Blackview Ultra A6 - Lost Your iPhone 6? This Cool $100 Android Clone Is The Perfect Replacement

Full review at http://www.redferret.net/?p=48356 . The Blackview Ultra A6 is a new Android smartphone which comes with an iOS setting which converts it into a complete iPhone 6 clone. We can hear the fanboys starting to scream already. But the strange thing about this ultra cheap (around $100) handset is the fact that it's actually not a bad phone at all, which makes it an absolute bargain if you're on the lookout for a short or long term replacement for your original. The Ultra A6 arrives in a very fancy box, which contains a nice set of accessories and documentation. There's the first surprise, it may be cheap, but it's no scrooge when it comes to either features or add-ons. There's a simple color user guide, power cable and plug, a hard cover case, an OTG cable for connecting up external bits like keyboards or external hard drives and an 8 GB microSD card and SD adapter. Pretty nice. The specifications of the phone are not too shabby either. It features a 1.3 GHz quad core processor, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB of internal storage and a microSD slot which supports extra space up to 32 GB. The 4.7 inch touchscreen comes in at 1280 x 720 resolution, and it runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat. There's an FM radio on board, GPS, Dual SIM, Dual Standby, Bluetooth, OTG, 8 megapixel rear camera (extrapolated to 13 mp) and 2 megapixel front, and a replaceable 2200 mAh battery. Oh and it's 9mm thick and weighs 145gms. The real kicker for anyone buying this phone is the fact that it features a little button in the Settings called iOS, which reboots the handset from standard Android mode into full blown iOS iPhone mode in about 20 seconds. Complete with icons, user interface treatment, the lot. Clearly it's no coincidence that the phone also looks eerily like an iPhone 6, but the whole effect is so good that it was enough to fool a friend who's an iPhone 6 user completely on first encounter. There is also a nice little feature called Back Touch, which gives you one finger scrolling control (up/down and side/side) in apps, by just sliding your finger along the touch panel on the rear of the phone (marked with a blue border above left). It's rather cool, and a nice way of navigating using one hand where necessary. There's also an implementation of Smart Wake (i.e. wake from sleep with a gesture) which actually works! Draw a C on the black front screen, and the phone wakes up directly into the dialer, W for Facebook, M for music player etc. We opened the box on this clone expecting it to be just like the others - cheap, tacky and really not worth the bother even for the iPhone gimmick. The last time we looked at fake iPhones was around 7 years ago, and the story was exactly like that. Nice try, but no banana. But this Ultra A6 actually stands out as a very decent budget phone in its own right. It's got a solid build, feels good in the hand (apart from that rear panel which is a little weird) and works like a dream for a cheapie. It's not something you'd be embarrassed about getting it out of your pocket. Yes it's shockingly cheeky, and yes the folks at Cupertino will definitely not be amused, but we think it's a real hoot, and rather brave at that. Whether the product manages to survive the possible legal letters after our expose is another matter, but we have to applaud the chutzpah of the developers in doing a clone in such style. Price: £72.18 / $109.92 Full review (with camera samples) at http://www.redferret.net/?p=48356