HOW TO SELECT A GOOD CHINESE MTK6577 PHONE

With a plethora of Chinese dual core phones on Fastcardtech and numerous online retailers, how do you choose a phone and be sure that you have made the correct choice? This article will show you if the phones are properly advertised and are not just lies. Let's begin with an example on Fastcardtech. Fastcardtech usually does screen grabs of system info from the Antutu benchmarking program so it is good for us. I don't know why they are using an old version of this program. Perhaps the old version omits certain information or show dual core processors at 2ghz. Those who are not tech savvy might just fall into this trap and buy due to high specs. The first example I will be using the phone from this LINK

Description:

HDC Galaxy Note 2 GT-N7100 S7100- MTK6577 Dual Core 1.2Ghz 5.4 inch HD Screen Android 4.1.1 Phone

REAL BUILD IN STYLUS PEN LIKE SAM NOTE2

Super slim body 8.1mm only

Real 5.4 inch HD screen

Dual core CPU over 5500 scores tested by benchmark

Android 4.1.1 newest version OS

Firstly, the Note 2 stylus included with this phone is not the same as the Samsung styles as the built in one has a giant rubber/plastic knob for writing and the Samsung one is using a Wacom pen with a sharp tip. Those who have used a Wacom tablet on their Macs or PCs will know this. This built in one is a really cheap regular one which you can buy for a buck and it is difficult to use due to the fat rubber tip. If you have been watching my other reviews, all these screens are 5.3 inches.

Please download the screen grab above. It is in PNG format. Most likely this is an unmodified screen grab. I have not modified it as well and you can download it and measure it in Photoshop. It will show 540x960 pixels which is QHD and not 720p HD as advertised. The 3D GRAPHICS score is 1156.
I have benchmarked many MTK6577 phones and 720x1280 resolution in 3D GRAPHICS will show only 800-900 due to the CPU and GPU having to move more pixels. Conclusion, this phone is QHD 540x960

CPU frequency shows 1600MHz. The MTK 6577 processor is 1GHz and never at 1.2GHz. There are no China phones with a MTK6577 running at 1.2GHz. Moving on to Android version.

Antutu shows Android 4.1.1 above. Android Jelly Bean is running on a 3.4.0 kernel and the date should be in December. Kernel version 3.0.13 is Ice Cream Sandwich kernel. Conclusion, this phone is running ICS
Moving on to the camera...

Look at picture size. It says 4.9 MP.  This means this phone has a 4.9mp hardware cmos sensor. 8 MP is in the supported picture size section. 8 megapixel is software scaling. Supported sizes=software/hardware scaling. Conclusion, 5.0 megapixel camera. If I need it to be 8mp I'd scale it in Photoshop.

As you can see above, picture size is 1600x1200 1.9 mp and supported size is maximum 1.9 mp as well.  Conculsion, front camera is correct at 2.0 mp 

Finally,
Super slim body 8.1mm only
I doubt this phone is 8.1mm. The Original Samsung Galaxy S3 is only 8.6mm and the UMI X1 is 8.5mm and also there is a lack of photos on the website, so the specs are all wrong. It may have been shipped in a box for a different phone. I wouldn't take the risk and buy this phone. I have some readers who bought this phone so we'll see what they receive.

Next, Here is an example of a phone that I am confident of buying.  LINK HERE.

As usual, Fastcardtech has the Antutu score benchmark screen showing at full resolution and un- modified. I also measured this with Photoshop and it is QHD.

The Antutu used is a new version so it shows the resolution at 540x960. CPU is showing correctly at 1000MHz  x2. Next is the Android version shown below.

Check out the board version: e1920_v77_zlh_9p017_asx
This motherboard model is now used for all jellybean phones. The N7100+ that I have now also has this board number. The kernel version is 3.4.0 and Dec 3 date are all Jelly Bean properties so this is real Jelly Bean. Moving on to the camera.

Front camera is 0.3 mp or VGA and back camera is 5.0 mp so the advertising info 1.3mp front and 8mp back camera and is wrong but now you guys know what to look out for. 

I now know exactly what I am getting with this info, not to mention the many pictures of the phone on the webpage, so I will be ordering this phone to do a review. As I have written before, The MTK6577 chipset struggles a little with a 720p HD screen so a QHD screen with Jelly Bean makes things really fly without comprising on resolution too much. QHD screen on a 5.3 inch screen looks fine so it should look even better on a 4.7 inch screen. You can buy this phone HERE. The price is great at just $170. Lookout of the Jelly Bean Phones in my next post.