Gizmodo: clone

The Dumb iPhone That Thinks It's a MacBook

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:45:43 EST

I know I've said that dumb cellphones must die, but what about a dumb cellphone called iPhone that looks like a white MacBook? Yeah, smash those too.

This 2.2-inch clamshell aberration—technically the Apple Q300 Ultra—costs around $70, which is $70 too much. [Shanzai]

The Worst Gadget Ripoff I've Seen Today

Rosa Golijan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:40:00 EST

Allow me to introduce the Hi-Pod phone. It comes with a one-inch LCD display, FM radio support, and an imitation iPod clickwheel stuck onto a hideously clunky chunk of plastic. It's $85 and doesn't work in the US or Canada.

If for whatever reason this piece of junk appeals to you, you can order it straight from China Grabber's vaguely shady-looking website, but I would suggest that you use the money to get your head examined instead. [ChinaGrabber via PMP via Uber Gizmo via Dvice]

The GPS Who Wants To Be an iPhone

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:20:00 EDT

I wish there was a quick way to snatch many of these cheap Chinese thingamajigs. Like the MMDD MD-520, a 4.5-inch touchscreen "all-in-one GPS" that really does it all, including cloned iPhone icons and Flash.

In fact, it's probably the only thing resembling an iPhone ever getting Flash. It comes with a 16:9 4.5-inch touchscreen display, Bluetooth, FM transmitter, eBook reader, and playback support for WMA, MP3, WAV, WMV, MP4, ASF, and AVI, plus a note taking app, a... law app? Pill app? Painting app? Windows XP landscape app? Blob app? Who knows. [PC Online via Cloned In China via UberGizmo]

Unboxed Psystar Open(3) Looks Like Any Other Hackintosh

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:40:00 EDT

Someone got the first Open(3)—the kind-of-slimline Psystar Mac "clone"—and posted a lot of pics. Like its guts, it just looks like any other Hackintosh. You know, the ones you can make yourself.

I would rather get my own PC and install Mac OS X myself, thank you very much. [Flickr via Engadget]

Forget iClones, Everybody's Copying the Iriver Spinn These Days

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:00:00 EST

Looks like the iriver Spinn is the hippest template for shameless plagiarism these days. Not one but two devices, a camera and a PMP, have popped up with obvious "inspiration" from iriver's '70s-influenced baby.

The camera, a no-name little 5MP bugger from China, is more forgivable, since its spinning mechanism does serve a different purpose: turn the lens around and you can take self-portraits.

But the PMP, a much less-crappy design by Myracer called the lisse t10, takes the awkward pointed chin of the T-Mobile G1 and pairs it with the sleek contours and, of course, the spinner, of the Spinn. For shame, nameless Chinese manufacturing drones. For shame. [Engadget and DAPReview]

Meizu's M8 iPhone Clone To Hit US Shores by Christmas Eve

Kit Eaton — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:31:00 EST

We recently mentioned that Meizu's M8 iPhone clonephone was really coming to the shops in China at the end of the year, but according to the head of the company, things'll be happening a bit sooner than that.

J.Wong himself has suggested that it'll be on sale in China no later than the 30th of this month, with Wi-Fi disabled as per China's legal requirements. A fully-enabled Indian version will follow... and then Europe, Hong Kong and the US should be happening by December 24th. The price has been fleshed out a little as well: the 8GB one should go for about $350, and the 16GB for $420. So it's not long until Apple's lawyers can get their mitts on one, and see how much cloning has gone on. [Electronista]

Tiny Chinese N95 Clone Now Right Sized For Babies, Brian Lam

Jason Chen — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:10:00 EDT

Besides the iPhone or maybe even the RAZR, Nokia's N95 has to be the most cloned cellphone in recent Chinese history (not counting the ridiculous copiers in the Tang dynasty). In this case, it's called the MM95 and it's about the length of a guy's finger and the width of two. Exwang.cn (heh heh, wang) has more pics, but unless you've got the hands of a little baby, it's going to be incredibly hard to use. Though maybe Carrie could figure this one out. [JustAMP via Into Mobile]

Psystar Open Computer Reviewed (Verdict: Fast, But Can't Be Recommended)

Jason Chen — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Besides some benchmarks, CNET's review of the Psystar Open Computer doesn't really tell us anything new that we didn't already know before. It's definitely fast for the price, especially compared with the tiny Mac Mini. However, it's missing stuff like iLife, Bluetooth, an IR receiver, DVD burning and the ability to update your computer. If you're fine with using this one particular version of Leopard for all eternity, the Open Computer looks like a decent deal for the money on paper. But as we pointed out yesterday, there are too many reasons why you shouldn't buy this to justify giving them your cash. [CNET]

Exclusive Photos: Psystar's Case, Shipping Contents

Jason Chen — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Reader Patrick sent us these photos of his Psystar machine, which was captured in video earlier today. Here's what these photos tell us. One, Psystar's claim of not being able to reinstall Leopard by yourself is totally true. The package only came with a retail version of Leopard—still shrink-wrapped no less—which doesn't let you install, non-hacked, onto white box machines. It also came with a couple adapters, a power cord, a couple CDs and a case that's largely empty and fairly expandable. Hit the jump to expand the gallery.

Psystar Sells Mac Clone, Becomes Son of Daystar

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:50:00 EDT

Once upon a time, back when most Apple fanboys were still playing with Mr. Potato, a guy called Gil Amelio had the idea of licensing the Mac to clone manufacturers like Motorola and DayStar—a great move that further kicked the company into the ground, making it bleed like a God of War monster and sending its sorry market share into the pits of Hell. And then, the Second Coming happened: Amelio brought Steve Jobs—perhaps his only good move at Cupertino—and after kicking Gil out, His Steveness axed the clones, for it was a really silly idea. Today, the zombies are back: a company called Psystar has announced the $399.99 OpenMac, a Mac clone that allegedly runs Leopard without modification:

The highly extensible OpenMac is a configuration of PC hardware capable of running unmodified OS X Leopard kernels. If you purchase Leopard with your OpenMac we will not only include the actual Leopard retail package with genuine installation disc, but we also include a Psystar restore disc for your OpenMac and we will preinstall Leopard for free so you can begin to use your computer right out of the box.

Apple's EULA prohibits the use of Mac OS X in any hardware not made by Apple, so Psystar's legal position is unclear. The only thing we know for now is that a) their site is down and b) you can spend $400 and get all this:

• 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Processor
• 2GB of DDR2 667 memory
• Integrated Intel GMA 950 Graphics
• 20x DVD+/-R SATA drive that is Lightscribe-capable
• 4 rear USB Ports

in a fully-expandable, butt-ugly generic PC box. Not too shabby. [Psystar —Thanks Sean Crowell]

Move Over Meizu: China's Clone "Gods" do Nokia N95 Too

Kit Eaton — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:34:02 EDT

It's not just the iPhone that's being cloned: now this black 8GB Nokia N95 clone has joined the party. With dual slider keypads, a two megapixel camera with flash, another small camera, media player, Bluetooth and microSD card slot, it's actually not all that bad. It doesn't have the 8GB, of course. But you've got to admire the brazen advertising: "STRAIGHT FROM THE CLONING GODS OF CHINA! WE BRING YOU THE ALL NEW N95 DUAL SLIDE VERSION!" It gets worse.

"A CLONE THAT IS TRULY WORTHY TO BE CALLED AN EXACT REPLICA! SAME DIMENSION, MARKINGS, FEEL .... OVER ALL CLOSEST TO THE REAL N95 BLACK 8 GIG."

Looks like a very professional piece of tech-copying, doesn't it? Detailed right down to the Nokia logo splashed on the front. Those naughty Chinese cloner "gods" have even packaged the phone up with a "Nokia" charger, handsfree earpiece, a 256MB microSD card and a manual. An actual manual. Plus a one-year warranty! Talk about laugh-out-loud.

It's available in the Philippines, apparently, for just $161. [RedFerret]

iPod Nano With a 2MP Camera...Well, Sort Of

Sean Fallon — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:20:35 EST

Leave it to Chinese manufacturer BTL International to ~~improve~~ ripoff the iPod Nano design by throwing in a 2-megapixel camera. Outside of that, the device, dubbed the M2406, supports AVI videos, and MP3, WMA, WMV and WAV audio files. It also features a 2.4-inch TFT screen, a built-in speaker and six EQ settings. Internal flash memory ranges from 128MB to 4GB, but you could always supplement that with a miniSD card. [Product Page via PMP Today via Gadgetizer]

BenQ Mobile Internet Device Running Linux

blongo3 — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:30:31 EDT

BenQ was hitting the floors of IDF showing off a new UMPC (although they call it a 'mobile internet device'). While it may look like just a poor attempt to capture iPhone/iPod touch hype, it was surprisingly running Linux. Could we be moving towards a non-Microsoft based ultra-mobile future? [JKKMobile]

The iPhone Gets Cloned Again

Jason Chen — Sat, 26 May 2007 11:55:43 EDT

Remember that Michael Keaton movie where he clones himself, but every time he makes a new one the clones get dumber and dumber? Well, these iPhone clones are kind of like that. The newest Chinese duplicate of Apple's prize phone is called the P168. Incidentally, in case you're wondering why it's called 168, the numbers 168 sounds phonetically similar to a "get rich" phrase when you pronounce in Chinese, kind of like how high school broads say "h8" in all their text messages to Travis.

It has six speakers for "surround sound," 3.5-inch touchscreen, face keys, 1.3-megapixel camera (even though it SAYS 2.0-megapixels on the back), microSD slot, and various other things that aren't nearly even as good as the Meizu Mini One—which our commenters have dubbed the Jeezus! phone. – Jason Chen

iPhone? [Phone Daily via New Launches via Uber Phones]

Hua Long's IP2000 iPhone Clone Arrives

Jason Chen — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:00:35 EDT

Following Meizu and Deeda's lead, Hua Long's introducing a phone that bears quite a bit of resemblance to Apple's iPhone. However, other than looks, there's not much else that resembles the iPhone.

The innards house a dual-band GSM phone with a 3.5-inch non-touch screen, 2-megapixel camera, MP3/3GP/MP4 playback and just a VGA resolution. Excuse us if we're not impressed by this one. – Jason Chen

M8cool [via Slashphone via My iPhone]

LG Says Apple Copied the Prada Phone. Also, Apple's Mother is Obese

Jason Chen — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:10:41 EST

It seems that LG's not taking all this "iPhone clone" talk lightly. LG's Head of Mobile Handset R&D, Mr. Woo-Young Kwak, had this to say when the press uttered the painful phrase one too many times:

We consider that Apple copycat Prada phone after the design was unveiled when it was presented in the iF Design Award and won the prize in September 2006.

Let's just say they were both developed at around the same time and neither of them took significant design details from the other, shall we? – Jason Chen

LG R&D Head Officially Arguing "Apple Phone Copied Prada Phone" [Telecoms Korea via Textually]

iPod Nano Cloned and Cheapened

Jason Chen — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:25:31 EST

A company in Malaysia seems to have borrowed a bit of the old iPod Nano 2G design in making their players. The knockoffs support MP3, WMA, MTV, AMV, voice recording, ebook reading, FM radio, photo viewing, and comes with 1 or 2GB of memory. Best of all, they're now only RM 200 ($54) and RM 290 ($79).

Much less expensive than Apple's offering, but somehow we doubt it's built to the same standards. Would make for a great gag gift though. – Jason Chen

[BULK]MP4 (IPOD NANO 2G lookalike), [Lowyat via The MP3 Players]

SunConnection SC-MP001W: A Midget Shuffle Clone

Brian Lam — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 12:58:27 EDT

Oh we like it when people out-Apple, Apple. This square MP3 player steals the shuffle's button layout, and has a slot for an SD card. Although thicker, and wider on one side, we appreciate its expandability. Japan only, and at the price of $26 dollars, it probably doesn't come with a memory card.

– Brian Lam

SC-MP001w Baby iPod Player [ Via Mobilewhack ]