Hi everyone!
I'm also reporting my experience about fake MI2 hoping it helps someone to avoid trouble.
Part 1: To buy
At the moment the official website of Xiaomi has sold out there MI2. It will be back in a couple of days. After checking a lot on Taobao where the cheapest phone starts at 1'999 RMB. But as I never tried that phone, I finally decided to go to the risky Zhongguancun of Beijing.
The first shop I went started the price above 2'000 RMB but quickly lowered it to 1'800, adding 2 years of repair warranty. I walked to the next door where I quickly was offered 1'700 RMB without having to bargain. Too nice to be true but I went to see and a least try a little the phone. Conclusion:
- The graphism weren't really fluid
- After 5 minutes it got quite hot which was supposed to be "normal"
- The seller was quite rude but nothing new in that place
- In the settings there was a weird "4 GB ram memory"
When I saw that last one I left (hearing some nice words from the seller). Went to another place where they had business card and everything seemed fine. They opened a box and I began to check, everything seemed fine. The animation was quite fluid, no over-heating problem etc.. The seller agreed to give me a fapiao (but probably fake too), extend the repair warranty, everything.
Part 2: It's a fake ?
Back home I began to check again:
- The battery took at least 7 hours to be full but only 6 to be back to 0 %
- I noticed some small electric discharge sometimes on the side (like electro-static)
- Sometimes the application would close when I'm writting
- The quality of the camera was not as good as expected
Then I found this forum (thanks god!) were I saw some screenshots of the propriety and which made me realize:
- a strange "540x960" screen resolution (A quick Baidu research shows many people have that) in system info and 360
- I tried to record a 720p video to see if I could really record in 90p but it was just 30p at 640x480
- Then 1080p which recorded a 1280x720 video
- As someone said on the forum the distance between the back logo and the "
www.xiaomi.com" are smaller on the fake ones, including mine
Part 3: Yes, it's a fake.
So I was 99 % it was a fake but to avoid shout at someone when the product has another problem, I went to the Xiaomi Center. The employee opened and directly said it was a fake. He explained:
- The slot for the simcard is a bit different
- The "square to dissipate the heat" is not deep enough on the fake
- On the cpu (I guess it's the cpu?), fake ones don't have the two "branches" to dissipate the heat
- He confirmed the logo and "
www.xiaomi.com" distance
But for a fake, it was really well done.
Part 4: Exchange
We went with my girlfriend to complain with the fapiao and everything. We didn't say at first we went to the Xiaomi center and knew it was a fake until the seller agreed it is the phone he sold me. Finally by being a little direct he paid me back the money. I'm not sure because many seller in Zhongguancun are professional cheater but he really looked like having no idea it was a fake (and began to be quite worry about the whole stock).
For that part there are some things you should be careful (and was a bit lucky):
- Be sure to ask for a fapiao with the serial number of the product on
- Be clear if you need to check everything completely or can do it at home and come back in case
- As for the business card and make the seller writes any number (his, the shop or the manager)
- To try the phone, make a call to the shop (to have a record on your operator side)
- Act a bit stupid like a happy tourist and takes a picture of the seller with you
- Avoid to pay by cash (if you have a bank account with a few money on it is better we never knows)
Like that if it is a fake, the seller won't be able to use the classic "Who are you? I never saw you".
Anyway I got my money back so this time will wait and directly buy it on the official website of Xiaomi!
Long post but I hope it can avoid someone to get cheat or lose time.
Have a nice weekend,
Sakat