The JiaYu G4 has been spotted as a working engineering prototype from as early as the end of 2012. Now 4 months on the flagship phone still hasn’t launched! So what are JiaYu waiting for?
Rumours and news reports claim that JiaYu will launch the JiaYu G4 during April 2013, but word from our sources at JiaYu and their official forum doesn’t look all that promising, and we can’t help but to think back to this time last year and the JiaYu G3 launch!
Even without an official launch date or confirmed pricing some online resellers have already started to accept orders for the quad-core G4, orders which are likely to go unfilled for some time until JiaYu get production levels up to speed!
But, before they do that there are a number of things JiaYu needs to do before they can even think about putting it on the market!
The MT6589 and 2GB RAM issue
Although many companies and resellers are attempting to tell us that there is no issue with running the Mediatek MT6589 CPU with 2GB RAM, they are wrong and a problem does exist! Umi have had to delay production of the X2, and iOcean have only launched a 1GB version of the X7 due to the issue.
Of course this doesn’t prevent JiaYu from putting the youth version of the JiaYu G4 on sale with only 1GB RAM, but there is another issue which does.
JiaYu G4 Network License
To legally sell a phone in China, the manufacturer must receive a network license from an official governing body. The process is similar to FCC filings, and can be a long drawn out process.
Gizchina News of the week
The fact that we haven’t seen evidence of the G4 network license means we could be at least 1 month away from seeing the phone in stores!
JiaYu in decisions and changes!
Before JiaYu can send the new phone to receive a network license they must settle on a final specification, and they don’t appear to have done this yet. Just last week the official JiaYu forums had a poll asking which specification fans would like to see, and today we received news of further changes and updates to the G4 phone!
As it’s plain to see that the specification of the G4 isn’t set in stone, this bring us to another issue.
Securing supply chains and MT6589 demand
With all the changes JiaYu are making and the fact they still haven’t decided on a firm spec, will mean that they haven’t confirmed orders with suppliers, and may not have a secure supply chain for parts such as the display, battery and camera and other major components!
Worse still is that the longer they delay the more companies launch similar phones using the same quad-core MT6589 chip, a component already in high demand and one which many companies are struggling to secure!
We know it’s not easy JiaYu, but if you want a successful product and to have huge sales then you are going to need to get the JiaYu G4 on the market sooner rather than later or your rivals will be eating your piece of the pie!
OMG!!!!!!! I hate to wait to long ;( and the 2gb ram issue sucks
It looks like it will be worth the wait though 🙂
The issue last year where we were all waiting for the jiyau G3 made me buy a UMI x1 . This umi i bought had a sticky screen which grew from a small spot about 2mm in size to about 4cm long down the middle of the screen , also then dropped it from about 3 feet when i stood up and the screen shattered,
I then purchased the Giyau G3 one for my wife, the quality difference was amazing compared to the UMI x1, so bought one for myself too…
No Matter how long this phone is delayed i will wait till it is ready and have read users reports before i buy it.
Jiyau the waiting game for me is now just part of the game ..
Keep up the same quality as you did with the the G3 you got it everything right with that phone !!
Cant wait ARHHHHH 😀
And Andi keep up the good work your awesome!!! 🙂
You Sir, have throughly convinced me to wait for G4 along with you …
ARRRRGGHhh !!! Can’t wait… 😀
Hello Andi,
I saw a post in this website saying Jiayu will receive update to light up touch buttons….it means buttons light work after update.
did you receive OTA update??
how about your Jiayu G4’s battery life??
How to enable some lights which are provided by some LEDs if the LEDs are not already built on the PCB?
Why a company would mount LEDs on a PCB and not enabling them from the start?
Where did you see that? Checking for the update now.
Happy to wait till they have got it right….but not too long please! Thanks for the update Andi!
Same here, no matter how long it takes, I’ll wait for the Jiayu G4. I don’t want to settle for UMI or NEO because I already know Jiayu’s quality is really good. I have no problems at all with my G3.
emailed back and forth with the international contact at Jiayu – he said, the G4 would be released in the “middle of April”. Let’s wait and hope for it to really happen 🙂
That’s my man Andi, you are the best. Thank got you are on the chinese phones horizon and you are shining bright for all of them, because they need to know that we do not accept any delays fo their phones !!! The G3 situation is repeating again, a ?!
Andi are you still visiting the Jiayu factory next week (as per an earlier threa? In whch case I am sure you will get a best picture…could you ask whilst you are there if the upgrade to a Yamaha audio chip for improved sound quality (mentioned by Abbie) is on both models or just the advanced? I use my phone mainly as an MP3 player so want the best audio possible.
sorry ‘thread?’
I would be careful, I mean I don’t know which chip is used but the last Yamaha DAC was used in the Samsung Galaxy S2 and had a bad reputation amongst audiophiles. The Wolfson chip in the SGSIII however is supposed to be very good. There are some decent Qualcomm and even TI chips that are satisfying.
Does anyone know what is Jiayu promising for baterry life time with small and big batteries?
Nice work Andi…
yeah, that would be interesting to know. Andi, you would probably run an Antutu battery test once you got hold of a test unit, wouldnt you?!
my wife and I are very happy owners of Jiayu phones… I waited for the G3 with a lot of skepticism, but after I got mine, within a couple of months we got a few more for wife and friends who could not believe the quality and immediately wanted to have one as well… I am now waiting for the G4 with great pleasure, for the only other phone that could possibly make me give up the G4 would be the Jiayu S1… Andy, you guys at Gizchina really rock!!!
Great and smart post by Andi. This is the Andi I like. 😉
Regarding the: “JiaYu G4 Network License” I think this is their latest problem for international sales. They can sell in any country except China for the start.
They legally can, but they won’t. the g4 is mainly made for China and will therefore most likely be released there first. there probably won’t be an international release so the licence will slow it down
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I bet that ZOPO 5-incher 1080 Phone will be out sooner than Jiayu G4. I have witnessed Jiayu’s professional integrity (or lack of it !!!) and dont wanna wait for their G4. It might take several more months before G4 is “actually” out!
Damn, hate to wait but this looks like a nice phone!
I pre-ordered the G4 it in the beginning of this month and I’ll wait as much as I have to. Got G3 for my girlfriend and I secretely envy her for it. I am currently running a ZP200 and I am not happy at all. Good phone, great build quality but it crashes a lot even with fresh stock ICS ROM, also problems with slow GPS and Wi-Fi going on/off regardless of the settings.
So I am sure that waiting for my G4 is worth it all the way.
isnt the youth edition getting launched on 10th April in India as per their FB page?
you guys make me wanna wait for this phone as well. I hope you are no jiayu employees concealed 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCQvcyEDTEY not long!!!
why they are using such a crappy quality plastic in phones? It looks disposable, but however it costs a lot
Because it’s durable, light, readily available and cheap.
I was really interested in this phone but I couldn’t wait more and I’ve just bought a Xiaomi M2.
andi, will it launch in other country? like indonesian, malaysian?