Lenovo's Android-powered OPhone shows itself again. Launch imminent?

Lenovo's KIRF-tastic OPhone hasn't exactly been all that camera shy since it first dipped its toes into the Android waters in December, but it's now proudly showing itself yet again, and giving everyone their best glimpse yet at its China Mobile branding. What's more, while we've already heard that the phone is on track for a launch this quarter, the talk now seems to be that a release could be just around the corner, with some speculating that it'll roll out immediately after China Mobile's other Android handset, the Dopod G2 (a.k.a. HTC Magic). Hit up the link below for a few more pics, including a closer look at the phone's slightly familiar-looking UI in action.

[Via ModMyGphone, thanks Neerhaj]

[Fred @ Mar 31st 2009 6:11PM]

Great looking phone. I don't know a ton about it, but from a looks stand-point, iPhone/G1 killer?

[Sektor @ Mar 31st 2009 6:16PM]

It is probably for the Chinese market only.

[Maddy @ Mar 31st 2009 6:28PM]

I didn't know G1 needed any killing! It was known from the beginning as the dev prototype they had been using internally for the past 4 years!

[G @ Mar 31st 2009 6:42PM]

Are you being sarcastic?

[Will Static @ Mar 31st 2009 6:14PM]

Symmetrical icons are oh so yesterday.

[Sektor @ Mar 31st 2009 6:13PM]

Just waiting for the iFanboys crying iPhone ripoff. Any rectangular phone with "aqua" icons is an iPhone ripoff.

[Fred @ Mar 31st 2009 6:39PM]

I have an iPhone and I think it looks awesome. It's a shame that it apparently won't come here, but I guess that's how it goes.

[FoxKenji @ Mar 31st 2009 9:45PM]

The closest thing that this phone resembles in GUI looks and in name is the iPhone. Unless there is another device out there that comes even closer.

There is just something I do not understand about Chinese companies. They do not seem to comprehend or care about the concept of being original and they do not believe in such concepts as intellectual property or copyright. If any one has a good idea or design they just feel it's free for the taking. To exemplify this point, Engadget runs their "Keeping it real fake" series.

Recently I heard of an even more disturbing event. We all hear and know about CISCO, the beloved maker of all things router and network equipment. Turns out there is a Chinese company called Huawei that wanted to get into the networking market. To this end, they bought one of CISCO's popular routers and reverse engineered every single part down to the last bit of software and the last piece of circuit board. A while later Huawei shamelessly entered the networking market with their own router. When CISCO analyzed this new machine they found it was a 100% clone copy of their own router; even the names of the original American programmers were still embedded in the OS. So much for the millions of $$ CISCO invested in R&D, testing, design and the countless hours their people invested in making it all happen. The Chinese just come and take it.

[qiezi1015 @ Mar 31st 2009 10:01PM]

Is this a true story or not? Then did Cisco sue Huawei?
I know Huanwei has a lot of patents in Networking and Communications, not as what you think, just cloning.

[FoxKenji @ Apr 1st 2009 12:27AM]

I'm afraid it is true. This is a little bit of what went down:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=77818

And to add insult to injury, CISCO made the stupid mistake of dropping the lawsuit and settling the matter outside of court. They should've sued them all the way. Bottom line is, Huawei simply agrees to make a few changes to all the material they stole and gets to keep it as their own AND make money out of it. I don't work for CISCO but as an American I feel completely disappointed, robbed and outraged to say the least.

[joe23521 @ Apr 1st 2009 1:42AM]

@Fox,

Something tells me if it's as simple and black and white as you make it out to be, CISCO would have sued the pants off of Huawei.

[Reid @ Mar 31st 2009 6:15PM]

Not exactly a familiar looking UI... but alright!

[L4M3 @ Mar 31st 2009 6:19PM]

so im assuming that the ui were looking at right now is just a shell and beneath is android, right? because then maybe we could have that ui ported to other android devices too :>

[john @ Mar 31st 2009 6:39PM]

Is it just me, or does that look NOTHING like android?

(I can't RTFA because Google isn't releasing the FA from translation)

[swimtedswim @ Mar 31st 2009 6:44PM]

darn and i spent all my money on a iphone and now they come out with a O-phone????

[Theli @ Mar 31st 2009 7:07PM]

The UI looks a lot like that of the China Mobile based HTC Magic. Even uses the same wallpaper (a lot better looking than the default).
http://tech.163.com/mobile/09/0316/10/54H785JM00112K95_2.html

[TareX @ Mar 31st 2009 7:27PM]

First this I'd do with this phone is put Sweeter Home on it...

[Christian @ Mar 31st 2009 7:35PM]

still wishing it's multiband on HSDPA so it can go to t-mobile's 3G network...1700...

[HereAndNow @ Mar 31st 2009 7:46PM]

At the end of the day, it is just a bunch of icons launching a bunch of applications. Perhaps if/when HTML5, PhoneGap, BONDI, etc. become mainstream, all the same apps will run on all of the mobile OSes, so it won't matter if you have an iPhone, Blackberry, Pre, .... You just pick the device you like.

[wickedpheonix @ Mar 31st 2009 7:55PM]

Still would be nice to come to the USA... if only to hold some rich nobbits over until a GSM Pre comes out over here.

[Greg Mcp @ Mar 31st 2009 8:02PM]

Show me your OPhone.

[huh @ Mar 31st 2009 8:26PM]

Why would you want that "UI" ported? One of the iPhone's big failings is the lack of information on the icon heavy main screen, compared to the typical "today" screen of a WinMo, Nokia, etc device. I don't get it myself, the grid of icons is pretty much the same as a numeric pad. Not every program has the same summary info.

[microlith @ Mar 31st 2009 11:44PM]

Failings?

You mean, not overloading the main screen with a bunch of questionably useful information and instead giving people a menu of things they may want to use with a light dusting of actually useful information?

[Will @ Mar 31st 2009 8:45PM]

Lenovo isn't introducing anything new. Just another iphone clone. Companies need to innovate like Palm.

[haX0r @ Mar 31st 2009 9:22PM]

agreed!

[FoxKenji @ Apr 1st 2009 12:37AM]

Agreed too.

I think we're all in for a treat now that major players have emerged in the smart phone market. Apple knows how to compete, RIM knows how to compete, Google knows how to compete, Nokia knows how to compete, MS not so much. But now that Palm is jumping in the rat race it makes the bunch complete.

I think we're going to see a lot of amazing things happening in the near future. The question is, who will go down in flames first?

[joe23521 @ Apr 1st 2009 1:41AM]

Explain to me how a phone running on Android an "iPhone clone?"
At first, I just found you fanboys amusing. But now you're all starting to piss me off.

[Robert McFair @ Mar 31st 2009 8:55PM]

"On track for release for this quarter '...ain't today the end of "this quarter?

[FoxKenji @ Apr 1st 2009 12:30AM]

LOL