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A unique twist on Android for broke college kids
For those who still remember, it's been well over a year since China's Smartisan launched the T1, which turned out to be a surprisingly good effort from the teacher-turned-entrepreneur, Luo Yonghao. Today, the startup has finally launched its second Android device, the U1 aka JianGuo (which means "nuts" in Chinese), to cater to the younger audience with an 899 yuan (about $140) base price. That's about the same as the Redmi Note 2, though some may find this to be a more fun design with what's arguably a more intuitive interface, as we first saw back in April 2013.
Smartisan's CEO wants to be the next 'Steve Jobs of China'
Xiaomi's regular channeling of Apple -- from its stage presentations all the way to disguising Aperture's icon as a phone's camera -- has earned its CEO Lei Jun the "Steve Jobs of China" nickname. Or rather, "Lei Bu Si," a Chinese combination of "Lei" and "Jobs." It's also a double entendre -- something along the lines of "endless shocks" -- that mocks Xiaomi's aggressive marketing. It's no wonder Lei hates the comparison. Fortunately for Lei there's another Chinese CEO gunning for that title. Meet Luo Yonghao, an English teacher turned founder and CEO of smartphone startup, Smartisan, with designs on being the next great tech visionary.
Meet the Smartisan T1, a surprisingly unique Android phone from China
A little over a year ago, a fresh Chinese startup by the name of Smartisan ("smart" and "artisan" combined) showed off its first work: the Android-based Smartisan OS. What caught our attention was its truly unique UI and insanely thoughtful UX features, so naturally, we had very high expectations for the company's own hardware back then. At long last, the Smartisan T1 phone was unveiled in front of some 5,000 people -- along with 2.74 million online viewers -- at the two-hour long event earlier this week, and despite the usual flagship-level specs, it was still full of nice surprises. Don't be mistaken: unlike the low-cost, high-end devices from Xiaomi, OnePlus, Nubia and other young Chinese brands, the T1 isn't about affordability; it's positioned as a more premium smartphone with much more differentiation. How so? Read on to find out.
Smartisan OS unveiled in China, takes a fresh approach to Android UI design
Following the likes of Meizu and Xiaomi, another star is born in the Chinese smartphone market. In fact, some may already know the man behind this new Android-based Smartisan OS: Luo Yonghao, a self-taught ex-English teacher (and later becoming the principal of his own English school until last August), as well as the founder of influential blogging platform Bullog.cn (now Bullogger.com) and the chairman of Chinese font studio Redesign. Luo is also a relentless consumer advocate, with his most notable act being his fridge-smashing protest outside Siemens' Beijing headquarters in November 2011, in order to highlight the company's refusal to acknowledge their faulty fridge doors (all explained in the "More Coverage" link at the bottom). Already a bit of a legend in China, the 40-year-old serial entrepreneur announced last April that he had formed Smartisan Co., Ltd. to work on a smartphone OS, and that it would shame all manufacturers with its revolutionary user experience. Having missed the December target that he promised, Luo eventually stood in front of some 3,000 people -- many bought tickets -- in Beijing last week to spend well over three hours going through the thought process behind his Smartisan OS, so bear with us here. Update: Smartisan has now provided a subtitled video of the event. Check it out at the bottom of this article. %Gallery-184103%
