OK, folks, I'm not daft enough to not realize that the post that started this thread is likely spam; However, since it is relevant, I am leaving it here.
I would like to see more discussions of such phones here.
What follows is a mini-review of a similar phone (although Dual-Core) that I previously posted to xda-developers:
Cubot A8809 MK6577 Android 4.1 Dual Core Smartphone edited and updated review.
Mini-Review from an AT&T user in the US:
I got one of these for my wife (I figured it was a good trade).
--- Just kidding. I
bought it for her because I didn't feel like committing to AT&T for another 2 years.
I bought it from Geekbuying.com. It arrived in only a few days.
For these types of phones, the dual core MTK6577 SoC is actually not a bad chip.
It seemed to have the best specs, and the correct frequencies (Quad Band 2G and 850/2100 3G) for AT&T in the US.
I can confirm that it does work with AT&T (Including 3G - HSDPA) almost every place an AT&T signal is available.
It is a dual SIM phone, but She only uses the 1 (AT&T) SIM. I have not tested it on T-Mobile. Voice Calls and 2G data (EDGE) on T-Mobile will work since the MTK6577 supports Quad Band GSM. 3G *may* work in some areas due to the fact that as part of the failed takeover of T-Mobile by AT&T, they have a 7 year frequency-sharing agreement. Without the use of the AT&T 3G frequencies, however, this phone does not have the correct (1900) frequencies for T-Mobile 3G.
Performance is also good. Switching Apps, scrolling on the browser, returning to home screen all happen without any irritating delays.
It is a very clean and stable version of Android 4.1.1. Google Play is present, but see below for a problem. Force closes are rare to never.
The screen is beautiful for a Chinese phone. Overall the phone also looks very nice for the price (I bought her the white one.)
Call quality, Mobile signal, and WiFi are also all excellent. -- No compromise as compared with a name-brand phone.
Battery life is also good. It runs fine for a whole day, and with some effort to do battery management, (WiFi on only when needed, BT off, Conservative Brightness and Screen time-out settings) it will go a second day if she forgets to charge it.
But I do have some complaints:
The back, and the way it attaches to the phone is very cheap. I am not sure how many times you can take the back off without it breaking.
It's not bad to hold and use, but I'm pretty sure one good drop will kill it. Of course, 1 drop can kill even a name-brand phone.
UPDATE: 1 drop did kill it (at least the screen). Within a few months of ownership, my wife dropped it from less than waist height onto a wood floor. The result was a cracked screen. As mentioned such a drop could crack the screen on any phone of this type, but I feel that the construction of this phone increased the odds of screen breakage. The phone still works, and of course the drop was not the fault of the phone.
It seems to only have one microphone. Most newer "real" phones have 2 or even 3 mics for noise cancelling or for use in different orientations (like using Voice search, or using it in speaker phone mode). This would only be a problem in noisy environments.
Edit: I had previously written something about filesystem corruption. That gave an incorrect perception of a minor problem.
My wife had a problem installing a paid app from Google Play. I believe I could fix the problem, but that would require a factory reset or user data wipe, or rooting. The problem seems limited to the installation of that one app. Other apps install fine.
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