Android phone is headed to China

THE NEXT Android smartphone to appear from Google's Open Handset Alliance looks set to tip up in China early next year.

Codenamed the Ophone, the cellphone is reportedly a joint development effort of mainland PC builder Lenovo and China Mobile, the People's Republic's largest mobile net provider.

Following on the heels of T-Mobile's G1 in the US and Europe, and the Kogan Agora in Australia, the Ophone will be based on China Mobile's Open Mobile System (OMS), which combines Google's open sauce Android operating system with TD-SCDMA, the Chinese 3G standard.

Because it will use TD-SCDMA, the Ophone will probably be available only within China.

China Mobile's Android-based smartphone is expected to launch in February or March.

There's a photo of what's apparently a prototype Ophone handset at modmyGphone. µ