Video site Letv unveils smartphone

As if the cell phone war wasn't hot enough, Letv, a major video streaming site in China, unveiled its first smartphone, Le Superphone, on Monday in San Francisco.

"The Le Superphone range is redefining the mobile experience for the connected age and offering consumers a better way to get the most out of their mobile devices," Mark Li, vice-president of Letv Holdings, told China Daily before the product launching event. "It will be available in the US market later this year."

Le Superphone will offer "a better way to plug-in" by using USB-C connections, he said. "This adapter is a flexible USB that charges faster and moves data more quickly, demonstrating Letv's ability and desire to lead smartphone innovation," Li said.

Another feature is the device screen's "dynamic color range", which also allows users to adjust the color settings, as well as "enhanced audio controls" and "hifi-audio quality", said JD Howard, vice-president of Letv's international mobile business.

"US users are hungry for something different. In the smartphone space, everything begins with innovation," Howard said.

The Le Superphone will "aggressively" compete with other smartphones in the market in its innovative design, color and sound aspects, he said.

He would not disclose details of the smartphone before Letv CEO Jia Yueting unveils the product in Beijing on Tuesday morning.

"I can tell you it will be a high-end, quality product with a very reasonable price," Li told reporters. "Our slogan for the Chinese market is 'double the performance and half the price'."

In an open letter in English, Jia said, "Apple's story is the success of a closed system. Their ability to innovate is diminishing due to its closed nature. We have seen that millennials are no longer interested in using iPhones.

"They prefer services that are open, free, and social. They have started to get tired of Apple's products, pricing and its design."

"That's why we are here to take a shot at it," he said in the 1,000-word letter posted on Weibo, a Chinese social media website, on Sunday, two days before the Le Superphone launch in Beijing.

He also stressed that the Le Superphone is "not only a smart phone, but also a whole mobile Internet ecosystem. The CP2C (consumer-planning-to-consumer) model has the capability to self-grow, self-evolve, and self-innovate in the Letv's open, vertically integrated ecosystem."

"Ecosystem," Li explained, meant a "next-generation Internet engine that is vertically-integrated to offer an online platform completed with content, devices and applications."

To build and enhance the Letv ecosystem, two offices have been set up in Los Angeles and Redwood City, in California, in hopes of integrating the innovation of Silicon Valley, the creativity and media of Los Angeles and the practical application and development of Beijing, said Li, who is also head of Letv's US operation.

In addition to the smartphone, Letv will also introduce its smart TV, alongside its library of Chinese content to the US later this year, which includes more than 100,000 television episodes and 5,000 films.

"Letv's initial online streaming will offer a new outlet of mainstream Chinese content for millions of Chinese-speaking Americans," Li said.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com