Date:  Apr 14, 2016

I came across this guy, and he keep bugging me to buy his iPhone 6S Plus in the Shenzhen Airport, telling me that he is going to Macau (illegally) and he needs money.  At first glance, you know he is a crook.  Secondly, iPhone 6S Plus does not cost so cheap!  Third, you already suspected that he stolen this iPhone 6S Plus.  Fourth, it could be a fake iPhone 6S Plus.  So, I looked into my wallet, I still left with some RMB, so, I told him how much I had and settle.  RMB1500.  Let’s see what he got.  Definitely is fake.  But it almost fool me. That is why I am very tempted to get hold of it!!!!!!  Because I am very tempted to sent this to Cupertino.  Hahahahahahahahahahaha

Let’s check it out.

This is the phone.  At first glance, you really cannot tell the different.

It looks exactly the same as the real thing.

When they sell you, they do not sell you the new set.  They sell you a used set.  Tricking you to think you are buying a second hand, good condition phone.

Everything looks the same.

You turn on and off, the Apple logo is there.  It seems like it is Apple IOS.

The camera is there, the LED flash is there.

When you charge the phone, the charging lightning small icon pops up beside the battery bar.  When he tested, he put his China Unicom SIM in there.  And it works.  I used my phone to call him, text him, every thing work as per iPhone will do.

Wait now… the live background does not move.  Hmm……..

But how does it compare to the real thing.  This is my wife real iPhone 6S Plus.  And it weight 190g as advertise.

This is the fake iPhone.  It feels really light, and feels like an iPhone 6S weight.  and it weight 168g.  Wow, that is 22g lighter than Apple original.  These guys are good!

The passcode is there.  I configured it.  It feels like the real thing.

Nothing wrong with the screen.  Looks legitimate apple apps.

This is where I found something is not quite right, but you are not aware what is wrong yet.

The swiping part is a tiny little bit slower than a normal iPhone IOS.  I think it is in milliseconds difference, but if you are a legitimate iPhone users, you will feel this small little tiny lag.  I did.  But my other brain function tells me this is an iPhone.  But the lag does not fit.  So, my brain is fighting inside for this conflicting experience.

Oh… may be is the old IOS.  It says 9.1.  Second clue, it does not allow you to update, and it says “Your software is up to date.”

Everything is there leh.

Wait until you try to log on Wireless.  Select your SSID of your AP.

What is this crap?  Advanced options?  I doubt it, and I double check with my iPhone.  And mine does not have that.  This looks a lot like Android man…

On the surface, everything looks like iPhone IOS.  Look at all the settings.  Looks real.

Wow!  It has finger print sensor.  Let’s program it.  Hey!!!!!  Why can I only program one finger.  Let’s program the RIGHT thumb.

Hey, my friend Shao Yi has pointed out… may be it can be opened by ANY finger.  So, let’s try open it using my LEFT thumb.  And it works.  Let’s try to use Jay Jay’s my son finger, and it works.  So, the phone is well protected by 6 digit passcode where you cannot select 4 digit.  and it can simply opened it by ANY finger if you choose to use the finger print to open it.

So I spent the afternoon trying to crack this.  You can update it.  But it is not the usual Apple update.

And this green thing finally came out.

Looks amazing isn’t it.

Now, this looks awfully like Xiaomi MiBox where when you update the system, it will optimise the application.  I don’t know may be Sumsung also have this.

And when it reboot.  The familiar Hello came out.

Aiyo, terrible English translation.

By the way, it has its own try to look alike Apple iTune App store.  You can download facebook, and so on.  The feeling are different.  And hey, may be these are HACKED app.  Trying to fish your password, etc.

Check out the app store.

Camera quality sucks!

All the app that has correct apple icon, will link you to some chinese app.

For example, playing a video after you shoot a video, will prompt you this.

Here is the conclusion and thoughts I have.

1. Chinese engineers are great.  Their reverse engineering skill is world no. 1.
2. Chinese engineers are so good, and so many of them are so eng (not busy), they can spent all their time to “copy” an operating systems.  I am very sure the future version of this will be very good.
3. I started to suspect the person or group of people who develop this must be come form Xiaomi.  It has a few screens that looks like MIUI on the Mibox.
4. If you see some one selling a phone that is very extremely cheap, you know they are crooks.  And do not trust them, do not buy from them, unless you really want to own a fake iPhone.
5. Even if you bought the fake iPhone, it will come with the cloud services, such as iTunes, app store.  Whatever you download, which connect to your real account, such as facebook, DO NOT TRUST it.  It could be a fishing software to fish your password to the real online service.  When I start to realise it, I quickly changed all the password.
6. The workmanship of this phone is really great.  I wonder what is the real cost.  The camera is lousy.
7. As my friend Shao Yi pointed out to me, I can actually use this as my 2nd phone that I can pop a oversea sim card in there to make it a 4G router.  I am going to just do that.  Download the no harm games, and use it oversea.
8. So, it is possible to find FAKE things and fake until it looks real and confuse you.  So, when you buy things from Shenzhen Hua Qiang North etc… Please be careful.  Don’t fall into the trap.  Examine your goods properly.  And you will be fine.
9. Tim Cook, after I finish using this, I will sent you a set.  Wahahahahahahahahahaha