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Motorola MT710 quick hands-on
We've already had a quick look at the Korean Motorola MOTOROI, and we figured it was only fair if we gave the Motorola MT710 a fair shake, too. The MT710 is running the Android-based Ophone OS on some pretty sweet hardware including an 854 x 480 FWVGA resistive touchscreen display -- to help with Chinese handwriting recognition we'd bet -- replacing HSPA 3G with TD-SCDMA for 3G, and a pretty slick housing accented in reflective and red metals. Of course the MT710 isn't meant for our market, but we're still encouraged to see how many Android sets are cropping up here at the show and indeed from Motorola.%Gallery-85819%
BlackBerry, meet TD-SCDMA: RIM partners with China Mobile
Enterprising Chinese have had access to BlackBerrys for some time now, but they've been met with limited sales for many of the same reasons that internationally successful products often fail in China: high prices, cheap clones, and a general lack of understanding of the local market's needs and behaviors. RIM, like any smart manufacturer, would love to find a way to effectively tap into the market, though -- and they're trying to make headway today on news that they've partnered with number one carrier China Mobile on customized devices. By "customized," we mean that these bad boys will support TD-SCDMA, which is China Mobile's proprietary 3G tech -- probably the only carrier in the world that could get away with that, thanks to its nine-figure subscriber count -- and will be offered through local distributor Digital China, whose market expertise RIM is hoping to capitalize. The silver bullet here might be the fact that China Mobile has committed to subsidizing the handsets; China is a huge prepaid market, but if they can get 'em cheap enough, they could have a shot.
Motorola MT710 bringing its Droid-ish good looks to China this month
China Mobile is about to spoil its half billion subscribers with yet another Android smartphone in the 3.something-inch category. The Droid's keyboard-deprived younger sibling, the MT710 is about to hit Chinese stores this month, with TD-SCDMA 3G capabilities and OPhone OS 1.5 giving it a distinctly local flavor. WiFi connectivity will also be available, thanks to Moto playing nice with China's new security protocol, and the CPU has also changed to a 624MHz Marvel PXA310 chip, which is growing a bit long in the tooth now. Still, with that dashing red stripe on its side and a presumably thinner chassis, the MT710 just might be somebody's idea of a Droid perfected. You'll find the full specs of the new handset at the Moto Developers links below.
Nokia's 6788 for China Mobile hops across the Pacific for FCC meeting
The 6788 looks just different enough from any other Nokia in the lineup that you might find yourself with an irresistible, inexplicably urge to own one (or destroy one, depending on your disposition), but unless you happen to be within earshot of a China Mobile outlet, you're probably going to be out of luck. Of course, that leads to the obvious questions of why a China-only Nokia -- the company's first to support TD-SCDMA, in fact -- would've found its way into an FCC lab. The answer's far less sensational than you might've liked: China Mobile's TD-SCDMA footprint is still a drop in the bucket of its much larger GSM coverage area, which means the 6788's gotta support it, and part of that is a US-usable 1900MHz radio. Without 850MHz coverage, you'd have to have an almost committable obsession with this trick one-off to justify using it in the States, but hey, good news -- if you do, you'll be legal.
Motorola's MT710 OPhone for China makes us dream of Droids without keyboards
While it's busy trying to rebuild market share on the backs of Android-powered devices in North America and Europe, Motorola's already got a bustling business in China, so it makes sense that they'd want to contribute some Google juice over there as well. That dovetails nicely with China Mobile's Android-based Open Mobile System -- which runs those so-called OPhones -- and Motorola has yet to bring an OPhone to market, so that's where this little beast appears poised to come into play. The MT710 is said to feature an 854 x 480 display clocking in at 3.7 inches and 3G support (using China Mobile's up-and-coming TD-SCDMA network), but beyond that, little is known; rumor has it that Motorola will intro a total of seven Android models in China over the next year, though, and this is clearly one of them. Shave three or four millimeters off the Droid's girth with this puppy, and count us in. [Via PMP Today]
Nokia's first TD-SCDMA-based 6788 ready for China Mobile's 500 million subscribers
Nokia might be hemorrhaging smartphone marketshare to North America's meddling upstarts but it still dominates in total handsets sold worldwide. Today's news can only help that cause as Nokia taps into China's homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G marketplace for the first time. The Nokia 6788 does the honor via collaboration with China Mobile, China's (and the world's) largest mobile phone operator. The handset itself brings a 2.8-inch QVGA display, 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and dual-LED flash, 4GB of memory plus microSD expansion, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack, and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, all riding atop S60 3rd Edition -- not 5th as we're accustomed to seeing by now. Unfortunately, it won't start contributing to Nokia's sagging bottom-line until the end of December.
Confirmed: HTC Qilin uses OMAP3 -- out of necessity
HTC's got a super-tight relationship with Qualcomm, a relationship that they've gone to the mat to defend on many occasions -- most recently with the Hero, which uses essentially the same 528MHz MSM7201a chipset as pretty much every other notable HTC in recent memory. Thing is, this is 2009 and there now are better, faster processors out there, even within the ARM family; take TI's Cortex A8-based OMAP3, for example, which very effectively powers some of the most media-centric, UI eye candy-heavy devices on the market. That's not to say that the MSM7200 series can't hold its own -- one look at TouchFLO 3D gliding along smoothly on a Touch Pro2 will tell you that -- but why not throw more horsepower under the hood if you can still get a full days' worth of use on battery power? We've been able to confirm a wmpoweruser.com report that HTC's upcoming Qilin for China Mobile will be underpinned by an honest-to-goodness OMAP3, which you'd think might rock the Qualcomm boat but HTC's decision was actually very easy: the fully-integrated MSM7200 isn't available in a TD-SCDMA configuration. That's good for Qilin, good for China Mobile, bad for customers of every other Whitestone variant in the world. If there's a silver lining here, it's that HTC's leaked roadmaps seem to indicate that Snapdragon-powered gear will happen sooner rather than later, but at this point, it can't happen soon enough.
Lenovo's Android-powered O1 'OPhone' due next month
Good news, kids! It looks like Lenovo's O1 "OPhone" handset is finally ready to hit the shelves over on the Mainland sometime next month. Truth be told, the story arc of this Android-powered 3G (TD-SCDMA) handset has been quite the emotional roller coaster: Some were riveted by the sleek, sexy physical design of the thing, while others were repelled by its intensely KIRFish UI. China Mobile is obviously hoping for big things from the little guy -- and getting it into stores before Unicom gets the iPhone sorted can't hurt. Either way, it looks like someone's just taken a bite out of iOrgane's market share!
Kinpo VIA Nano-powered netbook rocks the 3G (but only in China)
We're starting to see more companies throw VIA Nano processors into the netbook mix as of late, and now it looks like Kinpo (last seen with an Android-sporting tablet) is getting in on the action with the N03. This guy has an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display, comes with either a 1.2GHz or 1.3GHz VIA Nano processor, and sports integrated TD-SCDMA 3G (the China-specific 3G standard), HSDPA/HSUPA, W-CDMA, and EVDO. Also on hand are WiFi, options for either SSD or HDD storage, up to 2GB memory, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, and your choice of either Windows XP or Vista Home Basic. The company is "boasting" a 3 hour battery life, which is a shame -- with all that connectivity, this device is otherwise well suited for situations where plugging in isn't really an option. No word on price or release date, but we'll keep you posted. [Warning: PDF read link][Via Gadget Mix]
HTC Hero and Click coming to China under Dopod brand
HTC has been on a global Android-pimping mission with its Hero device, and it looks like Chinese subsidiary Dopod gets the honor of announcing three new handsets for the Middle Kingdom. Unlike others, the Hero retains its WiFi capabilities by playing nice with China's custom WLAN security protocol and is expected in late August on China Unicom for 5,600 Yuan ($820) along with the few-frills Click for 3,400 Yuan ($500). The carrier has opted to strip Google Maps from the Hero (though it's still downloadable), and to soften the blow it will likely offer a snazzy red version of the phone. China Mobile will have to settle for an as-yet unspecified TD-SCDMA handset and the already announced Magic, both of which will likely be sporting the OMS flavor of Android. We're not sure we'd classify the Hero's price tag as reasonable -- but really, can you put a dollar figure on being the first big-name Android release in the world's largest wireless market?
Samsung touts that it has 3G covered like a blanket in China
Though it stands as the world's most populous wireless market (by a stunningly wide margin), China lags in 3G coverage --partly thanks to its fragmentation-happy attitude that has left the country with three very different, very incompatible standards that are all being rolled out in parallel. Of course, when you're Samsung, that ain't no thing. Sammy -- the world's number two manufacturer, and a company that very nearly rolls out a phone a day every single day of the year -- is spearheading a new "3GSamsung, 3G for all" marketing campaign in China to advertise the breadth and depth high-speed wares. To be fair, the company is probably more qualified to aggressively advertise 3G support in China than any other company, seeing how it's in the process of rolling out around 30 compatible phones there spanning the full range from EV-DO to HSPA to China's own TD-SCDMA -- now they've just got to work on bumping up those adoption rates and they'll be in business. [Image via 163]
China Mobile's 7-inch Android slate gets rendered
We've nothing much to go on outside of a few good renders and a smattering of machine translated paragraphs, but it sure sounds as if China Mobile is entertaining the idea of bringing a 7-inch Android-based tablet to its airwaves. As the story goes, said slate would boast China's homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G connectivity, support for video calling, a full-fledged web browser and an OPhone operating system -- which is essentially a customized version of Android for the Chinese market. Sadly, no further information was given, leaving us to wonder what kind of innards are scheduled for implant and what kind of price tag / release date we're looking at. Oh, and those "call" and "end call" buttons are pretty darn evident, leading us to believe that China Mobile might actually expect you to use this as your primary mobile. Can you say... Sidetalkin'? [Via Pocketables]
China Mobile says 3G isn't winning hearts and minds yet
China Mobile officially kicked off commercial 3G services on China's homegrown TD-SCDMA standard way back in January of this year and it's sparing no expense to build it out, but so far, only 3 percent of new subscribers -- that is, those that could easily get a 3G line and hardware if they wanted to -- are opting for the service. It'd be totally cool if 3 percent of China Mobile's total subscriber base were on 3G, but in reality, only about three-quarters of a million folks were signed up by the end of May -- and when you consider that there are nearly half a billion subscribers on the carrier, that's a drop in the bucket. Part of the problem could simply be that TD-SCDMA is unique to China, which limits hardware selection; its competitors are deploying HSPA and EV-DO networks, which may have a better chance of broad acceptance. Either that, or Chinese just hate fast wireless, and we're doubting that.
Meizu releasing upgraded M8 versions with 3G and big cams?
As decent as the M8's software might be, the one consensus area where everyone's favorite iPhone rip is clearly lacking is in the radio silicon; the current model's strictly 2G, and what's worse, the shipping units frequently come without WiFi. What's a Meizu fan to do? The company's ever-colorful CEO Jack Wong is now saying that there are a couple new versions of the M8 in the works -- which may launch in place of the previously-mentioned M9 variants -- and should include both GPS and a healthy 5 megapixel cam. An "M8 3G" would be rocking TD-SCDMA for domestic Chinese high-speed service, while a second "M8w" model would do some form of WCDMA, presumably equipped for 3G service both in and out of the country. No release dates are mentioned -- but considering the M8's seemingly perpetual delay, we wouldn't hold our breath for a 2009 outing.[Via Meizu Me, thanks nice2know]
Motorola ZN300 gets unofficially official, is surprisingly nice
First in the "we're surprised they did it" category today is Motorola's ZN300, a handset that doesn't look even a little like a RAZR. We knew you could do it Moto, and congrats on what seems at first glance to be a pleasant departure form the rehashes we've seen so much of lately. The ZN300 is a slider set with quad-band GSM, CDMA, and TD-SCDMA, which makes this set a shoe-in for China mobile. Other notables include 8 MB (hopefully a typo for 8GB) of built in memory that can expand to 32GB, 3 megapixel camera with 8X zoom, Bluetooth, and styling that finally may make some people take notice. Sure this handset may not deserve a ZOMG!, but hey, we're happy to see something, anything, new from these folks. Look for it to launch this quarter; follow on for a wee gallery.[Via UnwiredView]%Gallery-46411%
Meizu looking to CDMA and China-centric 3G with M8 successor
We've barely had time to digest the fact that real, actual, honest-to-goodness Meizu M8s are now available at the odd retail outlet around the globe, and Meizu's famously colorful CEO is already spouting off about a successor. Talk about a buzzkill, eh? Jack Wong made an off-the-cuff remark in a forum post today about the M9 in two flavors -- M9c for CDMA networks and M9t for China's 3G TD-SCDMA networks -- but beyond that, he's said nothing about specs or availability. Odds are, we can expect a good 18-24 months of teasers, missed launches, and brushes with vaporware status before either model actually launches, so if you had your heart set on an M8, seriously, don't feel bad about taking the plunge.[Via Meizu Me]
Sony Ericsson mulling production of TD-SCDMA handsets?
Take this one for what it's worth (which ain't much at the moment), but DigiTimes has it that Sony Ericsson is considering producing TD-SCDMA handsets for entry into Chinese markets. Granted, you can already find yourself a few SE knockoffs in that section of the globe, but we're guessing the company is looking to actually profit off of the phones sold in the aforementioned nation. We're told that Carl-Henric Svanberg, president and CEO of Ericsson, has indicated that T3G Technology could be tapped to provide the TD-SCDMA solutions, and given that China will soon have gobs of 3G capabilities, the timing here makes sense. Potentially more interesting would be SE's choice of handset for the Chinese market -- will we finally see the company work some low-end magic now that the economy is strained? Give it a shot, SE, it's not like you've really got anything else left to lose.[Via CellPassion]
China Mobile blowing $8.6B to build out 3G network
Building a wireless network is never cheap -- but when you take into account the fact that you have to cover a huge landmass that's home to well over a billion souls... well, you get the picture. China Mobile has announced that it intends to sink some 58.8 billion yuan ($8.6 billion) this year alone into building out its TD-SCDMA-based 3G network to cover 238 cities across China with roughly 60,000 base stations. In the 3G race, they'll be going up against China Unicom and China Telecom who'll be operating more world-friendly WCDMA and EV-DO networks, which raises an interesting question: will TD-SCDMA equipment be cheaper thanks to royalty loopholes, or more expensive because there's no global scale of economy?[Via mocoNews]
Lenovo's Android-powered OPhone to hit China Mobile this quarter
Look out, China -- Lenovo's all-too-sexy OPhone is about to land in the hands of unsuspecting China Mobile subscribers, or so says Reuters, anyway. The planet's largest mobile carrier will reportedly launch the 3G handset sometime this quarter, though some reports are suggesting that development is being hampered as engineers struggle with creating a Chinese language version of the OS. Once launched, it will go down as the first Android-powered handset to operate on China's home-cooked TD-SCDMA 3G network, but there's no word on just how costly it'll be. Not like cost is really a concern here, right?[Via mocoNews, image courtesy of modmyGphone]
China finally awards 3G licenses, winners no surprise
If you thought Vodafone or Telefonica would somehow emerge as a big winner in China's 3G spectrum launch... well, yeah, think again. China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom have now been armed with licenses for TD-SCDMA, WCDMA (UMTS and HSPA that is), and CDMA2000 / EV-DO, respectively, meaning the world's largest carrier will be rolling out China's homegrown 3G standard -- not to say Unicom's or Telecom's footprints will be anything to sneeze at, either. In fact, in the long term, it's suggested that Unicom and Telecom will actually be able to grow faster since they're using standards that other countries have actually heard of, but for the next few years, Mobile's still the safe bet if you absolutely, positively must have the most insane Chinese coverage available.[Via mocoNews]
