|
Mobile phone and wireless
Only in China: One phone to rule them allPosted by Dror Poleg on Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 3:38 PM
 The Black-Voda-Pod. Click to enlarge. The Black-Voda-Pod, also known as the Voda-Pod-Berry, encapsulates the dreams and realities of China's average mobile phone user: It is a fake BlackBerry device, sporting a fake Vodafone logo, and running a fake iPhone operating system, including a fake Opera web browser. And it works too. The owner, a local soldier, did not seem to find this to be unusual in any way. "The only problem", he told me, "is that the BlackBerry Push Mail in not working. It's just not available in China". Strange, mine seems to work. Further investigations with local community revealed that the "Emulational Mobile Phone" (山寨手机) is gaining popularity due to its sleek design, low cost, and general appeal. |
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
Henry on
The Eurasian Face
Caroline W on
Big in China
Michael on
Julia Lovell on translating Lu Xun's complete fiction: "His is an angry, searing vision of China"
Brandon K. on
Clueless academic takes on popular fantasy novels
Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
The latest recommended blogs and new media
 From 2008
Books on China
 The Eurasian Face : Blacksmith Books, a publishing house in Hong Kong, is behind The Eurasian Face, a collection of photographs by Kirsteen Zimmern. Below is an excerpt from the series:
Big in China: An adapted excerpt from Big In China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising A Family, Playing The Blues and Becoming A Star in China, just published this month. Author Alan Paul tells the story of arriving in Beijing as a trailing spouse, starting a blues band, raising kids and trying to make sense of China.
Pallavi Aiyar's Chinese Whiskers: Pallavi Aiyar's first novel, Chinese Whiskers, a modern fable set in contemporary Beijing, will be published in January 2011. Aiyar currently lives in Brussels where she writes about Europe for the Business Standard. Below she gives permissions for an excerpt.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Korean history doesn't fly on Chinese TV screens (2007.09): SARFT puts the kibbosh on Korean historical dramas. + Religion and government in an uneasy mix (2008.03): Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊) article from October, 2007, on government influence on religious practice in Tibet. + David Moser on Mao impersonators (2004.10): I first became aware of this phenomenon in 1992 when I turned on a Beijing TV variety show and was jolted by the sight of "Mao Zedong" and "Zhou Enlai" playing a game of ping pong. They both gave short, rousing speeches, and then were reverently interviewed by the emcee, who thanked them profusely for taking time off from their governmental duties to appear on the show.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
 (on the mainland)or Feedburner  (blocked in China) Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links) Top Links: Links from the top bar Danwei Jobs: Want ads Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30 |
 |
Chinese media, advertising, and urban life. |
|
tweet
facebook
bookmark
HaoHao
digg
Comments on Only in China: One phone to rule them all
it's a very common mobile in Vietnam. In my office of 50 persons, there is at least 10 of this mobiles.
Chinese is a very creative nation
Erm, copying everyone and patching it in one product, you call that creative ?
'Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination...And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to."
-- Jim Jarmusch
I'm sure this will be misinterpreted but its worth a shot.
actually that would be very convenient, does it works with AT&T here?
i've seen SonyEverything for 300 RMB Yuan. you've gotta admit they do place a good sense of humour in these products and it's an intriguing cultural economic phenomenon.
“It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to."
----------------------i will remember the quote!
It's not fake, it's just second-hand. I've got one for 380 yuan.
Sab - this one was fake.
what is a "fake iphone operating system"? more specifics...?
Kurt: I don't have any details available. I only held it in my hand for a minute. The OS looked like the iPod's, but it had different functions. I don't know which platform it runs on. Maybe one of our readers has more info...
It's a second-hand blackberry,which runs a RIM system with some iphone theme.
PCPop is running an ad from a Shanghai electronics dealer for an in-box, 299-yuan Blackberry 7290 (refurb?), and this iPhone theme also comes in a black variant. Which is not to say that this isn't a fake, but it'd be pretty cheap to set yourself up with a legit Blackberry, too.