This is a big play from the world's biggest wireless carrier, the goal being to drive up use of its 3G services by expanding handset options for customers. It is especially interesting coming on the back of the country's second biggest wireless carrier China Unicom clinching a deal with Apple to sell iPhones in China.

China Unicom’s chairman said yesterday that his company was likely to start selling the iPhone on Sept 28, when China Unicom will expand its 3G coverage to 285 cities.

The 8 OPhone models shown yesterday were divided to 2 groups: TD-SCDMA and EDGE. Among them the LG GW880, Lenovo O1, Hisense (model name undecided), Philips (model name undecided) support TD-SCDMA; and the Dell Mini 3i, Lenovo O1e, Dopod A6188 and Philips V900 support EDGE.

China Mobile’s OPhone 8


All models are expected to hit the market later this year, although China Mobile didn’t give any firm dates.

A few remarks on the phones from tech.sina.com.cn:

LG GW880
The LG GW880 is the first OMS phone from LG, and its only high resolution screen cell phone. It features a 3.5-inch screen with 800x480 resolution. It’s based on Marvell PXA930 and Leadcore to support TD-SCDMA and TD-HSDPA, and supports CMMB/MBBMS mobile TV functionality as well.

Lenovo O1
The Lenovo O1 is the upgrade from O1e TD-SCDMA version. It’s got a 5.0Mp camera and roughened surface on backside.

Philips V900
The Philips V900 is a 3.5-inch screen device that supports GPS, Bluetooth and WAPI. The most outstanding thing about it is the full metal shell. It’s based on the Marvell PXA930 chip.

Dell Mini 3i
PC vendor Dell’s OPhone definitely got a lot of attention, but the details aren’t that clear. Its screen supports 320x480 resolution which is not regular, and the HOME and MENU keys have been added on both sides. It doesn’t support TD-SCDMA, only GPRS/EDGE.

Dopod A6188
The Dopod A6188 is based on the HTC Magic – 320x480 pixel screen, built-in GPS chip and 3.2Mp camera. It supports only GPRS/EDGE，no TD-SCDMA 3G.

Lenovo O1e
Lenovo’s O1e is the most familiar OPhone to local Chinese, with lots of fans having already tried it. It supports GRPS/EDGE, and CMMB/MBBMS mobile TV. It features a 3.0mp camera.