Beware Chinese phones!

I recently bought a "Quad core 1 GB" "Huawei" "Mate Mini" phone from Ali Express. I use quotes because none of that is actually true. I have to say that it was extremely cheap so in the end I have paid for what I got, but still I was scammed. I have to say that this goes for fake chinese phones (even faking their own brands now), not for well-established manufacturers such as Meizu, Xiaomi, Jiayu, TCL, THL, ZTE, Zopo.......

First of all, the phone looks good in the seller's pictures (just as in real life)

(Notice that there is no logo on the front. This is a pattern that I have observed in fake chinese phones, and leads me to believe there is some kind of law in China regarding front labeling and falsifications, so that fake phone manufacturers can use any logo as long as it is on the back).

While waiting, I noticed that Huawei didn't even have that model... that is OK as long as I get 1 GB RAM and 4 cores for the price I paid.

First thing I do, as a man and as a technical person, is to download Antutu and check my phone. Everything seems to check, graphics run smoothly, and I get a superb score. Almost Nexus 4 for a quarter of the price.

So I sleep well for somedays, until I require the phone to work as promised, and it does not deliver. So I get uneasy, and download a pretty toy called Android Terminal (yes a Linux terminal for android, never forget there is a Linux underneath). The is what I get:

Two cores, and 512 MB RAM. The processor is not even an MTK as the seller promised, but a Spreadtrum sc8825, which checks with my previous efforts trying to install MTK drivers to read the phone from my laptop, not being able, looking at what the device manager was showing me and then installing Spreadtrum drivers to solve the issue. What we have here is a completely tuned Android that lies to programs such as Antutu when they use an API call, retrieving false memory. The operating system, on the contrary, knows what the real deal is, so it is wise querying it.

I did not pay much for this phone (and I have to say that it fell from a considerable high and did not get a scratch), but some are selling it for much more, which is a robbery. Nobody notices the scam, just that it is a fake Huawei, but everybody is happy with their "1GB 4 core", so the reviews are always 5 star.

When buying a Chinese phone, check the logo on the front. If it is too good to be true, simply get away. There are a lot of reliable manufacturers such as those I mentioned that give the best quality for an already low price, and you will not get scammed in any way.