$150 Galaxy Note II Clone Appears in China
Dec 14, 2012 10:50 AM EDT by Brad Chacos, LAPTOP Contributor 
Interested in picking up a big-screen smartphone but don’t have the $300 the Galaxy Note II costs on-contract? It looks like the low-cost Samsung clones are a-coming. First up: The Star S7180, a 5.5-inch, $150 phone that’s popped up in China and bears a striking resemblance to the flagship phablet.
The similarities stop under the hood, however. While the Star S7180 runs on Android Jelly Bean, the hardware powering the OS is a 1GHz dual-core MTK6577 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of onboard storage (which can be boosted by an additional 32GB thanks to a handy-dandy micro-SD slot). That’s respectable, but a far cry from the Galaxy Note II’s quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB hard drive.
The 5.5-inch display packs a less-than-HD resolution of 960 x 540. Rounding out the specs are a 8-megapixel rear camera, 0.3MP front camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM radio support, and GSM world phone compatibility that should work just fine on T-Mobile and AT&T 3G networks here in the U.S. (The Star 7180 doesn’t include the Note II’s 4G LTE support.)
In a nutshell, the Star 7180 can’t stand up to the Galaxy Note II in a straightforward tale of the tape, but it’s a decently spec’d smartphone that beats out Samsung in one crucial aspect: Price. GizChina saw the unlocked Star 7180 on sale in China for $150, while we’ve found it online at DealsPrime for $178.
Via MobileGeeks; Image via DealsPrime
December 18th, 2012 at 12:28 am
Ouch! No they did-n! Even without the 4GLTE (via AT&T or otherwise) isn’t this clearly illegal? How do we protect any product against this theft? I carry a friend’s Minerals Mate tray in my San Francisco salon and already someone is copying her product. It’s insane.
January 16th, 2013 at 9:36 am
I have one of these phones, and it won’t allow me to compose messages. I can receive messages and reply to some messages but as far composing a message I am unable to do so. I am under the T-mobile network. The phone comes unlocked and everything else works beautifully, except for composing messages. Please advise on how to fix this problem.
Thanks.
January 29th, 2013 at 7:06 pm
I am customer of Wind mobile service in Canada. This network uses a frequency called AWS, with bands 1700/2100.
In other words any unlocked phone to be used with wind service must be compatible with the U.S. T-Mobile network.
Is Samsung Galaxy replica compatible with wind mobile frequency.
Thanks