We knew Lenovo was going to introduce their LePhone into the world at some point. It was unveiled at CES earlier this year, and is quite the phone. The LePhone will be launched next month, but the Chinese company held an event for the device, and shared it’s ambitions as they begin to enter the mobile space.
The LePhone is probably the most interesting Android device to date, as far as form-factor goes. The device is very rounded, and has a custom UI running on top of Android 2.o. No specifications have been announced, but I’d expect the the phone to have quite a decent spec sheet. One of the most interesting things about the phone is that there is a connector on the left side, that will allow you to add a full QWERTY keyboard to the device. The keyboard pictured may look odd, but it also looks kind of sexy. Hopefully Lenovo will add more attachments to their device. Say, a game controller?
At the event, Lenovo said that they intend to sell millions of units over the next five years, and tens of millions after that. Lenovo is looking to hit the mobile space hard – who knows how many more Android device they are working on. No wonder they have been so interested in buying Palm, along side HTC. Lenovo belives that it will have a better brand position than Research In Motion (RIM) when it launches it’s device, as RIM does not hold a strong position in China. Only time will tell on that one.
One notable, yet not necessarily surprising thing about the LePhone? It’s void of Google apps. Instead, The LePhone will sport Baidu mobile applications. The device will also have its own application store as well, which is already available online here.
So what do you think of Lenovo’s vision of Android? Do you like it’s look, or is it too overdone for your taste?
[Via: AndroidCentral, WSJ]