If you were going to make a “mini” version of something else you’d probably want it to be significantly smaller. However, this “i9000 Mini” smartphone, cheekily adorned with both Samsung and Galaxy S branding, isn’t any more svelte than the phone it is most certainly trying to be. If our eyes don’t deceive us it’s even fatter, though the capacitive touchscreen is indeed a half-inch smaller, down to 3.5-inches, and rather than being wide VGA it is instead half VGA — doing with a measly 320 x 480 pixels. And no, it sure isn’t AMOLED. Other specs include a five megapixel camera, 512MB of ROM and RAM, and dual SIM support. Roll with this 1,480 yuan (about $200) phone and you’ll be rolling with Android 2.1, but the manufacturers promise it’ll be updated to 2.2 in just a few weeks. If you can’t trust a company that steals another company’s design, logo, and trademarks, who can you trust?

Keepin’ it real fake: Mini Galaxy S gazes meaningfully skyward next to a mini grand piano originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this month, an unknown manufacturer had the dubious distinction of making our KIRF list, for building what appeared to be a Nexus One running iPhone OS. Mr. Blurrycam couldn’t tell for sure… but today the KIRFtastic handset has been unveiled in all its infringing glory. Dubbed the “TEG W3000,” the device is billed as a quad-band GSM worldphone with an accelerometer, WiFi and Bluetooth, front and back-facing 2 megapixel cameras, FM and analog TV tuners and Java support. While the iPhoney OS doesn’t seem to have a App Store hackjob, the phone certainly has apps; in an interface pic, we spotted eBuddy, Facebook and Skype alongside Maps and the Opera web browser. Hands-down the most exciting ripoff in recent memory. Now cautiously whistle a happy tune, and move along.

Keepin’ it real fake redux: Nexus One clone is ‘Teg W3000,’ has WiFi, dual cameras, TV tuner and Skype originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Apr 2010 19:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now, these may have been around for ages, we can’t really be sure because, truth be told, it’s pretty rare for us to troll the aisles of Kohl’s makeup section looking for KIRFs. Regardless, a helpful, hawk-eyed reader snapped this shot of an eyeshadow palette — called eyemobile — that’s got the distinct iPhone aura going on, though we’re 100 percent certain this is an unauthorized use case. It’s hard to say from the photo, but it also looks like there’s a lip gloss palette in the background (which we assume is called lipmobile), and that, friends, we would pay money for. Lots of money.

[Thanks, Bill]

Keepin’ it real fake: iPhone hits discount retailers as an eyeshadow palette originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are many of us simple humans who “just don’t get” the Motorola Backflip. Their poor minds can’t fathom this oddest of twists on the QWERTY flip, and now here comes the “MOTOROIA” ME600 from Shenzhen to wrap their brain into ever more elaborate pretzel knots. The phone is a pretty faithful reproduction, but it’s a bit thicker, has a mere VGA camera, and doesn’t run Android — despite that hint of Blur on the home screen.

[Thanks, xleung]

Keepin’ it real fake, part CCLV: ME600 rips Motorola Backflip down to its shivering Blur skin originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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