We're not sure how we missed this one, but it's better late than never -- turns out some lucky jerks in China were given a
Lenovo LePhone to play with back in mid-April, and the guys at
Sooyuu have just finished the fifth and final part of their lengthy review, just in time for the
May launch. We weren't expecting any changes since our last encounter
at CES, but apparently the 3.7-inch screen's now been upgraded from LCD to AMOLED, and like the
Palm Pre, the LePhone also sports a gesture area below the screen. Of course, there's also the never-before-seen packaging that we totally dig, not to mention the bundled goodies such as a leather case, a noise-isolation handsfree kit (but sans music and volume control), plus a magnetic dock adapter. As for software, the reviewer praises Lenovo's snappy, heavily customized
Android with its vast Chinese social networking service integration, music store, video apps, and an impressive Chinese turn-by-turn navigation suite. We almost want to adopt this baby, only to be let down by its 3.2-megapixel camera's mediocre quality, lack of flash, and inability to autofocus. Anyhow, you can be the final judge -- head over to
Sooyuu for plenty more pictures.
posted May 8th 2010 5:13PM
Sooyuu (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)
Next up: Ford makes a phone!
@WastedxYears They already kind of do, Ford Sync.
@WastedxYears
Been waiting for this phone. A job well done for Lenovo, lets hope their U1 Hybrid is just as nicely made as this.
And seriously? JUST because of a 'poor' camera, you are going to dismiss such a nicely featured phone?
If anything dismiss it because it is in Chinese, and only the Chinese will be able to use this phone to all its might (unless it is released stateside).
@WastedxYears. The Empire once made a Phone. http://www.ubergizmo.com/photos/2007/5/darth-vader-phone.jpg
We will never go down that route again
@WastedxYears
There's no way I'll ever be able to call this anything but the Lenovo LePhoneO.
@WastedxYears The Ford FoPhone?
@WastedxYears
"and weighing as much as 165 grams, in the current flagship model among the many products never be heavyweight, and if women are using it may find a little tired."
A bit blunt sure, but it's generally true, women are weaker.
@Lord Vader
Man, you suck.
@Pickaxe
"Le" 乐 which means "happy" in chinese
"We almost want to adopt this baby, only to be let down by its 3.2-megapixel camera's mediocre quality, lack of flash, and inability to autofocus."
Is this a joke? *points at iPhone*
@thoughtmonster who says they like the iPhone's camera?
@thoughtmonster
well, if this were the iPhone, do you really think engadget will have the same attitude.
you should know this by now
@thoughtmonster so now people will not consider the lack of multitasking as a let down because current iPhone doesn't have it?
@thoughtmonster
Personally I bought a Nikon DSLR for taking photos. So the camera wouldn't be an issue for me since I don't use cameras on a camera phone unless I'm trying to get a quick shot of something and don't have my camera handy.
@Rick James I
"A quick shot of something"
My brain went into the gutter
Looks like an Iphone with an extremely curved top and bottom bezel...In other words it is horrendous..Lenovo please stick to making Thinkpads
What's with lenovo and fully rounded bezels? It looks horrible on the skylight smartbook
also I wonder what French people think of the name
What i want to see is that detachable keyboard in action.
Name FAIL
@artemis360
Exactly what I was thinking. The marketing department really tanked it with this one. If I had this I would say I have a Lenovo cell phone, but never NEVER that I own "LePhone". OMG.
@SeeKo Well good thing it's not for the English speaking market then. I don't know if you realize this but things can be regionally branded to what people find to be good names in that region...just because it sounds silly to you doesn't mean that it doesn't sound like a good name elsewhere.
Illegal Flower Tribute!
Nothing fail about the phone's name. It's a transliteration of the Chinese name for the character for happiness. This phone is not targeted for outside of China.
Do you guys at Engadget want to hire someone for Chinese news? It's really not that hard. Just scan cnbeta. I saw this and submitted this news a few weeks ago with no reaction from Engadget. There was some discussion on reddit as well.
This looks like a copy paste review too.
@xaueious
"Nothing fail about the phone's name. It's a transliteration of the Chinese name for the character for happiness. This phone is not targeted for outside of China."
If that's the case, why did they give it an english name??? So they must have thought about it somehow. No offense, but something that reads french-english always sounds a bit gay.
@SeeKo Because English is fashionable in Asia. This is a serious comment.
@Pickaxe
Lenovo says that they will go international. For that they should have known better. I'm not complaining. Just saying they didn't do themselves a favor going global with that name. Most people won't read it has "happiness".
@SeeKo "Lenovo says that they will go international. For that they should have known better. I'm not complaining."
They can do that with another name. No need whatsoever to keep the same one.
the "le" is a Chinese character meaning "happy."
makes more sense in Chinese I suppose.
@Jonnyboy
Wo men dou hen gao xing :)
Change the name to Le- Pre- no and install WEBOS!!
Doesn't this look the like the next gen webOS phone everyone has been yearning for?!
@dds1043 I want to take that back. Just because it has a gesture does not deem a phone worth of webos. The camera needs and upgrade with a flash, plus the 'dock' for a keyboard is ridiculous. There should never be a need for a special type of connect, (see: i: phone, pad, peni.. etc).
*sigh* this could have been a good phone. Maybe next time lenovo.
@dds1043: Sorry dogg. While I'm also a big webOS fan...the keyboard dock isn't such a bad idea. While I hate detachable keyboards because I am almost certainly doomed to lose them, there are plenty of screwball people who don't seem to want a keyboard on their phone. I don't like those people much, and I generally think they wouldn't even buy a non-iPhone if Palm DID release a keyboardless webOS phone, but maybe they would. Who knows. I agree with you that the camera sounds underwhelming, though. I'd consider this an upgrade to the Pixi, but certainly not the Pre.
@zullnero This dock is a double whammy of bad. Its also a landscape keyboard. It goes completely against palm's one hand use rule. But the HP Hurricane looks sweet. I know what I'm getting for Xmas.
This phone seems to have a MagSafe-like magnetic charger plug. Great for users, but this might mean if Lenovo sells this phone to the US, they'd get sued by some fruit company...
Ooo, I'm digging Lenovo's customization! Hopefully someone at XDA ports this over to the G1 (or at least makes this theme) :D
Wait...
What happened to the keyboard???
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/11/lenovo-lephone-seen-again-os-cues-taken-from-skylight/
???
@Johnny Rockets
The keyboard is part of an optional docking station. You can clip it in there, start typing or shut it like the old Nokia communicators.
It's shown right here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCvQkr0_B00&feature=player_embedded#!
@hated one
And you have to remember that the iphone really is three years old now, with some changed features to keep it up to date. Wait for the 4G. It will be something to behold and everyone knows it.
The way Mobs works is like this - make something which beats the crap out of most other things (like them or loathe them, they do deliver, every time) then systematically release updates to bring that product up to the spec it should and could have been at the start to maximise profit. The when competitors get near, blow them all out the water once again.
You may want to disagree, but you will only come back with feeble answers, Its just the way things are. Everyone is still slagging off the iPad, but just look at the sales figures. You cannot argue with sales figures.
@thechippy yea? the 3GS doesn't feel very much 3 years old. its barely 1 year old.
I wonder how many people are gonna use their LePhone, in their Le Car?
I kind of like where they're going with this with the design, but I have to say I've never been a fan of the Android UI. Just a personal preference, but that kind of ruins it for me. Always felt like it was designed to be more glitzy than functional on a phone, and while it's fun to start it up and play with it, when I usually put Android phones to real use I get annoyed really fast. As for the camera, I've seen worse put into modern phones. I probably wouldn't bother with this phone because I'm a slave to having a keyboard or keys of any sort and I prefer function over form when it comes to a device that gets as much work as a phone. Just kind of a thing from having been a user of smartphones since my first Symbian smartphone (back when you didn't need a touchscreen to be called a smartphone) many years ago. I'm sure though that it will sell well in the Chinese community, though. People who aren't smartphone vets always take form over function, and saying it's integrated well with social networking is a huge selling point with a lot of people (that's basically the whole point of a smartphone these days).
@zullnero
Now this, as a comment is probably less likely to get downranked since you actually backed up your statement.
Though, I still have to disagree with you. Most peoples' issues with Android has always been that it ISN'T as glitzy and glamorous and flashy as iPhone or WebOS. When it comes to functionality that's where it has always excelled. 2.1 improved leaps and bounds in aesthetics and animation, but I'd think that if you were to ask most people, they'd say iphone is more of the beautiful OS whereas Android tends to be more functional/customizable.
@zullnero
That interface is all fancy because Lenovo made it that way
@hated one
You seriously have nothing else to talk about, do you?
Deedeedee... Sick or what...? Agree....?
@hated one: I'm going to say something that even the hated one wouldn't say: The reason it blows in comparison to an iPhone is partially because of Android, and partially because of Apple's social conditioning. I know everyone loves the "not really an underdog" Android and wants it to win out over the big bad Apple and Microsoft...but... Now, watch this comment get downranked like mad.
LePhone? LeLame!
@hapadude big mac is a big mac, but they call it Le BigMac
@hated one
I will in china!
@zullnero
If anything you'll get downranked because you're shit talking about something without any reason to back up your hate. It blows because of Android? How so? The Incredible doesn't suck because of Android. The Droid doesn't suck because of Android. The EVO 4G isn't even out yet but I'm sure it won't suck. You have no reasoning to back up your statement other than "iphone is better because it doesn't use android and apple's 'social conditioning'"
I love Lenovo products.
This phone will have a detachable QWERTY keyboard, too.
I want one.