Who makes the Bush and Alba phones that Argos sell?

swb1964 · 03-04-2016, 10:02

Basically as subject. Does anyone know who makes these phones?

I can't even find a review for them online.Given the prices I strongly suspect they are rubbish but I just wanted to check they aren't made by the same people who make Samsung or LG or HTC or something and are a really a hidden bargain

ba_baracus · 03-04-2016, 10:05

From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alba_(brand)

"Most products are rebranded appliances made in China by indigenous Chinese companies"

Anika Hanson · 03-04-2016, 10:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by swb1964

Basically as subject. Does anyone know who makes these phones?

I can't even find a review for them online.Given the prices I strongly suspect they are rubbish but I just wanted to check they aren't made by the same people who make Samsung or LG or HTC or something and are a really a hidden bargain

Samsung, LG and HTC make Samsung, LG and HTC.

swb1964 · 03-04-2016, 10:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by ba_baracus

From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alba_(brand)

"Most products are rebranded appliances made in China by indigenous Chinese companies"

Sure. But you could say the same about most other brands of phone- including Apple!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anika Hanson

Samsung, LG and HTC make Samsung, LG and HTC.

Not true at all........

ney · 03-04-2016, 10:36

Samsung and LG make there own stuff with Samsung being the better of the two.
Bush, Alba as well as Goodmans are all cheap brands made my the same company and in my opinion those brands have been slowly going downhill in the lest few years.

Darren

swb1964 · 03-04-2016, 10:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by ney

Samsung and LG make there own stuff

Not true, at least for phones.

wizzywick · 03-04-2016, 10:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by ney

Samsung and LG make there own stuff with Samsung being the better of the two.
Bush, Alba as well as Goodmans are all cheap brands made my the same company and in my opinion those brands have been slowly going downhill in the lest few years.

Darren

There is a subsidiary of "Hitachi" that makes cheaper brands for Argos. There are even cheaper exclusive to Argos Hitachi products. I would say that this subsidiary of Hitachi also makes the Bush and Alba products. I come to this conclusion because I bought a Hitachi TV for the living room from Argos and a month later I bought a Bush TV for my bedroom from Argos. Both were identical when it came to remote controls, On Screen Display and EPG layout.

d123 · 03-04-2016, 12:50

The Bush and Alba stuff likely changes manufacturer with every new product/contract. It just depends on who is the cheapest on the day.

ash45 · 03-04-2016, 13:40

the current Bush D1/2 are rebranded Archos 55 Helium / Plus my cuz had a D1 that broke n they replaced it with the slightly better (still bit pants) D2 and when loggin into o2 it tells you the brand of the phone and that's what came up Archos 55 Helium, for the D1 and Archos 55 Helium Plus for the D2

Thine Wonk · 03-04-2016, 14:53

You guys are confusing design and specification with assembly.

Apple, Samsung etc will design the phone, including all the material choices, specifications, this processor, this RAM, this capacitor here, this resistor here, this headphone socket from this maker, this glass by this manufacturer, the casing material, moulding, design, then they will then get Chinese factories to assemble them.

Argos will send buyers to the shenzhen electronics area (market) to have already designed and specified products slightly altered or re-badged and shipped as Alba, these items are made down to a price with a low bill of materials. As far as I know it's just mainly a re-badging operation so they come from different suppliers all the time.

Anika Hanson · 03-04-2016, 15:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

You guys are confusing design and specification with assembly.

Apple, Samsung etc will design the phone, including all the material choices, specifications, this processor, this RAM, this capacitor here, this resistor here, this headphone socket from this maker, this glass by this manufacturer, the casing material, moulding, design, then they will then get Chinese factories to assemble them.

Argos will send buyers to the shenzhen electronics area (market) to have already designed and specified products slightly altered or re-badged and shipped as Alba, these items are made down to a price with a low bill of materials. As far as I know it's just mainly a re-badging operation so they come from different suppliers all the time.

Samsung make their own stuff. They even make components for other companies like Apple.

Thine Wonk · 03-04-2016, 15:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anika Hanson

Samsung make their own stuff. They even make components for other companies like Apple.

Samsung do make some things, as do LG who make the screens for the iPhone. They all buy in a lot of components too, for example most of the chips in Samsung phones aren't made by Samsung, it'll have a qualcomm 2G,3G,4G chip for example and a qualcomm snapdragon processor.

Anika Hanson · 03-04-2016, 17:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

Samsung do make some things, as do LG who make the screens for the iPhone. They all buy in a lot of components too, for example most of the chips in Samsung phones aren't made by Samsung, it'll have a qualcomm 2G,3G,4G chip for example and a qualcomm snapdragon processor.

They make their own exynos processors. The S6 generation of smart phones all had an exynos chip. Their latest S7/S7 edge uses the exynos chip everywhere apart from those sold in the US. Samsung made sone of the chips in the latest generation iPhone too 6S/6S plus.

ash45 · 03-04-2016, 17:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anika Hanson

They make their own exynos processors. The S6 generation of smart phones all had an exynos chip. Their latest S7/S7 edge uses the exynos chip everywhere apart from those sold in the US. Samsung made sone of the chips in the latest generation iPhone too 6S/6S plus.

just to add to this the SD820 is also made by samsung for QC so even the non exynos S7s still technically use samsungs products lol

Orbitalzone · 03-04-2016, 17:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by wizzywick

There is a subsidiary of "Hitachi" that makes cheaper brands for Argos. There are even cheaper exclusive to Argos Hitachi products. I would say that this subsidiary of Hitachi also makes the Bush and Alba products. I come to this conclusion because I bought a Hitachi TV for the living room from Argos and a month later I bought a Bush TV for my bedroom from Argos. Both were identical when it came to remote controls, On Screen Display and EPG layout.

Not entirely correct, (I'm being kind here) Argos bought the rights to use the Hitachi brand name and Argos (or actually Home Retail Group, now bought by Sainsburys did) - Hitachi TV's are usually made by Vestel who are usually the supplier of other budget brands like Bush, Alba, Goodmans (again, those brand names are used under licence by Argos) They can pretty much stick the name on whatever they like.

Thine Wonk has got it right, Argos would go out to the market place to find a product for a given price. Probably products labouriously hand built in a Chinese factory like this one
who seem to be making Cubot branded phones.

ney · 03-04-2016, 18:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orbitalzone

Not entirely correct, (I'm being kind here) Argos bought the rights to use the Hitachi brand name and Argos (or actually Home Retail Group, now bought by Sainsburys did) - Hitachi TV's are usually made by Vestel who are usually the supplier of other budget brands like Bush, Alba, Goodmans (again, those brand names are used under licence by Argos) They can pretty much stick the name on whatever they like.

Thine Wonk has got it right, Argos would go out to the market place to find a product for a given price. Probably products labouriously hand built in a Chinese factory like this one
who seem to be making Cubot branded phones.

Cheap brands like them used to be ok but as I have said have been slowly going downhill in the last few years and I would not buy them anymore. I did have a few Bush as well as Goodmans stuff years ago but if I had to go for things now it would be Samgung, LG or some other brand that's a little dearer than the cheaper brand stuff that's mostly made by the same company.
Cheap branded stuff sells only as some can't afford say Samsung, LG or some other dearer band.

Darren

alan1302 · 03-04-2016, 19:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by swb1964

Not true, at least for phones.

So who does?

Anika Hanson · 03-04-2016, 22:28

http://infinigeek.com/how-being-a-co...e-phone-brand/

Samsung make their own stuff!!!

culabula · 03-04-2016, 22:37

So: are they rubbish or not ?

Mystic Eddy · 03-04-2016, 22:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anika Hanson

http://infinigeek.com/how-being-a-co...e-phone-brand/

Samsung make their own stuff!!!

Not everything...their base model TVs are rebadged Vestels.

iangrad · 05-04-2016, 21:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystic Eddy

Not everything...their base model TVs are rebadged Vestels.

Are you sure on that ? very unlikely that Samsung will buy in a vestel built product . Nothing wrong with vestel these days for value products . Pana use them for real low cost kit .

scooby1970 · 05-04-2016, 22:15

I reviewed the Argos phones on my tech blog which you can read here.

They are actually good little phones for the price.

Mark

d123 · 05-04-2016, 23:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by scooby1970

I reviewed the Argos phones on my tech blog which you can read here.

They are actually good little phones for the price.

Mark

Your link goes to a 50" Bush tv page...

wilt · 05-04-2016, 23:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by d123

Your link goes to a 50" Bush tv page...

These phone sizes are getting rediculous!

david16 · 06-04-2016, 09:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by ney

Samsung and LG make there own stuff with Samsung being the better of the two.
Bush, Alba as well as Goodmans are all cheap brands made my the same company and in my opinion those brands have been slowly going downhill in the lest few years.

Darren

I thought that Bush were a major electronics company.

Alba? They’re Argos’s cheap priced electronics product brand the way Technika are for Tesco and Matsui are for Curry’s.

03-04-2016, 10:02	#1
swb1964 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Posts: 2,455	Who makes the Bush and Alba phones that Argos sell? Basically as subject. Does anyone know who makes these phones? I can't even find a review for them online.Given the prices I strongly suspect they are rubbish but I just wanted to check they aren't made by the same people who make Samsung or LG or HTC or something and are a really a hidden bargain

03-04-2016, 10:05	#2
ba_baracus Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 2,099	From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alba_(brand) "Most products are rebranded appliances made in China by indigenous Chinese companies"

03-04-2016, 10:20	#3
Anika Hanson Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: UK Posts: 14,219	Quote: Originally Posted by swb1964 Basically as subject. Does anyone know who makes these phones? I can't even find a review for them online.Given the prices I strongly suspect they are rubbish but I just wanted to check they aren't made by the same people who make Samsung or LG or HTC or something and are a really a hidden bargain Samsung, LG and HTC make Samsung, LG and HTC.

03-04-2016, 10:25	#4
swb1964 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Posts: 2,455	Quote: Originally Posted by ba_baracus From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alba_(brand) "Most products are rebranded appliances made in China by indigenous Chinese companies" Sure. But you could say the same about most other brands of phone- including Apple! Quote: Originally Posted by Anika Hanson Samsung, LG and HTC make Samsung, LG and HTC. Not true at all........

03-04-2016, 10:36	#5
ney Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Scotland, Dunfermline Area Posts: 10,704	Samsung and LG make there own stuff with Samsung being the better of the two. Bush, Alba as well as Goodmans are all cheap brands made my the same company and in my opinion those brands have been slowly going downhill in the lest few years. Darren

03-04-2016, 10:43	#6
swb1964 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Posts: 2,455	Quote: Originally Posted by ney Samsung and LG make there own stuff Not true, at least for phones.

03-04-2016, 10:45	#7
wizzywick Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Berkshire Posts: 27,915	Quote: Originally Posted by ney Samsung and LG make there own stuff with Samsung being the better of the two. Bush, Alba as well as Goodmans are all cheap brands made my the same company and in my opinion those brands have been slowly going downhill in the lest few years. Darren There is a subsidiary of "Hitachi" that makes cheaper brands for Argos. There are even cheaper exclusive to Argos Hitachi products. I would say that this subsidiary of Hitachi also makes the Bush and Alba products. I come to this conclusion because I bought a Hitachi TV for the living room from Argos and a month later I bought a Bush TV for my bedroom from Argos. Both were identical when it came to remote controls, On Screen Display and EPG layout.

03-04-2016, 12:50	#8
d123 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 3,993	The Bush and Alba stuff likely changes manufacturer with every new product/contract. It just depends on who is the cheapest on the day.

03-04-2016, 13:40	#9
ash45 Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 336	the current Bush D1/2 are rebranded Archos 55 Helium / Plus my cuz had a D1 that broke n they replaced it with the slightly better (still bit pants) D2 and when loggin into o2 it tells you the brand of the phone and that's what came up Archos 55 Helium, for the D1 and Archos 55 Helium Plus for the D2

03-04-2016, 14:53	#10
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	You guys are confusing design and specification with assembly. Apple, Samsung etc will design the phone, including all the material choices, specifications, this processor, this RAM, this capacitor here, this resistor here, this headphone socket from this maker, this glass by this manufacturer, the casing material, moulding, design, then they will then get Chinese factories to assemble them. Argos will send buyers to the shenzhen electronics area (market) to have already designed and specified products slightly altered or re-badged and shipped as Alba, these items are made down to a price with a low bill of materials. As far as I know it's just mainly a re-badging operation so they come from different suppliers all the time.

03-04-2016, 15:27	#11
Anika Hanson Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: UK Posts: 14,219	Quote: Originally Posted by Thine Wonk You guys are confusing design and specification with assembly. Apple, Samsung etc will design the phone, including all the material choices, specifications, this processor, this RAM, this capacitor here, this resistor here, this headphone socket from this maker, this glass by this manufacturer, the casing material, moulding, design, then they will then get Chinese factories to assemble them. Argos will send buyers to the shenzhen electronics area (market) to have already designed and specified products slightly altered or re-badged and shipped as Alba, these items are made down to a price with a low bill of materials. As far as I know it's just mainly a re-badging operation so they come from different suppliers all the time. Samsung make their own stuff. They even make components for other companies like Apple.

03-04-2016, 15:51	#12
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	Quote: Originally Posted by Anika Hanson Samsung make their own stuff. They even make components for other companies like Apple. Samsung do make some things, as do LG who make the screens for the iPhone. They all buy in a lot of components too, for example most of the chips in Samsung phones aren't made by Samsung, it'll have a qualcomm 2G,3G,4G chip for example and a qualcomm snapdragon processor.

03-04-2016, 17:24	#13
Anika Hanson Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: UK Posts: 14,219	Quote: Originally Posted by Thine Wonk Samsung do make some things, as do LG who make the screens for the iPhone. They all buy in a lot of components too, for example most of the chips in Samsung phones aren't made by Samsung, it'll have a qualcomm 2G,3G,4G chip for example and a qualcomm snapdragon processor. They make their own exynos processors. The S6 generation of smart phones all had an exynos chip. Their latest S7/S7 edge uses the exynos chip everywhere apart from those sold in the US. Samsung made sone of the chips in the latest generation iPhone too 6S/6S plus.

03-04-2016, 17:34	#14
ash45 Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 336	Quote: Originally Posted by Anika Hanson They make their own exynos processors. The S6 generation of smart phones all had an exynos chip. Their latest S7/S7 edge uses the exynos chip everywhere apart from those sold in the US. Samsung made sone of the chips in the latest generation iPhone too 6S/6S plus. just to add to this the SD820 is also made by samsung for QC so even the non exynos S7s still technically use samsungs products lol

03-04-2016, 17:34	#15
Orbitalzone Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Sussex Posts: 12,173	Quote: Originally Posted by wizzywick There is a subsidiary of "Hitachi" that makes cheaper brands for Argos. There are even cheaper exclusive to Argos Hitachi products. I would say that this subsidiary of Hitachi also makes the Bush and Alba products. I come to this conclusion because I bought a Hitachi TV for the living room from Argos and a month later I bought a Bush TV for my bedroom from Argos. Both were identical when it came to remote controls, On Screen Display and EPG layout. Not entirely correct, (I'm being kind here) Argos bought the rights to use the Hitachi brand name and Argos (or actually Home Retail Group, now bought by Sainsburys did) - Hitachi TV's are usually made by Vestel who are usually the supplier of other budget brands like Bush, Alba, Goodmans (again, those brand names are used under licence by Argos) They can pretty much stick the name on whatever they like. Thine Wonk has got it right, Argos would go out to the market place to find a product for a given price. Probably products labouriously hand built in a Chinese factory like this one who seem to be making Cubot branded phones.

03-04-2016, 18:00	#16
ney Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Scotland, Dunfermline Area Posts: 10,704	Quote: Originally Posted by Orbitalzone Not entirely correct, (I'm being kind here) Argos bought the rights to use the Hitachi brand name and Argos (or actually Home Retail Group, now bought by Sainsburys did) - Hitachi TV's are usually made by Vestel who are usually the supplier of other budget brands like Bush, Alba, Goodmans (again, those brand names are used under licence by Argos) They can pretty much stick the name on whatever they like. Thine Wonk has got it right, Argos would go out to the market place to find a product for a given price. Probably products labouriously hand built in a Chinese factory like this one who seem to be making Cubot branded phones. Cheap brands like them used to be ok but as I have said have been slowly going downhill in the last few years and I would not buy them anymore. I did have a few Bush as well as Goodmans stuff years ago but if I had to go for things now it would be Samgung, LG or some other brand that's a little dearer than the cheaper brand stuff that's mostly made by the same company. Cheap branded stuff sells only as some can't afford say Samsung, LG or some other dearer band. Darren

03-04-2016, 19:51	#17
alan1302 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: West Yorks Posts: 6,180	Quote: Originally Posted by swb1964 Not true, at least for phones. So who does?

03-04-2016, 22:28	#18
Anika Hanson Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: UK Posts: 14,219	http://infinigeek.com/how-being-a-co...e-phone-brand/ Samsung make their own stuff!!!

03-04-2016, 22:37	#19
culabula Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Belfast, Ireland Posts: 736	So: are they rubbish or not ?

03-04-2016, 22:52	#20
Mystic Eddy Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 3,885	Quote: Originally Posted by Anika Hanson http://infinigeek.com/how-being-a-co...e-phone-brand/ Samsung make their own stuff!!! Not everything...their base model TVs are rebadged Vestels.

05-04-2016, 21:45	#21
iangrad Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 772	Quote: Originally Posted by Mystic Eddy Not everything...their base model TVs are rebadged Vestels. Are you sure on that ? very unlikely that Samsung will buy in a vestel built product . Nothing wrong with vestel these days for value products . Pana use them for real low cost kit .

DS Forums

Who makes the Bush and Alba phones that Argos sell?

05-04-2016, 22:15	#22
scooby1970 Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Neath Posts: 2,468	I reviewed the Argos phones on my tech blog which you can read here. They are actually good little phones for the price. Mark

05-04-2016, 23:08	#23
d123 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 3,993	Quote: Originally Posted by scooby1970 I reviewed the Argos phones on my tech blog which you can read here. They are actually good little phones for the price. Mark Your link goes to a 50" Bush tv page...

05-04-2016, 23:26	#24
wilt Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Potterspury Posts: 930	Quote: Originally Posted by d123 Your link goes to a 50" Bush tv page... These phone sizes are getting rediculous!

06-04-2016, 09:53	#25
david16 Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Central Belt Posts: 12,290	Quote: Originally Posted by ney Samsung and LG make there own stuff with Samsung being the better of the two. Bush, Alba as well as Goodmans are all cheap brands made my the same company and in my opinion those brands have been slowly going downhill in the lest few years. Darren I thought that Bush were a major electronics company. Alba? They’re Argos’s cheap priced electronics product brand the way Technika are for Tesco and Matsui are for Curry’s.