Lenovo talks up LePhone, shows off app store ahead of May launch
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 20th 2010 3:45PM
posted April 20th 2010 3:45PM
Lenovo's Android-based LePhone (not LePhono, sadly) may not be officially launching in China until next month, but the company did just hold a launch event of sorts in the country, in which it revealed a few new details and did a fair bit of boasting. According to The Wall Street Journal, Lenovo says that it's aiming to sell "millions" of the phones in the next five years, and "tens of millions" after that -- although not just involving this particular phone, obviously. Lenovo COO Rory Read also reportedly further added that the company is ready for a "tough fight" against Apple's iPhone, and that Lenovo will have a "better brand position" that RIM, which hasn't yet gained a significant foothold in China. That's certainly plenty ambitious for a company new to the cellphone space, and should no doubt only further fuel those rumors of a certain acquisition. In other le news, Lenovo also apparently further demonstrated the tweaked version of Android that the handset will use (first seen at CES), and it has shown off its own app store for the first time, which can already be browsed at the site linked below.
Price? Contract or Unlocked?
@techlord Do you live in China?
@weg Anywhere you live you can quote Arnie in Predator for this phone "You are one ugly m-f."
@weg It will launch worldwide after that. This phone looks awesome. Maybe my next phone after n900...And for those who doubt the millions of phones sales, go get a look at the chinese mobile market. Its almost twice bigger than the US population (about 550mil) and have a growth of about 70mil new users each year. I have no fear for their sale numbers.
@techlord
Yes yes, very interesting indeed...
This is by far the most interesting and original design phone since Iphone.
@techlord I take it you mean "except for all the bits that look and feel almost exactly like webOS."
@CRA1G
i think webOS is a OS and not a design for a phone.
@BrianH The phone isn't very useful without the OS, and the OS determines most of the phone's user experience, so...not quite sure why the difference is more than semantic. But, even if it is, the LePhone borrows several styling elements directly from Palm's webOS phones, including the gesture area and the LED gesture indicator.
@CRA1G
An OS isn't exactly useful without hardware to run it on.
@CRA1G
Lenovo is using those ideas from Palm and webOS because they are very good ideas. More people should adopt them.
Palm's team were some of the very first people to build touchscreen interfaces. They have a lot of experience setting trends and developing features that eventually become mainstream.
@Kamalot Palms original team of designers have long left the company and created their own startup (forgot the name). Over half the Palm mobile phone team right now consists of former Apple employees. That's not to mention some of the big name management personel were from Apple as well.
@techlord
Do we have specs? and I'm assuming china means GSM meaning I cant have this bad boy on Verizon at some point :(
a shame.. this is a beautiful design I love it. Spec it to be like the Incredible and I would pay hundreds even after its subsidized lol
Separate AppStore? Yay, more android fragmentation!
@DoctarPeppar Forking will kill Android.
@nsfw These Forkers are killing Android!!
@nsfw I agree. In fact, it's already pretty bad.
@yipcanjo Damn forkers! Stop forking up android! Rabble!
@DoctarPeppar
It's a chinese phone, if it comes to the US it'll have the MArket.
@TheGM
Oh I see...makes sense, the Chinese Government has to filter out all the "Tiananmen Square" applications.
Isn't communism grand?
@DoctarPeppar Not necessarily. Not if other Android platforms also get access to the new appstore. Before appstores existed, software for WM5/6 and Palm was also sold in different online stores (Handango, PocketGear & co), or even directly by the programmers, and that didn't do any harm. It actually had a positive effect on the number of apps available, since even apps rejected by certain appstores could still be made available somewhere else.
@DoctarPeppar Well, you see, the Android Market doesn't work over there anyway, if Lenovo launches the phone with China Mobile, they'll just use China Mobile's own app store (for OPhone OS, which is Android).
@hmmwv
I see...China is too good for the rest of the world's appstore I guess.
Long live chairman Mao!
@DoctarPeppar
New Android phones sold in China do not come with android market. There are ways to 'unlock' the market, but it takes a bit of effort and some digging. I'm sure Lenovo Market won't be any different.
I bought a Moto XT 701 (sholes tablet) there last month. Instead of Android Market, it came with a Moto App Shop which was filled with crapware and some localized contents. took all but 30 min online to find the proper files tho, and now i have access to android market, as well as able to sync with my google account.
It looks classy but really, how are you supposed to use that keyboard? The buttons seem too small and too close together. Not to mention the d-pad in the midst of all the keys, how can you reach it with your thumbs?
@Vicada
/s I dont know how can reach it with your hands right there?.!? It seems impossible I tell you IMPOSSIBLE to use...My thumbs cant do it.....Move your hand...
@Vicada
They have to put the keys really close together to get the entire Chinese alphabet
@therodt Please picture yourself pressing on the d-pad with your hand while holding the device in landscape mode. When you realize how dumb you will look, we can talk again.
@ArhcAngel LMAO, good one.
@Vicada
Unless your thumbs are where most people's pinkies are, the center d-pad is actually EASIER to reach.
A Better Versa.
That should be their slogan.
@shadowj0
LG Versa, for those who might have thought Nissan. LG, not Nissan.
This is innovation.
@forHim247
it's the same design as they're U1 concept.
i like it.
Aside from the apparently-clever keyboard/case, this is just another Android phone from a company that doesn't seem to have a lot of experience with phones. It is not enough to want to sell millions and then tens of millions (I could have written that business plan myself) they have to make a great device and then actually sell millions. Not such an easy thing to do, as many an Android device maker has shown, not to mention Palm.
As for this keyboard/case thing, it's totally impractical. It makes using the phone impossible without removing it from the case. So most people would just leave it out of the case most of the time, and then they'd have to have another case to use it with when it wasn't in the keyboard case. The only way it would make sense is if the person used it with Bluetooth 95% of the time. Otherwise, it's really just a silly design, and ultimately nothing better than an ordinary "candy-bar" style Android phone. There's a reason that sliders have been popular; they're one way to have a keyboard when you want it and to hide it when you don't without interfering with the phone's normal use as a phone.
@weatherman Lenovo actually has tons of experience with phones, especially after it reacquired its mobile division that it parted several years ago. They've been selling phones, including smartphones, in China for years. However I have to agree with you that it's hard to use the phone with the keyboard attached, maybe they can make the connection magnetic so it's super easy to detach.
Le waste of time.
@gerrrg
Moi Agree ..
and as for another APP store .. i can't even yawn loud enough to make sure ya all notice i am so bored of that :)
That looks like just about the worst keyboard I've ever seen on a cell phone.
is the COO's name really Rory Read? or did you just /reversechina Lory Lead!?
@flygplan
Wouldn't it be Loly Lead?
Idiot.
i love this phone i really wish they would make it work in the U.S. only phone i have really liked besides the Dell Streak/Mini5
DUDE! I love this company! They are so bold!
Lenovo = I am in it to win it!
I wish they took this design (overall shape with cool-looking keyboard) and made it into a slider
... a la the old Helio phones.
This would be one killer phone.
@Hazdaz
a thinkpad keyboard perhaps??? where's the thinkpad design team? they should have designed a thinkpad android phone by now...
Love the keyboard design.
Yeah, the Renault Le Car didn't do so well either.
pretty interesting...would love to have this ported to my Nexus One...granted it looks like a bit of a WebOS iPhone rip, but overall its still interestingly innovative on its own. Wish Stock android would borrow some of their UI designers...keep it consistent and pretty.
Dear Lenovo,
Please buy Palm and try to penetrate the U.S market so that HTC can continue developing awesome Android phones. More competition and 2 awesome linux platforms and hardware manufacturers that are innovative will be the best thing to happen to the smartphone arena ever!
Signed, Eternity.
@Eternity
No. No do not do that.