Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In mid-June, Chen Jin’s double escorted several upper-level managers to the southern city of Shenzhen, where they conducted a field inspection of the factory production room of Tiny Pepper Corporation. Wang Xiaoyan, the founder and CEO, attentively and enthusiastically accompanied them throughout the tour.
Chen Jin’s reason for assigning his double to conduct a field inspection was simple: This company worked fast and was the first to produce a 100% domestic mobile phone that came installed with the Star Cloud System.
In the spartan test lab, Wang Xiaoyan held up the project prototype and walked “Chen Jin” through a demo.
“President Chen, the prototype that I’m holding right now is installed with the mid-range CPU, SX-800, jointly developed by Xing Hai Technologies and Tengxun Corporation. The highest running benchmark of Antutu exceeds 220,000. Its performance is comparable to the Snapdragon 725 by Qualcomm.
“It uses the same RAM chip—4GBLPDDR4—that was mass-produced by Purple Ray only last month. Its work frequency is 1,866 megahertz, and its performance is similar to that of the high-frequency version, LPDDR3; however, it consumes slightly less energy.
“The ROM storage that it uses is the UFS2.1, produced by the Da Jiang storage chip factory. It has a capacity of 64 gigabytes, and its performance shows little difference from the mainstream ROM storage in current use. The screen is a 5.8-inch OLED from Oriental Crystal, and the motherboard, camera, lithium battery, fingerprint sensor on the front panel, and all other components are all supplied by domestic manufacturers.
“It’s also installed with the latest Star Cloud 1.4 system!”
At this point, Wang Xiaoyan was overwhelmed with admiration. “President Chen, the extent and speed of the upgrades implemented on the Star Cloud System are astonishing. All the necessary functions have been added, and my company’s hardware engineer has said that the integrity of the Star Cloud System is comparable to Android 6.0.
“As for Star Cloud’s operating speed, it is smooth to the point that it very obviously surpasses all versions of Android. It’s even more than 20% smoother than IOS!
“Although we are slightly lacking in terms of our hardware, the user experience of this phone will not be worse than any of the Android flagships due to the performance of the OS.
“By now, the number of apps on the Star Cloud app market has exceeded 100,000. All the mainstream apps that are necessities for users have been made available. Once the phone is distributed on the market, the consumer will not find any inconvenient aspects in the user experience.”
Wang Xiaoyan continued excitedly, “The model that I’m holding right now can be mass-produced very soon, and it will become the first mobile phone that is 100% domestic!”
Chen Jin nodded and picked up another prototype. He opened some applications and realized that the operating system was indeed extremely smooth; however, Chen Jin saw that the top bezel on the phone was close to an eighth of an inch. He commented, “This bezel is too wide. Can it be further reduced to increase the aspect ratio?”
“We should be able to reduce it in the mass-produced model, although only by a little bit. But this aspect ratio is pretty good. The screen takes up 88.8% of the real estate, and we should be able to achieve 90% in the final product.”
Chen Jin nodded. If the screen ratio was increased to 90%, it would be that much closer to the wildly popular 16:9 aspect ratio. That would be more acceptable.
“What about the battery capacity?”
“It’s 3,6000 milliampere hour, but after it’s installed with Star Cloud, it can save up to 35% of energy in the user process when compared to Android and 28% compared to the Fruit mobile. Its continuous performance over the course of a day is similar to that of a 4,800-milliampere-hour large-sized battery. It will be the only phone on the market that only requires charging once every two days. Energy efficiency is also a huge advantage with the Star Cloud System.”
“Good!” Chen Jin agreed. “This is a selling point that can be emphasized!”
“President Chen, I have something else to ask you.” Wang Xiaoyan explained, “What should we name this model? I’ve thought of three names. President Chen, can you give your opinion on these? Red Pepper Z1, National Pepper 1, or Star Pepper 1.
“Let’s call it Red Pepper Z1. National Pepper and Star Pepper sound bizarre. Forget about those.” Chen Jin knew that Wang Xiaoyan was trying to curry favor by suggesting Star Pepper, but it was truly awful sounding and he didn’t like it.
But what was really surprising to Chen Jin was that Wan Xiaoyan had even prepared the color schemes of the phone in addition to the model name. Tiny Pepper’s designer had prepared three color schemes: Patriotic Red, Starry Blue, and Woeful White.
Patriotic Red referred to the nation-loving heart, which was reflected with its blood red shade. Starry Blue referred to the deep blue of the outer skies and represented Xing Hai Technologies’ mission. As for Woeful White…
“Wait! What the hell is Woeful White?”
Wang Xiaoyan explained, “It refers to the despondent expression on the faces of those who tried to beat us down by isolating our technology and products. When they see this phone, the blood will drain from their faces, hence Woeful White.”
Chen Jin nodded. “I see.”
He wanted to meet the designer who had invented such creative design, so he asked for the person who had come up with the three color schemes. The designer was a man in his 30s with the surname Zhang. His appearance was average; he was wearing thick glasses and seemed to have no care for his dress. He radiated the air of a loser.
Chen Jin patted his shoulder while saying, “You’re a f*cking genius.”
The designer scratched his head and laughed in embarrassment. “Hehe—”
Finally, they had to fix a date for the launch of Red Pepper Z1.
“When will mass production begin?”
“In a week’s time, on June 26th.”
“So fast?”
“Yes, it is that fast. That’s the typical speed for those of us in this industry.”
“I would like you to manufacture more ready-for-sale units. Ensure that the quality of the products is maintained! We’ll officially announce its launch on the 3rd of July. Xing Hai Technologies will publicize the product, and I will personally host the launch event. During the event, you’ll conduct a demo on the product. Everyone will know about the 100% domestic phone!”
Wang Xiaoyan said emotionally, “Yes! Thank you, President Chen.”
With this, Chen Jin’s double and his staff completed the field inspection of Tiny Pepper Corporation.
…
The speedy progress and quality results of Tiny Pepper Corporation delighted everyone; however, the real Chen Jin was not certain that Red Pepper Z1 would become the first 100% domestic phone. After the Samsin incident, Brother Lei had accepted his suggestion to have Da Mi Company use only domestically produced components to create a 100% domestic phone. Of course, that was only on a hardware level. Now, three months later, he was curious about Brother Lei’s progress.
Chen Jin called Brother Lei to inquire about Da Mi Company’s status on the phone. Brother Lei said, “It will happen very soon. We’ve created the prototype, and we’re currently in the process of adapting the bottom layer. It should be ready for launch by mid-July. Our work efficiency has been rapid.”
He sounded somewhat absent-minded as he talked about his worries over the pressure his company would face by Samsin and Google after the launch of his domestic phone.
“Oh,” Chen Jin uttered.
Brother Lei, this is a deadly weapon that you’ve given them of your own free will. I gave you the opportunity, but you didn’t grasp it.
He shook his head again.
Brother Lei was very smart, to the point that some might mistake his great intelligence for stupidity, but Chen Jin had been aware of this critical limitation—that Brother Lei was not bold enough and failed to act decisively out of fear that he would lose more than he would gain.
…
As the days passed in a seemingly peaceful manner, the 1st of July arrived, and it was time for the National College Entrance Examination. More than 9 million students made up the huge army of exam candidates. Some were overflowing with confidence, some were scared witless, and others were bewildered, but all of them were about to participate in an exam that would affect their destiny.
Su Yun’s brother, Su Zipeng, was among the army of exam candidates.