Lenovo has just announced the LePhone for the Chinese
WCDMA market, available in May this year. Notable features include a vibrant 3.7-inch 800x480 capacitive touchscreen (not
OLED, sadly), 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon, 3.5mm headphone jack, a camera on both the front and back (3 megapixels for the latter), A-GPS, WiFi (but no WAPI, strangely), removable battery and a proprietary 9-pin dock connector. Lovers of physical keyboards may be interested in the
optional external keyboard -- the clamshell-style snap-on is very similar to the
IdeaPad U1 Hybrid's. On the software front the LePhone will have
Android 1.6 (yeah, we know) which is somewhat enhanced with accelerometer-based gesture control (read: tilting) and, dare we say, a few design cues from the iPhone OS -- the voice-call interface shown in the presentation video is a perfect example. There will also be a carrier-specific application store which Lenovo couldn't demo at the event. Similarly, details on prices, carriers and plans of international launch were missing. Presentation and hands-on videos after the break.
posted January 6th 2010 7:34PM
Isn't this due for France?
I love how archaic the iPhone now looks now compared to Android phones :) I think they've uncovered cave paintings showing iPhones.
@JoeBlow
It does have a vintage sort of look, but it still is obvious from even 1 photo that it has better build quality than that lenovo junk.
@JoeBlow I'm an Android fanboy with my G1, but I'm really interested what the new iPhone OS will bring.. makes me almost exited to see all the competition :)
@mrspiteri I see what you did there.
@mrspiteri Still, this is yet another interesting Android handset in a year of many interesting Android handsets. While it's not planned for release outside of China just yet, it's certainly a handset to keep an eye on from the Chinese company making baby steps into the mobile market
LePhone Details and leaked vids: http://bit.ly/lephone-details-updates
Sounds like french indeed. lol
@jennyobladi This Android skinning is just Fugly everywhere. I'll take a stock Android rom anyday over this..
HOT! I'm liking the no OLED display - they are nearly impossible to see outside. I think it would sell great in the United States.
Wow, what an incredibly original name!
@XTer Unfortunately, Renault has called from the 1970s, and they want their meme back.
@XTer
"Le" means "happy" in Chinese, and phonetically, "LePhone" sounds like "crazy happy" in Mandarin.
@joe23521 - hey cool. CrazyHappy! Nice. The hardware sounds nice, too. This should do well in China.
@joe23521
Huh. 乐风... I hadn't thought of that. Good catch!
Wooo, finally some photo's!
not crazy about the rounded edges of the phone, but you have to admit the UI looks pretty cool.
@Rick James that butterfly shadow in the center looks like the MS Office logo
lePhone?? wtf
@HighestRanked
WTLeF?
@HighestRanked
WLeF?
Comment above. Trust me. Did not happen. You make think it did because you can read it. But, again, trust that it didn't. If you're still left unconvinced, then blame it on commenting system, certainly not my fault. >>
Now, for your viewing pleasure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M-jsjLB20Y
@HighestRanked Maybe it's Mandarin "le" or 乐/樂, as in "happiness"
@YpoCaramel Yeah, and they used a stylized version of the traditional character on the phone itself, I actually think it looks kinda cool.
LePhone... nice.
Nexus one rip off....
It looks more like a Nexus one more than an iPhone.
And 1.6? Really? This should at least run 2.0 or later...
@SolidSnake I don't think this is a google android phone in the usual meaning of the word, they might've used android for the underlying stuff, it doesn't look like anything related to "regular" google android and a new app store? nothin talkin about android market? perfect recipe for failure, maybe they like it over in china who knows?
I'm really disappointed to hear that the OLED displays are so worthless in sunlight. It definitely puts it in the category of 'not ready for primetime' technology for mobile devices. Why are so many OEMs using them for phones?
@mullingitover because the phones are aimed at nerds like us here on this forum. That and the ever assaming ranga' army... we don't really head otuside that often, so there is no issue
Le-ha-ha-ha!
so we have 1Ghz snapdragon powering a mobile phone and a netbook (pardon me a smartbook) so which one is over/undershot?
I bet it can bluetooth to a LeCar for handfree calls.
But I'm le tired....
Fine, take a nap, then fire the missles!!!
Apologies - which one is Lenovo's lephone? :)
@mehmet
the one that's no the iphone
@PeterFnet
I mean the left
@PeterFnet thanks, it looks like a over handled iphone but definitely more like a nexus one...
i think it looks good, but i dont understand why 1.6, when its here the new 2.1.
where is the video?
@oringal The videos are here now!
LePhone? Me thinks it reeks of a Royale with cheese or perhaps Le Big Mac. Either way, it'll go well with my 1980's Renault LeCar.
is it only have one physical button? home button!?!?
I think it would have been better if they called it the "LePhono". That way, you'd see people saying: "Lenovo presents 'LePhono'!"
...
Try saying that 10 times fast. :P
Design queues from apple?... How about from HTC? It's nearly identical to the Nexus One -- minus the trackball.
@Reisa
I don't mean to sound harsh, but how many different designs can there really be when you're creating a touchscreen phone? You need a large plate of glass on the front, you don't want the entire phone to be huge, and you need some form of real button so the screen doesn't need to be touch-sensitive 100% of the time (which would cause battery issues). Basically that leaves you with round or square for the design :p
I just wonder when Nokia is going to give us their "superphone", the NoPhone.
Did anyone else notice that it says it supports WCDMA AND CDMA 1x EV-DO?
I got a chance to play with one at the Lenovo party at CES and speak to an engineer for a bit. It was an amazing phone. People will poo poo it to further their own agenda but it was pretty sick.
They OS is extremely fast. It us running 1.6, but an immediate upgrade to 2.1 is coming. It has a clamshell add you so you can dock the phone and type one a smart phone style keyboard. The clamshell dock has a battery in it too to give it an even longer battery life.
@imdickie Extremely fast? Lucky you. Mine was buggy.
@Richard Lai Said: "Extremely fast? Lucky you. Mine was buggy."
Pretty much proved my point.
"People will poo poo it to further their own agenda..."
@imdickie So by saying you're luckier than me I'm also "poo poo"-ing a product? Wow.