The Chinese vendor has a prototype of its first smartphone under glass, safely away from prying hands, at its booth. So Unstrung can't tell you much about the device, except that it looks like a cross between the HTC G1 and the mysterious alien artifact in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Click on the pictures below for proof:
Black Box Android under glass
We did, however, glean a little bit about the device from various spokespeople at the booth. It is due to be launched in the third quarter, and Huawei isn't announcing a carrier yet, but whichever operator picks it will be able to brand it however it wishes.
This is the crucial aspect of Huawei's move into the smartphone market. The vendor wants the operator to take all the glory and isn't insisting on any of its own branding on its smartphones.
Branding -- of hardware and software splash screens alike -- is a hot topic for both operators and vendors. Some vendors, like Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), want to maintain control of many aspects of the branding, while others, like HTC, demand far less visibility.
Talking of HTC, there was no sign of any new Google devices on its stand, although, as our pictures show, people were still interested in trying the G1.
There was no sign of any Android play at the Samsung booth, either. Recent reports have suggested that the vendor may delay launch of a phone using the OS until the second half of 2009. (See MWC Preview: Hola, Android .)
The blogs and comments are the opinions only of the writers and do not reflect the views of Unstrung. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
To save this item to your list of favorite Unstrung content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
