Lenovo Intros The LePhone S2 with Voice Recognition (Video)

Why Foxconn Worker
Hates Making iPhones

Tim Cook Visits China

Underpaid Foxconn Workers Go On Strike

Microsoft Launches
Windows Phone in China

Fake Android Store
Spotted in China

Angry Birds Space
Launch Event in
Hong Kong

By Star Chang, posted Nov 29, 2011 at 7:26 PM, 438 views,

Lenovo Intros The LePhone S2 with Voice Recognition (Video)

Looks like Lenovo is getting serious about the smartphone market, especially competing with Apple. The China No.1 PC company has decided to join the party once again with a new contender. The company introduces their new LePhone S2 device, and it has a lot to offer for the average consumer. The LePhone S2 is an Android smartphone and the most interesting part it has a built in voice recognition system, which perform operation task similar to Apple SIRI. The system is fully supported Chinese language, which Apple SIRI doesn’t understand at the moment. We have a full hands-on photo gallery and details info on the new device, with demo video on the voice recognition, check them out after the break.

Hardware

The S2 has a smaller, 3.8-inch display screen, packs with 480 x 800 pixel resolution. Powering the S2 is a single-core, 1.4GHz Qualcomm processor and runs Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. lt has either 512MB or 1GB of RAM depending on configuration. The 512MB model has 8GB of internal storage which is eMMC storage, while the version with 1GB of RAM bumps that up to 16GB. There is no memory card expansion slot. On the back of the phone is an 8 megapixel camera with 720p video capabilities, and there is a gesture area below the screen that interacts with Lenovo’s custom interface on top of Android (S2 has no physical button ! ) The S2 measures 122mm x 60mm x 10.9mm and weighs 120g. The new smartphone will be available in China only, the price starts at 2,999 yuan (about $470). It supports 3G radio netwotk on WCDMA and HSPA, a TD-SCDMA version is in the works for China Mobile customers.

The screen size is slightly larger then the iPhone, color is quite neutral and realistic.

S2 doesn’t provide any physical button, it uses touch panel to control the basic functions.

Behind the phone, there is a dedicated speaker for voice application.

The capacity of the battery is quite standard and it can be replaced.

Gallery: Hands-on with Lenovo LePhone S2

Voice Recognition

The Lenovo’s voice application, demo in Chinese language.

The biggest selling point for the LePhone S2, is the voice recognition system. Lenovo called it the ‘Voice Secretary’. The function is not really similar to the Apple Siri voice application, but through the recognition of the Chinese language, it can automatically calling out different application and help users to complete the task. The ‘Voice Secretary’ can also recognized human speech and input text to your email, SMS and micro-blogging messages, or read out any form of messages at the same time. So far as we can see, user must speak according to the identify command or sentence to operate the system, it is not as intelligence as Apple Siri.

The user interface of Lenovo’s ‘Voice Secretary’.

Yang Yuanqing, the CEO of Lenovo, is very optimistic about the development of Chinese speech interactive technology. He has claimed that the voice recognition system provided by the company is unbeatable. Yang told the Chinese press:

In the field of Chinese voice interaction, Lenovo will not lag behind other manufacturers. May be not for English, but for Chinese language, there are no other companies can do better than Lenovo !

Le User Interface

Although the LePhone S2 is running under Android Gingerbread, Lenovo has remade the whole UI in a brand new design. The custom interface is made up of five viewing panes, which consists of a number of apps pertaining to email, SMS message, chatting, call answering and contacts. The system has also built-in lots of localize applications for the Chinese user.

The main interface can be fully customize.

The screen LOCK and custom theme interface.

The phone dialing and SMS message interface.

Wrap-up

Lenovo has followed other PC makers in trying to get hold of the smartphone market in China, which has proved lucrative for many producers lately. The company is already the largest PC producer in China, and it hopes it can achieve a similar dominance in smartphones in its home country. The CEO told the public that the company aims to double the sales of its smartphones in China market, but no specify timeframe for this target. Android-based LePhone was the first smartphone produced by the company in May 2010, so far only China has witnessed the launch of Le Series. Lenovo says it will not release the smartphone in other markets until it commands a good share in China. As for the voice recognition system, which supports Chinese language, it shows that Lenovo is more serious than Apple on Chinese voice interaction, although the system is not as smart as SIRI.

Source: PConline, evolife (in Chinese), IDG