What would you get if you combined an iPhone, a unibody Macbook, a strobe light out of a smoky, drugged-out disco, and a shelter from pesky copyright infringement? We guess you'd get something like this, the creatively-named "iPhone V126" that you'll find floating around the streets of Shenzen these days. The QVGA display shows off a reasonably faithful reproduction of the iPhone's UI (for a non-touch device, anyway), but the similarities end there considering that you're going all the way down to a useless VGA cam paired with an Apple logo on the front cover that emanates entrancing pulses of searing white light every time you get a call. We'll take two in gold, please.

[Via PHONE Magazine]

[Thanks, Anthony C.]

If there was ever a phone worth cutting down to size with a completely shoddy but not actually completely unattractive fake edition, it's the Motorola Aura. What we have here is the Wingtech D20, which shares the swivel form factor of the Aura, mocks the round LCD with a perfectly boring square one in a round hole, and boasts a surprisingly weak complement of features, even for a "fake" phone. Oh how you suffer for fashion, Motorola.

[Thanks, Chris]

Strategic advantages Sany Ericssan holds over Sony Ericsson:

• A quarterly sales volume measured in the hundreds is considered a rousing success.
• Neither Sany nor Ericssan have any intention of pulling out of the joint venture.
• "Outsourcing" of industrial design saves time, money, and staff.
• None of those pesky Windows Mobile licensing fees to worry about.
• GPRS data speed isn't a problem -- it's a way of life.

[Via PMP Today]

Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic isn't exactly in the same league as some of the other high-end touchscreen smartphones hitting the market right now, but that doesn't mean it's not getting the Chinese KIRF love -- and we'd actually say the flush-mounted touchscreen on the Li 5800 here is an improvement. The generic OS is obviously less attractive than S60 Touch, but not by much, honestly, and although the real 5800 should be pretty cheap on contract, we've got a feeling the Li here might undercut it significantly. Too bad they didn't stick a random micro-projector in there, eh?

[Via UnwiredView, thanks Robin of Loxley]

Look, here's what you need to do: reach into the appropriate pocket on your personage, take out your phone, and throw it into the nearest wall. It sucks. The N70 from Lanye (or ChinaKing, or... somebody from China), which we've drooled over previously, is a candybar phone with a 2.4-inch screen, Bluetooth 2.0, and a little bit of dual-band GSM. Oh, and a built-in projector. And an interface that almost perfectly mirrors that of the iPhone with the addition of voice recording and MMS. It's awesome, and it's now available for import for a mere $345. A bargain at any price.

[Thanks, Andrew]

It's been a long time coming, but we've finally found a KIRF suitable to become the one and only successor to our very first "Keepin' it real... WTF?!" This here iPhone -- which is little more than a familiar chassis with a lead weight and a small amount of internal hardware -- is reportedly used by scammers in Russia in order to barter for train tickets, grub, etc. In essence, the phone has just enough electronics within it to give the appearance of a "boot up" sequence, complete with the Apple logo; the scammer in possession of it then explains that the battery is simply drained, but that it will work perfectly fine once charged. After any given sucker hands over something quite valuable in exchange for this heap, he / she proceeds to crush it into a million pieces while cursing the unknown name of whoever fooled them in the first place. Moral of the story? Stay sharp, street traders.

[Thanks, Abhijit]

We've always wondered when we'd see a KIRF that was actually more desirable than the original, and while this ripped T700 isn't quite as succulent at SE's own T700, it's closer than most... on the outside. This touchscreen-based cellphone (which is obviously masquerading as a camera) supposedly sports a Carl Zeiss lens, a 5x optical zoom (seriously?), 8-megapixel sensor, a microSD slot and easily one of the nastiest user interfaces we've ever had the displeasure of laying eyes on. Hit the read link if you're into that type of sick stuff , and jump on past the break for a front side shot.

[Via MobileMentalism]

In case you've mastered the time-honored QWERTY configuration to the point that using such keyboards bores you right into a peaceful slumber, we present to you this beacon of intelligent industrial design and usability, the device known simply as "E9000." The Nokia E90 rip features what can only be described as one of the most nightmarish bastardizations of the QWERTY layout we've ever seen, planting a touchpad (or something) square in the middle of where you'd expect a bunch of keys to be. The good news, we guess, is that the "Fashion" label silkscreened onto the back should reassure buyers that they're investing in some of the finest lookin' kit money can buy -- just don't expect to be able to type worth a damn.

[Thanks, facelessloser]

It's one thing to buy a Chinese impression of a Nokia candybar -- you know, something only the fanboys will notice as out of place. It's another to fool only yourself by opting for this over the real deal. The Vertu Ascent Ferrari clone operates on GSM networks and features a 1.8-inch 220 x 176 resolution display, USB connector, 128MB of internal storage, support for MP3 ringtones and MMS capabilities (take that, iPhone!). Excuse us, we're feeling a little sick from staring at this abomination...

Not that we'd view the actual Touch Diamond as IF or anything, but the Diamond J6 is more along the lines of I3. In all seriousness, this thing isn't too far from being spot-on identical (maybe it's an HTC thing?), with a 2.8-inch display, built-in camera, multimedia player, Bluetooth and a microSD card slot. And for $160, we're almost inclined to fall in love here... almost.

Don't get us wrong, Nokia's Aeon concept is beautiful. By the time you remove all the fanciful, nonexistent technology and try to come up with a dead ringer of your own, though, a certain something is lost in translation. A manufacturer -- not Nokia, trust us -- has now tried (and failed) to recreate the Aeon's magic in a retail package, dubbing it the YX-W168 and throwing in dual SIM capability, 2 megapixel camera, and that critical "invisible keyboard" lit by a handful of blue LEDs, but there's only one small problem: it looks nothing like the Aeon. Simple steps like getting rid of the "Vogue Lifestyle" label etched across the phone's edge would've gone a short way toward making it a more believable rip, but then again, not really.

[Via Tech Ticker]