hello,

did anyone notice the ads on gokunming selling an unlocked iphone for 200$? Does anyone knows more about it? I contacted the sellers, seems like they want to sell it to you as fast as possible. Anyone tried it yet? Are there going to be problems with chinese customs?

I would be very careful about this claim. It is most likely an iPhone copy, as that price falls in line with the knock off. Do your homework and know exactly what you are looking for before you buy. I own several iPhones and unlock/jailbreak them myself. Remember, you get what you pay for......

thank you. but the guy says it's with international warranty etc. are they even allowed to copy the exact Ipod and put it into the same box? on classifieds > buy&sell they have all kinds of cellphones on their list, are they all likely to be copies?

You will be lucky if they work at all.
Most often it is junk at best.
I have seen so called iPods, where they have just taken a cheep crappy MP3 player and - very sloppy - put in a case that looks like an iPod. In other cases its just a case, filled with a few screws to give it the right weight.

Be well advised: Apple does NOT license out to anyone the right to make and sell their products... so - if you are REALLY lucky - it is at best a pirated version that actually works (sometimes the factories overproduced when they had an order from Ericsson or Nokia or other electronics companies, and sold these on the side, so what you got was so-to-say and "authentic pirate copy", but nowadays the conroll is so rigorous (and has ALWAYS been from Apple) that there is not chance in hell they can do this.) but Id say the chances are slim... Id bet a months wage on that these are just pirated junk that most probably wont even work.

SURE they will tell you it comes with an international warranty, etc... they forged these as well... but any authenticated repair guy who opens the gadget will see its a fake and send it back to you with the words "youve been screwed... and your lucky if we dont sue you for buying a pirate copy".

Remember 2 old truths, one already quoted by bucko:
"You get what you pay for"
and
"If its too good to be true, its probably not true".

There are so many cheap things in China that are good: real food in small local restaurants, clothes, buss-fare and taxi, haircuts and a shave and a foot massage... life is good and cheap. But when it comes to electronics: buy from an authenticated dealer only... pay the price and get a real authentic functioning computer /phone /camera /whatever. There is no reason to risk paying for what in reality is just a casing full of junk.

If someone offered you an "authentic Big Mac" for a quarter of the price... would you believe him? :D Same as dont exchange money anywhere other than the bank... the guys on the street who offer you a great deal on exchanging dollars to RMB... well, its colored toilet paper they are selling, not exchanging money... and you are the looser.

Apple - and most larger companies - have the same price on their products in all countries, so the only difference in price is mostly just the local sales-tax. So if you go to Hong-Kong you can buy the real stuff cheaper because they dont have sales-tax. The reason they do this is to avoid "grey import" to the west.

Box, papers, warranty card, are all copied. In fact China is the BEST at copying stuff because they go to such detail like no other country. Labels and packaging are perfect down to the paperweight. Go to the DVD store. They are packaged exactly like buying real ones in the US. Many even have all the extra booklets inside. It is amazing the extent they go to make products authentic. I would never buy any electronics in China thinking it is real. That is my rule. It IS a copy, period. BTW, I am an electronics technician and gadget nut. I've bought it all before.....on purpose just for the entertainment value of some the crap they sell here.

Besides, why would you buy anything you can't feel, try out and see for yourself? Why take a risk that it may be fake, damaged and you can't return it? If you buy it here you can always take it back to the store.

My coworker just bought a new fake one for 1000 kuai ordered from HK. You are probably being pushed to buy one because they are selling them for alot less. I played with it alot. Did a side by side with a real ipod touch. My opinion: I want one! It looks, feels, and smells like an Iphone. There are some differences. Cons: No GPS. Camera is maybe not as good as the crappy authentic Iphone camera. The pic zoom gesture works like windows mobile and not iphone, which I am sure is because it is a cheaper non-multitouch screen. Has a few less apps than the stock iphone apps. Pros: It is a really good copy, including the english. Plays MP3 music (no itunes :D). Does all the iphone flicking gestures, pretty icons, etc. Runs Java apps, so no need to buy iphone apps. Screen i think is a little brighter. Its 1000 kuai, which costs less than getting the screen fixed on a real iphone. Hey, copies aren't all bad ;) They did some things that previously stopped me from buying a real iphone

Easiest way to tell if an Apple product is genuine or not is to trynto register it on the www.apple.com website before you pay for it.

i never trust a fake one, never know when it will explode !