Mein FAQ page fuer chinamobiles (to be updated)
Frequently asked questions list (FAQ)
What is the Sciphone i68?
The Sciphone i68-series phones are media-centric mobile phones that are called iPhoneTM clones by some, but in truth the underlying hardware and software are very different from that of an Apple iPhone. It is only the housing (the plastic enclosure) that looks similar.
Note, the i68 is a descendant of the P168 series phones that are still going strong.
What is the CECT i9 series?
The i9-series phones, which include the i9, i9b, i9b 3G, and i9 3G are almost identical to the Sciphone i68-series phones, although people seem to report having problems with them.
Who makes the Sciphone i68-series phones?
MediaTek (MTK) of Taiwan makes the processor and some say the mainboard as well, but it is unclear who manufactures the housing, display, camera, batteries, cables, or who assembles them all into the final product.
As for the operating system and phone software itself (collectively called the firmware) most cheap Chinese phones have Nucleus Plus OS, which is believed to be licensed and provided by MTK along with MTK's graphical user interface (GUI). And the Sciphone i68 series phones are no exception.
And yet it appears that each i68 and i68+ reseller is selling phones with slightly different telephony software and user-interface software installed. This is probably due to MTK making frequent changes to the hardware and software.
As for the name "Sciphone", it is an unlicensed brand name that is prevalent in Asia. It appears to be used by many companies but is most commonly associated with Sciphone Inc.
Other commonly used Asian phone brands are Miphone, Ciphone, Hiphone, and CECT.
What do the Sciphone i68 / i68+ / i68+3G offer?
These GSM phones are different from the iPhone, but they offer much. They are media-centric cellular phones with loads of features, some clunky, some usable, and typically including:
•Quadband GSM phone itself (so it can work anywhere in the world)
•Tilt/shake sensor
•Support for two SIM cards inside the same phone.
•MP3 player typically with only one playlist
•Java MIDP
•Camera (640x480 or less)
•Image viewer
•Video player (plays 3GP / 3G2 / MP4 formats)
•Video recorder
•Calculator
•Voice recorder
•Text file viewer
•SMS
•MMS
•Support for up to 8GB MicroSD flash card.
•Shake to change song/photo feature
•The version 3 or newer firmware offers touch-flow behavior in the image viewer.
Some of these features are undoubtably clunky, and/or slow and yes, there are even software bugs. Many people nevertheless seem to like the i68 series. These phones are considered to be a good deal for the money, since they sell for only $70 to $110 and are unlocked and without a contract. Equivalent phones from Apple, Nokia or Motorola are $500 without a contract.
What are the technical specifications of the Sciphone i68-series phones?
•Mediatek MT6225 processor (ARM 7EJ-S core) running at 206 MHz, with coprocessors for graphics etc.
•Quadband: 850, 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz.
•3.2 inch screen that has 240x320 resolution and 16-bit color.
•Nucleus Plus operating system from Mentor Graphics / ATI.
•VGA camera or possibly 320x240.
•Two SIM slots.
•MicroSD slot that accepts up to 8 gigabyte cards.
•Java MIDP support in firmware. Heap is usually 1 megabyte.
•Bluetooth.
What is the Sciphone i68+3G?
It is not a 3G phone.
•A rounded back cover to look like the Apple 3G phone.
•A built-in headphone jack (no need for an adapter.)
•Some have an Apple connector on the bottom to use with iPhone accessories.
What's happening now in China is that manufacturers are changing the housing and connectors of many phones, not just the Sciphone i68+, to be more like the newest iPhone. So the "3G" or "3G style" name refers only to the styling of the housing and not to any 3G phone capability.
Some of the "3G style" phones have back covers that cannot be opened. This is a problem because the battery cannot be replaced and the MicroSD card and SIM card are inserted externally.
Other phones that have some or all of these improvements include the
•CECT i9b
•CECT i9-3G
What is the Sciphone i68 III?
This name appears to be used freely, and can refer to a phone that is like the Pinphone Compass 3GS, or it can refer to a phone like the i68+ that merely has Wifi added.
To be on the safe side, I recommend avoiding the i68 III. If you want a phone with Wifi, check out any of these:
•Miphone M88/M89
•PinPhone Compass 3GS
•Miphone A3 Android phone
What are the i9 and i9-3G phones?
They are phones with roughly the same hardware and software as the i68-series.
The i9-3G is appealing in that it has an openable, rounded back cover (in white or black) like the iPhone 3G, hence the name. It is not a 3G phone however.
The i9-3G is reportly upgradeable to 32 GB flash, now that 32 GB MicroSDHC chips are being made. However it is worth asking who would ever need that much flash, given that MP3 sound quality is not that great to begin with. Indeed there isn't even a headphone jack.
What are the i9b and i9b-3G phones?
These are phones with a new housing design. There is a rounded back and colors available are black, white, and red. It has four major differences from the i9-3G:
1.The back is not openable. Therefore the SIM must be inserted externally.
2.It has 4MB of flash built into the circuit board.
3.The 4MB model has a regular headphone jack so there is no need for a headphone adapter.
However people have had trouble running Java programs on them, saying that some Java program do not load at all that had formerly worked on the i9. Some people report that the FM radio hardly works at all. Another thing to be aware of is that the camera is generally VGA resolution, not the 2MP or 1.2MP mentioned in ads.
What is the meaning of the + signs in the names i9+ i9++ i9+++?
They are a marketing gimmick to make you think that something new is being offered when in truth nothing is. At most, they have newer firmware installed. But this is to be expected since phone firmware is constantly being improved.
Is there technical support for these phones?
You can ask whoever sold you the phone questions but they may not know much about them. You have to be willing to experiment with the phone yourself somewhat, try different things, ask in forums and above all have patience.
There are several causes:
1.Unfortunately, in China, there prevails an ethos of "do and say anything to get money", consequences of which include China's air/water/land pollution problems, the melamine in milk scandal, deadly cat food etc.
2.Many resellers are not testing or even looking at the phones they're selling but rather they are instead just passing the original ad copy and product on to customers.
3.On Ebay, there are many sellers who lie in their ads yet have a 99% positive feedback. Ebay's feedback system is not reliable. People have found ways to overcome it.
4.Finally, it turns out that there is a large amount of minor variability in the Sciphone hardware. As of 2009 there were at least 62 hardware variants of the Sciphone i68+.
Case in point: The truth is, i68 and i68+ only have a 640x480 camera, which provides only 0.3 megapixels. And my tests of the i68+ show it in some cases it's not even that good. You should never buy from a company that claims the i68+ has a 2MP or 5MP camera.
How do the i68 and i68+ differ?
•By software. A genuine i68+ has newer firmware such as version 3.0a.
•By the pinout of the USB cable connector (phone end).
◦The i68 uses pins 1..8..9..10.
◦The i68+ uses pins 1..9..10..11.
Because the i68 and i68+ use different pins on the USB cable connector, they require different firmware-upgrade cables.
A warning:
Some shops selling two phones called the i68+. Some people are saying both are likely i68's and that certainly the cheaper one is.
Are there different i68+ phones being sold?
Yes. Some companies are taking i68's and relabeling them i68+. These are the "fake" i68+'s that people are talking about in the forums. Other i68+ phones have older firmware.
How do I know if I have received a legitimate i68+ from Sciphone Inc. and not a relabeled generic i68?
Two ways:
1.By locating the Sciphone Inc logo and i68+ name.
◦It starts up with the "Sciphone" logo.
◦It has "Sciphone, Inc" on the battery as well as i68+.
◦It has "Sciphone, Inc" in the battery compartment as well as i68+.
2.By looking at which pins on the USB cable connector are used. (See above.)
Also, a proper i68+ will have two IMEI codes in the battery compartment.
How do I transfer files to the i68/i68+?
1.Make sure that a MicroSD card is in the phone.
2.Connect the phone via USB to your PC.
3.The phone will ask what kind of connection you want to establish. Confirm that you want to use the phone as a mass storage device.
4.On the PC it will appear as two new drives: The first is the internal memory. The second is the MicroSD.
Which Ebay seller is reputable?
I don't recommend buying a Sciphone on Ebay.
First, the Sciphone company is not selling their "official" phones directly on Ebay.
There are so many Ebay sellers that it's very hard to keep track of them. I cannot recommend one over another.
Ebay's feedback system is so flawed that it is entirely possible that the seller got a thousand perfect feedbacks by selling a thousand ten-cent items to a good friend five years ago. You need to look at recent sales. Were any of the items sold actually cell phones?
If a seller does not have an email address listed on their Ebay page then you probably should not deal with them.
In addition, many of the Ebay feedbacks are actually just first impressions. People report their feelings too early -- before they had more experience with the item.
And please don't buy a phone from a seller who has zero feedbacks, since more than likely you will never receive a phone from them. Be wary of buying directly from China since, after all, if the phone is defective the cost to return it for repairs is large and who knows if any such repair will occur.
What does the phone come with?
•Two batteries.
•Battery charger.
•A MicroSD memory card pre-installed in the phone. Typically it is 1 GB.
•Earbuds.
•USB cable.
•Manual.
•Sometimes a case.
•Sometimes a car charger.
Can I put YouTube videos on my Sciphone i68 or i68+?
Yes, but you must convert them from YouTube's FLV format to a format the phone can understand, specifically 3GP, 3G2 or MP4. The phone only accepts videos that are 176x144 resolution.
I have instructions for downloading and converting videos as well as more sample videos on my i68+ hands-on review page.
What is the latest firmware version?
The firmware version that everyone wants is 3.0a. It offers touch-flow viewing of images and user-alterable menu buttons. A generic i68/i68+ (e.g. from DealExtreme) may not have this firmware. In Ebay ads also check for the firmware version and touch-flow.
How do I download or update the firmware?
There's one company called Javquisoft which has been working on improving the firmware. Their modifications are not official however and they are having to deal with the fact that the hardware that underlies the i68, i68+ and related phones changes every month or even week, though consumers may not see any outward differences.
Some people in the GSM Hosting forum have taken to modifying i68 and i68+ firmware in minor ways, like changing icons and text, using the special flash cable that you can buy separately from MySciphoneShop. Note, I don't suggest using borrowed firmware because firmware for one Sciphone may not work on another and may harm it.
What about MP3 playback quality? What kind of MP3s work best?
The Sciphone i68/i68+ has either one or two speakers that offer decent sound quality, although there is almost no bass.
What operating system does the phone use?
•By analyzing the Sciphone i68 firmware I determined the following:
◦MT6225 processor is used.
◦The operating system is Nucleus Plus OS from Mentor Graphics (ATI).
◦J2ME i.e. Java MIDP-2.0 support is present.
◦There is WAP support.
What is the special key code needed to show the firmware version?
Just dial *#8375# and press the call button.
What is the special key code needed to get into "engineering mode"?
For the Sciphone i68: Dial the number * # 8560968 #.
For the Sciphone i68+: Dial the number * # 82043036 #.
Be very careful when you are in engineering mode! You can easily ruin your phone by accident. Do not, I repeat do not, ever mess with the SIM speed setting! Do not alter anything you do not understand. You have been warned.
What is the code for factory mode?
Factory Mode is *#66#. I do not suggest you use it.
What is the code for obtaining the IMEI?
To display your IMEI, call *#06#.
How do I set up speed dial?
Not all i68 phones have speed dial, because of the variability in the software. But if yours does, you do the following to use it:
1.Determine how many preset numbers there are e.g. T-Mobile probably set three. These you dial as 1# 2# and 3#.
2.Store all your personal contacts to your SIM.
3.If your first contact is Alpha and your 2nd to last is Yams and last contact is Zippy then your personal contacts will be Zippy = 4#; Yams = 5#; and so on with increasing numbers until you get to Alpha.
It's a bit odd but at this point it's a "feature".
How to I set up the phone for data services?
You need to do a Device Over The Air Configuration (DOTAC).
•T-Mobile:
◦In the USA use this T-Mobile webpage. No CECT or Sciphone models are listed so choose Nokia 2610.
◦You might need to press the power button to accept a service. Do not accept any service like T-zones or any T-anything. Always choose the first option and take care of any data account. Repeat for each desired service.
Is there more information about the processor?
Yes. It is a Mediatek MT6225. Mediatek processors are ARM 7 compatible. The MT6226 and MT6227 certainly have the ARM 7EJ-S core, which is a 32-bit RISC processor that can (when properly supported by the firmware) natively run Java bytecode. The processor includes an LCD controller.
•MT6225: slow and VGA camera
•MT6226 data sheet (related processor)
•MT6226 technical brief (related processor)
•ARM7EJ-S technical reference manual .
Where are specifications for the Nucleus Plus operating system?
The phone runs Nucleus Plus OS, the license for which costs an appalling $15000 from ATI. Presumably the manufacturer of the phone has paid that and has passed on the OS firmware on to resellers. (Trivia: The Hiphone appears to be running the ThreadX operating system instead.)
Does it really run Java applications or games?
Yes. It runs MIDP 2.0 Java software. It is not super-fast. For instance it can perform only about 400,000 operations per second. But how fast any given Java program runs depends in large part on how skilled the programmer who created it was at dealing with the resource-starved environment that Java imposes. In addition, some experiments by me and others seem to show that JSRs are not included. These are modules that provide Java programs with access to features like Bluetooth. Thus it seems the Java support is only intended for games. For more info, see my review.
I wrote a benchmark program for Java that is here.
Is there something like an iPhone chat program for the Sciphone i68?
The only program I have heard of is CryptoSMS, which unfortunately does not work with the Sciphone, but should work with the Miphone M88. It lets you send and receive encrypted (meaning confidential) SMS messages to other people who use the program.
If you google for "encrypted sms" you may find a free Java program for that.
How large is the Java heap size?
The heap size is the amount of data that a Java program can use while running. It seems to vary depending on the firmware, which as I mention above may not be the same on each phone. On the i68 it is up to 2GB. On the i68+ it is usually more like 1GB.
I want to write a Java program for the phone. What do I need to know?
It's challenging but rewarding as well, especially if you have never written a program for a mobile device. You will need the latest J2SE and a version of Sun's WTK. My experiments suggest that the latest WTK version 3.0 will not produce JAR files that the phone can recognize. I've used WTK 2.2 instead. It's available here.
Is anyone porting the Linux operating system to this phone?
The word was, almost 2 years ago, that Mediatek was porting Linux. This is a very difficult task however and they may not ultimately see the need. Linux offers benefits but they may not be great enough to justify the financial investment, since drivers would have to be rewritten and that takes a lot of effort. But the MTK 6225 in the phone contains the ARM7EJ-S processor core that should be sufficient for running Linux. For instance, according to the ARM7EJ-S programming manual, it does support demand paging (virtual memory).
Is anyone porting Google Android operating system to the Sciphone i68+? Simply put, the Sciphone i68+ phones do not have the horse-power to run Android. But on a related note, there are unlocked genuine Android phones from China, in particular the Sciphone N19 and N21 and soon there will be the Miphone A3.
What is the Ciphone C6?
It's a Windows Mobile phone, like the Miphone M89. It is faster and more expensive than the M89, and has a high-resoution 320x480 display, but it is also loaded down with "extra" software and modifications. I personally prefer the M89.
What are the F003 / F006 / F030 phones?
It's similar to the i68 except the processor appears to be 6.7 times faster, it has Wifi, and the screen is higher resolution. More info about the F003 phone.
What is the PinPhone 3GS?
It is a phone that improves on the Sciphone in almost every way. More info.
What is the Sciphone S18?
It's similar to the i68: similar underlying hardware, similar software, but different case.
What are the Sciphone Android G2 and G2+?
1.They are not phones running Android software from Google.
2.They are not quadband and do not support 850 MHz. Therefore they are useless in USA / Canada.
The G2/G2+ run Nucleus OS and have a graphical interface that imitates the style of Google Android. On the plus side, they do have an ARM9 processor that runs at 208 MHz. The G2+ supposedly has Wifi and the Opera web browser. I have not tried either.
What are the Sciphone N19 / N21 Android phones?
These are real Android phones that have a faster processor and Wifi. My Sciphone N19/N21 page.
What are the Y32, Java32 and P168i?
These names refer to the same phone as the Sciphone i68, with various firmware. They are sold by resellers who have foolishly chosen to rename the phone. Chinese resellers do not understand that when they rename the product, this causes confusion, and that when consumers become confused, they become frustrated and this leads to needless questions which require answering, and to lost sales.
What is the Hiphone i32?
Hiphone is a brand name that is applied to many phones. Some or all Hiphone-brand phones use different software. The Hiphone i32 is so bad, an online petition drive demanding fixes for problems gained some 900 signatures! Link. (Note, some of those signatures are duplicates and other appear to be graffiti, however most appear real.)
