Lowcost chinese cellphones?

[ontheroad]

I read that they were launching in France a low-cost chinese cellphone from a brand called AMOI. Does it exist here? Does anyone have feedback, are they total cr*p? I'm looking for a really cheap no-frills cellphone, my old one is just about dead and I only use the thing for emergencies.

[Boris]

You can buy in HK the Motorola C118 for a a couple of hundred bucks. Same price as say a Bird in Shezhen.
Difference? The HK unit is bulletproof the China cheap phones break when you take them out of the box.

The C118 you can find in all the main outlets. I have had one for 2 yrs with no probs.

[jayinhongkong]

Boris's advice is airtight. Definitely go with a low-end brand name phone (preferably a new one) over a POS Chinese phone that might explode while you're using it.

[ontheroad]

Thanks for the tip, I definitely don't want a cellphone that spontaneously combusts if someone calls me!

[Max]

Caveat: not all phones in china are cheap.

Even the local brands have some models that are slightly higher priced than their branded counterparts.

Another point to note is that these same companies that make "POS phones" or the ones that "spontaneously combust", are also the same companies that produce some models for the big brands that you may ultimately end up buying because of the name on the unit.

[ontheroad]

The unit that's being advertised in France is the F100 from Amoi.

[Nghia]

The unit that's being advertised in France is the F100 from Amoi.

Amoi is not really a "cheap" brand. They reall do decent phones and smartphones. Much better then most of the chinese local brands here.

I have seen cheap LG phones for a couple of bucks in mongkok