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Sony Ericsson as unveiled a new Android-powered handset for China on Tuesday. The A8i was developed in conjunction with China Mobile, and is the first to support that carrier's TD-SCDMA network. Android is customized with China Mobile's own Open Mobile System (OMS) 2.0 and users interface using a 3.5-inch, 854x480 touchscreen.
Android has overtaken BlackBerry and iPhone sales to hold the largest share of the smartphone market in the US, Canalys argued today. Collectively, the sales from HTC, Motorola and smaller Android producers amounted to 34 percent of American smartphones in the spring, or just enough to edge out RIM's 32.1 percent and Apple's 21.7 percent. HTC's Droid Incredible, Evo 4G and other devices accounted for the largest slice at 14.4 percent, with Motorola, LG and others taking smaller pieces.
China Mobile on Tuesday made the unusual claim that its variant on Android will run Windows Mobile apps. In upgrading Open Mobile System to 2.0, the carrier said it inherited voice recognition and many of the other features of Android 2.0 but also that it will recognize the "Windows Mobile API." It's not certain which apps for the Microsoft OS, if any, will work in OMS' current form.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology today assued a worried mobile community today that phones based on Android would still be allowed in spite of Google's current anti-censorship attitude. Government official Zhu Hongren told the media that there "should be no limit" to a mobile OS in the country as long as it follows local laws and cooperates with carriers.
Google today delayed the launch of a pair of Android phones due to its ongoing political dispute with China. Following tensions over the Chinese government allegedly hacking into US-based servers and Google's anti-censorship response, the latter has decided against releasing new Motorola and Android phones on Wednesday. The search firm didn't say when it expected to reschedule the launch.
Motorola will officially begin selling its MT710 Zhiling smartphone in China later this month under the China Mobile Ophone brand. The device is similar to what North Americans know as the Android-powered Droid, and has been spotted earlier. The Chinese Motorola handset will not use stock Android, however, but instead a proprietary version of the open source OS created by China Mobile, along with supporting China's own 3G standard, TD-SCDMA.
Lenovo today said it would buy back Lenovo Mobile, its previously separate cellphone business. The deal, worth $200 million in cash and shares, brings back a division that the company had sold off just last year in a bid to save money. In justifying the reversal, the computer maker said that PCs are converging with smartphones and that there would be a "significant growth opportunity" to have a stake in handheld devices.
China Unicom on Friday confirmed in its interim results that it had reached an agreement with Apple to carry the iPhone in China. The news supports word of finished talks and will launch the smartphone sometime in the fall. Most terms aren't available, but China Unicom has said the deal extends for three years and that two models will be involved, at least one of which is likely the 16GB iPhone 3GS.
Dell today entered the cellphone world for the first time with the release of its first handset in China. Supporting leaks, the mini3i is based on China's Open Mobile System variant of Google's Android platform and has an iPhone-like front interface along with a China-specific app portal. Its centerpiece is a 3.5-inch, 640x360 capacitive touchscreen which is both the largest and highest-resolution display of any Android phone.
A report from earlier this week had Dell's smartphone launching in China this week. A new, Tuesday report backs up those rumors, and goes on to unveil the name of the device. To be called mini3i, the device will launch at China Mobile. Sold under the Ophone brand, the carrier plans to add rebadged devices from other manufacturers under the new name.
Dell's first smartphone could be unveiled within the next 48 hours if a purported source is accurate. The tip, likely coming from Asia, mentions to TechCrunch that the device should be made public for Chinese customers within the next day or two. Information is admitted as "thin," but it's also claimed that sources for Asian product launches have normally been accurate.
Dell's rumored Android device may have finally been captured in an image captured in a Chinese forum post (membership required to see). The image shows a handset with a full and reportedly capacitive (finger-controlled) touchscreen running Google's mobile OS, but reveals few other clues as to its features. It clearly exists in a prototype stage and not yet close to product.
