Device vendors target China with 3G Androids

China’s homegrown 3G technology, TD-SCDMA, won a little more support this week as device vendors Motorola and Sony Ericsson got behind the platform with a raft of new devices catering to the country’s nascent data services market.

Motorola has introduced three Android-based touchscreen devices – the MT810 for China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA network, the XT806 for China Telecom’s CDMA2000 network, and the A1680 for China Unicom’s WCDMA network.

The three handsets bring Motorola’s portfolio of Android devices in China to eleven, all released in the past 12 months. The three new devices follow the lead of the Ming, which first launched in 2006 and established itself as a hit with its Chinese handwriting support. Since the launch of the series more than five million Ming devices have sold in China.

Rival vendor Sony Ericsson meanwhile is launching its own smartphone to support China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA network – the Sony Ericsson A8i. The phone features a 3.5” touch screen, wifi, and China Mobile’s mobile music service. It runs the OPhone platform,  China Mobile’s customised version of Android.

In related news China Mobile has completed the country’s first 10G GPON full service test with local vendor Huawei as equipment partner. The company has verified 10G GPON’s support for services such as internet data, IMS-based voice, IPTV, E1 leased line, Ethernet leased line, video conferencing, and wifi backhaul.