Hasta La Gadget!

The iPhone has arrived in China for the first time on China Unicom–but with a twist.

The Chinese government had initially insisted Apple remove Wi-Fi functionality from the device. By the time the government changed its mind earlier this year, the iPhone had already gone into production, as MacRumors reports.

As a result, the iPhone doesn’t have it on its introduction. It also comes in at a high price of $730 to $1025 (when converted from yuan to U.S. dollars), which is 20 percent higher than what unlocked iPhone 3GS models with Wi-Fi are selling for in Chinese street markets.

On Thursday, we wondered whether or not HTC would deliver a cheap Android phone. Now we know one vendor that will: Motorola. And, interestingly enough, it may not even qualify as a smartphone.

Motorola posted a third-quarter profit of $12 million on lower revenues of $5.45 billion, although it was the profit that pleasantly surprised Wall Street. Motorola also predicted a heartening outlook, based on its commitment to Android phones.

Motorola has launched all the phones it plans to for the remainder of 2009, Sanjay Jha, the co-chief executive of Motorola and head of its Mobile Devices unit told analysts. But in 2010, the company plans new phones (obviously) and new carriers, although Jha did not specify whether he was referring to domestic carriers or an expansion of its international customer base.

However, it appears that Motorola has about 40 phones on tap for 2010: 20 smartphones, of which most if not all will run the Android operating system. However, expanding into foreign markets may also require Motorola to adopt other operating systems or services, which Motoroa will have to consider, Jha said.

“Smartphone success for us in 2010 will drive, almost singularly, our financial performance in 2010,” Jha said, according to a SeekingAlpha transcript.

Start your engines and open your pocket books–the most talked about new handset in recent memory (mind you, our memory isn’t great, we work in blogs) is available as a pre-order, starting today. If you’re aching to pick up the brand new Motorola Droid, you can now reserve the Verizon handset from Best Buy Mobile.

The phone is $199.99 after rebate (which Best Buy stores will honor on the spot, instead of making you mail in and wait for it) with a two-year Verizon contract. It will hit store shelves on November 6th. For more information on the new phone, check out our in-depth coverage over at PCMag.

Hey everyone, it’s Droid day! We’ve got the new Motorola Android handset in house–which means that Sascha Segan is going to be putting in some late hours tonight, rushing to bring you the most in-depth review of the new phone you’ll be able to find anywhere. In the meantime, he’s sending us dispatches from deep within the PC Labs, just to let us know that he’s still alive.

For starters, check out this slideshow featuring the handset in all its glory, with some bonus shots alongside Android predecessors, the T-Mobile G1 and HTC Hero–oh, and there’s something called an “iPhone,” too. Not sure how that thing got in there. From the looks of it, the Droid is a big phone, but not unwieldy. It’s got a bigger footprint than the iPhone, but it looks a bit smaller and slimmer than the aforementioned Android phones.

Also, be sure to check out this video of the Droid–there’s plenty of pre-review hands-on action, and you get to hear the thing croak its name every time its receives a message. Let’s not forget that this is Terminator of phones, after all.

The phone will launch on November 6th, selling for $199.99 with that obligatory two-year Verizon contract and a $100 mail-in rebate. Check out more info here and stay tuned for the full review at PCMag.