial Empire

Пользователь Роман Юрьев с сайта iphones.ru пишет: На днях ко мне в гости зашел хороший товарищ и, хитро улыбнувшись, извлек из сумки коробку с iPhone 4. «У меня уже есть iPhone 4, зачем ты эту штуку приволок?», – спросил я, еще не понимая подвоха. На что получил ответ: «А ты рассмотри ее [коробку] получше, пощупай, открой». Она сразу показалась мне странной: крупнее, чем коробка от европейского iPhone 4, но чуть мельче, чем, например, у британского или гонконгского комплекта, в котором лежит здоровенный такой переходник на их монструозные электророзетки. О, а где яблочко на нижней грани? Нет там яблочка. Открыв коробку, я понял, что имею дело с очередной китайской репликой. Естественно возникло желание сравнить ее с оригиналом, тем более что раньше я сталкивался лишь с копиями первого iPhone и iPhone 3G/3GS.




The cardboard of the 'Chinese' box is simpler than the original, the printing is worse, but overall the quality is at a decent level. I put the word 'Chinese' in quotes because, in essence, the original iPhone 4, all its components and packaging are also produced in China, just at different factories, ones that have long surpassed many enterprises in the USA and Europe in terms of equipment. Therefore, when I meet another person boasting that their phone/player/any other gadget is assembled somewhere in the USA, France, Finland, it can only bring a smile. Serious Chinese enterprises have long reached a global level. While the legendary Japanese assembly commands respect, again, all of this is a relic of the past and echoes of Sony, which assembles some flagship products in its homeland and they can indeed boast excellent quality. But let's return to the Chinese replica of the iPhone 4.

Pyrishki-pupyrishki. We open the box and see a tough pink bag with bubbles, and inside it — a phone in yet another bag. After removing the last bag, I discovered that the device is also wrapped in film — impressive.

Included with the phone, which is packed like a cabbage, is a gloomy white headset with a large answer/end call button, a USB cable for connecting to a PC or power adapter, the power adapter itself, and a spare battery. The 'tray' in which the phone lies is made of the same remarkable plastic as cheap children's masquerade masks, and its thickness is similar.



The power adapter is small, black, and unremarkable, very light, and has a standard USB port. It's strange that they made it in black instead of white. They copied the modular design, but not the color.

And it looks almost like the real thing!

Well, it's time to feel the phone itself. You know — overall, it looks decent and from a distance it perfectly disguises itself as a real iPhone 4. And if a person has never seen the original device, and doesn't pick up the replica, they could easily confuse it with the branded item even up close.


I should note that in terms of dimensions it is slightly larger than the original, slightly lighter in weight, and there is not a gram of metal or glass in the body of this device – just plastic: painted and transparent. By the way, the front and back panels are initially covered with films, and not packaging ones, but specifically protective ones. Probably, the surface of the transparent plastic is very easily scratched, and the Chinese applied the films instead of an oleophobic coating. A friend peeled it off the back panel earlier and said that it was very difficult to do.

On my phone, there is a Zagg invisibleShield film on the back panel, and the 'orange peel' effect is clearly visible.

Absolutely everything is copied: the layout of the controls, ports, screws, speakers, and their design too, and even the SIM card slot. The only difference is that in the Chinese replica it is just drawn. Yes, yes, just drawn – a rough Chinese copy. Another amusing detail is the audio jack. In the counterfeit, it is 2.5 millimeters instead of the standard 3.5 millimeters, which is clearly visible in the photo. I don't even know why the Chinese decided to squeeze in such an element. Maybe they ran out of headsets with a 3.5-millimeter jack in the warehouse?



Pay attention to the Home button – the Chinese have cut corners again, it sticks out above the front panel, and in general, it feels loose and flimsy.


I can't help but note the quite good build quality. The device hardly creaks and feels solid in the hand — that's nice. As for the cameras, even the two of them. There is little known about them — clearly some cheap VGA modules, but the rear one even has a flash and it works! The front module might actually be a dummy.

Let's turn it on!

Well, it's time to turn on the unseen beast. At first, you can see the colorful 'Welcome' message, and then a lit black apple – stylish, but clearly ripped off from a popular wallpaper for Mac OS X.

It's hard to say what the display resolution of the device is, although, judging by personal feelings, it's 320x240 pixels. A friend assured me that the device has a 200 MHz processor. You can feel it, as the not overly loaded interface works with great effort, and let's not come up with epithets – it simply lags terribly.

As you can see, the basement masters tried their best to copy the original interface. Trying to scroll through the pages, I achieved nothing. It turned out there is a trick – you can only scroll them by swiping your finger across the bottom part of the screen – where the dots indicating the number of desktops are drawn.

The touch panel is clearly of the resistive type. It responds poorly to touches and gestures, requiring multiple presses on an icon or menu item, sliding a finger across the screen while trying to scroll, etc. The appearance of the basic applications is also copied from the original iOS. Even when launching the 'Camera' app, there is a signature aperture opening effect, but it lags significantly. However, the calendar differs from the original in iOS and resembles the one in Android more. The phone is localized for Russian — the Chinese are trying!


Impressions:

What can I say — this is the real 'hardcore' as it is, but one must consider the fact that I have a real iPhone 4 and several years of experience using 'Apple' phones. Naturally, for me, the Chinese replica will be terrible, and the way it works is too. The interface lags and responds poorly to user actions, it is clumsily put together, and the display quality is far from even cheap Samsung and LG touch phones. The camera is also terrible, even though it has a flash. Not only do the pictures turn out bad, but it also only takes a photo after pressing the corresponding button on the screen about five times. Overall, everything is bad. I repeat — it is personally bad for me.

And here is a person who has never held an iPhone 4 in their hands but has seen it in pictures, and they will be quite satisfied with this gadget. Especially if before that the user was working with some ancient phone with a monochrome display and big buttons. After all, the build quality of the device is decent, the display is large, and the camera has a flash. Moreover, my unit had two slots for SIM cards. As I learned from my friend's words, there are similar models with one slot as well as with a built-in analog TV tuner.

Do you think this is sarcasm? Not at all. I have seen people wandering into my friends' Apple tech store (an official reseller), asking about the price and functionality of the iPhone, and then with a crooked smile saying that they would rather go and buy a similar device for 6-8 times cheaper, and at the same time, it would allow them to insert two SIM cards, use a built-in television, and so on in the same spirit.

By the way, I still don't understand how to disassemble the device in question to insert the SIM card. I assume I would have to unscrew the screws on the bottom edge, but I didn't do that. What if I mess something up, and I still have to sell the device to people?

Every product has its buyer.

By the way, regarding sales. It turns out that this kind of device, namely this specific model and its derivatives, is in huge demand, according to my acquaintance. They sell for $130-$160 and people are grabbing, grabbing Chinese replicas with great enthusiasm. To be honest, I don't understand it. There’s probably a rule that the less you know, the better you sleep and feel happier. After all, for the same money, you can buy something from the budget touchscreens of LG, Samsung, Philips and get a much higher quality and functional device that is actually worth the money invested in it. If you put in some effort, you can also find something from the budget devices based on Android — it would be a whole different world compared to the gadget in question.

But many people do not know all these details. They see the heavily advertised iPhone 4 in front of them, the legendary smartphone that everyone is talking about, and at the same time, they are asking some ridiculous money for this device. Many buy such things and enjoy using them, genuinely happy with this purchase, and how will they differ from the owner of a real iPhone 4? Not at all! Everyone is satisfied and everyone is happy, and as for the price, everyone pays as much as they can afford.