The folks over at ModMyGPhone claim that Lenovo has a phone in the works, with pictures to back it up. Dubbed “OPhone,” this is a sweet model and beautifully designed. No word on specs, but from the picture you can tell there is a spacious touchscreen with embedded “hard buttons,” USB port, and a headphone jack.

China Mobile has been working on OMS for quite some time now. With the Apple deal going nowhere after multiple rounds of negotiations (because of China Mobile’s refusal to share any of its profits), it needs an OS of it’s own. A well placed source said,”Given these(iPhone, Android, Symbian) developments, it is becoming very clear that developing a proprietary handset operating system is essential for dominance of the mobile Internet market in China. At the moment, China Mobile is in a comparatively weak position without its own operating system. With its own operating system, China Mobile will be able to commission customized phones from handset makers and keep its hand strong in negotiations over profit sharing. There is even the possibility that China Mobile may move into manufacturing handsets itself.”

The one catch, we will never see this in the US. even if Lenovo could possibly bring it over, it would be seasons past by that time and most of the internal parts would have to be replaced to work on a US carrier and spec regulation.

That being said, who will be the one to bring the Shiny Shiny, the beautiful phone with the killer features, to the US, finally giving android a cute body to go with all them brains?

Let’s face, the HTC G1 is nothing more than a glorious consumer-passable dev model. Google even admits it as they are now selling it as an sim-unlocked dev model for $399 to developers. I’m not saying the G1 is a bad phone; its a great phone spec-wise if we can forgive a few HTC blunders (more on that later). the G1 is a buttaface (yea i said it).

Right now, we have a few comanies saying they are making phones for the Android OS, but lets focus on the ones that can actually give the US some love.

• Motorola – yea.. ya know what? Uh-uh Sources say the Moto+droid will look like the Krave ZN4, and be cheaper and faster than the G1. As a multiple Motorola owner, I used to replace a RAZR every three months, and every other Motorola phone I’ve had has bit it somehow or another. They make great throwaway phones that shatter on impact; I want a smartphone to be a little more durable. Plus, I don’t think they’ll have enough life left in them to make more than one model.
• Samsung and LG – I do not like their phones. Any of them. Plus, they were in the race to get the first out but something happened and we probably wont see anything till midsummer next year. I would love to eat my words and be humbly surprised but I doubt it.
• Sony Erricsson – I am going to put my bets on a high-end Android phone from Sony Erricsson in the Summer of 2009. A recent addition to the fold of the OHA, Erricsson has experience making a great high power phone, with robust media features, and powerful cameras. One of the biggest gripes about the G1 is lack of pretty, no headphone jack, and a crappy camera. With all-star releases like the cybershot K800i and the new Xperia under the belt, Sony Erricsson is not going to pull any stops to make an Android phone with everything.
• HTC – They already have a G-Phone out, so I’ll give them the credit for actually being able to create, market, and sell an Android based smartphone. The question here is can they do it again, this time with better hardware?  I’ve had a few HTC phones, and 3MP doesn’t mean shit if the shutter is slow. I can only manage to take great pictures on the G1 by holding the phone really still and hoping my subject doesn’t move. This is really rough for my attempts at getting hot bear du jours in the wild. I can forgive the lack of video recording; it’s an Android feature that isn’t available yet. And while HTC could put a 3mm headphone jack in their next G-phone, they probably won’t because they LOVE their ExtUSB ports and think you should too. HTC designs a pretty phone, and have done wonders in making Windows Mobile less of a giant turd, just by wrapping it in some shiny. The point is that HTC can do the shiny shiny for Android, but the G2 will be a shiny turd as well if the can’t boost their hardware.

It seems that the race is really between HTC and Sony Erricsson. Can HTC fix their issues and pop out a beaut instead of a turd? Or will Sony Erricsson lay down the mother of all iPhone/Nokia killers? Tune in this Summer.

What do you think? Who else is in contention? Does Motorola have a chance in hell? Let ‘em rip in the comments.