Lenovo's Android-powered OPhone gets hands-on video treatment

It's always nice to get an update on one of our favorite KIRFs as of late. Lenvo's Android-powered OPhone has popped up in a hands-on video, showing off its mock-iPhone OS interface and all the doppelganger apps / features -- weather, stock, calculator and even a near-identical push notification window. Surprisingly, it's actually pretty well put together and includes some things we wish our legit Apple phone would do, like on-screen widgets and an option to change backgrounds. It'll be a cold day in Hell before we see this serial patent infringer outside of China, so for now you'll have to get your OPhone kicks by checking out the video after the break.

[Thanks, Neerhaj]

[cj100570 @ Apr 8th 2009 9:26PM]

WOW!

[EI8HT @ Apr 8th 2009 10:21PM]

that's what she said...while making the o-face i mean phone

[aaronz8 @ Apr 8th 2009 9:32PM]

"weather, stock, calculator and even a near-identical push notification window"

err.. don't most phones have a calculator? don't most phones have apps that can get the weather and stocks? don't many phones have push email?

not every fking phone that has a touchscreen from china is an iphone clone

[Omen_20 @ Apr 8th 2009 9:44PM]

Oh comon hardware wise and software wise it looks like the iPhone. But thats fine by me. As I've been using Ubuntu the past few months I've noticed it's a popular thing in Linux to grab great features from everywhere, not excluding aesthetics, and then customise them perfectly. Android just seems to be keeping the tradition alive on smart phones. Thats what I love to see.

[Saad Rabia @ Apr 8th 2009 9:45PM]

Yes, all phones have a calculator, and yes, all phones have apps, but not all phones are worshiped by Engadget.

[Omen_20 @ Apr 8th 2009 9:47PM]

Oh come on, hardwise...*

[aaronz8 @ Apr 8th 2009 10:09PM]

@ Omen_20

Hardware wise, all touch screen phones without a keypad look similar. It doesn't mean they are "serial patent infringer[s]." The interface doens't look too much like the iphone. Only the icons are similar in that they are rounded rectangular, but anyone can put rounded icons on their phone if their phone supports that kind of thing. The pull down menu is similar to that of android. The dialer is similar in every touchscreen phone. The cube thing is similar to HTC touch's TouchFlo.

Also... try to give me examples of products that don't grab great features from everywhere. Don't try to tell me that the iphone didn't.

[ntlam @ Apr 8th 2009 10:41PM]

iphone dialer key layout infringe all other phones numeric key layout.

[Michael @ Apr 8th 2009 10:43PM]

iDon't Know....(see what i did there)...they did call it the OPhone O is the next vowel on the list A E I "O" U....thats pretty damning evidence

[aaronz8 @ Apr 8th 2009 10:52PM]

@Michael

so if I name my phone aPhone, it will magically turn into an iphone clone? that's AWESOME

[Omen_20 @ Apr 9th 2009 1:24AM]

I figure the iPhone did, I didnt really start getting into smart phones until talk of Android came around. I was trying to say that I'm glad these open linux based phones grab good ideas from Apple and mesh them with other ideas. Thats something Apple will never do. But if you're going to try and argue nothing on this phone looks iPhonish, well then I really dont know what to say. If you dont see it, you dont see it.

I'm just excited to see people pushing Android's interface. I think everyone' s initial excitement for Android was from the idea of a open source, community driven phone with some massive backing. The idea of a perfect experience pulling in the best of everything.

But go ahead and turn this into another Engadget is biased for Apple posts. Not that there isnt any merit to that, but I'm just tired of reading it.

[ale @ Apr 9th 2009 1:13AM]

Since when the hell is LENOVO a KIRF company?

Does Engadget know what kind of company Lenovo is? They have their stamp on half the IBM computers in the world!
I guess they just love typing KIRF so much

[Bryant @ Apr 8th 2009 9:51PM]

Nothing is as good as the Microsoft oPhone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WazA77xcf0A

[Nick @ Apr 8th 2009 10:08PM]

Now that's what you call innovation! I wish i could have that phone and best of all it looks like it can be used as a self defense weapon.

[sacapuntas @ Apr 8th 2009 9:51PM]

This should be hailed the best chinaphone ever made! The interface is slick and responsive, and the construction is solid. But insead the phone is derided as a cheap fake. Come on.

[joe23521 @ Apr 9th 2009 12:19AM]

I have to agree. The interface seems quite a bit more sophisticated than that of the iPhone, with more subtle animations and effects. I especially like how the background pic shifts as the pages are turned. Pretty cool if you ask me.

[gzeusmants @ Apr 8th 2009 11:36PM]

End software patents.

[ben @ Apr 8th 2009 10:11PM]

omg! icons with rounded corners!

Come on, do a side by side comparison, I am eager to see where are the similarities.

I wonder who writes these articles at engadget.

[aaronz8 @ Apr 8th 2009 10:16PM]

Ross Miller, the fanbuoeiy

[janky @ Apr 9th 2009 1:55AM]

Got to agee. I didn't even have to look at the top to see who the author was. All I needed to see was the blatant fanboyism and I knew- it's god damn Ross Miller spreading his biased BS yet again.

[xconan @ Apr 8th 2009 10:34PM]

@ least they did try to create sometime that's not an exact a iphone clone like other kirfs. it's almost analogous to say that every auto that has 4 wheels is a copy of ford. before ford there was the horse and wagon. also rounded corners aren't that original either, i remember seeing rounded icons on pc tools desktop organizer back during windoze 3.1. granted that the lenovo did borrow some elements here and there so did apple. the moving of the ring was an idea from meizu.

[CranberryEmbargo @ Apr 8th 2009 10:39PM]

What I brought away from this is how AMAZINGLY well they've skinned Android. It's a shame that they chose to make it so similar to the iPhone instead of mixing it up a bit, but I don't think anyone can argue that this is an improvement over Android's current UI.

Just goes to show you, it can be done. Android can be pretty. That excites me.

[PEZ @ Apr 8th 2009 10:38PM]

It seems to have some pretty nice features that the G1 dosnt have. Nice.

[digitallysick @ Apr 8th 2009 10:53PM]

It seems wonderful! why cant we have this in the usa =(

[joe23521 @ Apr 9th 2009 12:24AM]

If we had an Android phone here as sexy looking as this, I'd get one in a heartbeat.

[bigcow05 @ Apr 8th 2009 11:02PM]

Wow..better than I expected. I wonder if the skin is open sourced?

[MIA @ Apr 9th 2009 4:15AM]

that would be ironic if it wasnt

[jeeps @ Apr 8th 2009 11:11PM]

And the best we can come up with here for Android is Papi-jump? Wtf?

[Greg Mcp @ Apr 8th 2009 11:27PM]

Some day, in the distant future, and I hope and pray I will be alive to see it, a miraculous and improbable thing will happen. Someone other than HTC will release an Android based phone.

"Later in the Year"
Maybe.

[joe23521 @ Apr 8th 2009 11:42PM]

Two thoughts:

1) You have to be a pretty sad person to call this an iPhone clone.
2) Android has never looked so good.

[Greg Mcp @ Apr 9th 2009 5:01AM]

Round cornered icons. That's essentially what makes it a clone.
If it's such an issue, they could do a redesign of them.

It looks like it is just a nice touch UI. I don't think this deserves a KIRF tag at all.

[TareX @ Apr 9th 2009 1:06AM]

They ripped off my 3D transition idea :P
http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4966871&l=ecbb90a372&id=548065454

But all in all, not bad. The only touchscreen-only phones i'd consider would be the Huawei Android, the Tegra Android, or the new iPhone...

[poke @ Apr 9th 2009 4:58AM]

That transition effect is pretty old - Look at HTC TouchFlo

Nice G2 ideas though

[Nikolay Georgieff @ Apr 9th 2009 2:22AM]

Cheap Chinese clone.

[technician @ Apr 9th 2009 7:15AM]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, Chinese clone maybe but CHEAP ???? Lenovo's product is never cheap, you really need a brain-check.

Even if it can really make it out of China, I wonder how many of us here can afford it . LOL.

[joe23521 @ Apr 9th 2009 9:30AM]

Methinks your sarcasm detector needs new batteries...

[alfatreze @ Apr 9th 2009 11:34AM]

Well, what can I say, the thing dos look sexy, I hpe some of that leaks into the the public realm, not sure what the licences force it... But being in china well... we know..

On another note, as the great Pablo Picasso said, and ahem... well Steve Jobs quoted, "Good artists copy, Great artists steal", there's no shame in it, only in make half assed attempts. Where would our civilization be if we had not stole ideas from everyone else, bless industrial espionage!

Now I don't know anymore, this one, or the winmo/iphone/magic dust phone that meizu made. There's something to be said for a phone that uses a competitor's platform more advanced than the one it uses itself (M8-CE6 / winmo 6.5 CE5.2)

[Lundmark @ Apr 9th 2009 3:38AM]

Why is Lenovo making ripoffs? It's a legitimate company! But then again, there's the HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia and soon Sony Ericsson that also imitates iPhones in a way, so I don't know why this is a KIRF but the others aren't.

[friedgoldmole @ Apr 9th 2009 5:29AM]

I don't understand what patents this is infringing on? It is basically Android with some custom modifications to the interface and custom applications added. It looks no more like an iPhone than many other handsets out already, ok the icons are of a similar style, but did apple really invent rounded rectangular icons??

[pjdzins @ Apr 9th 2009 6:02AM]

testing sorry

[bias @ Apr 9th 2009 6:10AM]

And here I thought Engadget's attitude towards the Nokia 5800 was the lowest they could sink.
Turns out I was wrong.

[Theli @ Apr 9th 2009 6:38AM]

So... China Mobile's version of Android runs Compiz Fusion? :-)
Looks really nice.

[Ryan @ Apr 9th 2009 8:23AM]

Anyone else having trouble seeing the vid?

[joe23521 @ Apr 9th 2009 9:31AM]

No, it's just sloowww...

[cake @ Apr 9th 2009 9:50AM]

I wonder if it'll work on AT&T.... Definitely want to import this sucker!

[Laughing Man @ Apr 10th 2009 1:50AM]

OMG....its....its Ubuntu?!? Didn't Google already copy them with that terrible GOS thingy on that computer that only Wal-Mart sold for like 2 months?

[mike.smoke.smike @ Apr 23rd 2009 5:38AM]

haha haha wat childish is that all cell phones have player and cameras...