Are Chinese Phones Really Banned?

I’m feeling patriotic today. We all know about the IMEI hullaballoo, which in a nutshell caused all the Chinese mobile brands to take a hike. It makes sense, and more or less everyone agrees to the fact that fake IMEI, or No IMEI status is bad news for us citizens, and good news for crazy militants.  

For the uninitiated and bi monthly news ignorers, “The International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI is a 15-digit code unique to every GSM and WCDMA and iDEN mobile phone, as well as some satellite phones. It is usually found printed inside the battery compartment of the phone. It can also be displayed on the screen of the phone by entering *#06# into the keypad. This number appears on the operator's network whenever a call is made and the absence of this number makes it impossible to trace either the caller or the phone or to access call details.”
So most cheap Chinese phones did not have it, and they are gone. But what about the 30 % odd market share, that they left behind? Not to worry. We looked around and found quite a few brands that are more than happy to plug the hole.

Fly Mobile, one of the first names to benefit from this, will surely see their phones move fast. Originally a European brand, Tech2 has extensively covered the progress of Fly, read the review of their Fly Hummer SX210 Model here. Then we have nearer to home names like Airfone, Karbonn and Lava, some little wonders, some not so good. 

These brands make handsets in the price band of Rs 1,400 to Rs 5,000 with all desired features such as FM radio, MP3, dual-SIM card, Bluetooth, expandable memory and camera. But are they any good? Will they actually be able to replace that elusive yet appealing Chinese market? Another point to note. All these brands actually have their OEMs in the very same place they are replacing. China and Taiwan. So are Chinese mobiles actually going out? Please leave a note below, to express any views on this discussion.