By Star Chang, posted Jul 7, 2011 at 4:24 PM, 3,445 views,

Leonardo DiCaprio Advertises for Chinese Smartphone (video)

Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio recently has become a spokesman for a Chinese mobile company. The Chinese mobile maker OPPO, is a manufacturer of digital devices including MP3 and BluRay players. They have made a few cellphones featuring music playback which were received well enough to make them try out an Android smartphone. According to reports, Leonardo DiCaprio was paid a staggering $5 million (not RMB) to feature in the commercials. The ad campaign is highly influenced by the style and sub-plot of the movie Inception, as Leonardo DiCaprio’s character travels to Paris on a quest to find a mysterious woman with the new smartphone. There will be a series of five commercials in a roll…

The upcoming Android-based smartphone from OPPO, the X903, runs Android 2.2, with a Qualcomm 1GHz processor. The size of the screen is 4-inch multi-touch, made by Hitachi, and it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard like Motorola Droid. Other specifications include 8 megapixel camera, built-in GPS, 16GB internal storage with microSD slot, and the phone is equipped with a custom user interface like what HTC is doing. Oppo will be pricing the new phone at a more affordable price compare to Apple’s iPhone. There is still no launch date set for the new phone, leaving potential customers just looking at the Hollywood superstar until the phone appears in retail stores.

OPPO X903 first hands-on video:

There will be a series of five commercials in total, three have been already released on OPPO’s official site. The commercials definitely look like some Hollywood latest movie trailer and the story was full of mysteries which has generated a lot of online discussions. Currently the advertisement is nearly inescapable in China, the advertising campaign ‘Find Me’ can be found in most public places. Leonardo DiCaprio has put his name to a new smartphone for the Chinese market, but should a China local brand spend US$5 million just for advertising? Can the phone really compete with other mainstream brands on the market? (we believe OPPO’s biggest competitor is Meizu M9!) We will see how DiCaprio’s star power can drive OPPO to a success in Chinese market.

Source: OPPO, qudong.com, chinaSMACK