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Lenovo's LePhone S2 joins the Beijing party, boasts a 1.4GHz chip in a much lighter body (updated)
Just to wrap up today's product launch extravaganza in Beijing, Lenovo also threw in its new LePhone S2 dedicated to the phone category in China (while insisting the 5-inch LePad S2005 is more of a tablet, but we'll let you guys do the debate). This 3.8-inch WCDMA phone is no match for many of the big players out there with its single-core 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 chip, but other than that it should be pretty sufficient for the average user. The specs include a 800 x 480 TFT display, Android 2.3.4, 512MB RAM with 8GB ROM or 1GB RAM with 16GB ROM (neither comes with memory expansion), slightly different casing design for both models, eight megapixel 720p CMOS camera and a much lighter body compared to its two predecessors -- we're looking at a reduction from 165g to just 120g (including the 1,500mAh battery) at 10.9mm thick. Despite the weight loss, this phone has kept the handy gesture area below the screen. Sadly there's no word on release dates or prices for the S2, so again, come back in a bit for our hands-on photos from Engadget Chinese. Update: We've now been told that starting today the S2 will be sold for RMB 2,990 (about $470) unsubsidized. There will also be a TD-SCDMA variant at some point for those hooked up to China Mobile. Update 2: And our hands-on photos plus video are up now! Enjoy.
Lenovo's upcoming LePhone S2 seen running Android as well as Windows Phone, looks confused
We're not quite sure what's going on here: you see, Lenovo's been cosying up to Android for its smartphones and tablets all this time, so we were a bit surprised when one of its product managers posted some photos of a Windows Phone-powered handset (even Engadget makes an appearance). More interestingly, this mysterious phone looks identical to the upcoming Lenovo LePhone S2, which features a heavily customized Android 2.3.4, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chip, 480 x 800 display, eight-megapixel camera (with 720p recording) and a smaller plus lighter body than its predecessor. PCPOP's done a brief preview of the S2 Android if you're curious. But the bigger story here is that if Lenovo is indeed developing a Windows Phone Mango device for the Chinese market (and remember that Lenovo has yet to market its smartphones outside China), then this S2 variant could be the first of its kind that gets the blessing from the Chinese authorities. Right now Windows Phone has a tight Facebook and Twitter integration, both of which are unfortunately banned by the Great Firewall; and additionally, even the Windows Phone Marketplace had fallen victim to the system for unknown reasons back in August. Of course, Windows Phone's China penetration could be just a matter of time anyway, but it'll be interesting to see what compromises Microsoft will have made to keep the authorities happy -- Nokia will surely need this to keep a good shape in China. On the other hand, given the common hardware compatibility between the two mobile OSes, there's also a good chance that this strange device is merely the work of some curious engineers at Lenovo -- you know, much like the Android-powered Nokia prototype spotted in June. If this is indeed the truth then let our bubbles burst. Update: It turns out that Lenovo's less-known A60 Android handset has already made it to the Philippines at least, so the company does have a small presence in the mobile market outside China. Thanks Ravin! %Gallery-137895%
