China Mobile testing 3G Windows Mobile handset

China’s largest mobile phone network operator is testing one of the first handsets designed for China’s 3G  network that runs Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.0 OS, an executive at the operator said Monday.

China Mobile expects to finish building 3G networks in eight cities by the end of this year and at least 10 by the time the Summer Olympic Games open in Beijing next August. It is testing dozens of handsets for the networks, which are based on a home grown technology called TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access).

Among the phones being tested is the S876 from Taiwan’s Inventec Appliances (IAC), which may become the first 3G handset running Windows Mobile 6.0 to launch in China. While it’s hard to definitively hand the crown to IAC, it was the only handset maker to offer details of a finished device at the GSM Association’s Mobile Asia Congress in Macau earlier this month.

An official at China Mobile confirmed the handset was being tested, and an IAC executive sent photos and further details of the phone to IDG News Service. However, other handset makers, including Zhejiang Holley Communications (Holley Comm), have said they were working on Windows Mobile 6.0-based 3G handsets for China as well.

IAC’s S876 will be available to Chinese users in the second quarter of 2008, said Steven Qin, an executive in charge of smartphones at IAC’s Shanghai operations.

The handset is a dual mode device, able to switch from 3G TD-SCDMA to GSM/GPRS and includes a 2.4-inch touch screen, 3-megapixel auto-focus camera and micro SD card slot. It also has a CCITT (Comité Consultatif International Téléphonique et Télégraphique) keypad with touch wheel control.

Handset makers including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics showed off more than 50 mobile phones being readied for the launch of China’s 3G services at the GSMA show in Macau. Some of the handsets were kept behind plastic display cases, and did not include hardware or software specifications. Other OSes expected to be used on 3G phones for China include Symbian and Linux. China Mobile is also a backer of Google’s Android phone software.

Most mobile phone companies in China haven’t announced plans for their 3G networks yet, and the nation hasn’t even said when a 3G license auction might be held. However, officials from China Mobile and various equipment makers said at the Mobile Asia Congress they expect services to be available in time for the Olympics.

China boasts the world’s largest base of mobile phone users, 523.3 million, as of the end of September, according to its Ministry of Information Industry.