ARMdevices.net

Nice do you know a web site where i can find this device? Datasheet of the CPU is on the net, so there is a good chance of proper costumization

shit man, thats cheeeeeap! If im being honest, I do prefer the iphone clone, looks like a better design…but no 3g is a deal breaker for me. The zte blade was £79.99 here in the uk when released, was good for the price (initial batch had a samsung amoled screen…the only other company to use these except samsung of course).

I know quadrant, neocore etc are not the “be all and end all”…but its a good comparison to hardware which we all see everyday…run some of those tests and we can see how good they compare?

I would like to see how browser work on this devices. If You could open website: http://www.dailytech.pl (its heavy graphics so this will be a good test of power). Also, some 3d game will be a good benchmark. And of course sample pictures from camera;)

Hello, Could you check if it can run Flash Player 10 ?

Thx

http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=MTK6516+FG8&catId=0

~$113 + VAT (if it applies where you live) / handling fees and it’s yours!

Angry Birds!

If I had my own Chinese manufacturing company I would sell phones with Cyanogenmod with support for AT&T bands.

Can it play videos and musics as much as my Archos 70?

Great artifact, Charbax, thank you for your videos!
Hans Kw thank you too for that website.

Great review Charbax!! Could you also look for the A5000 model? It has capacitive touch-screen and does have a trackpad and GPS.

Found it over here, don’t know it is possible to show the link. If it’s not allowed, please remove the link:

http://www.lightake.com/detail.do/sku.A5000_3.5_inch_Capacitive_Screen_Dual_SIM_Standby_Android_2.2_Quadband_GSM_Smart_Phone_-37955

They do also sell the phone Charbax reviewed:

http://www.lightake.com/detail.do/sku.FG8_3.5__Touch_Screen_Dual_SIM_Standby_Android_2.2_WiFi_GPS_TV_FM_Smart_Phone_-37461

They completely rip-offed HTC Sense UI and you guys like this? Utter crap. No regards for intellectual property rights.

[...] price for this is actually as low as that. Also see my video review of the similar but even cheaper $87 FG8 3.5″ capacitive MTK6515 HTC Desire clone. And my video interview with Karasnn.com the probable manufacturer of this $120 MTK6516 Hero H2000 [...]

I like this…but the price is so cheap with FG8 phone in China.
I am wondering why???

hello Charbax
thanks for this blog and these videos
I’m closely following since you went away!
I also would like to be there with you
I bought a tablet under your advice
now I am faced with this phone … I would buy 20 pieces …
you advice me? are you using?
familiar with this company http://www.anandasy.com/productsxx.asp?Sendid=1118 ?
did you see her stand at the fair?
thanks a lot again and get those other 2 days!

I am following you on Twitter!

the price for a one piece I posted on the website is $ 112

Euhm, I think they just use the HTC Sense UI, perhaps not asking HTC for the permission, but I think it’s just them using that same UI as basically having the HTC Sense UI Home Replacement installed by default.

[...] phone market in Shenzhen, see a bit of how the athmosphere is there. This is where I found my $87 Android Smartphone and my $120 Android powered [...]

[...] 10 new videos of devices based on this ARM9 processor (in order of most to least interesting): [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], this low-cost ARM9 processor seems to win big in [...]

[...] Mediatek, I filmed 10 new videos: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10] (in order of most to least interesting), this [...]

Dear,

Is this phone good for internet access?

Tks,

Alexandre.

Is it really GPS or only Agps?

Hello, I wonder if you sell this model and need to know to sell your site for ordering, reviewing equipment because here in Brazil.
I look forward soon return – josephecell@gmail.com.
Thanks,
josemaria

Please tell me the address of the shop at Shenzhen.
Please reply at q9home@hotmail.com

What means MTK6516 ARM9 460Mhz + 260Mhz DSP ? Is this cell phone have two processors ? Someone already test some game in this phone ?

Most ARM processors have a DSP co-processor which handles video playback and can handle the graphics as well. Yes I am testing games.

hello big charbaxx

thank you for everything
I’m following daily!

how are you finding your phone? works well? I get paid $ 112 a few days!

I saw that in quatar You just have not brought! have preferred something more stable?

thanks

Good info. Did you ever think of writing a loose script before recording your reports? Might be nice for viewers and it will help your online image..

If it’s good info, why do you want me to have a script? Yeah sure, if I get a sponsor, I’ll hire a script writer, a team of benchmarking experts, dancers and new camera equipment.

this is awesome!
you are mentioned: http://androidportal.hu/2011-04-27/okostelefon-froyo-val-87-dollarert-honnan-mashonnan-kinabol

are you coming by Hungary on your way home by any chance?

[...] While Google will integrate the full optimizations for flashy impressive Dual-Core next generation super smartphones, I also expect Google to bring a light version of Ice Cream Sandwich suitable for Sub-$50 Android smartphones to reach 2 Billion more people around the world. See my initial video review of the $87 FG8 Android Smartphone that I found a couple of weeks ago in Shen…. [...]

Dear Charbax,
I really appreciate Your work doing for all the Community!
I would like to order this MTK6516 FG8 for my daughter but online orderpages are telling me prices like USD 130-160. You did actually really go to Shenzen and bought it F2F? Can You recommend a page where I can order it probably cheaper than USD 130? thanx in advance! Tamás from Hungary

@bbde730ebe31867c045976ea393667d8:disqus
http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/products/8220816/free_shipping_Flying_FG8_AGPS_Smart_Phone_3_5_capacitive_screen_android_2_2.html $125 free shipping included already.

[...] in continuing to keep making so huge profits on ARM Powered devices. I for example believe that the $87 Android Smartphones and the diversity in high-end Android smartphones is a significant threat to Apple’s iPhone [...]

Don’t buy any phone with MTK6516 processor. The phone becomes very slow and sluggish if you install 3 or 4 additinal applications…. 

CAN U RECORD VIDEO ON THIS PHONE & WHAT U.S. MOBILE NETWORKS IS IT COMPATIBLE WITH

Hi Charbax, have you tested Skype over wifi on this?

Hi.

I think you got it wrong. HTC Sence UI is NOT a UI but a Home Screen provided by Android.

So, basically ALL PHONES that runs Android will look SAME!

Trust your confusion/misunderstanding is cleared now; Lol !

I am having trouble with muffled sounding microphone on this model.  Anyone else?

I have this phonesite wifi with optical fiber, opens with Skyfire, but with difficulty …resolution 3D games are not supported well because the processoris very low!card games such as chess and checkers and / or run well withacceptable graphicsgames like angry birds runs fine but with bad graphics!

the microphone volume is not very high. but no padding!

skype so low for this processor is not supported!the app crashes during login.but there is a Chinese version created forums for these phones, buton my fg8 does not work!

GPS is one of the best things about this phone!really works in an optimal way but only using ”NDRIVE”, an excellentnavigator on the market!shame about the battery life, but enough to have the car charger!

charbax my friend… Thank you so for everything!I will follow you and I salute you!I bought them at the end.is a good product for the Touch and the GPS and receive calls!has a good internet connection wifi.but the processor is low and the games run bad!if you want to call a Smarth Android and use the Internet and gps isgreat!if you want a post game is the wrong choice!

Hi Charbax, thanks for your review; after that I bought 2 of these phones.
It’s a great device, but one of them stopped working after 2 hours; now it doesn’t turn on anymore.

Since it’s too expensive for me to send it back, I decided to open it by myself and try to fix it.
I found 2 UARTs, one of them is throwing some error messages…

Now the question: do you have any technical contact with the producer of this device? Some business card to share with me?

Thanks for your help.
Claudio

PS: the other one is (still) working perfectly since 2 weeks.

There are Chinese forums with hundreds of people posting all kinds of infos
and rooting methods and alternative firmwares for these cheap phones, I
forgot the URL right now, perhaps you can find it with a basic Google
search. I only know the manufacturer of the more expensive H2000.

You’re right, but Chinese is not my preferred language
I already have the original ROM and flashing software, but I suppose it’s not a software issue.
It should be hardware related, since I can debug on internal UART and it seems to hang on I2C bus / RTC init step.
That’s why I’d like to have a technical contact; maybe someone of your readers is an experienced phone troubleshooter…

Thank you for your great aRticle. your website is verY interesting. please com to see my website and COmment my website please> my web is also about ‘i’ game> iphone game, ipad game, ipod tOuch game. if i have any interesting thing to post, i will tell you first

Hi, thank you for the review. Do you know does FG8 support vibration mode for notification (ring)? I read somewhere (I can’t remember where) that there is no vibration mode on this phone.

Thanks,
Vojčo

Hi, thank you for the review. Do you know does FG8 support vibration mode for notification (ring)? I read somewhere (I can’t remember where) that there is no vibration mode on this phone.

Thanks,
Vojčo

My FG8 has vibration both on calls and messages.

Thanks for the video review of this phone. There is one issue I can’t find a straight answer to, Does the FG8 have a gps chip that will allow standalone navigation? That is, without any cell or data service available?  It says it has A-GPS which just improves initial satellite signal capture when using cell data service (3G,4G).

Yes it has full GPS support and it works even without a SIM card inserted.
Obviously if you download Agps data with wifi or 3G connection the initial startup is faster.

Thanks.

Thanks Nicorac.
To take it a step further, since the GPS will work independent of the phone service, are there apps (maps) you can download to the SD card and that work offline with the GPS?
Also, is the capacitive screen multi-touch?

I don’t know any of them. If you only wanna try the GPS for location/speed/time I suggest you “GPS Test”.
Yes the screen is multitouch, I mean you can zoom in/out using two fingers if the app supports it.
(integrated web browser and picture viewer do, also Opera Mobile does).

Can you please tell me if the FG8′s camera has an auto focus mode, to use with bar scanner programmes like shop savvy

If it does, I haven’t been able to activate it. If it does have auto-focus, should it work automatically to focus on the bar code?

Лох

Hi, Claudio I wanted to know if you were able to find some way to fix this problem. I also bought two of these phones and mine worked for about two hours, i turned it off and it doesn’t turn on anymore. When i connected to the charger, the screen lights up showing me the battery is charging but it doesn’t turn on. Any help would be appreciated, thanks

Hi Sergio, I’m sorry to say I’ve given up.
I kept the broken one as spare parts for the working one
But you’re a step forward, your screen shows something, at least when you connect the power source. Maybe you have a broken power button…

Thanks for replying so fast Claudio, too bad about your phone though, i’m gonna try to repair it or maybe have someone to look into it, i hope its just the power button… thanks again

Ok, waiting for your positive feedback…

I got my phone working , it was just the power button in the end, thanks for your help claudio. The phone is great, dont have any complains so far
 

Glad to hear that, you’re luckier than me

when the phone rings, the answer and end buttons appear,but they dont work,i have to shut the screen(top of phone) then reopen ,and then i can answer it,do you know if there is a fix for this

After using it for 3 months as my main phone, I think my power button also is a bit screwy, but I can still power it on if I somehow push very hard on the power button. Did you open up the device to fix your power button? How many screws do you unscrew to access the stuff where the power button is to eventually push things back in place? Is there just something inside for the power button that gets slightly out of position? Maybe there is a way to setup Android to use the Home button or another button as the power button when the screen is idle and maybe there is a screen power on/off widget that I could use as an alternative.

[...] a lot of crazy cheap Android smart phone news in the months to come. By the way, I’ve used my $87 FG8 for the past 3 months as my main phone and it has worked [...]

yes it has, im using copilot navigation works great

does anyone using skype on it, i try to install skype ,it installed okay ,when i try to sign in ,it ask to reinstall the app ,and it keep on going like this ,any ideas

Hi, the touch screen can come from Taiwan or China. I understand HTC is made in Taiwan. Most phones I have seen from China are copies even though they are branded. I ordered one to try out recently. It’s described as having a ST – ERICSSON / NXP 6715 Platform and the operating system is Android 2.2. They say it has a Data UL/DL rate of: HSDPA:UL384Kbps/DL7.2Mbps, WCDMA:UL384Kbps/DL384Kbps, GPRS:53.6Kbps, EDGE:236.8Kbps, which, I am hoping means that it can handle 3G network signals. The screen/pixel size is: 3.2”TFT LCM，HVGA，320*480 pixels and the Touch lens is capacitive multi-touch. It does have a lot of nice features described; such as Google Froyo, A-GPS. The system memory is 4GB flash + 2GB RAM bit. It supports T-flash memory up to 32GB. It is just one of several I intend to try, so I will add a new comment to this as they arrive.

Here I found another video talking about this cellphone. Looks good and attractive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIb3p-Q0e6Y

there is just possibility to chat, without call with the skypelite version, the apk file you will easily find on xda developers or surfing on the web. Hope they will improve it fast…Developer open source are great!

for those asking for Skype on FG8 here a link to the apk file (only chat available )

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=652232

Grate presentation. Thank you for your help.

hi friend , i brought the android FG8 phone online shopping from china, when i inserted 2 sim cards it shows network access restricted and no network. pl help me out to make calls from this phone….

My coments about ths Phone are:
Charger went dead soon after. It can now charged only using USB port. 
Removing the back cover to remover the battery is not easy and got damaged.
Manual has small print.. 

I always only charged using USB. I’ve openned the battery door about a thousand times and it’s fine, you just have to push it right and pull the tv antenna a bit to have it open right.

ah OK
thank you…

Hi, Charbax. Your effort on solving people questions is very appreciated. I have two. The first is how long your battery lasts when using it intensively. Also, is the AGPS restritive when compared with the GPS? Thks. Jorge

It lasts pretty long in the battery, I don’t know how long, I charge it about once a week but I’m not often on the phone. GPS is better than AGPS, but it’s ok.

[...] apps when I am outside. I am looking forward to upgrade this to a dual-core 7″ tablet. – My $87 FG8 Android Smartphone, it’s my main smartphone for the past 7 months since I found it in Shenzhen China. It [...]

Hi mate,
 I am looking for a budget android phone which is able to run VOIP software.
 Not sure the minimium requirement of cpu speed but need Wifi, VPN capable .
 I joined  A HK Voip provider 2B HK recently & found that it doesn’t work or support a physical phone connected to phone adapter.
 Cheers
 Kiwi.
  

Nine times out of ten, the teams or athletes with the most speed are going to win. While some coaches get it and focus on developing the skill of speed as a primary element of their training, others haven’t caught on yet. Perhaps you’ve mistakenly bought into the idea that speed can’t be coached – that athletes are born with ‘it’ or they aren’t.

where do i purchase this phone?

[...] Archos at the Shenzhen electronics fair My review of the $95 Kinstone ARM Cortex-A9 Android tablet My review of the $87 3.5″ capacitive Android Smartphone FG8, which I still use as my main smartphone today and it works great Behind the scenes at a little [...]

[...] Read more [...]

i know this phone, but it is very old Chinese Android phone, i know one website sell many cheap android phone, http://www.lovebargaining.com, but i don’t know wheather it is safe to buy on this website, is there anyone knows about this website? is it scammer?

From where we can buy?