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Rumors are surfacing (no pun intended) once again that Microsoft is developing their own smartphone to run Windows Phone 8. A report published yesterday from China Times reignited rumors although no evidence or sources were mentioned. Today, however, WPCentral and BGR both claim independent sources have indeed confirmed that Microsoft has their own handset (no, not the ill-fated Kin) in the works.
In fact, sources told WPCentral that the hardware already exists and is in testing. Details about the device weren’t revealed but they did say it’s something unique compared to the current lineup of Windows Phone 8 handsets.
It wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination for Microsoft to create their own mobile hardware for WP8. After all, they were able to develop the Surface tablet under a veil of secrecy. Granted, other vendors were made aware of the tablet ahead of time but the general public and those in most tech circles were none the wiser until the very end. Microsoft certainly has the resources to pull it off.
With several vendors already set to release Windows Phone 8 smartphones later this month, wouldn’t Microsoft once again risk alienating partners by launching their own phone? Not necessarily. As WPCentral speculates, they could mirror what Google is doing by offering their handset carrier-free. It’d give Microsoft an opportunity to showcase what they believe a Windows phone should be without imposing too heavily on hardware partners.
Alternately, a Microsoft phone could serve as a backup plan should the current batch of WP8 handsets fail to catch on with consumers. Nokia has invested a lot of time and money into the platform but if it doesn’t go as planned, internal hardware could bail Microsoft out of a tough situation.
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AT&T Lumia 900
The Nokia Lumia 900 is 11.4mm thickness and weight 159g, in the front you can find the 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display and in the back the 8 megapixel camera and its LED flash. Since there are no seams or doors there is no way to access the 1830mAh battery or increase the phone's 16GB internal storage with a microSD card.
Nokia Lumia 710
The Nokia Lumia 710 has a 3.7-inch, WVGA (480 x 800 pixel) display. It sports a 5 megapixel camera and LED flash, and a loud and clear external speaker. Like most Windows Phone 7.5 devices, the Lumia 710 does not support microSD cards. The Nokia Lumia 710 is powered with a 1.4GHz Qualcomm processor and 512MB of RAM. The Windows Phone interface gets out of your way easily, and apps are quick to open more often than not.
Nokia Lumia 800
The Nokia Lumia 800 measures a fairly compact 116.8mm x 61.2mm x 12.1mm (4.6in x 2.4in x .5in), it features 16GB of internal storage, but lacks a microSD memory card slot. The Nokia Lumia 800 runs on a single-core processor (1.4GHz). The Lumia 800 is capable of HSPA 14.4 3G data connections on the 900, 1900, and 2100MHz bands and also features Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support.
User Comments: 15
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treeski said:
Bring it on
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Appears that MS is banking everything it has with this Win 8 release - to the point of creating multiple hardware platforms to support it.
If this fails, I'm not sure MS will ever be able to recover.
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VitalyT said:
I'm beginning to like MS stamina in recent times...
1. June: We tell MS that Windows 8 ain't good for us, desktop-demanding users. MS says - "Like hell it is! We are releasing it!"
2. July: MS steps out with their own hardware, saying "OEM-s, screw you! We make our own bid in hardware now!"
3. August: MS releases VS2012 with a nightmare of UI colors and style and incredible bug count. We say - MS, come on! And MS says we should be open to the new ideas. Whose ideas and why - unknown.
4. Now after a long try with Nokia MS says ok, screw you Nokia, we'll make our own phone now.
I'm at a loss in deciding whether MS grew balls or lost its mind. Looks like a bit of both...
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Yea cause WP7 was such a giant success it totally makes sense to now try and do WP8 also!
Oh wait WP7 was terribad and no one liked it, well 3rd time is the charm they say! lets just wait for WP9
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This Thursday should be interesting...
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1 person liked this |
Oh wait WP7 was terribad and no one liked it, well 3rd time is the charm they say! lets just wait for WP9
Probably because the majority don't know ish about Windows Phone OS, so they tell anyone that asks about it, that it must suck... which you'd know it doesn't if you'd actually do a little research.
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1 person liked this |
I am not going to argue that WP7 was no huge success.... but to say it is terrible is kinda ignorant.
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Tekkaraiden said:
I'm beginning to like MS stamina in recent times...1. June: We tell MS that Windows 8 ain't good for us, desktop-demanding users. MS says - "Like hell it is! We are releasing it!"
2. July: MS steps out with their own hardware, saying "OEM-s, screw you! We make our own bid in hardware now!"
3. August: MS releases VS2012 with a nightmare of UI colors and style and incredible bug count. We say - MS, come on! And MS says we should be open to the new ideas. Whose ideas and why - unknown.
4. Now after a long try with Nokia MS says ok, screw you Nokia, we'll make our own phone now.
I'm at a loss in deciding whether MS grew balls or lost its mind. Looks like a bit of both...
I'm thinking a bit of both.
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1 person liked this |Yea cause WP7 was such a giant success it totally makes sense to now try and do WP8 also!
Oh wait WP7 was terribad and no one liked it, well 3rd time is the charm they say! lets just wait for WP9
Actually WP7 is a good OS and people who own the phone tend to say they love it it just never got the exposure of Android or iOS. Even though it had lower hardware specs then other phones it still ran smoother than they did. WP8 should be better and it is a good OS overall with just a few things on the desktop version that people don't seem to like but can get over.
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2 people like this |Wagan8r said:
I absolutely love WP7. I'm still rockin' my Samsung Focus from 2010. I previously used an iPhone and I currently have an Android tablet, but in my opinion, WP is simply the best mobile OS. Just about all of my complaints will be resolved with WP8, so I'm looking forward to it immensely. However, I'm thinking I'll go with the Lumia 920. Unless the Surface phone has an S4 Pro, I'll probably pass.
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After they issued Surface and their own smartphone, later they will developing their own TV, HTPC, sound system, then freezer, dishwasher and another appliances (of course with Metro UI), after that MS will move to the next level: developing their own car, using touchscreen with Metro UI replacing the steering wheel and how you switch your gear with your finger gesture :p
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After they issued Surface and their own smartphone, later they will developing their own TV, HTPC, sound system, then freezer, dishwasher and another appliances (of course with Metro UI), after that MS will move to the next level: developing their own car, using touchscreen with Metro UI replacing the steering wheel and how you switch your gear with your finger gesture :p
I like it.....
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"I absolutely love WP7. I'm still rockin' my Samsung Focus from 2010. I previously used an iPhone and I currently have an Android tablet, but in my opinion, WP is simply the best mobile OS."
Toilet engine.
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Jolla!
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VitalyT said:Toilet engine.
- but nice plumbing!
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