[Updated: Feb. 25, 2009] — Chinese mobile ODM (original design maker) Yuhua is shipping a hardware reference design for a smartphone that runs the Linux-based Android mobile stack. The Xphone-SDK runs Android on a 624MHz PXA-310 SoC, with 128MB SDRAM and 256MB of flash.

Yuhua (known more formally… as “Yuhuatel”) offers a variety of handset designs that run Java and Linux, including an iPhone-like CPhone design running a 2.4-series kernel. An earlier Android-ready design from Yuhua was used in the General Mobile DSTL1 announced earlier this week.

Like the DSTL1, the Xphone-SDK runs Android on a PXA-310 SoC clocked to 624MHz, but it offers a lesser standard allotment of memory, with 128MB SDRAM and 256MB internal ROM. It appears to offer the same 3-inch Sharp touchscreen as the General Mobile phone, and is similarly equipped with tri-band GPRS/EDGE capability, although 3G is promised for a future version. The Xphone design provides a 3Mpix camera, plus Bluetooth and WiFi.

Xphone-SDK
(Click to enlarge)

Specifications listed for the Xphone-SDK include:

• Processor — Marvell PXA-310 624Mhz
• Memory — 128MB SDRAM; 256MB internal ROM
• Flash — MicroSD card slot for up to 16GB external
• Cellular — 900/1800/1900MHz GPRS/EDGE
• Display — 3-inch TFT WQVGA (240 x 400)
• WiFi — 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth — Bluetooth 2.0
• Camera — 3Mpix camera (no flash)
• Video playback — H.264, streaming, 3GPP, MPEG4, Codec 3GP
• Audio playback — G-streamer based engine supports major codec media files, including MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, MPEG4, WAV, MIDI
• Image support — JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF
• Web and messaging — HTTP, WAP Push, xHTML, SMS, MMS
• Other features — Data kits for USB/JTAG connectivity
• Battery — 1000mAh
• Operating system — Android (Linux/Java)

Yuhua's customers reportedly include Alcatel-TCL and Wigimo, said Yuahau representative Jimmy Wu in an email. The Shanghai-based company has about 300 employees, 70 percent of which are engineers, said Wu.

Androids on the march?

HTC Magic (Click for details)

General Mobile's DSTL1 was one of several new Android models shown at Mobile World Congress. Another, HTC's second-generation Android phone, the HTC Magic, will be offered by Vodafone. Huawei also said it would ship an Android phone, but offered few details.

Much of the Android story at Barcelona, meanwhile, was about the Google-sponsored open source Linux/Java stack moving to larger platforms, with Archos announcing an upcoming Android-based, MID-like tablet device, and Freescale showing a Linux-based netbook reference design that will be able to run Android on its ARM Cortex A8-based i.MX515 system-on-chip (SoC). Meanwhile, Bloomberg has reported that Asus is developing an Android netbook prototype, but has not confirmed that it will bring the product to market.

Availability

Yuhua's Xphone-SDK is available to OEMs now, says Wu. More information on Yuhua may be found here.

 
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