www.chinaphonearena.com

I have been looking for something which, on the surface, should not be that difficult to find.

A physical clone with plenty of usable frequencies.

Let me clarify. I do not care if it has a name brand on it or not. In fact, I would prefer it without branding because it usually means that they have a horrible interface taken from one of the majors, right along with all the crappy bloatware (I'm looking at you Samsung). I just want it to PHYSICALLY be a match in a few major areas.

What I am looking for is:

1. A physical clone where all cases, batteries, chargers, and battery covers are 100% interchangeable.

2. An interface as close to stock as possible, formatted correctly, and either rooted or easily rooted.

3. An exhaustive list of specifications that are 100% accurate. Frequencies, camera (including f), screen resolution, RAM, ROM, processor, etc. Even if the specs are crap, I want to know what they actually are. No fake ANTUTU software with moronic scores on a dual core MTK, thank you.

4. Good basic solid build quality. I understand it will never be the same buying an original, but everything should work and the screen should have no flaws.

Now that I have asked for the impossible, I will say why.

The most upsetting thing about dealing with China phones (above and beyond the usual) is being able to easily find batteries, accessories, and cases wherever I may be. It also means that I can buy extended batteries and battery cases. I can get any of a million cool cases, including form fit screw waterproof ones.

For example, lets assume I am at Disney World. I see rows of iPhone and Samsung cases, with maybe a few others, printed with the picture of a famous mouse. I want the stupid mouse on my phone but alas, it is not meant to be. Thusly, both myself and the poor multinational corporate conglomerate are sad.

Another example. Lets assume I want a spare battery while I'm visiting the mouse because I forgot mine at home. Why? Because I'm stupid, but that's not important right now. So, I go to the overpriced local tourist traps (AKA: the "AT&T store") to find a replacement. If I have an iDumb, it doesn't matter... but I can find a perfect fitting external flush battery case, along with about a zillion Samsung compatible batteries of all capacities while I'm at it.

So thus, begins my decent into madness to find this particular white whale which has ingested a unicorn with a belly full of four leaf clovers.

Good China phones are as good build wise as Samsung etc...

But the phone you want doesn't exist. No phone maker is going to put that much energy into a clone.

If you need all that, just buy a real one. There are some decent step down Samsung models in the $300 range.

Your requests are too high as stated by DirKNirK simply buy a real phone not a clone, China clone phones are cheap for a reason, if you ever find a China built phone that has all you request you will be paying around $600 or $700 hundred dollars, so just buy a name brand phone.

Well, maybe, but here is the thing.

The larger China brand corps are already making reliable phones with real/true specs.

What I'm driving at with those companies is this: Think of it as a common form factor.

You would not have to engineer batteries as they would be "standard".

You would not have to engineer external form molds of either plastic or metal. They would be "standard" for the entire exterior of the product, including the battery door.

In other words, simply continue to produce the phones you are making NOW, but just make it in a standardized form factor. This is not a matter of effort or money as simply copying these physical form factors is far cheaper than designing them from scratch.

I think there could be potentially a huge market for this - even if the only physical compatibility is making standard cases for popular phones fit their products....

They are not going to do it, these China companies do not want to make their phones that way, you need to realize that.
All I can say is good luck to you.

China does make some excellent phones. Spec wise for $200 you're not going to get the same Antutu. But in actual use of the phone, if you research and buy a proper one you would never know the difference build wise or use wise.

That wasn't the case a year ago, but nowadays there are plenty of excellent China models. Clones...no. Excellent China phones... Yes.

Thanks for the replies!

All of that aside, it is obvious that China produces many, many physical clones. As it was pointed out, they are not (nor would I expect them to be) on par with the originals.

I know that HDC and No 1 make copies/knock-offs, I was more curious if they made physical clones (same dimensions, no markings or BS software) that would fit cases and batteries.

I guess that until the Chinese understand marketing in the West better, this will not be happening. Maybe they will simply begin to provide for sale (at a nice profit, of course) many case styles/colors from the factory, right along with batteries (both standard and high capacity).

Oh well.

You guys have already taken this discussion to everywhere I can think of. @edcoolio , I totally understand where you're coming from in what you want. Unfortunately, I just don't think it exists or is ever going to exist.

The biggest convenience of having a super-common widely-known phone truly seems to be the plethora of third party accessories custom made just for your device.

The best alternative this market has to offer otherwise is that you save enough money that you can buy all of the OEM and/or universal accessories you could ever need.

- OEM/Universal case
- Extra OEM battery
- Universal battery charger
- Extra universal phone chargers to keep in your car/luggage/office, etc.
- Universal portable battery
- Universal cell phone car mount
- Universal problem solver (aka $money)

@DirKNirK and @tkitts , great points from both of you guys across the board. It's a great idea, but either because of the trend of these phones or maybe because of legal reasons (I'm speculating), I just haven't seen anything like this in the China Phone market.

By the sounds of it, you don't want to fork out for the real thing, else you wouldn't be asking about clones in the first place.

Personally, I'd had enough of Apple after 5 years, the 4s being my last iPhone - the 5 just didn't do it for me any more and I wanted as Apple themselves would say "something different".

So I looked around and got myself a Doogee DG550 - I really haven't looked back - rooted it straight way, got a nice case and a screen protector and now I have Kitkat on there I'm as happy as..well.. some bloke called Larry.

It doesn't hurt that it looks damn sweet too.

What I'm saying is, look at these phones from China that aren't just clones - check out the likes of the Doogee DG900 (my next purchase) or something like the Kingzone K1.

The phones now coming out of China are not like the rough clones from a few years ago - there is some serious competition coming and I for one am loving it.

Al

Well, you guys nailed it.

This is more of a hobby than anything else. I've even considered on my trips to China to contact some of the more interesting factories and meet with them face to face to see what business potential is there... and fulfill my personal curiosity of course!

This is an interesting place to throw ideas out and get some well reasoned opinions as opposed to the common "you can't so don't waste our time". The fun is in the hunt for the products and the solutions... at least for me.

Next on the list is more watch phones... and why don't all distributors have the dimensions, like the thickness or the watch (how fat off the wrist!) available, much less searchable! Lol.

Thanks again.