The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been jumping on fake reviews of late, but one that appeared on the JB Hi Fi web site has all the hallmarks of a fake Realme smartphone spin.
JB Hi Fi often put a product up online days before a product is actually available as is what happened with the all new TCL 10 Pro was listed on the JB Hi Fi web site.
Within hours a review appeared on the web site claiming ‘Feels good but lacks quality – Refunded.
The contributor then went on to write “Fell in love with design but fingerprint on glass was unreliable and camera didn’t live up to expectations and was slow to launch. Changed it to a RealMe X3 and noticed a much better result. No, I do not recommend this product”.
The only problem is that when the JB Hi Fi SKU went live the big retailer had no stock of the product and according to TCL neither did any other retailer.
Realme which is owned by Oppo have not said whether their PR spruikers posted the story.
Ironically, several leading global magazines gave the device excellent reviews.
PC Mag wrote “The TCL 10 Pro hits the sweet spot for midrange Android phones. It has plenty of horsepower for most users, along with good battery life, a lovely design, and a terrific display”. EFTM described it as “An outstanding smartphone”.
Austroid went on to describe the device as “The TCL 10 Pro is a great choice if you really like the idea of a mid-range phone without a heavy manufacturer skin on top of Android, a large 4500mah battery which easily lasts a day with heavy use, reverse USB-C charging, NFC tap payment support, vivid AMOLED screen, programmable Smart Key, Dual SIM and IR blaster built-in”.
Maybe next time RHSpecial should check with JB Hi Fi whether they had stock before he delivered a plug for the questionable Realme which if traffic to their web site is anything to go by is not going anywhere in Australia.
