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Samsung's two-faced SCH-W999 Android plays the dual core, dual SIM game
Remember Samsung's second-gen dual-screen Android clamshell we spotted about a month ago? Well, here it is at last: announced in partnership with China Telecom, this SCH-W999 flip phone packs two 3.5-inch 480 x 800 Super AMOLED panels back to back, along with a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8660, Android 2.3 with TouchWiz, HyperSkin back cover (as featured on the Galaxy Nexus for grip plus anti-smear), five megapixel camera, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi and WAPI (China's not-so-successful take on WiFi, basically). Like many phones on China Telecom, the W999 comes with dual SIM slots and dual-mode connectivity (GSM and CDMA2000, with the latter offering EV-DO 3G), but with the additional support for penta-band radio for globetrotters. Want to nab one? We're looking at a 2012 launch, though there's no word on prices just yet -- well, just so you know, the predecessor W899 starts from ¥8990 ($1,410), so good luck with your garage sale. We got you some pictures from the China launch event after the break, courtesy of Samsung Mobile. %Gallery-140983%
Motorola XT928 coming to China Telecom next month for 'demanding customers'
Motorola bestowed an early-week treat upon the Chinese market today, with the XT928 -- a nominal RAZR relative and ostensible addition to the Droid X line that we spotted earlier this month. Powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, this Android 2.3 device boasts a 4.5-inch, 1280 x 720 HD display, supports 1080p HD playback and features a 13 megapixel rear-facing camera, along with a 1.3 megapixel shooter up front. The dual-mode, dual-standby handset is also coated in Corning Gorilla Glass to guard against nasty scratches and comes packed with 1GB of RAM. The XT928 will be available in China this December at an unspecified price, though there's no word yet on if or when it'll hit the US. For more details, head past the break for the full PR.
iPhone 4S has reportedly received China's network access permit
Chinese website M.I.C. Gadget is reporting that the iPhone 4S has leaped an important hurdle in preparation for sale by cellular carrier China Unicom. The newest iPhone has apparently been tested by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and is about to be given the stamp of approval -- a network access permit. MIIT is a state agency in China that regulates the Internet and wireless communications. Local media in the country reported that the network access permit for the iPhone 4S will be issued in as soon as two weeks. No official word has come from either Apple or China Unicom, but if the rumor is true, the desirable 4S will be going on sale soon in the world's biggest market. China Unicom is dropping the 16 and 32 GB iPhone 4 models, presumably to prepare for the arrival of the 8 GB iPhone 4 and the three models of iPhone 4S. China is a large and growing market for Apple, and one that the company is focusing on for future revenues. China Unicom is the second-largest carrier in the country. China Mobile is actually the largest; although the company doesn't officially carry the iPhone (the phones can only make calls and send texts on the China Mobile TD-LTE network), they apparently have 10 million iPhone users on their network. Subscribers to China Telecom, the nation's third-largest carrier, will reportedly need to wait until February or March of 2012 to get their hands on the iPhone 4S.
Droid RAZR's CDMA2000 and TD-SCDMA variants teased in China, the latter with 720p display
Chinese mobile customers face a similar dilemma as their American counterparts: they have to choose either China Unicom's WCDMA network, China Telecom's CDMA2000 network or China Mobile's more obscure TD-SCDMA offering. Needless to say, this can be a real headache for phone fanatics stuck on a carrier that doesn't support their desired devices, unless they don't mind surfing the web on 2G radio (if compatible at all). Luckily, nowadays Motorola tends to take good care of all potential Chinese customers whenever it rolls out a new Android phone, including the Droid RAZR (aka XT910, pictured right) in this case. Read on to find out what these two new phones are about. %Gallery-139260%
China Telecom looking to expand into US consumer market, eyes 2012 launch
Instead of resting on its laurels as China's third-largest wireless provider, China Telecom is now looking to branch out into relatively uncharted waters -- namely, the US consumer market. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Donald Tan, president of China Telecom Americas, confirmed that his company plans to bring its own branded wireless service to select US markets next year, in the hopes of capitalizing on the large Chinese communities and consumer bases scattered across the country. According to Tan, the proposed service would provide customers with handsets that could be used in both China and the US, theoretically appealing to Chinese-Americans, students or businessmen who travel frequently between the two countries. The exec didn't reveal much in the way of pricing, saying only that it would be "competitive," though he did acknowledge that the service is already undergoing trials with several unnamed wholesale partners. If the trial goes swimmingly, he added, China Telecom may expand it to Canada, as well, and would even consider purchasing or constructing its own network in the States (pending FCC approval, of course). The provider, which has already been marketing its services to US corporations for a decade, also has the capacity to spend "hundreds of millions or billions" on stateside acquisitions, though none are currently on the table. "We want some acquisitions in the U.S. and other countries on this continent," Tan explained. "It's a very quick way to growth."
Samsung's SCH-i929 and SCH-W999 dual-screen clamshell get certified in China
Ready for a heavy dose of Android this morning? Then enjoy this Samsung double whammy freshly delivered from China. On the left we have the China Telecom-branded SCH-i929, a 9.7mm-thick handset featuring a Snapdragon MSM8660 chip (likely clocked at 1.5GHz), 4.5-inch 480 x 800 AMOLED display, eight-megapixel camera and GSM plus CDMA2000 connectivity. All of this makes the i929 a near-identical cousin of the Galaxy S II LTE -- same processor, same chassis, but obviously with different network compatibility. Of course, the real star of the show is the SCH-W999, a follow-up to the SCH-W899 of the same dual-screen clamshell form factor. As you can see on the right, on the outside this phone features a 3.5-inch 480 x 800 AMOLED display along with three touch buttons, while on the inside it packs a similar screen plus a physical keypad. Like the i929 above, this funky flip phone is also powered by a MSM8660 chip and supports both GSM and CDMA2000 on China Telecom, though its camera is limited to five megapixels instead. Anyhow, we'd certainly love to get hold of a world-friendly version of this 204 gram beast, so what do you say, Won-Pyo Hong? %Gallery-137682%
iPhone poised to take China by storm
It's that time of the year when wireless carriers are reporting their quarterly earnings and leaking tidbits of information about their future financial prospects. Though many carriers focus on ARPU and churn, both China Mobile and China Telecom have been forthcoming about their future iPhone plans. Besides financial estimates, executives from both Chinese carriers have hinted at the iPhone during or immediately after their earnings conference calls. Just last week, China Mobile, the largest wireless carrier in the world with over 650 million customers, revealed that its executives have met with Steve Jobs to discuss the possibility of carrying the iPhone. Not to be left out, China Telecom released its quarterly earnings on Tuesday and Chairman Wang Xiaochu said during a news conference that the carrier has "a confidential agreement with Apple and can't tell you anything as of now." China Telecom is the number three wireless carrier in China with over 110 million subscribers. If you believe these reports, it appears Apple may be preparing to take China by storm. The iPhone is currently sold by #2 wireless carrier China Unicom which boasts of over 157 million subscribers. If the iPhone lands at both China Mobile and China Telecom, the Cupertino company could make its popular smartphone available to over 760 million new subscribers.
China Telecom plans iPhone launch this year
Reuters is reporting that China Telecom will officially launch the iPhone on its 106 million-subscriber service by the end of 2011, according to sources. We've heard this rumor before, but this seems about as good as we're going to get before an actual, official confirmation. Currently, China Unicom sells the iPhone in China, but that deal is relatively thin, according to Reuters, and a China Telecom deal would bring out a CDMA iPhone, along with the possibility of that new crop of subscribers. If a deal is hammered out by the end of the year, that will mean a lot of new iPhones to sell in a country where Apple's been trying to make some big gains. Sounds like we'll know by November -- that's when China Telecom is set to introduce the new phone. If Apple and China Telecom can hash out this deal, they'll not only make a mint, but probably make a lot of Chinese customers happy besides.
Motorola Droid 3 official in China under Milestone 3 moniker, packs 4-inch qHD display
The Droid 3 is upon us! Well, it is if you live in China and don't mind calling it the Milestone 3. A new XT883 model has just been made official by Motorola during China Telecom's CDMA Summit, touting the tagline "the third Milestone" and a new five-row slideout QWERTY keyboard. The salient specs include a 4-inch touchscreen with qHD (540 x 960) resolution, a dual-core Tegra 2 processor capable of driving 1080p video recording, an 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, up to 32GB of built-in storage, and of course, Android 2.3 as the shipping OS. A pretty compelling package, we think you'll agree. It's coming to China this summer, though Moto could still be crafty enough to squeeze the US launch in before actual units start shipping to Yao Ming's homeland. Because, well, who's ever heard of a Milestone coming before a Droid? %Gallery-126585% Update: Appears this handset is sporting an OMAP 4430 processor, not Tegra 2 as we had first assumed.
Motorola XT882 bringing Tegra 2, dualing modes and SIMs to China Telecom
Motorola is aiming to change your perception of dual-SIM phones -- typically a hallmark of KIRF and the low-end -- with an uncharacteristically high-end creation that features a 1.2GHz Tegra 2 CPU and 4-inch qHD display. Wasting no time with a clever name, the XT882 supports dual-standby that keeps both SIMs alert and ready to receive calls, and -- when GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 isn't an option -- it handles CDMA 800. Additionally, the phone sports an 8 megapixel camera that captures 720p video, alongside a dual-LED flash. (A nice finishing touch to the "dual" theme, don't you think?) The XT882 will arrive at China Telecom this month for 5,380 yuan (approximately $830 if you speak green), and unlike some of Motorola's finest in the States, this one has Gingerbread. Engadget China scored hands-on time with the Moto, complete with views of its pattern of 8's on the back side -- good fortune for the home crowd. If you're feeling lucky, follow the break for the PR. [Thanks, Julian]
China Telecom awaiting CDMA iPhone 4
Rumors that Apple and China Telecom are close to inking a deal to bring the iPhone 4 to a second wireless carrier in China may be premature. The latest report from Digitimes suggests the deal may be held up by the lack of a SIM card slot in the CDMA iPhone 4. Earlier information from Chinese news site suggest this technical limitation was overcome by China Telecom engineers, but details on this achievement were not provided. Vincent Chih, CEO of Asia Pacific Telecom, claims Apple will need a substantial volume of orders to modify the CDMA iPhone 4 with a SIM card slot. If China Telecom can successfully negotiate a deal with Apple, then APT will be able to offer the iPhone 4 through its close relationship with the Chinese wireless carrier. APT is a Taiwanese cellular carrier that boasts of over 2 million subscribers and operates Taiwan's only CDMA network. China Telecom is China's third largest cellular operator with over 82 million subscribers.
Apple's mobile partner in China announces its own iPhone rival
The parent company of China Unicom, Apple's sole partner for carrying the iPhone in China, revealed plans on Monday to release its own mobile computing platform. Dubbed "Wophone," the platform will compete directly with Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Last year, Apple partnered with China Unicom, the nation's second largest mobile carrier, to release the iPhone 4 in China. The exclusive availability of the iPhone on China Unicom's network helped the carrier compete with rivals China Mobile and China Telecom for new customers in China's nascent 3G wireless services market. In a statement, China Unicom said it hopes Wophone will help the company and its manufacturing partners develop a broader variety of more affordable 3G devices and introduce them to market more quickly. The rapid introduction of new 3G devices could help woo new customers away from market-leading China Mobile who released its own mobile platform, "Ophone," in 2009. China Mobile leads the wireless market in China with about 589 million total subscribers, but has only 22.6 million customers for its higher revenue 3G services. China Unicom said 15.5 million of its 170 million subscribers were on 3G at the end of January.
CDMA iPhone 4 may land on China Telecom in June
Chinese news sites are reporting that China Telecom has overcome technical challenges with the CDMA iPhone 4 and is prepared to launch the handset as early as June. Details were sparse, but engineers have reportedly developed a workaround for the lack of a SIM slot in the CDMA iPhone 4. Available from Verizon Wireless, the CDMA iPhone does not support a SIM card because the US wireless carrier does not use the cellular technology in its handsets. China Telecom requires a SIM card, which poses a problem with the CDMA iPhone 4. As proof of their achievement, China Telecom employees in the Guangdong branch have posted pictures of the CDMA iPhone 4 with full 3G signal on China Telecom's network. Previous posting from this Guangdong group boast that the iPhone 4 has made its first official phone call on China's #3 wireless carrier. The Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China, reiterates this report and suggests the CDMA iPhone will be available in June. Much of this information is obtained from unofficial sources, and China Telecom has not commented on these rumors, though the carrier has indicated in the past it is interested in carrying the CDMA iPhone 4. Apple is interested in the Chinese market and is expecting to open up to 25 new stores in China over the next several years. Apple is reportedly looking to open a new store on Shanghai's very popular and very busy Nanjing Road. This retail outlet will become China's fifth Apple store and will be the largest one in China thus far.
China Telecom close to inking deal with Apple for the CDMA iPhone 4
In a research note, Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White suggest China Telecom is close to completing a deal with Apple to carry the CDMA iPhone 4. White cites a report on Chinese website NetEase that claims one branch of the wireless operator is already accepting pre-orders for the CDMA iPhone 4. He also refers to a microblog post, reportedly from a China Telecom employee, proclaiming that the first CDMA iPhone call has been placed on its network. "It is unclear how pre-orders are available before an official announcement has been made by the two companies," White writes, "however, the key takeaway is that the relationship between Apple and China Telecom is clearly moving in the right direction, and we believe that a deal will eventually be announced this year." A deal with China Telecom would help Apple break further into China's telecom market, the largest in the world with over 842 million total wireless subscribers. Currently, China Unicom is the sole carrier of the iPhone 4 in China and is the #2 carrier in the Asian country with 167 million wireless subscribers. China Telecom comes in third place with 90 million subscribers. This Asian Pacific market, according to White, accounts for almost 58 percent of the world's estimated 550 million CDMA customers. The remaining carrier, government-controlled China Mobile, has a whopping 584 million subscribers and is rumored to be negotiating with Apple to develop an iPhone compatible with the carrier's future TD-LTE network.
CDMA iPhone 4 production increased to meet anticipated demand
According to the Asian newspaper Digitimes, production of the CDMA iPhone 4 may climb as high as 15 million units for 2011. Pegatron Technology is reportedly delivering its first batch of CDMA iPhone 4 handsets to Apple and has originally projected internally that it would manufacture 10 million units in 2011. This internal estimate has been increased by 2 to 5 million units due to strong demand for this variant of Apple's popular smartphone. The CDMA iPhone 4 is expected to land on Verizon Wireless starting February 10, and it will be available for US$199 with a 2-year customer agreement. Ever since detailed rumors of the CDMA iPhone began surfacing, demand for the iPhone 4 on Verizon has been high. Due to this pent-up demand, analysts project that Verizon could sell up to 16 million units in 2011. According to analyst Charles Wolf of Needham & Company, most of these new iPhone users will be former feature phone owners who will drop their brew phone for the iOS device. Other new iPhone owners may be customers who have left Sprint, T-Mobile or AT&T now that Verizon finally has the iPhone. The CDMA iPhone could also land globally on other carriers, such as China Telecom or India's Reliance Communications, though a launch outside of the US has not been confirmed by Apple. [Via AppleInsider]
China Telecom re-routes 15% of the world's Internet traffic for a full 18 minutes, hopes no one noticed
On April 8 of this year there was an approximately eighteen minute long period of time where China Telecom advertised erroneous network traffic routes, causing foreign Internet traffic to travel through Chinese servers. According to a congressional panel, about fifteen percent of the world's Internet traffic was diverted -- including that of the US government and military, and a number of commercial websites. As always seems to be the case when we're talking about The People's Republic, there are few things that can be said for certain, while a ton of questions linger: was this really just a mistake, or was someone flexing their muscles? Could this have been a diversion "intended to conceal one targeted attack," as Arbor Networks Chief Security Officer Danny McPherson suggested? We don't know, but this is the country that brought us both iorgane and buses that drive over cars, so we suppose anything's possible.
Samsung Galaxy S keeps up global offensive with three Chinese launches
Samsung's done an admirable job of pushing its Galaxy S line far and wide already, but when you enter the Chinese market -- a market with a billion wireless customers -- you're potentially taking things to a whole new level. Sammy has crafted HSPA, EV-DO, and TD-SCDMA versions of its high-end Android phone for China Unicom, China Telecom, and juggernaut China Mobile, respectively, all offering the same 4-inch Super AMOLED display seen elsewhere around the world. The Telecom model launches first -- this month, in fact -- but all three versions will be available before the end of the year. Follow the break for the full press release. %Gallery-101688%
Motorola Ming A1680, MT810, and XT806 begin their Android mercy mission in China
Motorola's venerable MING handset revisions were just made official in three Android-toting varieties for China Unicom (model A1680 pictured above left), China Mobile (MT810, pictured center), and China Telecom (XT806, on the right). The TD-SCDMA riding MT810 ships with the Android derived OPhone 2.0 operating system and two touchscreen displays: a 3.2-inch stylus-friendly resistive touchscreen and a second transparent capacitive cover that provides a finger-friendly experience when closed. Other specs include 720 x 480 video capture, 720p video playback, and support for China's CMMB mobile television spec. China Telecom's XT806 is built on Android 2.1 with GPS, 720p video capture, and support for both CDMA EVDO and GSM for global wanderings. Finally, China Unicom's A1680 packs a 3.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen, Chinese WAPI WiFi, 5 megapixel camera, GPS, and Motorola's sixth-generation SoftStylus handwriting system.
Motorola XT806 Android flip phone strikes a pose on Chinese website
You'd think Motorola would be done for the summer after pushing out the much anticipated Droid 2, but no -- apparently it has yet more Android handsets to deliver before it could head to the beach. Spotted on a Chinese regulatory website is this XT806 flip phone, which is destined for China Telecom's CDMA2000 network. Like the other MING handsets, the main selling point here is the Chinese handwriting input on the 3.6-inch 854 x 480 LCD screen -- no word on touchscreen type, but we'd be surprised if it isn't resistive. The phone -- powered by a 600MHz TI OMAP3430 chip -- also comes with microSD explansion, FM radio, Bluetooth, WLAN of some sort, and a 5 megapixel camera that does 720p video. As for which version of Android, no idea, but we'd still pick the MT810 over this newbie any day.
China Telecom mulling huge EV-DO Rev. B rollout?
You might think that the EV-DO technology path has seen better days, what with carriers like Bell and Telus defecting for HSPA and others prepping to pull the plug altogether -- but really, it might take nothing more than one massive, eight-figure subscriber deployment of a next-gen EV-DO network to get things up and running again. Indeed, EV-DO Rev. B is still very much alive and well, and a rumored deployment by China's number three carrier China Telecom -- which counts over 70 million mobile users to its name -- could definitely light some fires. Telecom has already been running trials of the standard, which can keep pace with the world's HSPA+ networks, using equipment from a number of suppliers; needless to say, we're sure any of them would be happy to fill a huge order regardless of LTE's wider appeal worldwide. Interestingly, Telecom's ultimate plan is still to migrate to LTE -- but considering its rather massive footprint and subscriber count, there's method in the madness of supporting an interim ultra high-speed standard like Rev. B in light of the carrier's CDMA roots. And hey, to be honest, we'll take our 10Mbps downlink speeds any way we can get them.
