Last year, Chinese search giant Baidu unveiled Yi, an Android remix that would eventually power the Dell Streak 101DL. Fast forward to now, and Baidu is ready for a second kick at the can. This time, the OS has been tweaked and re-branded as Baidu Cloud, and partnerships with several device manufacturers have been rumored. That’s the first Baidu Cloud smartphone to be spotted, and it’s clearly a design that owes a lot to the Nokia Lumia 800 and 900.
No real hardware specs for this phone have been leaked yet, other than that it has a 3.5-inch display and a row of capacitive buttons beneath. It’s expected to retail for a 1,000Yuan (about $160) when China Unicom puts them on sale next week, and customers will be able to choose from several different colors.
Users will also get access to 100GB of cloud storage — with the possibility of adding additional storage at no charge (possibly through a tie-in with other services like Weibo or Ting). Baidu Cloud will also feature integrated voice controls, similar to what Apple offers with Siri on the iPhone 4S or Samsung’s implementation on the Galaxy S3.
The leaked images appeared briefly on the Weibo account of Baidu’s mobile chief, Yue Guofeng, but they were quickly taken down after being spotted. Baidu Cloud is expected to be officially unveiled next week, so we can expect to see this phone — and possibly a few others — on display when the company does the big reveal.
More at MIC Gadget and Sina Tech
