China Phones vs Popular Name Brand Phones – 1,2,3: Fight! (Part 1)

Image by Sam Howzit
Image by Sam Howzit

Recently I saw a post at chinaphonearena.com asking how the iNew i6000 fared when put up against late model HTCs, Samsungs and LGs. I thought it was a good opportunity to make a general, basic post comparing China phones to popular name brand phones and what one should expect when purchasing a China phone.

Are recent China phones as fast as models such as Samsung, HTC, and LG?

The quick and dirty answer is – ‘no’. However it’s not quite so simple. While the late model Samsungs, HTCs, LGs will score about double late model China phones on tests such as Antutu, the bigger question is, how does that affect me? The answer is – ‘not so much’. Unless you’re a hardcore gamer, rendering video, or encoding video, most users will never know the difference. The reason being that current China phones provide enough juice for Android to run smoothly. MTK6589 with 720p, and MTK6589T with 1080p or 720p, is more than enough to provide a very smooth Android experience. An experience that will differ little from if you were using a late model popular name brand.

One of the caveats here is that, while if you’re playing casual games, you’ll likely never notice a difference, playing the latest intensive 3D games that really tax the GPU will show a difference. Simply, you’ll get better frame rates in intensive 3D games with the new popular name brand phones than new China phones. That’s not to say that MTK6589 and MTK6589T gaming isn’t pleasant and capable, because it is, but modern popular name brand phones will give a smoother experience with games such as the latest iterations of Nova, Modern Combat, and other intensive modern 3D shooters.

Up next: Are the inner components (processor, video, audio, wireless) as good?

Please add your thoughts and comments below, and/or come by the thread that sparked the article.

 

Comments

2 responses to “China Phones vs Popular Name Brand Phones – 1,2,3: Fight! (Part 1)”

  1. ensp Avatar

    I am amiss to understand the meaning of “Chinese Phone”. The ubiquitous ARM Mobile Device Instructions Set Architecture used by most Smartphones including the much desired iPhone is designed and developed in Cambridgeshire, UK.

    The ARM Architecture is implemented with considerable freedom by Smartphone Architects, Designers, Manufacturers in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Finland and elsewhere throughout South East Asia. Android is built upon Ubuntu I believe initially a South African Linux Distro, now developed/maintained in The Isle of Man, UK (freetrade zone?). Linux being one of the most international of products in human history, with contributions from almost every country. Android which sits on top of Ubuntu Linux in my case is Googles, California, USA?

    Many of The dominant European & North American Smartphone players have Smartphone manufacturing facilities in China and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

    So what is a Chinese Smartphone: an inexpensive, value rich commodity where architecture, design, engineering, manufacturing and branding is led by Chinese Corporations. The manufacturing and assembly performed domestically, in China, and elsewhere in Asia, Pacific and now Africa.

    1. Damian Parsons Avatar
      Damian Parsons

      A China phone is a phone that’s branded by a company that originates in China. That’s it. Nothing complicated

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