Is the ZZZPhone a Scam? …YES!!
It sounded too good to be true and when that happens, you really need to look closely. Recently we have seen posted all over the net (and here too) a variety of posts on the ZZZPhone. Looked pretty cool …. build your own Windows Mobile Phone. But there were pieces of the puzzle that were just not right.
For example, a price point of $149, with powerful standard features such as a large 3.0” QVGA touchscreen, dual SIM card slots, a 3 mpxl camera, and integrated an MP3/MP4 player, these models can be upgraded with GPS navigational systems, stereo speakers, a 7 mpxl camera, up to 4 GB of memory. Since these are unlocked cell phones, they can be used with any major carrier that provides service on a SIM card.
Sounds pretty good but in fact, our sources are telling us that it is a SCAM. In an email I just received from an extremely reliable source, I was told that it has in fact been confirmed as a SCAM. Our source indicated that they had acquired one of the devices and in fact it was running Symbian yet had the Windows Mobile logo on the box.
Further, we were told that an insider at MS did in fact confirm that it is a pirated device using the WM logos and that they were installing a non-commercial version of Symbian. Oh, and BTW, the radio stack will NOT connect to any US operator!
It is hard to believe that there are pirates out there …. lol
Written by Jack Cook · Filed Under General
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Uhm, why won’t the discoverer of the scam not want to come forward?
Why won’t said person go on record as saying “I bought one and it is a piece of junk. The company lied about XYZ and it really doesn’t do XYZ?”
But thanks for confirming this for us all nonetheless.
Wow! I can’t belive this!
More information here
http://www.gearlog.com/2008/02/zzzphone_promises_custommade_c.php
Reminds me a bit of the Medison Celebrity laptop scam… ;-)
But I’d give them the benefit of the doubt…
Attention Jack Cook:
I just contacted the VP of Marketing for zzzPhone, Matthew Hammond. He says that the first phones, which were ordered since the company’s launch early this month, have just shipped — no one in the US even has one yet.
He says that your claims of of his company being a scam a libelous. I hope your sources are ready to defend you in court.
Hello,
I am a registered afiliate of zzzphone, and they are not a scam. I am in constant contact with the company, and can answer any questions you may have. Check out my site and email me at info@customizeaphone.com.
Jesse Nowlin
Founder
Customizeaphone.com
Jesse, the fact that you said that does not tell us anything. ;)
If I do that or somebody else from our team said that, because they got one to review, that really will help you a lot. So far what I have found is a lot of bad press and doubts.
I received this from a contact in china this morning. It is a review of someone who actually has the phone in their hands. My phone is coming this week, and I shall put on my website a review, and pictures. Here is the review:
zzzPhone Exists and Performs!
I am over in China, and I just got my new zzzPhone in the mail, and was relieved to see that the rumors about this product’s credibility were false - what a cool phone! I purchased the base model, and the phone feels solid and looks great: mine is black with a metallic silver back (I bought the base model).
Turning it on, the bright LCD screen is quite large, and I was able to begin using the phone right away without a fuss. The menu is very intuitive and the controls are easy to use and operate. I like that I can use the keypad or the touch screen to enter information into the phone, and I can even use my finger to touch the screen to get around the menus. Writing messages and emails is very simple, as there is a full on-screen keyboard. I can use my stylus to operate the keyboard, and it really speeds up the time it takes to fill in online forms and send messages.
I quickly set up my phone book by copying all the contacts from my SIM card, and my Bluetooth hands free headset established a connection immediately and with no fuss. The overall call quality is good, and the range of my Bluetooth connection seemed to work to about 15 feet from the device, which is plenty for me to walk around my room without having to hold onto the device.
One of the coolest features of this phone is the dual Sim card feature. This means that I can put two SIM cards in the phone and both are simultaneously operational. I took the SIM from my work phone and my personal phone, and inserted them into the zzzPhone to test to see how well it worked (and was grateful to consolidate my numbers to one phone.) Incredibly, I was able to receive calls from both numbers at the same time; this will really help me out, as I hate having to juggle my work and personal calls on two phones.
My next task was to setup the Internet, which really wasn’t much of a task, since the phone automatically connected as soon as I entered ‘WAP’ in the ‘Services’ Folder. Browsing was easy, as I was able to search Google quite easily.
The phone and video functions were easy to manage. The overall quality of the pictures was good. I was especially impressed with the formatting options for the photos, as my other cell phone only takes one standard format, but with the zzzPhone, I was able to adjust color and lighting settings, as well as file size and image size settings. Another thing I like is that the speakers are really loud, and capable of replicating good music quality: easily loud enough for me to rock out on my lunch break. There is a ring-tone editor as well, and I played around with it until I managed to configure a simple rendition of “We Are the Champions”.
I was also able to port the device to my computer using the provided USB cable: copying images from my phone was a simple drag-and-drop procedure, and it was similarly easy to upload music onto the phone.
I’m going to play around with this phone a bit more, but right off the bat have to say it’s a nice product and I can still hardly believe the price I paid for this: just $149+$10 shipping.
Let me know if you have any other questions,
Jesse Nowlin
Founder
Customize A Phone.com
Jesse, I can post many emails here that I’m receiving from Nigeria that looks about the same as you.
If you want a pirate version of any software you can get it in China.
If you want a fake copy of any Gadget you can get it in China
If you want a fake copy of any branded item you can get it in China
And from China comes half of the spam that you get everyday in your email.
Like I said, we need a trusted source with a review.
In another hand, we are mostly Windows CE lovers so that’s what we were waiting for, a version of the phone running Windows Mobile 6. I have checked the site and all mentions about Windows Mobile have been removed and replaced by a Proprietary OS. We need more information about that too. Will this proprietary OS run all programs that I have for Windows Mobile?
Hi,
The proprietary OS is right now a Linux system. We are currently developing Android. At the moment there are no plans to manufacture Windows Mobile/CE/XP Embedded. I am trying to change that, but only time will tell. Android is really the OS of the future, and I am sure with time someone will write plugins for the system to run all your other programs, and be compatible with all Microsoft Office standard file formats.
As for a demo, where are you located, I will see what I can do. Let me know,
Jesse Nowlin
Founder
Customize A Phone.com
I’m in Florida, USA. Most of the members of mobilitysite team are located in USA. I’m not so sure of what software will be the future of phones but the fact is Windows Mobile has a huge library of software available for it right now. Once you know that and you have used that it’s hard to switch to a phone where you can’t find applications that will run on it.
We are also working on programs to release with our version of Android. Do you have any suggestions as to which titles to include in this release? Thank you for your input,
Jesse Nowlin
Founder
Customize A Phone.com
http://www.customizeaphone.com
Hey Jesse;
ALP has an OS available right now that will run thousand of Palm applications.
Why not give them a call? Immediate use right out of the box of thousands of Palm applications (many of which work with Microsoft and Outlook) and ALP is begging for folks to use their OS. It is also Linux based.
Putting all of your eggs in the Android basket when it isn’t even commercially available at the moment is fool hardy and could be seen as a diversionary tactic.
If you want to use your own OS fine, say that and stick to it.
But ignoring what’s available now while promising something that will probably take many (many) months to come to fruition is why I can see Ctitanic (and others) questioning the validity of the company and the product.
newsreader
email clients
web browsers
file explorers
picture viewers
picture editing
movie players
these are some of the applications that people look for all time. What Aaron says is also a point you should consider.
Hello,
I will look into ALP. When you say its not commercially available, that is what we are building. We are making a GUI and programs that run on the Android OS. The SDK is readily available and ready to be used. We are working to become a member of the Alliance.
I have noted those applications, and will forward them to development. Thank you for your input.
Jesse Nowlin
Founder
Customize A Phone.com
http://www.customizeaphone.com
Having seen one of these earlier this week it’s less than impressive.
A (being nice) large handset, with a weird keypad (0-9) layout (not QWERTY).
It has GPS, no WiFi and runs Windows Mobile 5
It looks nothing like the device here
http://zzzphone.com/buy_Option.php?step=2&type=2&phoneID=50861
Don’t waste your money!