China Mobile expects to finish building 3G networks

China's largest mobile phone network operator is testing one of the first handsets designed for China's 3G (third generation) network that runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.0 OS. China Mobile expects to finish building 3G networks in eight cities by the end of this year and at least 10 by the time the Summer Olympic Games open in Beijing next August. It is testing dozens of handsets for the networks, which are based on a home grown technology called TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access). Among the phones being tested is the S876 from Taiwan's Inventec Appliances (IAC), which may become the first 3G handset running Windows Mobile 6.0 to launch in China. While it's hard to definitively hand the crown to IAC, it was the only handset maker to offer details of a finished device at the GSM Association's Mobile Asia Congress in Macau earlier this month.

The handset was being tested, and an IAC executive sent photos and further details of the phone to IDG News Service. However, other handset makers, including Zhejiang Holley Communications (Holley Comm), have been working on Windows Mobile 6.0-based 3G handsets for China as well. IAC's S876 will be available to Chinese users in the second quarter of 2008. The handset is a dual mode device, able to switch from 3G TD-SCDMA to GSM/GPRS (Global System for Mobile Telecommunications/General Packet Radio Service) and includes a 2.4-inch touch screen, 3-megapixel auto-focus camera and micro SD card slot. It also has a CCITT (Comité Consultatif International Téléphonique et Télégraphique) keypad with touch wheel control.