[General Questions and Answers] dadicer:
Lied to me about Ciphone C6A CPU (really K3 360mhz)

I recently (11/17/09) purchased an iPhone clone from fastcardtech.com. After doing a good deal of research on the forums I could read (english) I decided this was a good smartphone to purchase and fastcardtech had a fairly competitive price.

Before buying the phone I sent several messages asking for more details about it and one of my big concerns was the CPU processor speed. To run Windows Mobile 6.1 app smoothly you need to have a decent CPU in your phone. At this point in time that to me would be 400mhz or faster. They assured me more than once that it comes with a Samsung 2443c 450mhz processor. And to get a CPU that fast at the price they were offering was a pretty good deal so I made the purchase. Incidentally the CPU speed is boldly advertised on their site:

http://www.fastcardtech.com/goods.php?id=2623

Phoned arrived fairly quickly from the factory in China and it came with all advertised accessories looking brand new so high scores for this company right out of the gate. I went ahead and put some of my favorite apps on the phone which include SK Tools so I could run their CPU benchmark tool. Basically it compares the phones CPU to a list of other already indexed CPUs from other phones. And guess what my CPU ends up scoring lower than the Samsung 2442 (400mhz) processor! Unsure what to make of this score I go the device information panel on the phone at it does indeed tell me I have a Samsung 2443c 450mhz inside. Still I am obviously suspicious based on the score so I decide to join a few forums in Chinese and wade through the translated threads to see what I can dig up.

After a great deal of research I uncover that pretty much everyone in China who owns a Ciphone C6 knows that it comes with a Hisilicon-K3 360mhz CPU! Unbelievably the manufacturers of this phone have blatantly modified the device info panel to mislead someone about the real CPU. So I ended up with a CPU that is not only considered inferior in quality to the Samsung CPU, but also runs almost 100mhz (25%) slower. Another trick I discovered is that some of these companies are starting to overclock the CPU inside so it will meet the expected speed advertised, but it is still not the advertised CPU inside and clearly overclocking any CPU is going to reduce its life expectancy and that of the battery.

A few of the forums I am referring to are:

http://bbs.shanzhaiji.cn/forumdisplay.php?fid=37

http://www.mobileuncle.com/forum-59-1.html

http://www.cifans.com/forum/ ( this one has an english speaking section)

What really upsets me about this whole process with fastcardtech is how willing they were to lie to me and 1000's of other customers. They post responses to the questions they are asked on the main page so everyone can read them. However they only post public responses that they WANT to be seen. This where I asked my CPU question and where they publicly responded yes it is a Samsung 2443c CPU inside. Because so many folks in China know what the real processor is in this phone I do not for a minute believe fastcardtech when they tell me they were not aware of this fact. And since they have yet to update their listings to reflect the truth about the K3 process they willingly continue to keep the lie going for profit.

BTW if anyone is interested have added a YouTube video showing how to upgrade the memory for this phone in which I also warn people about the real CPU inside.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnSFL4pB2ns

In the end I did get a great smartphone but it does not run at the speed advertised and therefore will never run some of the apps I had planned on installing. And that type of blatant misrepresentation cannot go unanswered as I am certain it is happening with other phones being sold on the fastcardtech site.

At the end it goes without saying but here it comes anyway, buyer beware! Do thorough research before buying a Chinese smartphone including on sites in Chinese using a tool like Google translator.

Thanks, Mike