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Sciphone i68, i68+, i68+3G GSM Phones Unofficial FAQs

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Disclaimer

The information on this web page is provided AS-IS. Use it at your own risk. I cannot guarantee that it is 100% accurate, for two reasons.
1. Chinese phones such as those bearing the generic brand Sciphone, Miphone, Ciphone, Hiphone or CECT can vary substantially in the hardware and software provided. For example, it is known that there are 60+ hardware variants of the Sciphone i68/i68+.
2. I have owned the Sciphone i68, i68+, and the CECT M88 and M89, and played with another person's P168, but not the 100 or more other types of Asian GSM phones in existence.
3. I am not affiliated with the manufacturers of these and cannot provide any support or personal advising.
Buying and using an Asian phone involves accepting some risk. In my humble opinion, the payoffs are worth it, since these phones are cheap, they work with prepaid SIMs, and they have lots of features.

Frequently asked questions list (FAQ)

What is the Sciphone?
It's an iPhone lookalike that is called a clone by some, however the underlying hardware and software is very different from that of an Apple iPhoneTM. Yet the housing (the plastic enclosure) looks almost the same.

It is related to the P168 series, insofar as these are Asian clone phones that use MTK processors, MTK mainboard, probably an MTK user-interface, and definitely Nucleus Plus OS.

Who makes the Sciphone i68 and i68+ phones?
MTK makes the processor and mainboard, but it's unclear who manufactures the housing, the display, the camera, the batteries, cables, or who assembles them all into the final product.

As for the operating system, these phones almost always have Nucleus Plus OS, which is licensed and provided by MTK along with their GUI.

And yet it appears that each i68 and i68+ reseller is selling phones with slightly different telephony and user-interface software installed. This is probably due to frequent changes in the MTK hardware and software.

There is one company, Javquisoft, that decided to develop and sell the firmware subscriptions separately from the phone. They seem to be changing the MTK software somewhat.

The name Sciphone is an unlicensed brand name that is prevalent in Asia. It appears to be used by several companies but is most commonly associated with MySciphone.

Other commonly used Asian names are CECT, Ciphone, Hiphone and Miphone.

What do the Sciphone i68 and i68+ offer?
These GSM phones are different from the iPhone, but they offer much. They are media-centric cellular phones with loads of features, some clunky, some usable, typically including:
  • Quadband GSM phone itself (so it can work anywhere in the world)
  • Tilt/shake sensor
  • Support for two SIM cards inside the same phone.
  • MP3 player typically with only one playlist
  • Java
  • Camera (640x480 or less)
  • Image viewer
  • Video player (plays 3GP / 3G2 / MP4 formats)
  • Video recorder
  • Calculator
  • Voice recorder
  • Text file viewer
  • SMS
  • MMS
  • Support for up to 8GB MicroSD flash card.
  • Shake to change song/photo feature
  • The version 3 or newer firmware offers touch-flow behavior in the image viewer.
Some of these features are undoubtably clunky, and/or slow and yes, there are even software bugs. Many people nevertheless seem to like the i68 and i68+. These phones are considered to be a good deal for the money, since they sell for less than $110 and are unlocked and without a contract. Equivalent phones from Apple, Nokia or Motorola are $500 without a contract.
What is the Sciphone i68-3G?
It is not a 3G phone.

Pictured at right, this phone is typically a Sciphone i68+ with up to three improvements:

  • A rounded back cover to look like the Apple 3G phone.
  • A built-in headphone jack (no need for an adapter.)
  • Some have an Apple connector on the bottom to use with iPhone accessories.

I've heard mixed things about the i68-3G phones. Some people say they're better than the i68+, some say they're worse.

What's happening now in China is that manufacturers are changing the case and connectors of several phones, not just the Sciphone i68+, to be more like the newest iPhone. So the "3G" or "3G style" name refers only to the styling of the case and not to any 3G phone capability.

Some of the "3G style" phones have back covers that cannot be opened. This is a problem because the battery cannot be replaced and the MicroSD card and SIM card are inserted externally.

Other phones that have some or all of these improvements include the

  • CECT i9b
  • CECT i9-3G
What are the i9 and i9-3G phones?
They are phones with roughly the same hardware as the i68. The i9 may have imperfect software, and I would avoid it. The i9-3G is appealing in that it has an openable, rounded back cover (in white or black) like the iPhone 3G, hence the name.
What is the i9b phone?
This is a phone with a new hardware and case design. It has a rounded back and is available in black, white, or red. It has four major differences from the i9-3G:
  1. The back is not openable. Therefore the SIM must be inserted externally.
  2. It has 4MB of flash built into the circuit board.
  3. It has a regular headphone jack so there is no need for a headphone adapter.
  4. It does not run version 4 Javquisoft firmware if you want that.
What are the technical specifications of the Sciphone i68 and i68+?
  • Mediatek MT6225 processor (ARM 7EJ-S core) running at 26 MHz.
  • Quadband: 850, 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz.
  • 3.2 inch screen that has 240x320 resolution and 16-bit color.
  • Nucleus Plus operating system from Mentor Graphics / ATI.
  • VGA camera or possibly 320x240.
  • Two SIM slots.
  • MicroSD slot that accepts up to 8 gigabyte cards.
  • Java MIDP support in firmware and the potential for native bytecode execution. Heap is 1 megabyte.
  • Bluetooth.
Is there support for these phones?
You can ask whoever sold you the phone questions but they may not know much about them. You have to be willing to experiment with the phone somewhat, try different things, ask in forums and above all have patience.
Where can I buy one?
A handful of websites are considered good. Some website resellers and many Ebay sellers are dodgy. The most important thing is that the phone has 3.0a firmware. I've read in the forums people advising to be wary of DealExtreme and Fastcardtech.
Where can I rate web-based resellers?
At ResellerRatings.com.
Where can I take a look at one?
Unless you know someone who has one, or can find one for sale on Craigslist and meet up with the seller, the main way to become familiar with these phones is via YouTube and similar video hosting services.

Example videos:

Why do ads say that the i68 or i68+ has a 1.3MP or 2MP camera?
It's false advertising. Such claims may originate in China or be invented downstream by resellers.

There are several causes:

  1. Unfortunately, in China, there prevails an ethos of "do and say anything to get money", consequences of which include China's air/water/land pollution problems, the melamine in milk scandal, deadly cat food etc.
  2. Many resellers are not testing or even looking at the phones they're selling but rather they are instead just passing the original ad copy and product on to customers.
  3. On Ebay, there are many sellers who lie in their ads yet have a 99% positive feedback. Ebay's feedback system is not reliable. People have found ways to overcome it.
  4. Finally, it turns out that there is a large amount of minor variability in the Sciphone hardware. There are at least 62 hardware variants.

Case in point: The truth is, i68 and i68+ only have a 640x480 camera, which is 0.3 megapixel. And my tests show it in some cases it's not even that. You should never buy from a company that claims the i68+ has a 2MP or 5MP camera.

How do the i68 and i68+ differ?
  • By software. A genuine i68+ has newer firmware such as version 3.0a.
  • By the pinout of the USB cable connector (phone end).
    • The i68 uses pins 1..8..9..10.
    • The i68+ uses pins 1..9..10..11.

Because the i68 and i68+ use different pins on the USB cable connector, they require different firmware-upgrade cables.

A warning:
Dealextreme.com is selling two phones called the i68+. Some people are saying both are likely i68's and that certainly the cheaper one is.

Are there different i68+ phones being sold?
Yes. Some companies are taking i68's and relabeling them i68+. These are the "fake" i68+'s that people are talking about in the forums. Other i68+ phones have older firmware.
How do I know if I have received a real i68+ and not a relabeled generic i68?
Two ways:
  1. By locating the Sciphone Inc logo and i68+ name.
    • It starts up with the "Sciphone" logo.
    • It has "Sciphone, Inc" on the battery as well as i68+.
    • It has "Sciphone, Inc" in the battery compartment as well as i68+.
  2. By looking at which pins on the USB cable connector are used. (See above.)
Also, a proper i68+ will have two IMEI codes in the battery compartment.
How do I transfer files to the i68/i68+?
  1. Make sure that a MicroSD card is in the phone.
  2. Connect the phone via USB to your PC.
  3. The phone will ask what kind of connection you want to establish. Confirm that you want to use the phone as a mass storage device.
  4. On the PC it will appear as two new drives: The first is the internal memory. The second is the MicroSD.
Which Ebay seller is reputable?
I don't recommend buying a Sciphone on Ebay.

First, the Sciphone company is not selling their "official" phones directly on Ebay.

There are so many Ebay sellers that it's very hard to keep track of them. I cannot recommend one over another.

Ebay's feedback system is so flawed that it is entirely possible that the seller got a thousand perfect feedbacks by selling a thousand ten-cent items to a good friend five years ago. You need to look at recent sales. Were any of the items sold actually cell phones?

If a seller does not have an email address listed on their Ebay page then you probably should not deal with them.

In addition, many of the Ebay feedbacks are actually just first impressions. People report their feelings too early -- before they had more experience with the item.

And please don't buy a phone from a seller who has zero feedbacks, since more than likely you will never receive a phone from them. Be wary of buying directly from China since, after all, if the phone is defective the cost to return it for repairs is large and who knows if any such repair will occur.

What does the phone come with?
  • Two batteries.
  • Battery charger.
  • A MicroSD memory card pre-installed in the phone. Typically it is 1 GB.
  • Earbuds.
  • USB cable.
  • Manual.
  • Sometimes a case.
  • Sometimes a car charger.
Can I put YouTube videos on my Sciphone i68 or i68+?
Yes, but you must convert them from YouTube's FLV format to a format the phone can understand, specifically 3GP, 3G2 or MP4. The phone only accepts videos that are 176x144 resolution.

Here is a sample MP4 video of the World Trade Center building 7 collapsing at free-fall speed on 9/11 at 5:20 pm. It was not hit by any airplane nor did it have substantial fires. Yet floor after floor it collapsed in the classic fashion of a controlled demolition. The US government (NIST, FEMA) and the media have kept quiet about this demolition. More information here and here.

I have instructions for downloading and converting videos as well as more sample videos on my i68+ hands-on review page.

What is the latest firmware version?
The firmware version that everyone wants is 3.0a. It offers touch-flow viewing of images and user-alterable menu buttons. A generic i68/i68+ (e.g. from DealExtreme) may not have this firmware. In Ebay ads also check for the firmware version and touch-flow.
How do I download or update the firmware?
There's one company called Javquisoft which was working on improving the firmware. However as of July 2009 they seem to be experiencing some difficulties, although their forum appears to still be active.
What about MP3 playback quality? What kind of MP3s work best?
The Sciphone i68/i68+ has either one or two speakers that offer decent sound quality, although there is almost no bass.

See my comments in my Sciphone review.

Are the earbuds good quality?
Some people say that the included earbuds are junk.
I have found they are average quality.
You can buy an adapter to connect regular headphones to the phone from either Zydaglo or MySciphoneShop. I have this adapter and it works very well.
Where can I get a bigger/better stylus to use with the phone?
DealExtreme ("DX") has a combination stylus, pen, LED light, and laser pointer for less than $4, here. I have one and it is very comfortable.

They also sell a $3 pen that lacks the laser. I received one that was defective but DX replaced it and the new one is fine.

What operating system does the phone use?
  • By analyzing the Sciphone i68 firmware I determined the following:
    • MT6225 processor is used.
    • The operating system is Nucleus Plus OS from Mentor Graphics (ATI).
    • J2ME i.e. Java MIDP-2.0 support is present.
    • There is WAP support.
What is the special key code needed to show the firmware version?
Just dial *#8375# and press the call button.
What is the special key code needed to get into "engineering mode"?
For the Sciphone i68: Dial the number * # 8560968 #.
For the Sciphone i68+: Dial the number * # 82043036 #.
Be very careful when you are in engineering mode! You can easily ruin your phone by accident. Do not, I repeat do not, ever mess with the SIM speed setting! Do not alter anything you do not understand. You have been warned.
What is the code for factory mode?
Factory Mode is *#66#. I do not suggest you use it.
What is the code for obtaining the IMEI?
To display your IMEI, call *#06#.
How do I set up speed dial?
Not all i68 phones have speed dial, because of the variability in the software. But if yours does, you do the following to use it:
  1. Determine how many preset numbers there are e.g. T-Mobile probably set three. These you dial as 1# 2# and 3#.
  2. Store all your personal contacts to your SIM.
  3. If your first contact is Alpha and your 2nd to last is Yams and last contact is Zippy then your personal contacts will be Zippy = 4#; Yams = 5#; and so on with increasing numbers until you get to Alpha.
It's a bit odd but at this point it's a "feature".
How to I set up the phone for data services?
You need to do a Device Over The Air Configuration (DOTAC).
  • T-Mobile:
    • In the USA use this T-Mobile webpage. No CECT or Sciphone models are listed so choose Nokia 2610.
    • You might need to press the power button to accept a service. Do not accept any service like T-zones or any T-anything. Always choose the first option and take care of any data account. Repeat for each desired service.
Is there more information about the processor?
Yes. It is a Mediatek MT6225. Mediatek processors are ARM 7 compatible. The MT6226 and MT6227 certainly have the ARM 7EJ-S core, which is a 32-bit RISC processor that can (when properly supported by the firmware) natively run Java bytecode. The processor includes an LCD controller.
Where are specifications for the Nucleus Plus operating system?
The phone runs Nucleus Plus OS, the license for which costs an appalling $15000 from ATI. Presumably the manufacturer of the phone has paid that and has passed on the OS firmware on to resellers. (Trivia: The Hiphone appears to be running the ThreadX operating system instead.)
Does it accept 4GB MicroSD flash cards?
The i68 may have a limit of 2GB. The i68+ is generally said to take up to 8GB cards. I have used a 1 GB card in the i68 and a 4 GB Sandisk SDHC MicroSD card in the i68+. Why anyone would need to use these larger cards is debatable however, since the MP3 player only supports one playlist at this time, and the video player feature of a phone is really just a novelty.
What to do about a screen protector?
The phone should come with a thin, cheap plastic film on the screen. Most people remove it but I left it on mine for protection.

Zydaglo sells a "mirror" screen protector made for the i68+ & i9. You can also get them via Ebay direct from Hong Kong.

Does it really run Java applications or games?
Yes. It runs MIDP 2.0 Java software. It is not super-fast. For instance it can perform about 400,000 multiplications per second. But how fast any given Java program runs depends in large part on how skilled the programmer who created it was at dealing with a resource-starved environment like Java on a phone. For more info, see my review.
How large is the Java heap size?
The heap size is the amount of data that a Java program can use while running. It seems to vary depending on the firmware, which as I mention above may not be the same on each phone. On the i68 it is up to 2GB. On the i68+ it is usually more like 1GB.
I want to write a Java program for the phone. What do I need to know?
It's challenging but rewarding as well. You will need the latest J2SE and a version of Sun's WTK. My preliminary experiments suggest that the latest WTK version 3.0 will not produce JAR files that the phone can recognize. I've been using WTK 2.2. It's available here.
Is anyone porting the Linux operating system to this phone?
The MTK 6225 contains the ARM7EJ-S processor core that should be sufficient for running Linux. For instance, according to the ARM7EJ-S programming manual, it does support demand paging (virtual memory).

The word was, almost a year ago, that Mediatek was porting some version of Linux to the MTK chips. However it remains to be seen whether they will be successful. The hardest part of the task of porting is rewriting drivers for the hardware in the phone, e.g. the cellular radio driver, the FM radio driver, and graphics acceleration.

Is anyone porting Google Android operating system?
The Sciphone i68/i68+ phones do not have the horse-power to run Android.

On a related note, there has been an announcement that a genuine Android-based phone called the Sciphone N12.

What is the total cost of ownership (TCO)?
This depends on your calling habits, of course. In my case, I use about 250 minutes per month and I use T-Mobile prepaid at $0.10/minute. Prepaid minutes from T-Mobile do not include data services but they do permit MMS.

My costs for 2 years are as follows:

Sciphone i68+ $120
4 GB flash $15
1000 minutes x 6 $600
Total $735

Whereas the TCO for an iPhone is more like $3800 according to this table.

Notice that my strategy for keeping costs down is built on using prepaid minutes with a GSM phone. The actual phone is a small part of the overall cost so this strategy could be used with slightly more expensive phones as well.

What is the cost to manufacture the Sciphone i68+?
This information was supposedly leaked to the Chinese website Netease: The claim is that it only costs US $40 to manufacture the i68+. By implication the name-brand phones could not be a lot more. But then again, the Sciphone's processor is somewhat underpowered. Link

In addition...

What is the F003 phone?
It's similar to the i68 except the processor appears to be 6.7 times faster, it has Wifi, and the screen is higher resolution. More info about the F003 phone.
What is the Sciphone S18?
It's similar to the i68: similar underlying hardware, similar software, but different case.
What are the Sciphone Android G2 and G2+?
  1. They are not phones running Android software from Google.
  2. They are not quadband and do not support 850 MHz. Therefore they are useless in USA / Canada.
The G2/G2+ run Nucleus OS and have a graphical interface that imitates the style of Google Android. On the plus side, they do have an ARM9 processor that runs at 208 MHz. The G2+ supposedly has Wifi and the Opera web browser. I have not tried either.
What is the Sciphone N12 Android phone?
It is supposedly a real Android phone that will have a 624 MHz processor and Wifi, to be released in June 2009. More info here.
What are the Y32, Java32 and P168i?
These names refer to the same phone as the Sciphone i68, with various firmware. They are sold by resellers who have foolishly chosen to rename the phone. Chinese resellers do not understand that when they rename the product, this causes confusion, and that when consumers become confused, they become frustrated and this leads to needless questions which require answering, and to lost sales.
What is the Hiphone i32?
Hiphone appears to be a brand that is applied to many phones. Some or all Hiphone-brand phones use different software. The Hiphone i32 is so bad, an online petition drive demanding fixes for problems gained some 900 signatures! Link. (Note, some of those signatures are duplicates and other appear to be graffiti, however most appear real.)

Online forums for the Sciphone

Here are forums where you can ask questions.

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