We were so beguiled by AD's bamboo-bound smartphone that we had to track down the designer to get some hands-on time with these work-in-progress prototypes. We met up with Kieron-Scott Woodhouse (pun unintended) and he offered to bring along several of the latest prototypes for us to get to grips with. While the finished product will arrive in the bamboo material but smoked to the darker finish. The darker model's button layout is also closer to what we can expect on the final device. The ADZero is still set to launch between the end of 2012 and the start of 2013. Sustainable smartphone fans can browse through our gallery below, or read up on the phone's journey -- and our impressions -- right after the break.

Gallery: ADZero bamboo smartphone prototypes hands-on

Continue reading ADZero bamboo smartphone prototypes hands-on (video)

ADZero bamboo smartphone prototypes hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading ADzero Bamboo cellphone's aiming for the giant Panda market (video)

ADzero Bamboo cellphone's aiming for the giant Panda market (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In a bid to keep iPhones sold in Hong Kong on the island nation, Apple has reintroduced reserve and pick up pages for the smartphones. The difference this time around is the inclusion of the customer's Hong Kong identity card number within the registration form, which goes live between 9am and 12pm each day. The aim is put breaks on the speculative smartphone buyers picking up several devices to mule across to mainland China. You'll still need a bit of luck; Apple performs a random draw each day for those that registered, and 'winners' are informed via email. Each card can apparently buy a limited quantity of the in-demand phone -- one that's getting some smartphone obsessives a little too hot under the collar.

Apple Hong Kong revives reserve and pick up page, wants to stop iPhones going abroad originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty believes Apple will partner up with both China Telecom and China Mobile over the next year, and will eventually make the iPhone available on all three Chinese carriers, reports Apple Insider. The move could bring sales of the popular handset to as many as 40 million units in 2013 alone. The iPhone is currently only offered by China Unicom, the nation’s second largest carrier. Through this partnership, Huberty believes Apple can only reach 10% of the 150 million “high-end Chinese subscribers” in the country. China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile carrier, holds the majority of the country’s high-end subscribers with an estimated 120 million customers, with the final 10% of high-end subscribers carried by China Telecom, the third-largest carrier in China. Huberty also believes Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone is likely to be compatible with China Mobile’s upcoming 4G TD-LTE network, although she notes it is “still too early to know for sure.” Morgan Stanley expects the next-generation iPhone to launch in the third quarter this year — BGR reported last month that Apple will launch a redesigned iPhone this fall — and the firm believes China Mobile will release the new iPhone in late 2012 or early 2013.

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Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty believes Apple will partner up with both China Telecom and China Mobile over the next year, and will eventually make the iPhone available on all three Chinese carriers, reports Apple Insider. The move could bring sales of the popular handset to as many as 40 million units in 2013 alone. The iPhone is currently only offered by China Unicom, the nation’s second largest carrier. Through this partnership, Huberty believes Apple can only reach 10% of the 150 million “high-end Chinese subscribers” in the country. China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile carrier, holds the majority of the country’s high-end subscribers with an estimated 120 million customers, with the final 10% of high-end subscribers carried by China Telecom, the third-largest carrier in China. Huberty also believes Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone is likely to be compatible with China Mobile’s upcoming 4G TD-LTE network, although she notes it is “still too early to know for sure.” Morgan Stanley expects the next-generation iPhone to launch in the third quarter this year — BGR reported last month that Apple will launch a redesigned iPhone this fall — and the firm believes China Mobile will release the new iPhone in late 2012 or early 2013.

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Potential Samsung Galaxy SII-sibling heads to China via the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ericsson, ZTE shake hands, drop patent infringement lawsuits originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Phone maker ZTE recently said that it sees the United States and China as the two largest markets for smartphone sales growth. “The United States and China will be key engines driving our smartphone sales,” ZTE’s head of handset strategy Lv Qianhao, told Reuters in a recent interview, noting that the company expects its worldwide smartphone shipments to double in 2012 and to increase by 30% to 40% annually through 2015. ZTE mostly sells Android-powered smartphones but said it plans to launch a Windows Phone device in China before the third quarter this year; we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the Windows Phone 7.5-powered ZTE Tania that was on display during the Consumer Electronics Show last week. “If we say ZTE started out as a contractor, like those building mass housing that are value for money, then we want to be a developer of luxury high-end estates,” Qianhao said.

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ZTE reaches for the sky, aims to double phone shipments in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pent up demand for Apple’s latest smartphone caused the company to halt sales of its just-released iPhone 4S in Beijing, China on Friday, fearing for the safety of its sales staff. According to Chinese tech blog M.I.C. Gadget, Beijing residents eager to get their hands on Apple’s iPhone 4S began to line up more than 12 hours before stores opened on Friday. A massive crowd had gathered at the Sanlitun Apple Store, and workers were forced to delay its opening. The crowd seemingly then became unruly to the point where Apple Store employees’ safety could not be guaranteed, and an announcement was made that the launch had been canceled. At that point fights reportedly began to break out, several members of the crowd began to throw eggs at the Apple Store, and SWAT teams had to be called in to restore order. Apple’s only comment on the matter was that the company has already sold out of its initial iPhone 4S supply in China. A video of the massive crowd that gathered outside Apple’s Sanlitun Apple Store follows below.

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