It might look a lot like Samsung’s new Galaxy S5, but don’t be fooled: What you’re looking at is Goophone’s new S5 smartphone, a knockoff revealed just days after Samsung’s Unpacked event in Barcelona.
Knockoffs are far from new. Whether it’s designer handbags, popular consoles, or just about anything with a recognizable brand, you can expect to see a cheap or hilariously named copycat products available from often seedy sources. The copying here is quite blatant. The photo on Goophone’s website is nothing more than the Galaxy S5’s stock photo with some minor tweaking, and the Samsung logo changed to Goophone’s.
The Goophone S5 features some competitive hardware, but lacks much of what the Galaxy S5 is actually offering. For example, the phone is powered by a Mediatek 2.0GHz octa-core processor, which despite having more cores, can’t keep up with Qualcomm’s quad-core processors. The phone also has 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and Android 4.2, all viewed on a 5-inch HD display. Unlike the real Galaxy S5 though, there’s no 4G LTE on this device.
Goophone has been copying popular smartphones and gadgets for a number of years. Some of the highlights on its website include an Android-powered “Goophone i5S” and a Goophone Smartwatch, two devices that look strikingly similar to the iPhone 5S and Galaxy Gear respectively, just with weaker hardware. Of course, thanks to this, they all cost a fraction of the price of the real thing.
We know it’s tempting to get something that looks a lot like the new Samsung smartphone, but be warned: cheap knockoff smartphones can be a nightmare to own if anything goes wrong. Even if the hardware is somewhat comparable to a high-end smartphone, don’t expect a very reliable warranty or support if something goes horribly wrong. There’s also no store you can go to for repairs, and no insurance options either. You are also aren’t guaranteed regular OS updates, as it’s up to Goophone to bring later versions of Android to this device.
Despite all its flaws, if you seriously want a knockoff S5 it will only cost you $300 – a steal compared to the price of a real Galaxy S5, but still high when you take in consideration the probably shoddy hardware and software. The choice, of course, is yours.
