CECT p168+ Quad Band iClone Review
Feb 4th, 2008 by Jeff
Over the weekend I was able to get my hands on the CECT p168+. It is an unlocked GSM phone that will work on pretty much any GSM cellular network in the world. And it resembles the famous iPhone that everyone is drooling over.
I want to begin this review by saying that if you love the iPhone interface and are considering this iClone, the CECT p168+ is not for you. You will need to get an iPhone to satisfy your phone craving. Trust me you will end up being disappointed. The initial screen of the p168+ and the physical look of the phone are really where the resemblance with the iPhone ends. If you are wanting a phone with a lot of features, or simply want to have a conversation starter the CECT p168+ might be something you will be interested in.
The CECT p168+ is a phone with a lot of features for the price. (available on eBay from $100- $200 ) It is a touch screen phone that also comes with a stylus. The stylus is handy for using the keyboard that appears on the screen, just about every other function you can simply use your finger for. (if you have gigantic fingers you may need to use the stylus for everything).
The phone comes with two batteries and the phone charger can charge the phone and the additional battery. I haven’t had a phone that has come with this since I was just out of high school (over 10 years ago). My first thought was “Oh man, the battery life is going to be horrible.” However, yesterday I used the phone with my Bluetooth headphones for two hours and talked on it for about an hour yesterday and my battery only dropped one bar. So, I am pleased with the battery life so far.
You can also use the included USB charging cable to plug the phone into a PC or a MAC and access the Micro SD Card. This made it very handy to move my .mp3 files over to the phone. ( To accomplish this I did have to make a setting change in the phones engineering mode, and I was really annoyed by this. )
The MP3 player on the phone works. I am not extremely happy with it since it can’t use playlists. But since I will probably only be using it occasionally as an MP3 player this isn’t a huge issue for me. It also displays the MP3 file name rather than the ID3 tag name for the song. This is another annoying little issue.
Bluetooth works perfectly on the phone. I have connected my Bluetooth headphones and headset without any problems. (Motorola M9 headphones and Anycom Headset)
I have taken a couple of pictures, and the quality is ok. But it is a phone so I don’t expect amazing picture quality. This will be handy for those times where I bump into Bigfoot or the Lockness Monster and will need proof so people won’t think I am crazy. Other than that I doubt I will use the camera feature much. The phone can also do video, and I haven’t messed with this at all. I doubt it is great quality video, but hey everyone gets excited about low quality video on youtube.com now, so maybe I can take some clever videos and join the craze.
Overall this phone does just about everything I would want a phone to do. I am very pleased with the CECT p168+. The only feature that I really wish was present would be to say a name and have the phone call one of my contacts. (My last couple of phones have had this feature) I used this feature often, and now I can’t do that. My workaround is to use the speed dial feature on the phone to call 1 of 9 people with only a couple presses on the phone.
I would rate this phone an 8 on a scale from 1-10. I know a ton of people are wanting this phone because they want an iPhone. I want to reiterate that if you are one of those people you will be disappointed in this phone. If you want a phone with some great features or is eye catching the CECT p168+ might be a good addition to your cell phone collection.
Negatives
- The USB port is not standard on the phone so you need their special cable. (it comes with one though, so this is good)
- The USB port on the phone is also the headphone jack so to plug in normal headphones you will need to find an adapter (The phone does come with some headphones you can use.)
- No Voice Dial Feature for the phonebook
- The MP3 player can’t use playlists
- To use the phone as a storage drive you need to change some settings that are far from obvious
- No 802.11x Wi-Fi access
Positives
- MP3 Player
- Camera
- Digital Camcorder
- Picture Viewer
- Video Player
- MP3 Ringtones
- Touchscreen
- Slide to Unlock
If you are looking for setting changes or tons of details about this phone I found a discussion forum http://cectp168.freeforums.org Updated: http://forum.kevozzy.com/viewforum.php?f=11 , where you can register and get tons of information about the CECT p168+.
http://www.thebristows.com is an OpenID for Jeff Bristow
I have put in speed dials, but dot really see how to actually use them. When you click on the phone icon it does not bring up anything that says Speed dial. Cant seem to locate that. Can you assist? Thanks!
Gerri - Once the speed dials are setup all you need to do is press on the phone to get the dial pad. Then you press the number associated with the speed dial and then press the send button on the screen.
how do you put music into the phone??? and whats the engineer mode used for? i just bought this phone, i dont know anything…help
Ralph - I am not sure if you noticed, but this isn’t actually CECT tech support. I am just some dude that bought one of these phones just like you.
That said the process is essentially…. put music onto your micro sd card. put micro sd card into phone. open music player navigate to music on micro sd card on phone and presto.
Now there are some settings that you can fiddle with so that you can use your phones micro sd card in the phone as a usb storage device. I don’t know what that setting is though. I would recommend checking out the discussion forum I posted in the blog review so you can talk with tons of CECT P168+ fanatics so they can guide you in your quest to learn more about this little gem from China.
Agree 100%, the p168 is no I phone. The phone does everything you need, if your looking for something new and cool to play with, but nothing right now replaces the I phone. The big neg. for me is that you have to use the stylus for texting people, the keypad is way to small.
does it matter who your provider is when you get this phone?
tot - You need to use a GSM provider. I know AT&T uses GSM and I believe T-mobile may as well. This is a GSM phone so therefore needs to be used on a GSM network. This phone will not work with Verizon, Sprint, MetroPCS or any other non-GSM provider.
Almost there, but not quite.
It’s still a winCE phone with Apple Mac alike skin
Responsive touch screen is a little better but still pretty irritate.
Applications remain pretty much risking of no 3rd party add-ons since it has modified, a normal MS winCE wares will not be compatible.
I got the 168, will not go thru that ordeal again even I’ve test run on my friend 168+ for a day. NOT totally impress. I’ll stick to my RIM until new generation 2 iPhone release then decide from there to get mark down G1 or full price G2… No more killing my brain cells invest into something not really work and a device has no own R&D but rather copycat without own industry artistic designers team.
I’m with T-Mobile and my current phone is 5-Fav capable. Will I be able to use the capability with the CECT p168+?
Jay - Since T-Mobile is a GSM provider the phone will work on the T-Mobile network with a T-Mobile SIM card. Regarding the 5-fav feature, I have no idea. I am not familiar with that feature, so I don’t know how that works ( or even what it is) to be able to answer the question.
I dont think it will work with fav 5 since that is an application added by t-mobile. You will still have your fav 5 since thats stored on their servers but they wont be displayed as bubbles on your screen.
Hi, i am interested in purchasing one of these phones . What is the website i need to go to ? Thanks
Jon A. - http://www.ebay.com
I just heard that all the CECT phones that use GSM technology will not be compatible with AT&T’s 3G SIM cards. I’ve expericenced a problem myself and I’m just wondering if that’s the case. Has anyone heard anything? Apparently AT&T will be using 3G SIM cards only from now one.
I have had 1 of these little numbers for about a month now, and I have had No luck in sending MMS mpegs(taken with the phone)… And the worst is the phone keeps jumping backing & forth From my network AT&T to Search to Emergency. Drops more calls than any other phone I have ever owned… I keep reading that ther are 3 or 4 web sites out there dedicated to this Phone but No one post the URL’s or the link’s to them when mentioned ???
I have also read that the phone has the inner workings of a Nokia 2610 and have tried getting an update from the Nokia site with No avail..?
If any one has any Idea on how to update this phone so it won’t drop calls and let me send Mpegs.. I would greatly appreciate it….
I was thinking of getting one of these phones for my kid who wants a cool phone but I dont want to freak when I get my credit card bill. Is this a good phone for them??
ladiec - I was not aware of this so I don’t know.
#15 — http://forum.kevozzy.com/viewforum.php?f=11 is a forum where you can learn a ton about this phone. You do need to sign up on the forum to see the posts and interact though.
#16 –This phone won’t prevent your kids from using up all of your minutes, but if you like the features of the phone then this is a good phone. I like using it and my daughter really wants one too, but I don’t plan on buying her a phone anytime soon.
The P168+ is definitely not 3G compatible. So if you bought one for AT&T, you’re out of luck. I’m in the middle of the return process right now.
can you go online with this item..and sites like youtube and other sites that have videos…
*********can you watch them like on a pc…
van - I have not tested this functionality because I am unwilling to pay the exorbanant costs for internet access via my cell phone. But I believe the answer is yes, however I don’t know if the data speeds are sufficient for watching you tube videos.
Is there anyway to make the texting buttons bigger because i hate having to pull out the stylus every time i need to text?
hello, i was just wondering if there are any other forums for this phone that anyone has found. I went to the one listed but it said I had to have an account, so I made an account but it tells me it is inactive? I also have T-Mobile and I hope that I can keep my current contract and not have to switch to anyother unlimited plan (such as the blackberry pearl plan) Does anyone have Tmobile with this phone?
Im so disgusted in myself for buying this cect p 168+, i have both t mobile and at&t sim cards enabled. MMS doesnt work, gprs not subcribed but I have gprs and gsm network subcription?
Hello everyone… I’ve had the phone for 3 days now i love it !!!
It works beatifull… Yes it is internet open you just have to sign up with your provider, att works on the phone, i used my cousins sim and worked… I have tmobile on it and works just fine no drop calls no nothing, only thing is MA is not in the world clock but other than that is excellent so far …. I read somewhere that all you have to do to get the mms working is to call your provider and they will text you the instructions, again not sure about that, i only use the phone for the player and as a phone… Any questions?
I was able to set up the speed dial. But when I press 1 to call my wife and press the green send button i get a sending request NOT DONE… What up with that… Thanks for any help at all. Since the phone does not have voice dialing i do need the speed dial to work…
I need help with getting the p168 to read my sim card. I inserted it in the phone and I selected to open that sim slot but my phone keep saying insert sim card. I called my phone company to ask if it was compatiable with the phone and they said yes. Is there anyone to help me with this issue?
Kanesha - Sounds like your phones SIM card reader may not be working. I would contact who you bought it from and try and get a replacement.
Kanesha - Try the card upside down, same thing happend to me when i got the phone
…
Ray - I’m not sure how the speed dial works, but ill play with it and let you know in a little while… By the way i dont have this phone anymore i upgraded to the a380i is pretty much the same with a different look and is slim just like the iphone… Feature that has, has a tilt for the player, and for the wall paper, also the menu looks just like the iphone one… Anyways, i sold my p168 to my cousin so i can still help you guys with any problems… I wonder if you guys found out about the caller id already, if you get a call and the name doesnt show you have to add the 1 in front of the area code, thats weird but is the way the phone is set up… Just in case some one doesnt know that yet, ill be around if anyone has more questions
so if i have and at&t 3g sim card i will need a different one to use this phone?
i’ve bought this phone.. and i dont see any stylus pen..
is hidden somewhere?.. or i just havent recived it…
Hey Ray, i’ve been using the spee dial, and it works just great, i just went into the options and set it on and put in the #’s that i wanted and boom it works
Hi.. I’ve a cect p168 and engineer mode *#3646633# dosen’t work on it. How can I enable that.I used *#6810#. thank you.
i got this phone off ebay and have tmobile as a provider. does anyone know how to set the phone up with the internet? i just cant figure it out and am too impatient to deal with tmobile.
Has anyone found a carrying case/clip for this phone?
You guys are killin’me-lol This is a great phone. Now if ya wanno go spend 300-400 and $100 a month for service knock yourself out, but for $120 this is a great phone. IT DOES WORK WITH ATT AND #3G. Search and research and you will find the settings like I have done. Ebay best place to get one. Get a square trade warrenty 2 years for $13.00 to protect it incase it dies. Be smart. The stylus is located in th bottom left corner if you are looking at the back. If I would have listened to all the doom I would have never tried it. If you have both phones you can judge, but if you dont need all the extra expensive features and $$ is an issue, this is the way to go. The new Iphone already having a ton of problems cause you have a secondary provider Itunes. This is a cool and a fun phone. Cant buy one from att for an upgrade at this price. No brainer-lol
Can you make the texting letters bigger???
I am thinking about getting this phone. However, I guess if you want this phone and the Internet you are paying for the Internet access with your phone bill? I have AT&T DSL service but I guess there is not way to get on the Internet with this phone thru the DSL because you don’t have wifi?
Jimenez seems to be very knowledgable.