Help Spot and Avoid a Fake Mobile Phone for WCRD 2012

People can inadvertently purchase a fake or sub-standard phone, through no fault of their own, by trying to find a cheaper price for a phone - especially on the internet," said Michael Milligan, Secretary General of the Mobile Manufacturers Forum (MMF).

"Everyone wants to be able to buy a product at a good price. But unscrupulous suppliers are exploiting that desire for a WiFi Mobile Phone bargain to sell products that are not what they claim, or that are just poor quality and perhaps even dangerous. To help consumers identify and avoid these fake or knock-off phones, genuine manufacturers have created the www.spotafakephone.com website."

Most fake phones are counterfeit copies of genuine handsets, which steal intellectual property such as buy wholesale designs, technologies and trademarks to deliberately deceive consumers. Fake Android Phone are also produced without government approval, safety testing or certification and are sold illegally on the world's black markets.

"The global black market for fake handsets has grown rapidly over the past few years and is estimated to be in excess of 200 million devices every year," Mr. Milligan said.

"With counterfeiters imitating all facets of a phones appearance, including china phone labelling, design and packaging, it can be hard to spot whether a phone is fake or genuine, so the mobile industry developed this website to help consumers identify fakes and make the right choice."

"Often it is the sub-standard components, low quality manufacturing and tv phone poor performance that impact on consumers after they have already purchased a fake, especially in the area of consumer safety, and usually the consumer has no recourse with the supplier."

"Another important benefit of buying a genuine dual sim phone is that original manufacturers stand behind the quality of their own products and provide important product warranties to consumers should problems arise after purchase." Mr. Milligan said.

Consumers can do their part in helping to identify, report and avoid fake or knock off phones by going to: www.spotafakephone.com.

The spotafakephone.com site is part of an international project that has been developed by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum (www.mmfai.org), an international association of telecommunications equipment manufacturers with an interest in mobile or wireless communications.

Huawei seeks unique role in China’s mobile phone industry

Chinese mobile giant Huawei became the largest Chinese smartphone provider by selling 20 million smartphones globally in 2011. But it has a more aggressive ambition–to climb to the list of world’s top three smartphone providers, making its mobile phone product line as successful as its base line.

Chinese mobile giant Huawei became the largest china mobile phones Chinese smartphone provider by selling 20 million smartphones globally in 2011. But it has a more aggressive ambition–to climb to the list of world’s top three smartphone providers, making its mobile phone product line as successful as its base line.

To achieve this goal, Huawei has been dedicated to accelerating the development of new mobile products. In Mobile World Congress 2012 held in Barcelona, Huawei showcased a series of new products, including MediaPad 10 FHD tablet, and Ascend D quad smartphone. However, apart from these products, Huawei was more eager to show off its other major achievement–K3V2 quad-core processor independently designed by itself.

K3V2 can be clocked at either 1.2 or 1.5GHz. The company said the tv mobile phone chip delivers 30 to 50 percent more performance than the Tegra3 across a range of benchmarks. Huawei has billed it as the fastest quad-core processor in the world.

For a long time, the ability to develop a processor of one’s own has been a key indicator for the core competence of a hardware company in the industry. China providers once developed ark, Godson and other made-in-China CPUs; however, the performance was not very competitive.

But for a mobile phone provider, Huawei’s mobile watch phones attempt was unprecedented in China. Chinese

manufacturers generally prefer to take advantage of the ripe solutions provided by other chip companies.

MediaTak’s lowcost Turnkey solution, for instance, has been the elderly phones main technical support for many copy-cat mobile phone manufacturers. The high investment and high risk in the semiconductor industry has deterred any mobile phone producer from a rash entry.

But Huawei has been underlining its strength in R&D, distancing itself from any traditional mobile phone manufacturers in China. Secretary General of China Cellphone Union Lao Yao, who have been closely following the development of semiconductors, said as far as the global mobile terminal industry is concerned, it is a trend for a cellphone provider to develop its own chips. Apple and Sumsung have already been doing it, and Huawei is trying to catch up in its endeavor to become the world’s top-rated mobile product manufacturer designing chips by itself.

“Huawei started its cellphone design from the chip. The Android Phones development of the most basic technique could provide a firm support for the variation of its mobile phones; in other words, Huawei is going to start from the bottom technique . “said Lao Yao.

Huawei has been in semiconductor industry for many years. Indeed, the quad-core K3V2 processor was developed by “Haisi Semiconductors”, one of Huawei’s affiliates. Haisi Semiconductors Co. Ltd was established in 2004, formerly the Huawei’s “heart” department – Huawei IC design center founded in 1991. Huawei Haisi products cover wireless networks, fixed networks, digital media, and other areas of chips and solutions.

Just about two years ago, Huawei Haisi launched a 600MHZ chip–Hisilicon K3, though it failed to win much recognition in the unlocked android phone market due to wrong positioning or flaws. The recent return to the chip field shows Huawei’s firm resolve to compete in the chip market.

But even though Huawei’s technical strength has won wide recognition among other Chinese mobile phone manufacturers, it has a weak brand. The company formerly sold products directly to operators, with little direct contact with its users. It needs a new brand image now to present itself to enterprise and individual users.

IT analyst and Huawei-savvy Ji Yongqing said the majority of Huawei’s marketing personnel come from the departments of the operators and thus lack experience in brand marketing. He said Huawei needs more brand promotion campaigns especially in Chinese and Indian markets, where operators have a weak grip on consumers.

Huawei’s earlier sponsoring in Italy’s Super Cup, as Ji saw it, yielded little fruit in promoting the brand. “Huawei needs to introduce some talents in marketing from outside the company, to launch brand marketing with new ideas.” said Ji Yongqing.

Scientists hit out at Welsh Government's mobile phone advice to children

The Welsh Government has been accused by 20 scientists of giving children inaccurate information about using mobile phones.

According to the scientists, an official information leaflet adopts an inappropriate tone and plays down the potential health threats posed to youngsters by mobile phone use.

Last night, however, wholesale cell phones, the Welsh Government said it stood by its advice, which was based on peer-reviewed scientific literature.

A leaflet distributed in primary schools for children aged seven to 11 also appears in the elderly cell phone Welsh Government’s website. Headed “Mobile Phones and Your Health”, it starts: “Mobile phones are great for keeping in touch with friends and family, and millions of people all over the world use them everyday (sic). At the moment it seems that using a mobile phone won’t cause health problems.”

It goes on to say: “Even so, we don’t know for definite that problems will not be found in the future, so we suggest that you follow some easy steps now to keep yourself safe.”

A cartoon shows a boy asking his father whether he should use a mobile phone, and getting the hiphone answer: “Most phones don’t seem to cause health problems. But it’s a good idea to keep calls short just in case we find health problems in the future.”

Later in the leaflet a series of bullet point “top tips” include:

:: Send text messages instead of making calls;

:: Keep your mobile phone calls short;

:: Use a hands-free kit; and

:: Use the speaker phone feature.

Health campaigner Judith Davies, who lives near Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, has been in contact with four sim phone 20 international scientists who have written critical comments about the leaflet for primary school children and another for older pupils.

Greek cell biology experts Dr Adamantia Fragopoulou and Professor Lukas Margaritis said the suggestion in the leaflet that there was no positive evidence that exposure to mobile phones caused health problems: “This is totally wrong based on epidemiological and clinical data, both based on humans, not to mention the numerous lab animal experiments. Every answer given within the Welsh leaflet is scientifically wrong.”

Dr Olle Johansson, Associate Professor at the Department of Neuroscience in the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, said: “The type of radiation emitted by these gadgets has been linked to cancer, neurological diseases, impairments to Quad Band Cell Phone immune function and neurological function... We also know that this kind of radiation impacts DNA, leading to possible mutations and cancer development, as well as affecting fertility and reproduction, causing a dramatic decline in sperm count.”

Dr Gerd Oberfeld, public health officer in Salzburg, said: “There is strong evidence for an increased risk of brain tumours after at least 10 years use [of mobile phones].”

Ms Davies has been supported by her MP Jonathan Edwards, who said: “The Welsh Government should be pursuing a precautionary principle which is based on facts.

“The current position of the chinese phone Welsh Government smacks of the same failed public health approach to smoking – that while there’s no current evidence of harmful effects, there is nothing wrong with it.

“In my view, unless it can be scientifically proven, it is irresponsible for the Welsh Government to issue guidance to children and parents stating there are no dangers in the use of mobile phones.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Our advice in the Android Mobile Phone leaflets for children is based on an evaluation of the available evidence by experts at the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and peer-reviewed scientific literature. We stand by our advice and information in the leaflets which were endorsed by the HPA.

“While current research indicates that using mobile phones do not currently appear to cause health problems, we recognise more work still needs to be done. Therefore we have said as a precaution parents make sure their children take some simple steps to protect their health for the future, including keeping conversations short, using texts instead, and using the speaker facility rather than the phone, where possible.

“The leaflets also include the precautionary advice of the UK Chief Medical Officers, but we must be realistic and recognise that a large proportion of children now regularly use mobile phones.”