M860
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Huawei Ascend is the $150 Android smartphone you might actually want to own
When the Huawei Ascend launches on prepaid carrier Cricket Wireless later this month, it will cost $150. That's not after a rebate or with a two-year agreement, mind you -- for three portraits of Ulysses S. Grant, you actually own the phone. Of course, you always get what you pay for to some degree, and the Ascend certainly isn't a top-tier device -- it's a humble HVGA handset made of cheap plastic that felt like it wouldn't survive a drop. The 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen was dull and actually slightly rough to the touch, and the 3.2 megapixel fixed-focus camera around back doesn't shoot VGA video (just CIF), let alone quality snapshots. Still, it's got physical buttons in all the right places (including a bendy metal Send / Menu / Back / End panel on the bottom) and a surprisingly responsive Android 2.1 UI with a few neat quirks -- like a nine-panel home screen -- so we could honestly see this EV-DO Rev. A handset being a pretty fantastic Android for first-time users. We'd choose it over the Motorola Citrus in a heartbeat, that's for sure, especially when Cricket gets its Sprint roaming agreement in order later this year. Of course, that's assuming the Huawei Ideos doesn't arrive at an even cheaper pricepoint. We've got a brief video of the Ascend after the break, as well as a MiFi-like Huawei device called the Crosswave -- won't you give it a look? %Gallery-104369% Myriam Joire contributed to this report.
Match Tech Industrial puts the M860 UMPC in your hands, 2,000 at a time
From the magical town of Shenzhen in mainland China, we present you with a new OEM UMPC manufactured by Match Tech Industrial. The M860 is a 7-inch, 800 x 480 touchscreen device sporting a 1.2GHz VIA processor, 60GB hard drive, WiFi, an SD slot, and 1GB of DDR2 Memory. Also housed in the otherwise unremarkable black plastic case: three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA port, 1.3-megapixel camera, and optional internal GPS and Bluetooth. Shipping with Windows XP Home, Match Tech promises the user "3 to 4 hours working time" before it needs to be recharged. There's no price listed, but if you're interested, the minimum order is 2,000 units, and who knows -- at the right price, with the right branding, you could have a nice little product here. Ready to dive in? Don't hesitate to contact the company's head salesman, Mr. Strong Chan. No, seriously.[Via, Pocketables]
