ChinaUnicom Archive

  • Lenovo LePhone unboxed, exhaustively reviewed ahead of launch in China

    Lenovo LePhone unboxed, exhaustively reviewed ahead of launch in China

    Posted on May 8, 2010 | No Comments
    We're not sure how we missed this one, but it's better late than never -- turns out some lucky jerks in China were given a Lenovo LePhone to play with back in mid-April, and the guys at Sooyuu have just finished the fifth and final part of their lengthy review, just in time for the May launch. We weren't expecting any changes since our last encounter at CES, but apparently the 3.7-inch screen's now been upgraded from LCD to AMOLED, and like the Palm Pre, the LePhone also sports a gesture area below the screen. Of course, there's also the never-before-seen packaging that we totally dig, not to mention the bundled goodies such as a leather case, a noise-isolation handsfree kit (but sans music and volume control), plus a magnetic dock adapter. As for software, the reviewer praises Lenovo's snappy, heavily customized Android with its vast Chinese social networking service integration, music store, video apps, and an impressive Chinese turn-by-turn navigation suite. We almost want to adopt this baby, only to be let down by its 3.2-megapixel camera's mediocre quality, lack of flash, and inability to autofocus. Anyhow, you can be the final judge -- head over to Sooyuu for plenty more pictures.

    Lenovo LePhone unboxed, exhaustively reviewed ahead of launch in China originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 May 2010 17:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Motorola’s XT701, MT710, and XT800 do Android for China’s big three carriers

    Motorola’s XT701, MT710, and XT800 do Android for China’s big three carriers

    Posted on December 19, 2009 | No Comments
    Even through the lean years, Moto's been making waves in China where it enjoys comparably high popularity -- it was one of the first major manufacturers to throw its support behind the nation's homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G tech, after all, and it's had a tendency to get the company's sexier WinMo smartphones like the SURF. On that note, it doesn't come as much of a surprise to see that they've now announced not one, not two, but three fairly attractive, high-end Android handsets specifically for duty in the Far East, one for each of China's big three carriers (each of which employs a different 3G technology, per the gub'mint's orders). Starting on the left, the XT701 is the phone that we'd believed to be the Sholes Tablet -- and considering that it uses HSPA for China Unicom's airwaves, we still have no reason to believe it couldn't make the leap across the Pacific. The MT710 (pictured center) is an OPhone for China Mobile and stands the least chance of making an unfettered jump to another continent since it uses a completely customized UI along with a positively China-only TD-SCDMA radio. Finally, the XT800 on the right looks like a Dell Mini 3i done right to us, rocking dual-mode GSM and EV-DO for China Telecom's rather heterogeneous network. We've got to hand it to Moto here: by all appearances, these 3.7-inch WVGA, 5 megapixel beasts could get Android fans drooling pretty much anywhere in the world, so let's get 'em over to Europe and America on the double, eh?

    [Thanks, Vitala]

    Motorola's XT701, MT710, and XT800 do Android for China's big three carriers originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • China Unicom, Huawei rolling out ‘3G Inn’ femtocell service

    China Unicom, Huawei rolling out ‘3G Inn’ femtocell service

    Posted on December 16, 2009 | No Comments
    China's carriers still have their work cut out for them to deliver wide-area 3G services nationwide, but they're already looking to get into the business of augmenting that coverage with femtocells -- probably not a bad strategy, considering the time and money involved in erecting towers in every nook and cranny of the country. China Unicom -- the carrier using UMTS as its 3G weapon of choice -- has partnered up with Huawei to deliver its 3G Inn femtocell solution that promises up to 7.2Mbps downstream. That's about 7.1Mbps faster than Verizon and Sprint's Samsung-sourced units, by our rough math -- of course, those older Sammies are 1xRTT-only, so it's good to see that newer units are stepping on the gas around the world. Right now, 3G Inn's only rolling in Beijing, but the carrier looks to eventually expand the service around the country.

    China Unicom, Huawei rolling out '3G Inn' femtocell service originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Android 2.1-equipped Motorola Sholes tablet spied in China as XT701?

    Android 2.1-equipped Motorola Sholes tablet spied in China as XT701?

    Posted on December 3, 2009 | No Comments
    No sooner do we get brief corner glimpses of the supposed Motorola Sholes tablet do we get tipped off to this writeup from Androidin.net which has a number of pictures of an eerily similar keyboard-less handset with a 3.7-inch screen, Android 2.1, FM radio, and interestingly enough, only a 5 megapixel camera -- last we heard it was going to be 8. Also debatable is a HDMI port, since the image that would show it is a tad too blurry. Otherwise, it seems to be about in line with what we expected, and it also seems destined for China Unicom as the XT701 (analogous to China Mobile's Motorola Android device). Now how about a few dashes of hope we'll see this stateside, eh Moto? Two more shots after the break.

    [Thanks, yee]

    Continue reading Android 2.1-equipped Motorola Sholes tablet spied in China as XT701?

    Android 2.1-equipped Motorola Sholes tablet spied in China as XT701? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • China Unicom hits a million 3G users, only sells 5,000 iPhones so far

    China Unicom hits a million 3G users, only sells 5,000 iPhones so far

    Posted on November 3, 2009 | No Comments

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    Nearly six months after large-scale trials kicked off, China Unicom -- the only carrier among China's nationals to be deploying HSPA -- has broken the magical million-subscriber mark that have made the leap to its "Wo" 3G network. If you're wondering whether the recent launch of the iPhone on Wo has contributed to that count, the answer is a definitive "no" -- amazingly, a mere 5,000 units have apparently been sold so far, likely due to the phone's prohibitive cost and the availability of unlocked devices and interesting alternatives. Be that as it may, the carrier seems convinced that the iPhone will contribute to Unicom's bottom line in the fourth quarter, countered by continued marketing and build-out costs for Wo. Networks aren't cheap -- particularly when you're dealing with a country the size (and population density) of China.

    China Unicom hits a million 3G users, only sells 5,000 iPhones so far originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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