Smartphone prices these days are steep, there’s no denying that. Then there’s the big bad carrier looking to get a big chunk all to himself, which just makes owning a piece of the future even more expensive. So, you like the look of the latest smartphone, but there’s no way you’re getting that past your significant other, so what are you to do? Buy a knock-off, of course! So maybe not everyone thinks like that, in fact I’m pretty sure that most of our readers are savvy enough to get the phone they want at a reasonable price. Even still, there’s a lot of devices out there that “borrow” direct inspiration from brands like Apple, HTC and Samsung. GooPhone is perhaps the leader in such a market, and this time they’ve down themselves, say hello to the all-new GooPhone M8.
Hey! That looks just like a leaked phone that appeared recently… That’s because it’s designed to look like the all-new HTC One, that just so happens to carry the codename of M8, what a coinky dink. So, we know the deal here, GooPhone make a copy of a smartphone and pack with decent specs for a decent unlocked price, kapeesh? While GooPhone have done their best this time, they haven’t created a direct copy, and in fact looks more similar to the first-generation HTC One, as there’s only one rear-facing camera. However, for the $229.99 asking price you do get a Full HD display at 5-inches, a MediaTek Octa-Core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of onboard storage with a microSD card slot and Android 4.2 (complete with Google Play!) On the camera front, we’re looking at a 12.6-megapixel rear-facing shooter and a 5-megapixel shooter round front, probably not what HTC have in store for us.
The new HTC One hasn’t even been announced yet, so for GooPhone to come out with a copy is impressive no, ambitious. Clearly, this is yet another rip-off device, but for 230 bucks there are worse deals out there. Then again, the Moto G is its own phone and costs just $179, oh and then there’s Blu and so on, and so forth…