You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
We were rather surprised by Zopo’s C2 (aka Xiaohei) when it was announced last month, and fortunately, it didn’t disappoint us when we spotted the real thing at GMIC Beijing. For those who are just catching up, this Aliyun OS 2.0 phone packs some surprisingly good specs for its ¥1,399 ($230) price tag: a 5-inch 1080p LTPS display, a 13-megapixel main camera, a 5-megapixel front imager, a removable 2,000mAh battery and dual WCDMA 850/2100 SIM slots — one for a standard SIM and one for a micro-SIM.
During our brief hands-on, the software ran well on top of the 1.2GHz quad-core MT6589 SoC with 1GB RAM, though the built-in 4GB storage will definitely need some microSD love, as we kept seeing a warning message about low storage space. Industrial design-wise, the C2 is quite well-built, and while it’s not the most exciting-looking phone in the world, we’re just glad that Zopo is finally no longer ripping off designs from the likes of Samsung, HTC and LG. Hands-on video after the break.
Gallery: Zopo C2 Aliyun OS phone hands-on
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Despite the aborted launch of Acer’s Aliyun-powered phone last September, the cheeky Android-based OS is now back with a handful of new devices courtesy of some local friends, with the most notable device coming from Zopo, a notorious cloner of Samsung, HTC and LG phones. That said, it looks like the company’s making a change with this seemingly good-looking C2, and for the launch price of ¥1,399 or about $230 unsubsidized, the specs will probably make Xiaomi tremble: there’s a 5-inch 1080p gapless LTPS display, a MediaTek MT6589 chip (1.2GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 processor with 1GB RAM and PowerVR SGX544 graphics), 4GB internal storage with microSD expansion, Yamaha audio chip, a removable 2,000mAh battery and WCDMA 850/2100 radio with HSPA+.
Furthermore, not only is there a 13-megapixel f/2.2 main camera, but there’s also a staggering 5-megapixel front-facing camera on the other side — just like the one on Oppo’s Ulike 2. Oh, and these all come in an 8.5mm-thick body, too. Zopo’s now accepting pre-orders for the first 5,000 C2s and will be shipping before the end of the month, so if you have an account on Tmall and don’t mind being a guinea pig then go for it.
Gallery: Zopo C2 with Aliyun OS
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Engadget Chinese, Zopo
China’s technology Ministry is worried about the dominance of Google’s Android platform, according to Reuters. The news agency links to a whitepaper authored by the research arm of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology which contains the above graph — so it’s not difficult to see what the Ministry’s issue is: Android has grown from a standing start in 2008 to saturate the local market, taking 72.4 per cent in Q3 2012 (Gartner sourced data).
According to Reuters, the Ministry’s whitepaper is critical of China’s dependency on a platform it argues is ultimately controlled by Mountain View. “Our country’s mobile operating system research and development is too dependent on Android. While the Android system is open source, the core technology and technology roadmap is strictly controlled by Google,” the whitepaper states.
It also claims that Google has deliberately impeded the progress of some Chinese companies seeking to develop their own operating systems (presumably by forking Android) by delaying code sharing, and accuses Google of using commercial agreements to restrain the business development of mobile devices of these companies. The paper goes on to pile praise on homegrown companies such as Alibaba, Baidu and Huawei for creating their own systems.
Google declined to comment on the allegations in the whitepaper when contacted by TechCrunch.
Alibaba’s Aliyun OS was going to be used by Acer to power a Chinese smartphone planned for launch last year — but cancelled, at least in part, after Google intervened. (Google argued that Acer was building what it described as a “non-compatible” Android device, having previously committed to building compatible devices.) Presumably this is the sort of commercial pressure the whitepaper is critical of.
Alibaba also declined to comment on the Chinese whitepaper when contacted by Techcrunch.
Another graph in the whitepaper pegs the Aliyun OS’s share of the 2012 Chinese market at around one per cent — versus 86.4 per cent for Android:
Reuters speculates that the Chinese government could be planning to impose regulations on Android to try to rein it in and give Chinese companies a chance to take some a greater share. That could also be good news for smaller foreign players such as Finnish startup Jolla, which is using the MeeGo open source OS as the foundation of its new Sailfish platform. Jolla is targeting its debut smartphone at China first, as well as setting up a base in Hong Kong to build an alliance around Sailfish. It has also attracted investment from China.
The smartphone market in China is undoubtedly huge — Jolla’s CEO describes it as a “300 million device market”. China also passed the U.S. as the world’s top country for active Android and iOS smartphones and tablets last month so it’s also a growing market. But while Android undoubtedly dominates the OS landscape not all Chinese Android-powered device are equal since a large proportion of homegrown mobile makers heavily customise Android and do not carry any of the standard Google services such as its Play store.
Analyst Enders Analysis created the below chart last year depicting Android page view data, sourced from Baidu, which illustrates how smaller Chinese device makers are increasingly dominating China’s device landscape — accounting for 39 per cent of the page views on Baidu properties in September 2012 vs just 22 per cent for the otherwise globally dominant Android OEM Samsung:
“Almost none” of the ‘other’ category of devices in this chart have Google services on them, according to Enders analyst Benedict Evans — so you could say that while Google’s platform is huge in China, Google itself may have far less influence than Android’s spread suggests because such a large swathe of locally made Androids are cut off from its services and thus can’t generate advertising sales for Mountain View.
In a recent blog post discussing Google’s failure to deliver any Android activation data since September 2012, Evans also notes that: “The great majority of Android devices sold in China, which are probably a third of total Android sales, come with no Google services installed, including no Google Play, and hence are not even included in Google’s activation numbers, since signing into Google Play is what counts as ‘activation’.”
You can imagine that the team building Alibaba’s Aliyun mobile OS must have hurt feelings following Google’s accusations that Aliyun is just a corruption of Android. Alibaba chief Jack Ma is keen to restore some of that wounded pride, at least on the surface. The CEO has used a since-confirmed staff memo to spin out Aliyun as a separate entity that will “safeguard the healthy growth” of the platform and Alibaba’s mobile strategy. It’s not solely an instance of tough love, either: Alibaba is putting $200 million into the new firm and will use executive Wang Jian as a link between the two sides, having him serve as the CTO for both companies. With that in mind, Ma’s ultimate intentions aren’t clear. While the separation may be a sign of a tighter focus on software, it also reduces the impact for Alibaba if anything drags Aliyun down — and either motivation would be helpful for a company devoted to the web before anything else.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Alibaba spins out Aliyun team with $200 million investment, pep talk originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Sep 2012 12:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Andy Rubin has added another response to Alibaba’s Aliyun OS, after Google’s insistence that Acer put the launch of its new smartphone on pause. He focuses (again) on the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), which OEMs agree to when they work with the platform, promising to keep Android a happy (and relatively compatible) platform. Amazon dodges any similar issues with its Kindle Fire tablets, because it didn’t sign up to the same alliance. Rubin says that because Aliyun uses Android’s framework and tools — as well as housing some suspect Android apps (and pirated Google programs) within its own App Store — the mobile OS “takes advantage of all the hard work that’s gone into that platform by the OHA.” Google’s looking to protect how Android behaves as a whole, and the senior VP suggests that if Alibaba’s new OS wanted “to benefit from the Android ecosystem” then they could make the move across to full compatibility. We’re still waiting to hear what Acer (and Alibaba) plan to do next.
[Thanks Jimmy]
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Google Senior VP of Mobile: Aliyun OS ‘under no requirement to be compatible’, but it won’t get help from Android ecosystem alliance originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Sep 2012 11:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
On Thursday, we starting hearing claims that Google had strong-armed Acer out of launching its A800 CloudMobile in China with the Aliyun operating system. We reached out to the search giant for its response, but they declined to comment. Over the last 24 hours, though, Google has attempted to explain its stance, but at the same time has potentially created some confusion about how open Android really is. Below is the initial statement received by Marketing Land:
“Compatibility is at the heart of the Android ecosystem and ensures a consistent experience for developers, manufacturers and consumers. Non-compatible versions of Android, like Aliyun, weaken the ecosystem. All members of the Open Handset Alliance have committed to building one Android platform and to not ship non-compatible Android devices. This does not however, keep OHA members from participating in competing ecosystems.”
This is clearly outlining Google’s intention to prevent forked Android spin-offs from diluting the platform and the user experience. Fair enough. The trouble seems to be, however, defining when something is Android compatible, rather than its own separate (albeit Android-based) operating system. Amazon’s Kindle Fire will instantly spring to mind. The new tablets run on Ice Cream Sandwich, but are fenced-off from the official Play store and other Google offerings. As you can imagine, the debate has started to get a little heated, we go into it in more detail past the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Google wants ‘better compatibility’ for Android, Alibaba says ‘Aliyun is separate,’ Acer takes the brunt of it originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Sep 2012 07:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Acer was planning on launching a low-end phone in China running Aliyun OS, a Linux based operating system that’s only relevant to us because it wasn’t Android. The phone was meant to be cheap and affordable and was targeted for China. But that phone is no more. Why? Because Google killed it. What? More »
Just yesterday Acer was getting ready to unleash its CloudMobile smartphone on the Chinese public sporting an equally local (and equally not Android) Aliyun operating system. According to Reuters, however, when journalists turned up for the launch event today, an Alibaba (who make Aliyun) spokesperson told them the launch had been cancelled, before later releasing a statement saying Acer had received pressure from Google to pull the launch. The competing OS manufacturer claims that the Acer was told product collaborations and Android authorization would cease if the product was released. So far Google has declined to comment, but if true, represents some significant strong arming, in what is clearly a significant market. We have reached out to Google for comment ourselves. More as we know it.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Alibaba claims Google leaned on Acer to cancel launch of CloudMobile with Aliyun in China originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Acer’s CloudMobile (A800) has quietly slipped on its September 5th release date in the UK and headed East, where it’s swapped its Android front-end for Alibaba’s Aliyun OS. The dual-core handset will be released in
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Acer CloudMobile moves to China, dumps Android for Aliyun originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 08:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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