Would you buy a clone phone? - General Questions and Answers

So I've been looking into getting a new phone, and I've been seeing some of these cheap clone phones, looking like Mate 40 or other $700+ phones but being less than $200. They claim to still have a decent processor and screen and all that. The one in particular I'm looking at has a 7.3" screen and 6800mAh battery (or so it claims) form AliExpress. But I'm wondering if it's worth the risk. I messaged the seller and they said if it doesn't work well on AT&T here in the states I can return it, but the return shipping could be $50 or something else obnoxious (and at that point I could probably just resell it here as long as it works OK at least). So the question is, is it worth the risk? Would you risk it, to potentially save $300 on a proper midrange phone? Or would you rather just spend the money and take the (relative) guarantee that your phone is gonna be a good device? The phone I would buy if I wasn't considering the cheap clone is a Motorola Edge S. Here's links to the two phones I'm looking at from AliExpress:
Motorola Edge S
Some kind of funky knock-off/clone
What do you all think?
PS: I'm not really interested in rooting or anything like that, honestly just don't need it. 99% of my phone usage is texting, calling, browsing the web, or watching videos. So as long as its response time is decent and it has a decent screen, it really should be fine.

No. I much rather buy something not made in China especially devices connected to the internet and my data.
I have zero confidence in their integrity.

Most phone's offered on AliExpress and comparable sources for little money aren't clones but fakes, means the device specs claimed aren't true at all.
My advice: Let your fingers off it.

Related

[Q] What do you think about negrielectronics?

I am going to buy some devices from negrielectronics.com Had anyone already bought something there? Can I trust them?
I went to there website thos may not mean much but they look good to me given the fact that i brought a a junk tablet from china, because it was cheap & wasted my $$$ should have known better but just by looking at thewebsite alone its looks all high end no cheap ass junk. Items i would say go for it unlocked phones too show around!

[Q] Why smartphones are so expensive?

What is the difference between iPod Touch and iPhone? A $5 GSM/CDMA chip? Why $400 price difference?
Large screen Android tablets can be had for $200. Why unlocked phones are $600-800?
Sorry if it's been discussed, my search didn't find a good topic on the subject.
Wow, no answers! Noone else is interested in this question?
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Which?
They're expensive because of convenience, demand. people want it they gotta pay....
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They are so expensive, because people buy them anyways.
Manufactors and carriers are all after our money, why should they lower the price.
Besides that some devices also have to pay back the research that went into developing them.
Don't have any idea why unlocked phones are costlier but it you compare tablet and phone, size does matter. Smaller, faster and costier.
go overseas and see the prices some can have more then a hundred dollars difference even if they are the same devices
The price triples at the 3rd world countries. I wonder why.
Yeah, you're lucky for not live in a country like Brazil, there a smartphone like S2 or Iphone4 costs around 1000,00 US$ bucks...
well maybe unlucking phone is expensive because its not really designated in any other area than the original area, but the publisher wants to publicly sale it to other region. that can be the cause too
Development is expensive.
You buy a brand, this is why most of the time you pay double.. buy another phone with the same specs but with a non popular brand and you will pay less...
Not to mention that you are talking about Apple...
All your reasoning would apply for everything else electronic- TVs, MP3 or Blue Ray players, etc. Yet they all keep coming down in prices. But not the phones.
Yea, good question I was wondering the same.
It really is a gigantic gap between say an Iphone and Ipod touch in terms of price, yet the hardware has very little difference.
Seems like a marketing thing, as most users will want all the goodies packed together in a small package + a phone in one device.
It's a conspiracy i tell yea
You should see it like this. When you buy a phone, you pay for the development, the construction, the shipping, the people who check it, the people who made the software. add that up with an expensive casing (like HTC has.) and the euro's (or dollars) fly onto the price tag. With Apple, I don't know, they just rip your wallet.
Smartphones are still upcomming, with new technology added every time a new device is being developed.
Why is SSD more expensive than a normal HDD, because it's a new technology. DVD drives used to be really expensive aswell, look at them now they aren't so expensive anymore.
Anything that's new has a price, and it's your choice if you want to pay for it or not.
I hope this helps.
It's not that unbranded phones are more expensive, the price just isn't subsidised by the network operators.
Network operators sell you the handset at a loss, but tie you into a contract to recoup their initial cost. Customer inertia means there's a good chance you'll stay with them.
well they give you much more ie. i have an ace and i can do everything what i usually do on my pc... except gaming ofc.
Unlocked phones are not only expensive because of the demand. When you buy one on contract, you are going to end up paying over $1000 over the 2 year contract anyways. That's why they discount smartphones so much on contract, they know they will get paid back from the contract.
Sent from my HD2
I'm guessing prices don't come down on phones because carriers subsidize prices. Manufacturers know that and therefore prices will stay rather high. Having said that, development on new phone technology is going at a fast rate right now so manufacturers also are recouping those costs.
Althestrasz said:
You should see it like this. When you buy a phone, you pay for the development, the construction, the shipping, the people who check it, the people who made the software. add that up with an expensive casing (like HTC has.) and the euro's (or dollars) fly onto the price tag. With Apple, I don't know, they just rip your wallet.
Smartphones are still upcomming, with new technology added every time a new device is being developed.
Why is SSD more expensive than a normal HDD, because it's a new technology. DVD drives used to be really expensive aswell, look at them now they aren't so expensive anymore.
Anything that's new has a price, and it's your choice if you want to pay for it or not.
I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything else also has to be developed, designed, engineered, assembled, shipped and retailed. In fact, iPod was developed before iPhone and they mostly made of the same parts.
Also, if you look at pricing for prepaid phones, I don't think that carriers subsidize that much. Mostly they hike their prices to force us in their contracts.
A week or so ago I saw a link on one of the "deal tracking" sites, an HTC tablet was offered for the same price with no contract or service as the "discounted" price from Sprint.
theyre expensives due to all research and work of the engineers...and of course to obtain more money from all of us...you want the finest and latest technology from theirs...you have to pay whatever their wants...

[Q] advice on selling a new upgrade for profit?

I've found bits and pieces of info, but nothing really direct, so here's my situation.
I'm up for an upgrade with tmobile. There's some good black friday deals coming up, the s3 for $50, for instance (with new contract, not sure if thats an upgrade price as well). I don't really want the s3, so I'm considering buying any hot phone and flipping it so I can get what I want, maybe even buy a used mid-range smartphone and pocket some cash. I know many people have done this, but I'm worried about potential problems that can occur.
What are the chances of being caught by tmobile and being suspended? If I receive my upgrade by mail (which is most likely), do I need to worry about activating/deactivating it before I switch phones and sell it? I don't really care about opening the package, probably will in any case to remove the sim. Is there any way I can get the retail store to unlock it? Tell them I'm going to use it overseas or something? Any other issues anybody knows of?
The biggest risk is probably buying a used phone off ebay or craigslist, which, even if everything is clean and straightforward, I know can end up badly. Ideally, I would just buy one from a retailer, giving me peace of mind and a warranty. But, if the difference is spending $200 vs. pocketing $200 plus an upgraded phone (I'm still using the G1 by the way), then I would seriously consider doing any work necessary.
Anyone have some experience?

How to spot the fake??

Looking at buying a second version of my phoen for messing around on, can even be scratched up, i dont care for that purpose lol.
But ive heard alot recently about fake samsung products, and i want to be sure that the used phone i buy is another legit samsung product - in order to be sure any rom i try with the second one, ifi like it alot, will also work the same on my legit/main phone.... but how do you spot the fake, online??
Im looking at this one right now... but can i count on it being real?
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/SAMSUNG-SGH-...201?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4193d0aac9
I dont want to spend alot on it since its only a secondary... which is why i dont want to buy another of the one i did buy. and that was also a year ago and the seller/item is probably gone. the seller has 99% positive feedback,
*or* can anyone recommend somewhere else to buy one at a good rate for a not-perfect-looking but still works version of this phone??
They only make fakes/clones of high-end flagship models. You can be assured that this 4.5 year old phone from a seller with 99.1% positive feedback over 50000+ transactions is genuine.

Selling phones at cost price?

Guys, i bought a LeTV x600. Excited about this phone and the new (yet big) company in the phone world, i went to watch their presentation. It looks they are selling this phone, other models too, at cost price! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WHNbrYGWQM&feature=youtu.be&t=6395
Their idea is to sell at cost price and make profit from their streamming service (they are the chinese netflix) used from the phones of course. Chinese companies are already releasing flagship phones for half the price. Some are really great. But this could be a paradigm shift in the way of doing business. I mean most companies have to get profit from phones, they don't have "other" services in order to make up for selling the phones at cost price. Operators already do something similar to this, the phone is for free, but they obligate you to use their network for 1 or 2 years. We can buy this phone with no obligation to use their streamming service.
I'm no business expert, Apple and Samsung will always be Apple and Samsung, but i think this could really hurt the small/medium players. This is not a "cheap" badly made phone just for the purpose of watching stuff. Just watch the reviews about it.
Think HP selling printers at low price, hopping to get the real (and absurdly high) profit from ink.
What do you think about this?
On a sidenote, the LeTV ROM have some nasty/lame bugs and they are being a bit slow to fix them. IMHO, nowadays most phones are released inmmaturely. Sure, smartphones are more complex than older phones, but still companies could spend a bit more time doing QA on them. They understimate the work and time to have a really mature software. But time runs fast nowadays. Having great specs on a phone is not enough. I think on this case, if LeTV doesn't change their attitude, they can say bye bye to their great idea. Because customers are impatient and don't forgive much.

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