Arirang AS1201 A Uniscope U1201 Knock Off

I suppose it is always good to continue from a point where someone has left off, but to blatantly copy something that someone has already done, that is just plain sad. It does seem as though North Korea has done that though with their Arirang AS1201 smartphone, which happens to be described as a “home grown” triumph of the technological prowess of North Korea.

This particular device happens to be a clone of the China-branded Uniscope U1201, where both of them will run on the Android platform. The Chinese version would knock you back by $100 thereabouts, which might sound like a bargain until you check out the entry level hardware.

We are talking about a dual-SIM, 3G enabled smartphone with 4GB of internal memory, 768MB RAM, a 540 x 960 resolution display, a dual core CPU, an 8MP camera and a 1,600mAh battery. Will North Korea’s clone sport anything better or improved? Not likely, and what kind of Internet would the North Koreans be able to take advantage of, anyway?