There are at least 10 models now on the market that claim to be iphone-style or iphone lookalikes. The first inspiration dated back at least a years ago, when the CECT P168 hit the market. It was the time apple's product was still in the making, and the whole world waited for the official release in 2007. But the chinese consumers were already holding the lookalikes in their hands well before then. Interesting.
The lookalikes were nothing but lookalikes. It is not a smartphone. It's a PDA phone at most. No java, no wifi, no double finger enlarging... However there's one thing good about it - it's cheap (around US$200) and it is unlocked. You can insert any GSM SIM card. The battery is replaceable too.
Not a year passed when an upgraded lookalike made history in February 2008 - and it had a name, called "hiphone". It also went under the CECT brand, but apparently there's a dozen of "assemblers" sharing the same tooling because some are better quality than others. The local market in China heated up with the iphone cloning.
Just how close could these clones get to the real thing? I believe I have seen that the lookalikes finally graduated in to smartphones. Read the full specs at http://www.hiphoneshop.com/daxian-x999-p-5.html It's wifi ready, it's running Windows Mobile operating system (imagine that!) and it's fully loaded with features. Sadly not affordable any more either. Price tag says US$370 or something like that.
If you browse through the website you will find a complete category called iphone style that shows at least 10 models, including funny names like Nphone and Ciphone. Most are still without operating system though.
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