Lenovo looks to jump on the Windows Phone bandwagon in second half of 2012

Lenovo may be joining the Windows Phone party, but not until the second half of 2012. That's according to Chinese site iMobile (via WMPoweruser), which snagged an interview with Lenovo’s LePhone Product Manager Yue Chen.

Lenovo already launched the Android-based LePhone S2. During the iMobile interview, Chen confirmed that the previously leaked images of a Windows Phone-based LePhone S2 were the real deal. LiveSide pulled out the key excerpt from the interview:

“'We are indeed currently considering a Windows Phone-based LePhone product, and we already have a clear release schedule – it will be released during the second half of 2012,' Chen told the reporters."

(I'm not exactly sure about the discrepancy between "considering" and "it will be released." But I'm thinking this does mean they are fairly likely to deliver a Windows Phone, barring any unforeseen circumstances.)

In other Windows Phone news this week, Microsoft has delivered an emulator enabling iPhone and Android phone users to test drive the Windows Phone experience on their existing handsets. It's a pretty ingenious idea. IStartedSomething's Long Zheng has lots of screen shots of the emulator on an Android phone and iPhone.

And in the better late(r) than never department, Microsoft has begun pushing out the Windows Phone "Mango" bits (Build 7720) to Dell Venue Pro phone users on AT&T as of this week. Some users of various handsets also have been getting notifications of a 7740 update, which fixes Exchange Server 2003 compatibility and voicemail issues.

Dell has been noncommittal about its future Windows Phone plans.