Crave

A saleswoman introduces Apple's iPhone to customers in Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan province on Saturday.

(Credit: Zheng Duo/ColorChinaPhoto)

It could be the Year of the iPhone in China, as Apple officially started selling its iconic smartphone in the world's largest mobile market Friday night.

While China saw nothing near the frenzy of the first iPhone launch day here in the U.S., crowds there did honor the tradition of lining up for the phone many hours in advance at several locations. A few hundred people queued up in the rain and cold outside The Place shopping center in Beijing, for example. There, Zhi Xianzhong became the first person to get the iPhone from Apple partner China Unicom after waiting 7 hours and 40 minutes, according to China Daily.

As expected, China Unicom, the country's second largest telecom operator after China Mobile, is selling two versions of the iPhone in China under a three-year deal with Apple. But cost could prove to be a deterrent. Prices range from 4,999 yuan (about $732) for the 8GB 3G model to 6,999 yuan (about $1,025) for the 32GB 3GS phone (sans contract).

Consumers can get cheaper, cracked, gray-market iPhone models at local electronics stores or bring them in from other markets. But price isn't the only potential obstacle here. In accordance with Chinese government regulations, the handsets also lack a key feature--Wi-Fi capability, though reports say China Unicom hopes to offer Wi-Fi-enabled iPhones within a few months.

China Unicom is starting off by selling the iPhone in 285 cities. The carrier hopes to sell 5 million devices in three years, according to Chinese news reports, but the company wouldn't confirm that figure.

China Mobile introduced a new mobile platform Monday, and one of the presenting partners on hand has raised a few eyebrows.

Details of a Dell phone, reportedly called the Mini 3i, began to circulate on the Web almost immediately after being presented at the event, but Dell says it has not yet announced any smartphone for the China market.

A prototype of a Dell smartphone seen at a China Mobile event.

(Credit: Mobile.163.com)

"Dell was there supporting China Mobile as a development partner. We did not confirm or announce anything," said Dell spokesman Matt Parretta.

There was, however, a "proof of concept mobile device prototype" shown off at the event, Parretta said. That explains the photos, which depict a black, candybar-style handset that had a touch screen and was stamped with the Dell logo on the back.

Reports from the China Mobile event, which introduced the wireless operator's Android-based Open Mobile System, or OMS, say the Mini 3i was confined to operate on a 2G GSM network--no Wi-Fi access--but had a 3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and a slot for a microSD card.

Industry observers and market analysts have been largely underwhelmed both by the idea of a Dell smartphone, and according to some who saw early prototypes, the execution of it as well.

Finally, it seems the Chinese people are about to be able to legally get their hands on the phone they have been building: the iPhone.

According to International Business Times, Unicom, China's second largest cell carrier, has paid 10 billion yuan (about $1.46 billion) to buy 5 million iPhones from Apple. The first batch of the phones will be made available to Chinese customers as early as next month. Since March, the company has been posting the phone's images and specs at its stores.

Like almost everything nowadays, the iPhone is also from China.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

This will be the first time the phone is legally available in the country with the largest amount of cell phone users in the world. I find this sort of ironic, as, like most electronic devices, the iPhone is assembled in China.

The Chinese people are already acquainted with the iPhone. Prior to this, the phone has been available in China, as well as Vietnam and many other countries where Apple has no business partners, via smuggling.

What will be new to the Chinese people for sure, however, is the fact that the phone will be locked to Unicom. Yu Zaonan, general manager of the customer development department of China Unicom in Guangzhou, told International Business Times that China Unicom is hoping 5 million iPhones will translate into 5 million new customers for the company. Unicom currently is still far behind China Mobile, the largest cell carrier in the country, both in terms of subscribers and profit. Unicom hopes the iPhone will help it narrow this gap.

Locked phones are generally new to China and Asia, where people have had the freedom of getting any phone at any store and using it with any carrier. This deal between Apple and Unicom means they will get a taste of business the American way.

It's unclear which versions of the iPhone (3G or 3GS) are included in this deal and whether the phones will have Wi-Fi disabled. However, according to Yu Zaonan, the price for the 8GB iPhone will be 2,400 yuan ($350) and the 16GB version will cost twice as much. This means the company's hopeful new batch of 5 million subscribers will be those with substantially high incomes.

Anyone not so well-off might just have to resort to used and jailbroken iPhones smuggled in from other countries. These phones cost somewhere between 400 yuan ($59) and 1,000 yuan ($146), according to International Business Times.

Personally, I think it's likely many of those 5 million iPhones will be jailbroken by the locals. Now, if Apple's claim that jailbreaking the phone can turn it into a weapon of mass disruption was true, this could be unsettling news for communist China.

(Credit: Chine Informations)

Now that Blu-ray has won the format war with HD DVD we can all relax and buy Blu-ray players and not have to worry about what physical format our disks are, right?

Maybe not. Besides outside pressure from the combination of high-speed broadband and HD streaming media, a new challenger has risen to seriously challenge Blu-ray's superiority. And it's based heavily on its oldest rival: HD DVD.

Meet China Blue Hi-definition Disk (CBHD), a new HD video disk format based heavily on Toshiba's HD DVD format. Toshiba has licensed its technology to the CBHD group for use in China. The format now has the official backing of the Chinese government and some analysts think it could be the global per-unit HD leader in as little as twelve months. It's already outselling Blu-ray in China. ... Read more

This is the last time we let Wilson choose the show title. Good news--The 404 Wikipedia page is BACK! Edit away, but please don't redirect the page. Today we talk about a fake bus stop in Germany, a "green" iPhone app, the iPhone 4G prototype, the "World of Warcraft" movie, and Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince of Persia.

The Iron Chef of Persia.

(Credit: Kotaku)

That's right folks, our Wikipedia page is back up, and we're praying it's permanent this time! Big ups to our buddy Darth Paxton for helping us out, so go ahead and edit it all you like (we can't edit it ourselves) with inside jokes, characters, guests, etc., but please don't edit the redirections, those need to stay in place. Whoo! We're notable!!!

Also, do not attempt to adjust your monitor, the photo to the left is indeed our first look at Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince of Persia. With those two swords in his hands and that red sash around his waist, he looks more like a chef at a Chinese restaurant than the video game hero.

Speaking of bad video game movies, we're afraid to see what Sam Raimi has in store for the "World of Warcraft" movie adaptation, although it'd be pretty funny to just have a half an hour of peons mining and chopping wood.

A quick disclaimer: there are two stories in today's rundown that some might deem offensive, but although they're both a little dark, the beauty of The 404 is being able to find a lighthearted (and sometimes tasteless) joke in everything! For example, here's a funny story about a fake bus stop in a clinic that's designed to keep its Alzheimer's patients from escaping. Sounds awful, right? I agree--maybe all the money they spent on building this "net" could have been used to pay more nurses and doctors to determine the reason why the patients are trying desperately to escape in the first place!

Anyway, that's the first story. You'll have to listen to the full episode, which also includes news about an eBay auction for an original Sony PlayStation signed by Michael Jackson and a very "green friendly" iPhone app

EPISODE 387

After the Apple iPhone 3G S and Palm Pre, the most gossiped about smartphone is one that may or may not exist.

Dell, which has hinted about getting into the category for more than a year, is supposedly working on a device right now, and the image to the right is said to be a picture of the device.

A blurry photo of a phone running Android is said to be made by Dell.

(Credit: PDAFans)

Engadget posted the photo Monday, and it's from a Chinese Web site called PDAFans.com. Though it's blurry, there's nothing distinguishing about the design of the handset itself besides a Dell logo, and that it appears a bit similar to the Pre. But though this is just a blurry photo posted to a Web forum, those small details seem to line up with other pieces of information that have dribbled out this year.

If it is a Dell phone, it would make sense that someone in China would be able to get their hands on it. There have been rumors that Dell is in talks with China Mobile to develop a partnership for a smartphone in the country. If a partnership were to pan out, Dell's phone could launch in China by the end of the year, according to previous reports.

Zhang Jun, an analyst at research firm Wedge MKII, said in April that in such a scenario, Dell's device would use Open Mobile System, China Mobile's operating system, which is based on Google's Android. In the photo, the phone does seem to be running Android, or some version of it.

But making the handset is just the beginning of what promises to be an uphill battle. Marketing and selling a device in a market clogged with innovative mobile computers will be a challenge for anyone new to the territory. But according to previous reports, Dell is already facing serious problems. In April, an analyst went on record saying that carriers in the U.S. and Europe "passed" on the company's smartphone because it was a "noncompelling product."

(Credit: Yamane Yasuhiro/CNET Japan)

MP3 playback? Check. Two cameras? Check. Built-in mobile Buddhist altar? Che... Wait, WTF?!

You read correctly. The Odin 99 has landed on the streets of China, and a single tap of the phone's dedicated lotus-leaf button will load a private, customizable, animated altar.

The idea is to allow Buddhists to perform their dedications and rituals conveniently when away from home. You can simulate incense burning and purification rites and play music to help you meditate wherever you happen to be.

The Odin 99 comes bundled with a charm.

(Credit: Yamane Yasuhiro/CNET Japan)

As far as our knowledge goes of inventions that seamlessly converge religion with phone calls, this takes the gold medal. Gold paint has been taken to the phone too, encrusting the otherwise conventional-looking device. Also interesting is that it comes with a metal Buddhist charm to be carried by the user, and two batteries--the extra one considered "a gift."

At first we were amused. But then came objective inquisitiveness: Would a Buddhist actually find this useful? CNET UK lacks a Buddhist writer to ask, and crowd-sourcing opinions on Twitter came up with nothing.

Before now, we've seen iPhone apps like digitalBlend's Buddha Box (iTunes link)--created by a Buddhist to aid on-the-go meditation--and its reviews are favorable. But no U.K. networks carry a phone with such religious undertones, and we don't believe it's a hotly requested feature.

Or is it? If you're Buddhist and would find a device like this useful, please let us know in the comments below. We're very eager to hear your opinions, as other readers will be too, no doubt.

(Source: Crave UK)

The OPhone is expected to be a version of the HTC Magic, which came out in February.

(Credit: Damian Koh/CNET Asia)

For a holiday, it's been an eventful day in the world of HTC-Android-phone news. First came those leaked internal AT&T documents that showed, among other things, a new HTC Android device called the Lancaster that's supposedly targeted for an August U.S. launch. Now comes word of HTC's plans, starting next month, to sell an Android-powered smartphone in China, the world's largest wireless market.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the new China-bound Android phone will be a version of HTC's Magic, the successor to the T-Mobile G1 (formerly known as the HTC Dream) that launched in February.

The phones will reportedly be customized with software from wireless carrier China Mobile and called OPhones (referring to Open Mobile System, the name for China Mobile's customized version of Google's mobile operating system). And yes, the name does bring to mind another little smartphone we've heard of, but at least, as far as we can tell, the "O" will be capitalized.

There's no final word on price yet, but the WSJ speculates that HTC's new China phone will retail for about 5,000 yuan, or about $730.

Aside from some technical difficulties today and a giant bug bite, we've got a great show featuring all three of your favorite Web celebrities. Before we get to the stories, we want to remind everyone of The 404 logo contest and of our appearance on our buddy Clayton Morris' FoxNews.com's Strategy Room to talk about all the good tech, video game-related goodness at 2 p.m. EST.

(Credit: Jasper Engels)

On today's show, find out ways that kids now are using abbreviations in text messages to hide things from their parents. Apparently, "RU/18" is something that kids these days are getting on their cell phones. Also, Pfizer is giving away free three-month supplies of Viagra and Lipitor because of the recession, but only if you were on the drugs before you got laid off. We hope Justin isn't itching to get fired for this deal.

In regard to a story about China shutting down a sex-themed park, Wilson gives us way too much information about "the talk" with his mom when he was 15. Justin and Jeff learned everything from "Sesame Street." Speaking of more things naughty, there is a new version of "Star Trek" called "Star Trix", and we can't really say much more about it other than it's totally NSFW.

Finally, showers make you more productive at work. Just be sure to watch out for peephole-size openings at work. Be sure to write in at the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. We'd love to see more of your submissions for our logo contest. See you on Tuesday after the Memorial Day break!

Episode 348