Hey, Apple -- you know that inspiration you've been looking for in order to concoct a proper iPhone nano? We just found it. Over in some seedy warehouse in the depths of Shenzhen, the aptly titled iphone nano has emerged. As you could likely surmise, this completely improper knockoff gentle combines the best features from Apple's iPhone and the iPod nano to create a singular, if not awkward device. Heck, there's even a 5 megapixel camera, which easily trumps the 3.2 megapixel shooter on the iPhone 3GS. It's all yours for just 90 bones, and you don't even have to sign your cellular soul away to AT&T. Look out Apple, we get the feeling this thing's going to be huge.

[Thanks, facelessloser]

It's a sad state of things in the smartphone arena, folks. Nokia can't even get its forthcoming N86 out of the door in official fashion before the cloning labs in China push out a suitable impostor. Of course, it's not as if this hasn't happened to Nokia before, but with such an anti-knockoff mentality, you think it'd take a little action to make the nightmare stop. Or maybe it secretly adores the attention -- yeah, that has to be it.

[Thanks, Jason]

There's just too much inherent greatness here to bothering nursing it out: Meizu's iPhone-aping M8 just got its very own imitator in the $99 MeiLi M8. The phone harbors all of those design distinctions that Meizu so carefully implemented into its hardware to differentiate from the iPhone, but oddly goes for an iPhone cloning interface. Best of both worlds? Something like that.

[Via PMP Today]

Well, no need to wait around for the Storm 2 to right all of the BlackBerry Storm's wrongs, the Cool9500 is here to make it all better. Namely, the Cool9500 brings the all-important gold trim, something we always felt was a major shortcoming of RIM's first stab at this form factor. There's also an all-important TV tuner -- another wild misstep in the original. Sure, we'll miss SurePress and the usable software, but we'd say Cool9500 really hit RIM where it hurts with this impressive followup.

Good ol' Nokla, with its punny branding and utter shameless, has taken upon itself to build the touchscreen N98, based on a sketchy Nokia concept that was making the rounds last year and never materialized. There's a 3-inch QVGA screen and dual-sim support, but things lean into the realm of Nokia parody with the complete lack of 3G or EDGE data. The worst part is that this phone actually looks kind of nice. All this unintentional humor can be yours for a mere $78.

[Via SlashGear]

We were already scratching our heads over the SciPhone Dream G2+, which went to all the trouble of ripping off Android for little apparent reason -- most of the OS is free for the taking. Well, things just got weirder with the new "G1 Quad band GSM Google Android Style Touch Screen Mobile phone." The handset not only has a fake version of Android, but also mimics the G1's looks pretty extensively -- ironic for a phone that was a bit long in the design tooth by the time it hit the market, despite its adorability factor. The fake G1 also lacks a slide-out keyboard, and we're having trouble making out the trackball -- it might be fake as well. We suppose a 3.5mm headphone jack would be a bit much to ask for?

[Thanks, Patrick K.]

You know how we know this here TAG Heuer Meridiist isn't the real deal? Not because it isn't sexy, and not because we don't really, really want to believe. No -- it's because the authentic handset can't be found for under five or six grand, while this little impostor can be had for the unfathomably low price of just $290. So yeah, you'll miss out on the fancy box and veritable bragging rights, but you will get twin SIM slots and a choice of black or red "leather." You know, come to think of it, maybe we would be willing to deal with a fake in order to save a few mortgage payments...

[Via Tehnozona]

Months later we're still thrilled at the discovery that the original Dream G2 doesn't run the free and open Android OS, but instead a carefully built, stylus-driven clone. Well, SciPhone's Dream G2+ followup continues in that noble tradition, running with some tweaked looks and the addition of WiFi on top of what looks to be that same Android-cloning interface. It's pretty thrilling stuff, and not at all bad for the $185 asking price.

[Via PMP Today]

We knew it was too good to be true. Don't get us wrong, this new ZN300 is alright, but Motorola knows as well as we do that this isn't the device people are looking for Schaumburg to produce right now; the company's engineering talent isn't in question, but what the people want is a superphone that proves there's some design talent in the house, too. That's why this supposed Touch ZINE HD got such a strong positive reaction the past few days that we'd all held out hope that there was a shred of reality to it, but unfortunately, Androphones.com makes a very convincing argument that it's almost certainly poppycock: looks like our boy Yury Cassini here took the back of a ZN5, combined it with the blanked front of a E8, and -- voila! -- there's the device the Android-loving world is waiting for. In our last piece about this device, we implored to Moto that "if this isn't real, can whatever it is you're working on right this second and do precisely this instead," and as we sit here with broken hearts and shattered dreams, the advice most definitely stands.

Nokia has already taken upon itself an initiative to cull the widespread adoption of knockoff handsets (also referred to as Fokias in the underground) in India, but now it seems the nation's government is stepping up to help out. Reportedly, over 25 million Chinese-sourced handsets in India are making / receiving calls without an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number to identify it, and authorities believe these phones enable terrorists to communicate more easily in undetected fashion. Recently, it moved to delay a ban on IMEI-less handsets from January 6, 2009 to March 31, 2009, though it seems as if a special IMEI-loading software could enable those with knockoffs to continue using them lawfully. Way to think green, India.

[Via OnlyGizmos, thanks Annkur]

Not even 24 hours after discovering the completely befuddling iFone x1 comes this, something entirely more recognizable, yet just as wrong. The iFone 3G is -- so far as we can tell -- the first mass produced KIRF of the iPhone 3G, and if history has anything to prove, it'll be just the first in a long, long linage. The best part? The whole "3G" thing in the model name is not representative of actual data band support, so the best you'll do on this heap of festering rubbish is EDGE. At the $5 to $10 range, we could definitely see picking one up for kicks and giggles, but at $178? Psssh... no thanks, poser.

[Thanks, Scott]

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]

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]