Generic Chinese Mobile Phones - Products of 'Welcome' Inc...

[Deodand2014]

The Smoorez channel is an Australian based tech channel that reviews all kinds of gadgets. This includes mobile phones of the generic or 'clone' type. Many of these phones rather than having a name brand on their boot screen simply say 'Welcome' when they start up. He's taken to calling these types of phones 'Welcome' phones as if that's the brand name.

These are offered through websites like eBay, Wish.com, etc with overblown stats and priced well above what they are actually worth.

Here are a few sample videos showing just what is out there and the techniques used in making them...

[Deodand2014]

Two more teardowns/reviews by Smoorez of generic Chinese mobile phones with a twist. These ones are branded XGody, what is XGody, well they are a real company and have a website from which product can be obtained. Their business model, buy the output that would normally be sold with a 'Welcome' startup screen and put their logo on it as well as replace the generic startup with their own startup screen.

The first review is of a phone purchased second hand, the second, well XGody reached out to Smoorez and asked if he'd review their 'best phone'. The first has slightly exaggerated specs, the seconds specs are brutally honest.

[bob91343]

This is all well and good; however I have come away very confused.

My phone, a Samsung S5, has come to nearly the end of its useful life.  So I am in the market for a replacement (Verizon).  Does one of these phones appear to be one that can work for me?

[Cyberdragon]

This is all well and good; however I have come away very confused.

My phone, a Samsung S5, has come to nearly the end of its useful life.  So I am in the market for a replacement (Verizon).  Does one of these phones appear to be one that can work for me?

Absolutely not. These phone are shit, just made to be scams. They are overpriced (on Wish), for a phone made with the cheapest junk parts they can find. They are the equivelent of early 2010s era tech, 3G only, dual core, up to 2G RAM (some as low as 512MB), up to 16GB storage, crappy camera and screen, dodgey bodged up firmware and OS that's really old, sometimes malware included, exc. They lag just doing basic stuff like watching a youtube video or running basic games and apps, the cameras are often aweful (laggy, poor colors, low res, lack of basic features like zoom), same with the screen, the LED light/flash is always as dim as a penlight with a near dead battery, the flash memory can have it's size faked internally so data gets lost when the system tries to write to nonexistant memory (like a fake memory stick or card), the included charger is dangerous as hell, the battery is only 1-2Ah max, exc.

They are built from trash, to be trash, they are never indended to be used, only to dupe the customer. You can get way better modern phones for the same price as a scam phone (unles you find it at a thrift shop).

[bob91343]

You mean that's all that's wrong with those phones?  Ha.  So, with that in mind, what are my reasonably priced options?

[Cyberdragon]

You mean that's all that's wrong with those phones?  Ha.  So, with that in mind, what are my reasonably priced options?

Free, keep the S5, change the battery if needed. Way better than these junkers. If all you want is talk and text...get a Jitterbug.

EDIT: a Jitterbug Smart...supposedly the most basic smartphone, has better specs than these fakes made from scrap. It actually has 4G, 32GB memory, and a working fingerprint sensor.

[Bassman59]

Can these YouTube "creators" dial down the graphics? The videos (or at least the screenshots) just look like memes designed to induce seizures.

[Bassman59]

You mean that's all that's wrong with those phones?  Ha.  So, with that in mind, what are my reasonably priced options?

Define "reasonably priced."

[retiredcaps]

My phone, a Samsung S5, has come to nearly the end of its useful life.

Buy a replacement non OEM battery and install LineageOS 18.1 on it (Android 11).  It's unlikely you will find a real OEM Samsung S5 battery in 2021.

https://download.lineageos.org/klte

edit: With LineageOS 18.1, you will get all the monthly Android security patches to date.

[bob91343]

I already have a spare battery so all I need to do is download and install a later version of Android?  How do I do that?

[retiredcaps]

I already have a spare battery so all I need to do is download and install a later version of Android?  How do I do that?

If you never installed a custom rom before, there's lots of video tutorials on how to do that.  Just search for "install lineageos" in youtube.  OR in the link I provided earlier

https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/klte/install

For your recovery program, I suggest TWRP at

https://twrp.me/samsung/samsunggalaxys5qualcomm.html

Backup your data because the new OS and TWRP will overwrite everything.  Again, there's lots of video tutorials on how to flash a custom rom.

[bob91343]

That went way over my head.  I am not experienced with installing operating systems, backing up data, and so on.  I have been around for a while but my expertise is in analog and hardware, so this is a foreign language to me.

If you would tell me more, a little at a time, maybe I could do it.  I don't want to brick my phone.

Someone asked what I consider a reasonable price.  Well, substantially less than what the providers charge.  Several hundred dollars is out of my price range.  If I could squeeze by for, say, $100 or so I might be able to handle that.

[Cyberdragon]

https://www.androidcentral.com/best-android-phone-under-100

https://blucellphones.us/best-smartphone-under-100-dollars/

https://techrrival.com/best-smartphones-under-100-usd/

exc.

There are plenty of legit brand name options. You don't need to buy literal junk to get a cheap phone.

[bob91343]

Thanks Cyberdragon, I will check those links.

[Deodand2014]

Welcome strikes again...

[Deodand2014]

Hugh Jeffries looks into a Welcome phone pretending to be a Samsung S22.

[Deodand2014]

An interesting case, the phone studied probably originated with a defunct company at the lower end of Tier II (Able to design phones and have the phones manufactured by a third party to those specs.) which was being sold by someone who understated it's actual specs...