Huawei U8800 packs Android 2.1 and 14Mb/s download speeds

The new Huawei U8800 Android smartphone has a need for speed.  Running the latest version of Android (version 2.1) and delivering support for theoretical peak download data speeds of up to 14Mb/s, the U8800 is set to impress.  If that wasn’t enough to spark your interest, the U8800 features a 3.8-inch screen and the device will be released in the third quarter of 2010.  Huawei came to play at this year’s Mobile World Congress, announcing 4 additional Android handsets besides the U8800.  The U8300 is aimed at the youth market and incorporates social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, and a Qwerty keypad. It will be available in green, yellow and purple.  The U8100/U8110 are entry-level smartphones. They have 2.8 inch wide touchscreens and dual cameras, plus WiFi and bluetooth. They will be launched in Europe in the second quarter of 2010.  The SmaKit S7 tablet was also on show, which enables information-sharing across screens to present the same content simultaneously on computers, mobile phones and TVs. The model has a 7 inch wide screen and can be connected to a home gateway, TV or Android handsets.

Huawei’s strong support of Android at this year’s show follows last year’s unveiling of its first Android device, the U8220 (marketed as the T-Mobile Pulse). It is one of the cheapest Android handsets on the market and was dubbed the world’s first prepay Android device. Separately, Huawei is also demonstrating its LTE-Advanced system this week, with claimed download speeds of up to 600Mb/s. The company claims it is the first vendor to use multi-carrier aggregation and high-order MIMO technology in its LTE-Advanced system, which increases spectrum efficiency up to five times, reducing transmission costs.