Possible clone of the Kogan Agora spotted on web site

It sounds like the plot to a movie. A promoter, Ruslan Kogan, announces that he has produced the second Android phone, the Agora and a more upscale model, the Agora Pro. Google, the company behind the open source OS, puts the kibosh on the device explaining that the 2.5 inch screen and the lower resolution may not work with some existing and future Android apps (the only current Android mode, the G1, has a 3 inch screen). So there is Mr. Kogan, presumably sitting with boxes of his phone that he can't do anything with, and all of a sudden, a web site called Alibaba.com is offering what looks like the Agora for $240 a pop in lots of 100 minimum. This Chinese based phone, the G8000, is supposed to run on Android - like the Agora. However, while the latter device runs on 3G networks, the G8000 is a 2G GSM/GPRS/EDGE model. So what is the deal? A public relations firm working for Mr. Kogan told iTWire that the phones on AliBaba.com are not the Agora and he doubts that the G8000 even runs the Android OS. The manufacturer of the model is listed as Shenzhen JoinCyber Telecom Equipment Co., Ltd. So it looks like a Chinese firm made clones of a phone that has not hit the market and may never see the light of day. If you do get your hands on the G8000, let us know if it really does run Android. In that case, it would be the second phone to run Google's open source OS.

source: iTWire via Engadget