Features-packed iPhone 4S in the UAE

Apple’s feature packed iPhone 4S is now available in the UAE for just Dh500. Even as thousands of employees at Foxconn in China are busy with the manufacturing of the forthcoming new model of iPhone, a similar plant in China is busy manufacturing these fake lookalikes of its predecessorThe phone exactly matches the look and feel of the iPhone 4S although the differences are far too many when it comes to the operating system. The touch sensitivity is poor and the display is a crude match of the original phone. Also there was no SIRI to help us get things done. Or at least 'Emirates24|7' was not able to locate a workable one on the fake model. The fake units of the iPhone 4S found its way into the UAE market about a month ago and were obviously being sold at the Dragon Mart and in Al Quoz Industrial Area. Available in both black and white the units wre in high demand and were sold out within days. “Right now we do not have stocks,” said one of the trader at Dragon Mart. Sashi Balachander, who recently purchased one such unit said the phone worked fine for two days, before it was blocked by both telecom providers in the UAE - Etisalat and du. “I purchased it from a vendor who came with a bag full of mobile phones in front of our factory in Al Quoz. Although he initially demanded Dh700, we finally settled for Dh500. The phone worked fine for two days. I was able to make a few phone calls as well but after two days it was blocked both by Etisalat and by du,” said Balachander. Both etisalat and du said it had started to disconnect all the three services (including voice, SMS and data) on fake mobile phones following a directive by the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA). The operator network is capable of identifying fake International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers (IMEIs) by comparing them to international lists of genuine IMEIs provided by the GSMA. Both telecom operators announce that it had disconnected several fake handsets and those using fake IMEIs during the past few months.