ZTE, a Chinese handset manufacturer with global ambitions, has brought forward the release of its first Android smartphone.

ZTE told Register Hardware in June 2009 that it was working on an Android-based smartphone with a solar-panel power source.

The device’s launch was originally planned for Q2 2010, but Lin Qiang, the head of ZTE’s smartphones operation, this week said the company's Android offering will come "in the first quarter of this year".

Qiang was commenting on ZTE's decision to joint Google's Android supporters club, the Open Handset Alliance. ®