Hasta La Gadget!

China Mobile is about to spoil its half billion subscribers with yet another Android smartphone in the 3.something-inch category. The Droid’s keyboard-deprived younger sibling, the MT710 is about to hit Chinese stores this month, with TD-SCDMA 3G capabilities and OPhone OS 1.5 giving it a distinctly local flavor. WiFi connectivity will also be available, thanks to Moto playing nice with China’s new security protocol, and the CPU has also changed to a 624MHz Marvel PXA310 chip, which is growing a bit long in the tooth now. Still, with that dashing red stripe on its side and a presumably thinner chassis, the MT710 just might be somebody’s idea of a Droid perfected. You’ll find the full specs of the new handset at the Moto Developers links below.

Motorola MT710 bringing its Droid-ish good looks to China this month originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Yahoo! News  | Email this | 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.

Permalink   |  Androidin  | Email this | Comments

We’re going on the assumption here that the lads and ladies over at QiGi haven’t actually heard that “smartbooks” have a vaguely defined look and feel, as the outfit’s latest handheld definitely looks nothing like the smartbooks that we’ve seen emerge over the past few months. In fact, the Windows Mobile 6.5-equipped device looks more like a MID than anything else, boasting a 5-inch 800 x 480 display, only a few face-mounted buttons and 1GB of memory. Hit the read link if you’re interested in a poorly translated review, and good luck finding one of these in the open market (at least with an English-language operating system).

QiGi’s Smartbook is more like a WinMo 6.5-powered MID originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Shanzhaiji  | Email this | Comments

Of the many trends in consumer electronics, today’s announcement by Lenovo highlights two of the biggest: 1) PC makers are desperate to get in on that handheld smartphone action, and 2) China is the place to do it with its 700 million mobile subscribers. That’s why Lenovo is putting up $200 million in cash and stock to reacquire its former mobile business sold to a group of investors last year; a move made possible by Lenovo’s recent return to profitability. Although Lenovo says its focus will be on the Chinese market, don’t be surprised when you see Lenovo branded handsets headed to downtown stores or your favorite high-street shops — assuming the deal passes shareholder approval, of course.

Lenovo begins $200M buyback of Lenovo Mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AP, Press Release  | Email this | Comments

Diabetes is a major cause of disability in the aging Chinese population, and many of them located in rural areas don’t have immediate access to health care. A team of researchers in China have developed a smartphone technology that they believe could help diabetics.

Called the Chinese Aged Diabetic Assistant or CADA, the technology aims to provide assistance to patients and doctors alike. The program can monitor the patient’s blood pressure, weight, diet, exercise routine, mood and blood glucose levels. It is also designed to be interactive so that the patients will learn self-management that’s right for their condition. When the project started, the developers were not aiming for program that’s centered on gaming. But further studies on the target population revealed that gaming “was a persuasive way to engage patients in managing their personal health.” According to ScienceDaily, one of the games in the program is a food pyramid game that’s designed to encourage patients to eat healthy. There’s also a trivia game and a tile-matching game that aims to educate the patients on what’s needed to live a healthy lifestyle.

The program was designed for the smartphone since the researchers found that many of the patients are already in possession of mobile phones and smartphones, making the devices a logic choice for the patients to be interested in the technology. Moreover, smartphones are mobile, giving the developers more options for the technology’s improvement. In the future, developers aim to improve the technology so that patients will be able to send their information to health care providers.