Sunday, February 3, 2013

GOOPHONE i5 N2 : THE REAL DEAL REVIEW

The past week has seen the much anticipated Goophone i5 N2 reaching customers including me. There are also several youtube video reviews by Colonel Zap and also Mayiandjay so I will not be making any youtube video reviews. Many people are saying how close it looks to the iPhone 5 even the operating system but in terms of functionality, I am disappointed. I will however share my experience of this phone with all you interested buyers because this phone is not for everyone.

Firstly, this phone is meant for the Chinese market so there are many apps in Chinese. Also, the google play store is not included and neither are the rest of the google apps or gapps.  There is a chinese playstore included that resemble the Apple app store but you will not be able to search for apps if you don't know chinese.

There is a recovery built in but somehow it doesn't work. Goophone has provided a working recovery but it is in Chinese ( I have built an English CWM recovery for this phone. HERE )
Therefore, if you want to buy this phone, be prepared to do some firmware flashing and you must be able to locate some usable rome to test. I will include some rome here as well.

Secondly, the Android ICS 4.0.4 has been heavily skinned and is very laggy. The Settings controls have been modified to look exactly like iOS and can be very confusing to find certain menus and switches, for example, to add google account or modify your google account, you will need to look at Settings > iCloud. Settings > Privacy has the backup and factory reset functions. In Settings > General > Location services is where the GPS switches are located. There is no Storage and Apps menu. UPDATE: I found the storage and apps menus hidden in some other settings menu.

After switching on all switches, I am still unable to pinpoint my location on Google Maps (in a newer rom) And GPS sucks. All I manages to get was only one satellite with a very weak signal. The compass however works well.

Because the Android UI has been modified heavily, some of the apps do not work well with the modified Android. Some apps even crashed the Settings app when the app request a settings change.

The camera produce fairly good pictures and videos but you will need to install another camera app like the LG camera pro to get full resolution pictures as the stock built in Apple styled camera takes low resolution pictures....maybe 3mp pictures.

I am sure there will be more and more improved roms as time goes on but at this stage this phone is only meant for experienced folks that know how to do firmware flashing.

On the positive side, this is a very beautiful phone and if you order from Fastcardtech, you can request for the one with the apple logo.
The thickness of the phone is no doubt 7.6mm. I measured it at 7.8mm with the factory installed screen protector on.
 The camera flash is powerful for it's size and can produce good looking pictures and videos with the correct camera app.
The screen is brilliant and is 100% IPS. It is most likely using the Gapless screen technology ( OGS ) as the screen images seem to be on the top glass itself. Brightness is good and colors are rich.

There is a pure Android ICS rom also available for this phone and I will test it out. It will run faster and more responsive without all the glitches because of the iOS modified skin. I probably will do a youtube review if I find the Android ICS ROM ( Lewa ROM ) fast and stable. UPDATE: ROM NOT NOT RELEASED YET.
 18 Feb.
If you like to play with gadgets and have the knowledge to do the rom flashing, you will find this phone very fun. But if you just want a phone that works out of the box then you have to look elsewhere unless you read and write chinese fluently without Google apps.

18 comments:

  1. Hello have you had any luck with stock ICS on this phone?
    I would like a fake iphone and be able to put stock on.

    Do you have a link?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No stock rom available yet. Someone on XDA has ported CM9 for it but the phone network and data is still not working.

      Delete
  2. Does theogo scratch off like the Galaxy S3's?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No. This is a really good iPhone clone. All materials used are exactly the same as original.

      Delete
  3. Just to clarify; there is no such thing as N2 it's made up by chinese resellers to make it fancier and sell LTE. Goophone I5 LTE = Dual Core and the upcoming Goophone I5 = Quad Core. (source: goophone.hk). Their BBS shows a bunch of Roms but cannot download them yet http://bbs.goophone.hk/?fromuid=24631

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes I know about that. I bought it from them hence I used their made up name so everyone knows I got it from there and it is the real lte / lite / n2 or whatever you choose to call it. I know about some guys who bought from dhgate and got another clone. One even got a mtk6575 version.

      Delete
  4. Do you have the black one?
    Does it have the logo in the back?
    Is the logo shiny mirror like?
    Did you order from fastcardtech?
    Thank you...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I ordered the black one and like I said, it looks exactly like the real one with the apple logo. I ordered from fastcardtech and put in the request for apple logo on the back.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  5. Please, make a video review of the Goophone i5 N2 on youtube.
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, the speaker just died and there is no sound. YouTube has other reviews you can check out. Also the modified android ROM sucks so I don't have the mood to review it. I am making plans to send it back.

      Delete
  6. Has the Lewa Rom been released yet for this product?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, there is a normal android ICS ROM already released. I will upload this ROM to 4shared soon.

      Delete
  7. hey..
    recently Goophone i5S has been launched(http://android-sale.com/goophone-i5s.html)....

    any comments on that??

    and this phone comes with jelly bean 4.1.2 but has been heavily skinned too.... what do you think, the upgrade might have helped?

    and if i will root it, can i get google play store?

    ReplyDelete
  8. and as the phone has no external memory option.... how do you sync the phone with PC?

    and i am using an iphone4(original)

    i just want to get an idea of this phone's processor(i5's), how fast is it...

    if you could help me with its chip(a detailed review or how fast is it comparing with iphone4)

    i wanna know everything for the i5's and NOT the N2....

    Thnxxx... :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. hello, I'm looking for a ROM for this:


    Model= ALPS.ICS2.MP.V1.20
    Device Info 1= MAUI.11AMD.W12.22.SP.V7, 2012/09/14 18:37
    Display ID= mobitek75_ics2

    claudek@o2.pl

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm having the Goophone N2 now..the 5.7 incher one and it works really well on me. Bought it from merimobiles.com for a cheaper price and they rooted it for me. Was looking for a review of it but haven't found any..But anyway, just wanna share that it's a good phone,price point and quality wise. Anyone here tried this phone?Any thoughts?Might help others. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. my speaker just died too and i do not have the possibility for a new speaker because i have no adres to buy it from??

    ReplyDelete