Time is a funny thing. Just a couple of months ago many were speculating that Mango, Microsoft’s next mobile OS update, would unfortunately not make it out this year. Needless to say, this wasn’t a popular rumor. Without Mango falling in the last quarter of the calender year, the potential for new Windows Phone devices fell pretty dramatically. Fast forward a couple of months and now Mango all but confirmed for a fall schedule release, and the images of tantalizing, spanking new devices are populating the internet. Like I said, time is a funny thing.
Here, now is the list of the most recent Windows Phone devices that have surfaced over the recent couple of months. Some might be legit and some might be unicorns not to be seen by the public in the market.
NOKIA
“Sea Ray”
This is the only Windows Phone device from Nokia to be visibly seen in the last couple of weeks. The device follows it’s hardware style cues from its Symbian brethren, the N9. Some of the specs include an 8-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss innards, a Gorilla Glass-protected touchscreen display, plus the obvious build quality that Nokia is known for.
The biggest question surrounding this device is its actual release date and region that it will go on sale. There are certain reports that suggest the “Sea Ray” will not come State side and instead is a Europe-bound device. It still remains to be seen if those reports are true, but hopefully the Americas will see some form of Nokia love and receive a device for the end of the year.
HTC
“Ruby”
The newest and most recent device to surface from HTC is the Ruby, which its picture was taken off an unintentional reflection from an HTC tablet at a trade show. It isn’t known if this is an actual Windows Phone device, but you can’t deny an unknown, right? The biggest thing going for this device is its obvious departure from previous and current HTC device styles. For one, it isn’t a tired and unimaginative slab with rounded corners and grey casings. The ergonomics suggest a more rounded frame with a white case, and just overall fresh look. Who knows what the insides carry, spec wise, but if they could just improve that camera and add at the very least an S-LCD screen, we might have solid devices coming from HTC.
Still, even if the Ruby is nothing more than an Android phone, the fact that the designers at HTC have finally gotten out of that peculiar and boring one-size-fits-all sort of device design is a good mark for a Windows Phone to come out of the gates with a new, cool look.
“Bresson”
HTC hasn’t really been known for its camera components when it comes to their mobile phones. Anyone who has an HD7, Arrive, Trophy or Surround knows that the camera isn’t really a feature to tout to others. It’s there, and it’s an adequate convenience, but it’s not going to replace any point-and-shoot camera or your nifty SLR. However, this device, the “Bresson”, sports a massive 16 megapixel camera–the biggest for a Windows Phone. It’s only been shown on a promo video, and it has never surfaced as real hardware and even if it’s real, the question is what sort of lens and image processor will it be equipped with. Having HTC’s reputation with image quality, nothing will be gained if the images we get from such a device turn out to be large, grainy, washed-out monstrosities that eat up your internal storage. Here’s hoping for a happy ending with this one.
“12MP Mystery Phone”
This device doesn’t even have a name, but it actually has a picture of real hardware to back its existence. The phone has a 12MP camera, but just like the “Bresson” it doesn’t matter if the processor is a botched job. Still, you have to commend HTC for trying to push its own limits and trying to bring something above the standard specs for its Windows Phone offerings. We just hope that it can deliver on this, and HTC can finally put to rest its reputation of crappy camera components in their phones. Only time will tell with this one.
“Eternity”
This one is tantalizing. One of the gripes that many Windows Phone enthusiasts voice is the lack of phones having above-average specs. Microsoft has placed strict spec requirements on its partner OEMs and thus, nobody has really tried to differentiate themselves aside from a couple minor differences. However, this HTC device has some of the best specs to date for a Windows Phone. Having a single 1.5Hz processor, 8MP camera, and a massive 4.7-inch screen will turn heads. Knowing that Nokia will probably take most of the headlines coming out of the Mango gates, HTC and other OEMs are starting to move the needle when it comes to specs in trying to take some credit as well. With the “Eternity”, HTC has taken the first step to solidifying it’s future as a competitive device maker in the Windows Phone realm.
LG
Pocketnow.com has come out with images of a new Windows Phone from LG, the Fantasy. Nothing was gleamed about it’s specs, suffice it to say that they stick, at the very least, to current specs. LG hasn’t really embraced the U.S. market with their Windows Phone offerings. The only phone to plop down on our shores is the LG Quantum (our review here), a 3.5-inch screen with a slide out QWERTY keyboard.
Looking at this device, however, it looks like it would fit right in with our current offerings. Aside from this image, nothing else has surfaced about the “Fantasy”, but lets hope that we get some more info on it, and if luck favors us, a U.S. launch date. If not, it will be another season of slim pickings from our LG friends for the foreseeable future.
Samsung
image source winrumors.com
“Samsung Mango Device”
The Samsung device that was leaked late last month at the Worldwide Partner Conference has been talked about as a Galaxy S2-clone. If that’s the case, most of us will be happy with that. One of the best phones to come out recently, the Galaxy S2 is a slim profiled, large 4.3-inch S-AMOLED Plus screen with a dual-core processor. No telling if those specs will migrate to the Mango version of this phone seeing how smooth the OS runs on a single-core, but it would mark the first dual-core, Windows Phone device on the market. If this comes out to the North American market, expect this phone to be a hot seller.
Fujitsu
image source engadget.com
It’s hot pink. It’s water resistant. It carries an 8MP camera. It will be the first Windows Phone device running Mango out to market. Oh yeah, it’s hot pink. And if the stories carried by PCmag.com are true, it will be here sooner than later (like, next month!), albeit only in the Japanese market under mobile carrier KDDI.
If just on sheer boldness of color, Fujitsu is trying to make a splash in the market out in the Land of the Rising Sun. No word if this 3.7-inch LCD screen device will ever make it out here, but for those of us that want some colorful options, we hope Fujitsu reconsiders.
This will be Microsoft’s first Windows Phone out in Japan. If the device and OS catches out there, we might expect a huge boost in new devices. The world’s third largest economy happens to be one of the most tech-savvy and voracious consumers of anything that is electronically connected. If that’s the case, Fujitsu’s gamble might pay off and in return might look elsewhere to expand.
ACER
“W4″
photo source phonearena.com
Acer popped out of nowhere to showcase its W4 at Computex. Nobody was overly impressed with the mundane hardware specs presented at its booth, but it’s good to know that consumers looking for choice, will have them available later this year. Even if the phone isn’t impressive for us techies, some of the more traditional smartphone consumers looking for a “simple” phone would probably be satisfied with this device.
The phone carries within it a 3.6-inch WVGA screen, 5MP camera, a 1Hz Qualcomm single-core processor, and pretty much the standard specs required by Microsoft.
ZTE
“ZTE’s Mango Device”
image source neowin.net
One of the four phones showcased at the Worldwide Partner Conference, the new ZTE Mango device was briefly shown there, but nothing much has been stated about its specs and stand-out features, if any. Even so, the images shown sort of point the device to have some influences from the Samsung Focus. In any case, we’ll have to hold judgement on what potential this device has in the market.
As far as we are concerned, the amount of new devices slated to be released this winter or early 2012 shows promise of the support from OEMs towards Microsoft’s OS. We hope new and exiting devices show up before years end.
What are your favorites amongst the devices showcased here? Let us know, or if we missed any, give us a shout-out in the comments below.
