UPhone Android mobile phones from China Unicom

China Unicom is all set to introduce Android cell phones in the Chinese market with the launch of its first batch of customised Android handsets under the ‘Uphone’ series this month. It will be supported by Google’s Open Handset Alliance or OHA program.

Uphone has been designated as a major national project by the Chinese government and is China Unicom’s second biggest opportunity in the 3G handset market.

The Uphone line-up will include Samsung GT-i6500U and Motorola XT701. Samsung GT-i6500U runs on Android 1.5 operating system while Motorola XT701 adopts Android 2.0 operating system. These handsets are compatible with WCDMA 3G standard, which has been adopted by China Unicom.

The company, which is the second largest Chinese wireless carrier, is banking on its proprietary cell phone operating system called Uniplus, based on the Google’s Android platform. Clearly inspired by the Apple’s App Store, China Unicom also plans to launch Unistore – and application store that will feature applications for the Uphone .

China Unicom joined Google’s OHA program in May 2009 to develop mobile handsets and associated services based on the search engine giant’s open-source Android platform. China Mobile, the company’s larger peer  had also joined OHA and collaborated with a number of international handset vendors to market Android-based handsets (Ophones) in China.

The company rolled out its 3G WCDMA services on October in 209 and also launched Apple’s iPhones in mainland China on a three-year agreement. The major players in this sector like China Mobile and China Telecom are all banking heavily on the booming market for Android smartphones

Meanwhile, China Unicom and the Chinese mobile phone maker Coolpad are jointly launching the first WCDMA/GSM dual mode mobile phone product, W700. As China Unicom’s first in-depth customized WCDMA/GSM flagship mobile phone, W700 mainly targets high-end users who are interested in China Unicom’s 3G services, but do not want to change their mobile phone numbers.

The new handset conjures up a series of dual-mode mobile phones launched by China Unicom several years ago, which were all the rage at that time. Among them was Samsung W629, which recorded sales of 700,000 units, involving several billions in sales value.