[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] fault-tolerant:
I've got two identical Galaxy S4 "1:1 copy" clone devices for children. At a price of around 180 USD, ordered at AliExpress. I want to share some of my experience.

Physically the devices are quite good, the plastic feels good. The screen is just a bit smaller compared with the original. Guess they are very much the same size as the real thing, however some rubber covers we've got at a local store don't fit as a glove - feels like the phone is just a wee bit thicker after all.

Problem 1 - Factory Reset

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first stupid thing I've done was a factory reset from the phone menu. This had the following consequences:

1. The boot logo (was showing the original Samsung Galaxy S4 image) changed to a funny green android picture.

2. Boot animation (also identical to the original Samsung boot animation) changed to some blue curling android animation.

3. The IMEI disappeared!

A solution for this was naturally MTK Android Tools from here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2160490. I've rooted the phone with one click, this has also installed CWM, simply genius! Then I've changed (or actually added) the IMEI found on a sticker on the phone box. This is a single sim version, by the way.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Problem 2 - Soft brick

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a while I've noticed that some applications complain about memory. Without getting in to all this stuff I read and all, I've decided to give a go to a very strange post from here: http://androidphones13.blogspot.co.il/2013/06/increase-android-internal-memory.html. The effect of this "MTK65XX Repartition App" on the device was disastrous - something wrong with partitioning, and the only working thing remained was the CWM recovery. Bricked the phone. Soft-bricked, anyway.

In order to restore it I've used the MTK Android Tools again and the SmartPhone Flash Tool. You can easily find them by simple googling, there are great instructions on xda. Another helpful guide is "MDRT Factory ROM BackUp.pdf" here: http://d-h.st/d8a. The issues I had on the way are:

1. Software versions. I was searching for MT65xx and downloading, however looks like SP Flash tool earlier than v3.1248 doesn't support the MT6589. Started with (the latest?) v3.1316, but it kept giving me errors related to com port, so went to v3.1248 - however later the other worked as well.

2. Drivers. This is a weird story. In order to use the SP Flash Tool the phone has to be completely off and with battery inside. When you connect it to your computer (Win7), the led on USB hub goes on for a few seconds and then off again. During these short seconds new device is discovered (as com port), called MTK Preloader. You can google for drivers just as I did, and install them. I tried three download links. It is really not that easy to catch driver installation during such a short time. In many cases the SP Flash Tool was popping up a window complaining about the com port. As I've seen on one nice post, just kept trying - with different drivers, quick hand on device manager, and different SP Flash Tool versions as stated above. After about 40 minutes it succeeded, without me doing anything new - so can't give you more details here.

The idea was to use the good phone (second one) to create the scatter file with MTK Android Tools, then to back it up - you have to root it first, by the way - using the same software, then to get it ready for burning with SP Flash Tool (there is a button for that as well), and then burn it as planned. The thing worked.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Download factory ROM - rooted and with CWM

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've uploaded my ROM here: GT-I9500_130708_ForFlashtoolFromReadBack_130911-231423.rar

This is an archive ready to be programmed with SP Flash Tool. It has the scatter file inside, and you can flash various images out of the entire list as per recommendations on some threads here on XDA. I flashed everything to restore the phone. This will require to put the IMEI in again.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good luck, and share your efforts!

P.S. I've contacted the supplier when the IMEI went blank (the phone writes "Invalid IMEI" on the lock screen and doesn't connect to the operator). After few days he got back to me with the following interesting instructions: Open the dial pad and type *#*#20080808#*#*. A menu appears. Inside chose GPRS and there you can put the new IMEI in. There are dozens of other options in this secret menu as well. Very interesting, guess this is the easy way to change IMEI on MT65xx, or MT6589 at least. Reboot is required, I think.