WARNING: Many fake Mings sold on Ebay!!

[Queen6]

Guys,
I would be real careful when buying this phone, today I visited the local phone market here in eastern China and found plenty of A1200 look a likes; some already featured on the forum, same format different branding, close but no cigar. However two of the phones would have easily passed as the real thing unless you know exactly what you are looking for, on one the button & port arrangement was slightly different, the other was basically a replica I had to compare to my own 1200 to see the differences, the little slot below the flip was the only thing physically different was it did not have the silver insert, everything else physically even the shade of red was identical, buttons, ports, flip, markings, everything, the feel of the phone was the main giveaway for me it just didn’t have the same balance of weight (A1200`s tend to be a little heavy towards the flips hinge). I didn’t see them powered up, that not a big deal as these guy’s can get firmware faster than anyone in the forum can, the guy was extremely unhappy about any pictures being taken and the fact that I was comparing the phones. It’s common practice here for phones to be copied or faked and also for factory rejects to reach the market, don’t be fooled that the complexities of this phone prevent it from being copied. The higher the demand is for an item, the more likely it will be copied & the Ming is very much the phone to have.
All I can recommend is buying from recommended vendors, buying the 1200 online via Ebay etc from an unrecognized vendor to save a few bucks, may very well end in tears.
These devices tend to have most if not all of the functionality; however execution and reliability is poor at best, and who knows what the SAR rating of them is.

[V.Razr.X]

Dang..wish you were able to snap some pics before they kicked you out! HA!!

What other cool stuff did they have for our phone and the fakey's?

[Queen6]

V.Razr.X
I give it try again and see what happens; my wife is Chinese so she may have a better chance armed with a camera. Shopping in these markets is a whole lot of fun, when I was in southern China the city of Shenzhen has an entire district for electronics; phones PC`s, cameras, you can buy anything from a charger for your phone to high end sound systems in excess of $100k US, an absolutely amazing experience, with some amazing deals as long as you know your stuff, my Yamaha AV amp retail @ $2K US plus and I got mine for $700 US, some buildings are so large that even an entire day is not enough, imagine a hundred stalls in a shop, and then multiply that by ten or twenty floors. Some of the local phones are also fantastic in aesthetics & function, once these guys figure out that service quality & reliability is key, everything else will be gone.

[Oldie]

I am stationed in Guangzhou, I will also keep an eye for the fake ones and will snap pictures if they make an appearance. Shopping in the electronic market over here is an absolute blast as well .

[Queen6]

I am stationed in Guangzhou, I will also keep an eye for the fake ones and will snap pictures if they make an appearance. Shopping in the electronic market over here is an absolute blast as well .

Oldie,
Some of the ones I have seen have "pdaphone" or "Moto" inscribed on the flip instead of Motorola and others only have one cheveron that makes up the Motorola “M” on the flips speaker, if you see what I am getting at, then as before some are out and out clones barring some minor detail.

[admin]

interesting.. where exactly is the palce at? guangzhou? shenzhen?

[underscore]

I'm stationed in the US but the place that was referred to is in Shenzhen, China
Shenzhen is in Guangdong (or canton), a southern province

that "tech place" is clustered with many other stores
by cab, just say "men's world" or "women's world" in the respectful language and they'll know where to take you (although you need to go to the men's world store, unless you are buying something for a girl)

fake/mimic/etc cell phones are found almost everywhere in the larger cities in China
only Hong Kong has been trying to stop this but still exists in the black market

[Sanin]

I bought my cellphone from http://www.tbfb.ca/store/
and it was legit. 515$ Canadian, everything's included except for an extra battery. I'm located in Montreal, Canada and I was able to activate the phone with Fido without any glitch.

Anyhow .. I recommend the online store ... I got it in 2 business days.

Here's a pic of the box ...
I used the cellphone camera to take the shot.

I noticed that the pictures are a bit grainy in low light environment but it's not that bad once you resize the image because the pictures come out really big.

[Bleble1123]

I bought my phone off of ebay. it came in the same box listed above. the instuction manuals were all written in chinese. how can i know mine was legit?

[Queen6]

I have only just recently seen the very good replifakes, here in China so chances are if you have had it a while it’s the real deal, the replicas normally always have some minor physical dissimilarity, so physical comparison is always good. Unfortunately for the sub standard QC failed phones that’s, a different matter; they are most likely to suffer from spotty reception, intermittent functions; Bluetooth, screen calibration, or in worst case scenarios the phone will cease to function completely after a short period of time, basically the phone will have a hardware issue. Identifying these is always a problem, that’s why I recommend that anyone buying grey market items should always buy from recommended or known vendors as that way, they will exchange the item. Incomplete paperwork is sometimes a key.
One tip for those buying directly in China while on business vacation etc is always ask for “fa-piao” official Chinese Tax invoice, all major shops will provide “fa-piao” on request, on the other hand the smaller stalls in the electronic malls may not have, if you do have a trusted source buying without “fa-piao” reduces the price. I guess if you are buying over the web from a vendor in mainland China you could always ask for the tax invoice and see what the vendor’s response is.