So we’ve been following Lenovo and their OPhone with a mixture of curiosity and a healthy dose of scepticism. We showed pictures of the device side-by-side with Apple’s iPhone back in December, something anyone would have done given the close similarities in name. But we all know the similarities do not stop there. The OPhone’s build also looks particularly similar to the iPhone, and we were disappointed when we saw pictures of the OPhone running a custom version of Android that basically cloned the iPhone’s home menu and many other input screens. Recently, there has been more information floating around on Android news related sites, but rather than jump the gun and start quoting the same stuff, we held back looking something more concrete; and now we’ve found it.

The video below shows the OPhone running a branch of Android called Open Mobile System. The Chinese release version of HTC’s G2 (called the Dopod G2) runs the same thing. This form of Android seems to change the UI into something that looks like the iPhone UI and works somewhat like TouchFlo. The OPhone allegedly sports a 5MP camera with auto-focus and flash, WiFi, microSD, China’s high-speed internet (TD-SCDMA) as well as China’s TV streaming standard (CMMB). There is no denying that this is a pretty sweet set-up if it converts nicely to US and European standards, especially if someone threw in GPS. However, given all the similarities to Apple’s iPhone, it is very unlikely we will ever see this thing officially launched on a European or US carrier in its current form. Check the video out and you’ll see what we mean. This is where our curiosity steps in, because we cannot understand why a large and respected manufacturer like Lenovo would stoop so unashamedly low with their copy-cat production?

Of course, stick good old regular Android back on the device and perhaps rebrand the OPhone as something a little less blatant, and we might have a winner. We can only hope, right?