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July 2, 2009 5:23 PM PDT

Duet D8 is no iPhone clone

by Kent German

Back when the Duet D8 on the Beyond E-Tech Web site, we pegged it as an iPhone clone. After all, it looked a lot like Apple's device so we were intrigued by what it might offer. But after some study, we realized someone had photoshopped the iPhone's menus into the D8's frame and our interest began to wane. And now after putting the D8 through its paces, we can report that it's not worth much of a look at all.

Like the Duet D888, the D8 offers the welcome ability to make calls from two separate lines, but its average feature set and middling multimedia performance left us wanting more. Even more importantly, it fails the usability test because of its clunky touch screen and tiny virtual keyboard. Read our Duet D8 review for the full story.

Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent.
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by rudover July 13, 2009 8:48 PM PDT
I bought the D8 about a month ago for one reason only. I work in Vancouver, BC and go to school in Bellingham, WA. I have a Tmobile (USA) account and a Rogers (Canada) account. The phone allows me to call/text from either sim card. I admit it is a bit Chinese, but it does what I need it to do.

Call clarity is fine, no dropped calls, music player is great due to excellent internal speakers. TV feature is a joke, but cool at the same time. I would recommend this to a techy type person like myself that has patience to operate the tiny touch screen keyboard. I was able to contact Duet direct via email and an actual person helped me out instead of waiting 48 hours for a rep to get back to you with the wrong answer.

I bought my phone on ebay for $140 despite the $300+ price tag on their website. The phone came direct from Beyond E-Tech's Texas office and was included with a warranty.

I'm very pleased with the phone so I give it a 4/5.
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