5'' Android 4.0 3G tablet smart phone MTK6575 Cortex A9 1GHz CPU dual SIM dual standby WIFI GPS Star N8000 Flash player 11, new google play store (black, white, pink)

This N8000 dual-sim smart phone is not without its imperfections but the feature set, dual-sim capability and bargain price means that this is a fantastic gadget!

I wanted a dual-sim phone, to avoid carrying both a business and a personal mobile around. When it comes to dual-sim phones, the choices are pretty limited with all the models being a poor compromise in one way or other. On the other hand, when it came to a single-sim phone, I tended to stick to fairly "dumb" phones as I just can't justify spending many hundreds of pounds on sim-free iPhone or similar (fancy phones like the iPhone or similar are not available under my corporate plan and I just use a PAYG SIM for a personal number).

But then I found the N8000!

This phone has a large, clear 800x480 WVGA capacitive-touch screen which is smooth and responsive to the touch. It's 5" size means that it's certainly a handful but not uncomfortably so...although smaller handed folks might find it a bit more of a juggle. The colours are bright and vivid, with images and video being clear and smooth. However, this is NOT an iPhone - the touch screen accuracy isn't quite as refined as the iPhone and the display isn't a patch on the retina display! This might be an issue for me if I was buying a tablet...but for me, this is mainly a phone and given the substantially lower price of the N8000, I'm more than happy with the display quality.

The processor is a 1 GHz Media Tek MTK6575, which has plenty of performance for this form-factor and it powers the Android 4.0.3 easily. Using the device is generally a pleasure, although those new to Android may have to Google to find out how to personalise their settings, as the supplied user manual doesn't go into any detail. One of the first things you may have to do is adjust the input language, as my unit came with Chinese pinyin input enabled by default (go to Settings->Language & Input and change the default keyboard).

As for connectivity, the WiFi and GPS both tested fine. WiFi claims to be 802.11b/g and it certainly seems speedy enough, with an adequate antenna that seems to have reasonable reception, although nowhere near as good as, say, my laptop (the phone drops to zero reception while a laptop is still finding a moderate signal).

With good WiFi reception, it's fast enough to stream video from a DNLA server and the Android OS supports Xvid and DivX etc. just fine. High quality video streams did have a slight stutter now and then but whether this is due to the device's video codec, the OS or networking, I'm not sure yet.

The GPS locked on (took a little while) and located me with fair accuracy. Not as tight as my TomTom but close enough to find your way...but in fairness, more outdoor testing is required.

The dual-sim functionality is excellent, with clear profiles and SIM indicators on all messages, calls and so on. Call quality and clarity is good, with very satisfactory signal strength and reception.

The embedded sound speaker isn't great. Volume levels above about 75% tended to make the speaker sound a little distorted (mostly due to what sounds like vibration of the case) but fortunately the stereo headphones are much better. The mic and ear-speaker seem fine for phone calls, however.

One other minor quibble; the unit came fitted with a screen protector but whoever fitted it didn't properly wipe the screen first...there are two tiny specs of dust trapped underneath it which cause a tiny "air bubble" around them. These are hardly noticeable when the display is in use and presumably I can get another screen protector and replace the fitted one.

Also, the phone comes with an analogue TV function which is pretty much defunct now that the digital switchover has happened. There is an "FM Radio" application included but for the life of me, I couldn't get it to tune in to a single station...all it finds is static, despite using the headphones as an antenna (every other FM radio I have can access a multitude of stations just fine). Not a major problem but it would have been nice to have.

In conclusion, this is NOT in the same quality league as an iPhone but it's also not in the same price bracket. However, I definitely feel that the quality, features and functionality are very good given it's sub-£120 price! Add the dual-sim facility and I am quite happy with the few quality compromises described above.

When I first considered buying one of these, I read the reviews. They read like someone is shilling for Dracotek and their phone - paid to write good stuff. In fact the reviews were SO positive that I was nearly put off buying.

Well, they aren't (look at my history, I write reviews of other things over a long period of time and some are negative). It really is this good. In fact, if you had one of these you'd never look at an expensive phone again. I can get, what FIVE of these for a single iPhone ?

My phone arrived after about 7 working days, wrapped in a large amount of bubble wrap. Inside was a small black box advertising "Note Android 4.0.4" on the cover (the phone is meant to compete with the Note, obviously) and a power adaptor stuck on the side (the charger is a Chinese 2-pin Plug) - two batteries (one is a spare), two sets of headphones (no idea why but not complaining !), a charging lead which appears to be a standard Micro USB system (yes, Apple, I'm looking at you here), an adaptor plate (makes it the same size as the note for solid Note case) and a manual. All are decent, the manual is pretty good as well (I once bought an FPGA board from China, great quality but almost everything was in Chinese so it took some effort !)

It is a sign of attention to detail that the phone comes with a MicroSD card already (albeit only a tiny one, 256Mb) and it has a screen protector already fitted as well.

Plugging in the SIM worked straight away - there was a message which could confuse rookies about there being 'no SIM' (because there's two SIM slots not one) and off we go after a few seconds of Android animations. Phone straight away, turning Data on and the phone went and got the data connection (T-Mobile in the UK).

At no point are there any Chinese Menus or anything like that. The only set ups I did was changing the Language and Keyboard to UK from the default US and telling it to connect to the Data Stream. (apart from putting my house WIFI password in). The instructions are all in English.

The phone itself is really nice, feels solid and well made, is quite lightweight for its size. It doesn't feel 'cheap' at all. Android works really nicely on it, no lags or anything so far. Not sure about how updates will go but it is 4.0.4 and a lot of phones are still 2.2/2.3.

I had a brief contact with Dracotek over mailing - they were very friendly and helpful. I've no idea how well they deal with problems, if I have any I'll let you know.

So, in conclusion, is it the same as a Note ? No, it isn't. It's not quite as well made. It's not quite as nippy. You will probably get an ICS upgrade with a Samsung Note.

But it's a quarter of the price of a Note, which means that I will live with the minor differences very happily.

I also bought a ShockSock from Amazon which it fits fine. It is fractionally smaller than a real Note, that's why there's a plastic bit to put on it to pad it out for solid cases.

Upsides: Just about everything really - price, service, quality, delivery (considering it's coming half way round the world)

Downsides:Well the plug isn't UK, but they do give you an adaptor, the memory card is titchy, but then it is thrown in for nothing .... really there aren't any, really struggling here.

Arrived as described and overall happy with purchase. Was not familiar with android smartphones and still learning to customise the phone. User guide is very basic and not all that helpful and found answers to my queries on the internet. It comes with Android 4.0.3 ("Ice Cream Sandwich") for which there isn't a downloadable pdf guide either (but plenty of online info).

Was initially concerned as on plugging the phone to charge the battery and trying to use it at the same time, found that the touchscreen inputs were very erratic. This is due to the interference from the cheapish charger that is included, makes the phone unusable (hence the 4 stars, would give it 4.8 out of 5 if the option was there). Plugging it in to a HTC charger solved this problem.

Came with 2 batteries, which is useful as like most smartphones, battery life is an issue.

Works very well with the 2 SIMs and this was the main reason for me to buy this phone and the internet access through the WiFi and 3G networks is a big bonus.

Overall very pleased with the purchase and the price.