Nokia and HTC bank on new models

Nokia and Taiwan's HTC yesterday launched new models in China where 300 million units of smartphones are expected to be sold this year, Shanghai Daily learned yesterday.

The HTC One flagship model comes with a new voice assistant tool called HIDI and is set to compete with Samsung and Apple Inc in the high-end market. The HIDI service, similar to Apple's Siri, is only available in the domestic market through 13 partners.

Cooperating with Tencent, Ctrip and AutoNavi, the HIDI service provides users Chinese-language services such as movie ticket bookings and navigation by using the voice.

HTC has also launched a new HTC eStore which allows users in the domestic market to customize its E1 model, costing below 2,000 yuan (US$317), with a choice of camera resolution, body color, memory size and design.

Struggling Nokia Corp unveiled the 162-yuan 1050 model as the firm targets the entry-level market. Nokia claims the phone has a long standby time of 35 days.