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China is definitely one of the biggest growth markets in all of the mobile phone and smartphone world. While Europe and the US are very developed when it comes to the smartphone market, China is still growing rapidly. A low-cost smartphone from a Chinese company called Xiaomi has taken China by storm and has an […]

Lately, China’s TENAA telephone certification center has been an even bigger tattletale than the FCC, and it just leaked another unannounced handset: the HTC 301e. While likely not coming to the US, the dual-SIM device is another cog in CEO Peter Chou’s plan to grow its mid-range smartphone stable in China. It also has some One design touches, like the top speaker grill and two button design. Otherwise, it’s scraping the bottom of the mid-range, with a 4.3-inch 480 x 800 screen, 1GHz dual-core CPUs, 512MB RAM, WCDMA 3G, 8GB of storage expandable to 64GB via microSD and a 5-megapixel camera. While that won’t set anyone’s hair on fire, it does show that HTC is serious about more than just flagships in China.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Via: Techkiddy

Source: TENAA (translated)

China’s state media reports today that the country will send its first ever rover to the moon this December. The government had said a number of times in the past that the launch will take place at the end of this year, as of now the launch appears to be on track. Called the Chang’e-3, it is said that planning and construction of the rover has already been completed and the mission has entered into “launch implementation phase.” This will be China’s first ever unmanned probe landing on the moon. It has previously launched the Chang’e-1 and Chang’e-2 unmanned probes into the orbit around the moon.

The rover will reportedly use an unspecified technique to slow down its speed as it prepares to land on the moon’s surface. It will be launched atop an enhanced variant of China’s CZ-3B launch vehicle from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Chang’e-3 has a designed life of 90 lunar days and will be capable of exploring an area of 3 square kilometers. Maximum travelling distance it can cover is 10 kilometers. It has a various types of cameras and radars on board and will be able to autonomously navigate the moon’s surface. Data and image will be transmitted back to Earth in real-time. [image via Dragoninspace]

China Sends It First Rover To The Moon This December original content from Ubergizmo.

If you thought we’ve seen all of the leaks concerning Sony’s coming smartphone called the Xperia Z1 (or Honami) over the last few weeks, you would be wrong. Some new images have surfaced of the smartphone from China. Specifically, these images have surfaced from the Chinese Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center (TENAA) giving us a look […]

HTC’s Hail Mary play might not take the form of another new smartphone: The Taiwanese company is reportedly working with Chinese government officials to build a mobile OS that includes “deep integration” with China-specific services like Weibo, aimed specifically at the Chinese market. The project could see the new mobile OS launch before year’s end, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.

The report said it wasn’t clear whether HTC’s China OS would be forked from or based upon Android in some way, and a source speaking to the paper said that in fact the company has changed plans throughout the year regarding whether it would be something completely new, or just a new user interface based atop Google’s mobile OS. Already HTC has some devices using the OS in active testing, and prototypes are in the hands of Chinese government officials.

Attempting to partner with a company to build a partially homegrown OS solution isn’t a new move for China. The Chinese government recently partnered with UK-based Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu, to build a China-specific version of its own OS that likewise favored integrations with China-made apps and services. In general, the Chinese government has been actively trying to lessen reliance on foreign-made software. A white paper from China’s tech ministry released in March criticized its country’s over-reliance on the Google-made Android OS.

A strategic alliance with the Chinese government could help HTC secure some good lasting power even as it faces challenges in terms of worldwide market share and sales of its Android-based smartphones. It’s unlikely that its own China-specific OS will pose any major threat to the dominance of Android and iOS, especially in the short-term, but if China’s government is serious about putting lasting investment in home-grown alternatives that favor Chinese software and services, building significant market share early might not be a necessary component of its survival.

In other words, making yourself integral to a long-term China government plan for technological independence is probably a wise move for HTC in uncertain times, which isn’t to say it wouldn’t be better served by also improving its fortunes elsewhere in the world, too.