Lenovo has announced their K-Series of Smart TVs for their domestic market. Lenovo says the television sets coincide with their long-term “PC-Plus” strategy and will sell four K-Series TVs starting from this month.

Starting from RMB6,499, the new TVs are packed with some interesting features like Android 4.0 OS with user-friendly interface, dual-core Snapdragon 1.5GHz processor, high-quality video-on-demand and the support for apps via its Le Store.

Lenovo hasn’t divulged any details on the global launch but considering their product launches in the past, we’re not holding any high hopes to see it elsewhere anytime soon.

[Via Engadget]

Meizu has announced an upgrade to its Meizu MX phone. The new Meizu MX slated to hit in June will now feature a quad-core processor. The Meizu MX Quad-core is in fact the world’s first smartphone to use a quad-core Exynos processor, which is produced by Samsung.

With the new processor, the phone boasts an improvement in battery life by 20 percent, 60 percent faster processing speed and 50 percent faster GPU.

As for other specs, Meizu MX runs its own Flyme OS based on Android 4.0, full HD video playback support, 292 PPI display, 8MP camera and more.

MX Quad-core will come in 32GB and 64GB storage capacities carrying a price tag of 3000 yuan (HK$3099) and 3999 yuan (HK$4099) respectively.

Press Release

Nokia today announced their Windows Phones for Chinese market. Powered by Windows Phone 7.5, the 800C is the first CDMA-based WP device that will be available on China Telecom. Nokia 800C is similar to Lumia 800 but comes with Chinese language support and apps tailored for the world’s biggest telecom market. The Nokia 800C will be available in China from early April for 3599RMB.

Nokia also announced the Nokia 610C that will be launched in second quarter this year aimed at young consumers.

Press Release

Microsoft’s Windows Phone is now available in the world’s biggest telecom market. HTC today announced the sales of their Eternity handset in China that comes with a 4.7-inch display and dual cameras.

Furthermore, the handset will also be pre-loaded with few Chinese apps and support for Chinese language.

[Via Windows Team Blog]

Lenovo has dropped three tablets for its home market. Hailing from LePad series, each tablet PC is sized differently to cater different set of crowds. The LePad S2007 and LePad S2010 are 7-inch and 10.1-inch tablets respectively and come with common specifications like Honeycomb OS, 1280×800 IPS display, dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm CPU, 1GB RAM, 8 megapixel rear-facing camera whereas 1.3 megapixel on the front, dual-mode 3G and Wi-Fi. Difference between both the tablets apart from the size and weight is the battery size, which is 3,780mAh in the 7-incher and double i.e. 7,560mAh in the S2010.

The third tablet which can also be classified as a phone is the 5-inch LePad S2005. LePad S2005 runs on Android 2.3.5 and features a WVGA display with improved viewing angle, Qualcomm dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, 5MP camera with full HD video recording support, 1.3MP front camera, micro-USB, HSPA+, micro-HDMI and 1,680mAh battery. Not as spectacular as Galaxy Note but could suffice some users.

All the tablets will be available from next month in China.

[Via Engadget]

Dell has inked a deal with China’s top search engine Baidu to develop mobile devices for the Chinese market. The new devices which will include both tablets and mobile phones, will run on Baidu’s upcoming operating system called Yi, which is a forked version of Android.

Dell hasn’t divulge the release of its devices but some industry sources speculate to be as early as November.

“We have a partnership with Baidu and you know we have the Streak 5 tablet, so the partnership will be in that space.”

Baidu Yi

[Via Reuters]

Dell has made their first 10.1-inch Honeycomb running tablet official and it will not be available in United States, at least for now. The tablet got the acknowledgement in China where Engadget was at hand for the official unveiling. The tablet is just another run-of-the-mill Honeycomb tablet but scores on the price front.

Streak 10 Pro features 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 10.1-inch 1280×800 display with Gorilla Glass, 1GB RAM, 5MP camera at the back, 2MP on the front, 16GB internal memory, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SDHC card support and 2GB cloud storage.

It will sell in China for 2,999 yuan or about $465.

Shopping carts are generally used to lug around all the shopped goods but with the new Smart Cart from SK Telecom, the age-old cart will be able to do a lot more. Undergoing as a pilot test in China’s Shanghai Lotus Supermarket Chain Store, the Smart Cart works with the help of a smartphone and a shopping cart equipped with a tablet PC to show various shopping-related information.

After installing the app in the smartphone, a user can search for products, coupons as well as create a shopping list. The information on the phone can then be synced with the Smart Cart which can be used to get product information, offers or receive coupons using augmented reality. The Smart Cart uses indoor positioning technology to give consumers real-time information inside the store and also facilitates during check out by showing the purchased items etc.

SK Telecom will also pilot test the Smart Cart in South Korea soon.

[Thanks, Louise!]

Facebook is blocked in China so it doesn’t make any sense marketing a Facebook phone in China, right? Well, HTC believes that too which is why they’ve swapped the Facebook button found on the Salsa with China’s homegrown Sina Weibo. Sina Weibo is a microblogging service with 140m registered users.

The phone is known as Weike and apart from the button change, rest of the features are same. The phone is powered by an 800MHz processor and 512MB RAM and runs Android 2.3 OS. Weike also features a 3.4-inch display, HTC Sense UI, 5MP camera with flash, 3G support, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, GPS, microSD card slot and 1520mAh battery.

HTC will also launch its Flyer tablet in China later this month.

Product Page

[Via ComputerWorld]

Sharp who recently launched its phones for the Indian market will bring 3D smartphones by next year. Sharp has confirmed smartphones that don’t require special 3D glasses will be sold in the United States, China and India in 2011.

While we don’t have details on the upcoming phones, we can expect 3D phones similar to the Galapagos line that will go on sale in Japan next month.

Sharp reckons one distinguishing factor that will help them fight in the international arena is by selling phones with “unique abilities and original services.”

[Mainchi Daily via Engadget]