14 DAY TRIAL // Mobile phone users in China will soon have yet another nice-looking smartphone to enjoy, namely the Ophone. According to the latest news on the Web, the handset is expected to be launched in the country as soon as May, running under Google's Android operating system.
Given the handset's great looks, there are a lot of voices saying that it has great chances to beat the iPhone in China, and there is little one could say against it from this perspective. The carrier that will launch the Ophone is China Mobile, and we should also note that the operating system the phone comes with is actually a modified version of Android, which the operator has built and tweaked to fit both its networks and the needs of its users.
According to the news site DigiTimes, China Mobile intends to outsource the production of the Ophone to Lenovo and LG Electronics initially, while the chipset solution used for the device would come from the Taiwan-based company MediaTek. The site also confirms that the platform used on the phone is China Mobile’s in-house-developed Android-based open mobile system (OMS).
What the handset is expected to offer China Mobile's users includes a touchscreen display, a virtual keyboard for input (English / Chinese), a 5-megapixel photo snapper with auto-focus and flash, a dedicated camera button and a microSD memory card slot for additional storage space, as well as Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, voice recorder and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The upcoming Ophone is reported to include support for China's own TD-SCDMA 3G network, while also using some China Open Standards, which will indeed make it a strong competitor against the iPhone in the country. And it will probably be able to take on the G1 as well, which is the first phone to run the Android platform.