Original post. The mysterious zzzPhone has popped back into my inbox, with zzzPhone execs now proclaiming that they're selling low-cost Google Android phones (shown at left), drop-shipped to you straight from China.

If you haven't followed the zzzPhone saga, they're a small bunch of Americans who went to China to try to build a business selling cheap phones with lots of features direct to Westerners. I've spoken to both their China-based management team and to zzzPhone's former US representative Jesse Nowlin, and I don't think they're scam artists. But I do think they're in over their heads. First, they took a bunch of orders on phones that didn't work in the US, so they couldn't deliver them. Then they started delivering phones, but some of the purchasers seem underwhelmed with what they got. And although I've handled a few of the models - brought to me directly by Nowlin - I haven't seen them successfully deliver a full retail unit to a major reviewer yet.

Also, they still seriously need a Web designer and editor, because they've got issues with spelling and punctuation. I quote from their site: "per recent reviews, iphone has had problems with dropped calls, not working for people with long fingernails, and a secreet kill switch has been discovered.NOT FULLY LOCKABLE. zzzphone has none of these problems." That may be true, but it would be better communicated with some professional gloss.

So handle zzzPhone with caution. The word from southern China this week is that they're installing Android on their phones starting this month. Android phones will start being delivered on Nov. 30, their site says. According to zzzPhone's site, their Android model seems to have a large touch screen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard, looking something like the HTC Touch Pro.

The unlocked GSM zzzPhone costs $149 and has two SIM card slots, a 3-megapixel camera and an MP3 player; using zzzPhone's Web site, you can request a range of upgrades including a 7-megapixel camera and GPS system (though I see an unconfirmed report that the GPS software only worked in Chinese.)

Their flashiest upgrade, a "real diamond (14 x 1 Carat) on solid gold 18 Karats case," costs $225,000. I'd charge that on a credit card with purchase protection if I were you; you don't want that one to get lost in the mail.

But there's one big thing this shows about the mobile industry: yes, Android is open. Unlike every other smart phone OS I can think of, Android is totally free, so whoever wants to build Android phones can do so.

I foresee a lot of Android activity in China starting right about ... now.