It would seem the Nokia N82 has come to market early... but it hasn't. It's a clever Chinese fake. This comes following a report that a quarter of all phones coming out of the growing Chinese market are counterfeit.
The Nokia N82 music-centric handset has been eagerly awaited since rumours of its existence appeared a few months back.
Although no official specifications have been released, it is thought the N82 could feature up to 8gb of memory, a 2.4 inch QVGA display, Wi-Fi, an FM radio and a 5 megapixel camera, with auto-focus Carl Zeiss lens, this handset ticks everyone's wishlist boxes.
It would seem the Chinese can copy anything. With no physical product to go on, the Chinese have managed to knock up their own version from mere computer renderings.
The copy, has the same look as the N82, but obviously can't match Nokia's extensive feature list. They've had to make do with odds and ends out of the mid-range lucky-dip, with only a 1.3 megapixel camera on offer, along with other less impressive specs.
Although no official specifications have been released, it is thought the N82 could feature up to 8gb of memory, a 2.4 inch QVGA display, Wi-Fi, an FM radio and a 5 megapixel camera, with auto-focus Carl Zeiss lens, this handset ticks everyone's wishlist boxes.
It would seem the Chinese can copy anything. With no physical product to go on, the Chinese have managed to knock up their own version from mere computer renderings.
The copy, has the same look as the N82, but obviously can't match Nokia's extensive feature list. They've had to make do with odds and ends out of the mid-range lucky-dip, with only a 1.3 megapixel camera on offer, along with other less impressive specs.
In the first half of this year the sales volume of illegal mobile phones reached 23.34 million in China, which equates to more than 25% of the country's total mobile phone sales.
Legitimate mobile phone companies and government departments have begun to take action against the black market mobile phone manufacturers and sellers. Chinese manufacturer CECT's CEO Li Dewei said that they are working closely with government departments providing information and clues on various fake mobile phone vendors. Although, they themselves were recently responsible for a very convincing iPhone clone.
With international sales forums like eBay offering handsets at a lot less than market value, it's worrying that bargain hunters could unknowingly be bringing fake handsets over here.
At the very least let's hope they aren't manufactured in the same place as Mattel's Barbie and Batman toys.