Lenovo Lephone Android smartphone revealed; innovative swirl keyboard

Lenovo announced its first Google Android-based smartphone, the Lephone, at CES 2010 last week, but was overwhelmed by all the other news from the show (including its own IdeaPad U1 Hybrid laptop-tablet).

Now, official photos of the device have surfaced, and boy, what an interesting looking handset we have here. I'm not sure how practical it is -- I have yet to place my hands on this device -- but you can see the U1 influence in this handset, which has a snap-on accessory keyboard in an interesting circular design.

Quick specs for the Lephone are as follows:

• 3.7-inch 480x800-pixel resolution display
• Entirely touchscreen -- no buttons
• 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
• 3.5mm headset jack
• 3G, Wi-Fi, A-GPS
• 3.0-megapixel video-capable camera
• "OPhone" customized Google Android OS
• Proprietary 9-pin dock connector for external keyboard

There's one big catch, however: Lenovo has said that the handset was made specifically for the Chinese WCDMA market, and has no plans to bring it to U.S. shores.

Still, it's an interesting development from a manufacturer that (in the U.S., at least) isn't primarily a phone maker.