You’ve decided to give yourself a treat by getting yourself a quality device with your hard-earned money. HTC, Samsung, Sony, iPhone, e.t.c. all come to mind. Whether new or old, as long as you’re not buying directly from the service outlet of such companies or their authorized distributors, you’re in the danger of losing your cash for next-to-nothing.
A clone is a phone that LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE the phone of your dreams, but it is NOT the phone of your dreams. With a layman’s knowledge, it’s hard to believe it’s different until you are told. So, let’s run down five sure ways of identifying ‘Clones’.
1. CHEAPER: Clones are cheaper than the real devices. You can compare prices for new and used phones online, from official or knowledgeable sources, before you hit the market. Two weeks ago, I witnessed a lady bargaining for fairly-used Samsung S5 for #13,000 but the seller was like ‘This is Original London Used. I can’t sell it less than #15,000.’ and they haggled on. If only she knew fairly used Samsung S5 costs about #50,000, give or take a few.
2. BOOT LOGO: The boot logo is the picture of the manufacturers’ name the phone shows when you put it on..or off. Now, the ‘smart’ Clones will show you exactly what you want to see, but when you do a ‘factory reset’, an option under Settings, you will see the real manufacturers when you turn it on..or off. I was in this Delta Line bus waiting to leave the park, when the pastor praying told the guy sitting beside me that his Sony Xperia is a clone (he actually said ‘fake’). The guy disbelieved him, but when he pulled out the battery, he saw indeed that the name on the battery and under it was ‘XBO’ instead of Sony. He still disbelieved, arguing that it shows ‘Sony’ when he turns it on. When the pastor was about to drop off, he told the guy to do a factory reset and see what happens to the ‘Sony’ logo. The guy did this, and when the phone came on again, it didn’t show Sony again, but ‘XBO’. Before he could turn to my direction, I closed my eyes and began to nod to the music from my earpiece.
3. SCREENSHOT: Most original devices take a screenshot when a combination of ‘Power+Volume’ down or ‘Power+Home’ buttons are pressed. I assure you that the phone named ‘Feiteng’ or ‘Landvo’ or even the subtle ‘HDC One’ will never respond to this combinations, even if Schwazeneggar was pressing the buttons.
4. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: Other than the battery type and position, these Clones have slight or huge differences from the phones they imitate. The first thing you should do before buying a phone is to get the phone specifications from a trusted website like gsmarena.com. Run a google search with ‘ *phone model* specifications ‘ and you’ll get the results you seek. Examples of such differences that can be easily noticed are:
–Screen size: The screen size is usually smaller in the inferior clones by sone inches.
–Screen resolution: At best settings in the camera, a picture taken with a clone will show a smaller resolution in the ‘image details’ than the original device.
–Operating System: Clones usually come with an earlier version, if not a complete imitation of the Operating System in the original device (Android, iOS or Windows)
–Camera Quality. Clones have a poorer camera, no questions. The picture quality pales in comparison to the real deal. This is not helped by the fact that Clones also have inferior screens.
That’s how a female friend was saved by a selfie. She took a selfie with her friend’s Galaxy Grand Prime and she so loved it that she was determined to get hers soonest. Off she went to the market for hers, but when she took selfies, she was disappointed by the result. Bottom line is, she almost bought a clone but was smart a little to recognize the difference. Next time she wanted to go for it, we had to go together.
5. HARDWARE INFO: The hardware the device packs under the hood is where the major difference between Clones and Original devices. I left this for last because it takes time to check and you have to be a little tech savvy to find your way about this. Equipped with the detailed specifications of the original phone from gsmarena or any other trusted sites, you can install applications like CPU Z for Androids, System Check for iOS or System Information for Windows mobile. These applications will give detailed information about your phone’s hardware. You will notice differences in the following if the device is a clone.
–CPU: Android and iPhone Clones use the cheaper ‘Mediatek’ processor instead of Qualcomm, Krait, Exynos or the A4,A5,A6,A7,A8 or A9 of iPhone series.
–RAM: Most Android Clones have a smaller RAM (Random Access Memory) than the genuine phones. It is used to temporarily store data that the phone is working with at the moment. Clones usually have RAMs between the 512MB – 1GB range except in iPhone clones where they are somewhat bigger, but never better.
–Internal Memory: Clones, in general, stay away from installing large memory or quality storage devices in phones. So, expect a smaller internal memory in a Clone than in the original device. That’s how someone was accusing Apple of being stingy with memory by installing 2GB in iPhone 6S. It’s either he is confusing the RAM for the Internal Memory or what he is using is a Clone. iPhone 6S only comes in 16GB, 64GB or 128GB memory. Even 32GB variant is a clone.
A clone is a phone that LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE the phone of your dreams, but it is NOT the phone of your dreams. With a layman’s knowledge, it’s hard to believe it’s different until you are told. So, let’s run down five sure ways of identifying ‘Clones’.
1. CHEAPER: Clones are cheaper than the real devices. You can compare prices for new and used phones online, from official or knowledgeable sources, before you hit the market. Two weeks ago, I witnessed a lady bargaining for fairly-used Samsung S5 for #13,000 but the seller was like ‘This is Original London Used. I can’t sell it less than #15,000.’ and they haggled on. If only she knew fairly used Samsung S5 costs about #50,000, give or take a few.
2. BOOT LOGO: The boot logo is the picture of the manufacturers’ name the phone shows when you put it on..or off. Now, the ‘smart’ Clones will show you exactly what you want to see, but when you do a ‘factory reset’, an option under Settings, you will see the real manufacturers when you turn it on..or off. I was in this Delta Line bus waiting to leave the park, when the pastor praying told the guy sitting beside me that his Sony Xperia is a clone (he actually said ‘fake’). The guy disbelieved him, but when he pulled out the battery, he saw indeed that the name on the battery and under it was ‘XBO’ instead of Sony. He still disbelieved, arguing that it shows ‘Sony’ when he turns it on. When the pastor was about to drop off, he told the guy to do a factory reset and see what happens to the ‘Sony’ logo. The guy did this, and when the phone came on again, it didn’t show Sony again, but ‘XBO’. Before he could turn to my direction, I closed my eyes and began to nod to the music from my earpiece.
3. SCREENSHOT: Most original devices take a screenshot when a combination of ‘Power+Volume’ down or ‘Power+Home’ buttons are pressed. I assure you that the phone named ‘Feiteng’ or ‘Landvo’ or even the subtle ‘HDC One’ will never respond to this combinations, even if Schwazeneggar was pressing the buttons.
4. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: Other than the battery type and position, these Clones have slight or huge differences from the phones they imitate. The first thing you should do before buying a phone is to get the phone specifications from a trusted website like gsmarena.com. Run a google search with ‘ *phone model* specifications ‘ and you’ll get the results you seek. Examples of such differences that can be easily noticed are:
–Screen size: The screen size is usually smaller in the inferior clones by sone inches.
–Screen resolution: At best settings in the camera, a picture taken with a clone will show a smaller resolution in the ‘image details’ than the original device.
–Operating System: Clones usually come with an earlier version, if not a complete imitation of the Operating System in the original device (Android, iOS or Windows)
–Camera Quality. Clones have a poorer camera, no questions. The picture quality pales in comparison to the real deal. This is not helped by the fact that Clones also have inferior screens.
That’s how a female friend was saved by a selfie. She took a selfie with her friend’s Galaxy Grand Prime and she so loved it that she was determined to get hers soonest. Off she went to the market for hers, but when she took selfies, she was disappointed by the result. Bottom line is, she almost bought a clone but was smart a little to recognize the difference. Next time she wanted to go for it, we had to go together.
5. HARDWARE INFO: The hardware the device packs under the hood is where the major difference between Clones and Original devices. I left this for last because it takes time to check and you have to be a little tech savvy to find your way about this. Equipped with the detailed specifications of the original phone from gsmarena or any other trusted sites, you can install applications like CPU Z for Androids, System Check for iOS or System Information for Windows mobile. These applications will give detailed information about your phone’s hardware. You will notice differences in the following if the device is a clone.
–CPU: Android and iPhone Clones use the cheaper ‘Mediatek’ processor instead of Qualcomm, Krait, Exynos or the A4,A5,A6,A7,A8 or A9 of iPhone series.
–RAM: Most Android Clones have a smaller RAM (Random Access Memory) than the genuine phones. It is used to temporarily store data that the phone is working with at the moment. Clones usually have RAMs between the 512MB – 1GB range except in iPhone clones where they are somewhat bigger, but never better.
–Internal Memory: Clones, in general, stay away from installing large memory or quality storage devices in phones. So, expect a smaller internal memory in a Clone than in the original device. That’s how someone was accusing Apple of being stingy with memory by installing 2GB in iPhone 6S. It’s either he is confusing the RAM for the Internal Memory or what he is using is a Clone. iPhone 6S only comes in 16GB, 64GB or 128GB memory. Even 32GB variant is a clone.
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