The Windows Phone 8 era is swinging into full effect. Nokia's big launch event was only a few short weeks ago, now HTC is enjoying its time in the spotlight with two handsets of its own. The Windows Phone 8S makes no mystery of its platform choice and, like the One S, indicates its midrange status with a simple alphabetic suffix. This four-inch phone will be shipping with HSPA on board. Unfortunately there's no word on an LTE edition of this rather handsome device. Spec-wise, the WVGA screen leaves us a little wanting, but we appreciate the combination of Super LCD and Gorilla Glass, which should make for a contrasty and scratch resistant panel. Under the hood is a dual-core S4 clocked at 1GHz, which is hardly a speed demon by todays standards, but should be enough to keep Microsoft's streamlined OS humming along nicely. The CPU is augmented by 512MB of RAM, which isn't any beefier than most Mango phones prepping for retirement.
HTC and Microsoft discuss handsets
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Bloomberg reports that conversations between HTC and Microsoft have revolved around the idea of HTC putting Windows Phone onto its Android handsets as an alternative. It's unclear how this would work, but it could mean that users would choose a handset model and then choose an operating system, similar to being able to choose between Windows and Linux in some notebook models. The prospect of a dual-boot solution seems ludicrous and impossible to implement, but Bloomberg's reporting leans strongly in that direction. As enticement to pursue this strategy, the report states that Microsoft has offered to cut or eliminate the licensing fee.
Whether it's a dual-boot solution or something more sensible, the move would require Microsoft to broaden the supported hardware specifications of Windows Phone to support the higher-end hardware that's de rigueur in Android handsets. Evidence for such an expansion of hardware support can be gleaned from the near certainty that this fall's GDR3 update to Windows Phone will include options for 1080p displays.
HTC may be a ripe target for such a deal. Its unaudited quarterly results, announced yesterday, demonstrate how tough things have been financially. After laying off a big chunk of its US staff, HTC reported a quarterly loss for the first time in the company's history. While it has had some design wins with the HTC One and One mini handsets, it has also had its share of weak spots, including the HTC First handset, which it made in partnership with Facebook. The last Windows Phone handset that HTC released was the HTC 8XT, a decidedly mid-range handset that hasn't delighted users the same way last year's HTC 8X did.
Following Microsoft breaking open the cheque book to buy out Nokia's handset business, I discussed the impact this would have on HTC. Now it's time to turn our focus to the third of the Microsoft's major partners and look at the impact on Samsung. And while it might not change the volume of handsets, I think Samsung is going to be sticking with Windows Phone for a little longer.
That's not to say that there's no pressure on Samsung. It is currently riding high in the market share charts with the Galaxy range of handsets, it has significant mind share with the public and the media, and it is in the rare position that it can launch a product and have it 'accepted' no matter how much of an edge case a Bluetooth enabled second screen on a wrist actually is.
I'm confident that Samsung is going to carry on Windows Phone, although its focus will remain on its Android business first of all, with Tizen taking up a lot of the spare capacity in the development labs. But it'll find time to do some Windows Phone handsets.
When it does, I'm confident that Samsung isn't going to push the boat out on these handsets. It's going to follow similar styling to the Galaxy devices; at every possible point it will try to use similar parts to other handsets to leverage economies of scale (the screen being the primary contender here); and there's not going to be any concerted marketing around the handset. Don't expect a big glitzy product launch with the press brought down to Earl's Court, that wouldn't be the aim of the handset.
Any new handsets are going to be used to maintain a relationship between Samsung and Microsoft - which of course reaches beyond the smartphone; they will act as an early warning system on both sales and the software developments of the Windows Phone platform ensuring Samsung will have time to react; and if Windows Phone does suddenly 'hockey stick' up in terms of adoption and marketshare then Samsung will be able to open up the taps on handset production and promotion to take advantage.
Will there be another Samsung Windows Phone handset? Yes. Will it feel a little bit 'meh' when compared to the latest handsets from Nokia Microsoft? More than likely. Will it feel like Samsung isn't putting an effort into getting consumers to buy the handset? Yes.
Inside the 8X you will find a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Krait-class Snapdragon S4 processor - just like the latest Lumias - with 1GB of RAM. That may sound a bit average compared to the quad-core chips inside some new Android phones but it still feels, and indeed is, a fast, fluid and powerful device. To quantify that statement, the AnTuTu benchmark app threw up an average score close to 12,000 which puts the 8X on a par with all but the most powerful Android handsets. Run Sunspider in the web browser and the results come in at below 900, which is also very good.
Originally Microsoft thought it could follow the same game plan as with Windows Mobile and indeed the PC - license the software, let others worry about the hardware. The company did set some requirements for the hardware, which held back early WP7 handsets. For example, only WVGA (480 x 800px) resolution was supported initially. There was also an approved list of chipsets, which made WP7 handsets lag behind Android in the CPU core count race.
US software giant Microsoft has unveiled its latest operating system for mobile handsets, Windows Phone 8. The announcement was made in the same week as the firm launched its Surface tablet device, which runs on the flagship Windows 8 operating system for PCs and tablets.
Nokia has its exclusive partnership with Microsoft, working to outfit its smartphone range with the latest Windows Phone features and settings. HTC, on the other hand, kept its Windows Phone portfolio small, introducing its Titan and Titan II handsets in the past year, but for the most part remained firmly in the Android camp.
Dec 5, 2014Google today began pushing Android 5.0.1 Lollipop to the HTC One M7 and M8 Google Play Editions. The update may take up to two weeks to reach most handsets over the air, but users may also download and manually install the updates if they wish.
If you're a tech news junkie, it's probably hard to hear or see anything but the words iPhone 5 right now, but believe it or not, other smartphones do exist, and a few are even being demoed and released in the run-up to the iPhone 5 launch. Cases in point are Windows Phone 8X and Windows Phone 8S, a pair of handsets manufactured by HTC and powered by Microsoft's Windows Phone 8.
"When HTC representatives first uncovered its new products, literally removing a cloth that covered them for dramatic effect, I briefly thought I was in the wrong meeting," Bennett writes. "That's because the HTC Windows Phone 8X could easily be a doppelganger for Nokia's Lumia handsets, either the Lumia 900 or upcoming Lumia 920. Honestly, if I squinted my eyes I could almost make out Nokia's logo above the device's 4.3-inch screen instead of HTC's."
In addition to the work NetTALK is doing, Garry also discusses an app he has helped build called NOOZ.AI, an AI-driven news aggregator that analyzes the news using natural language processing and machine learning to empower readers to uncover bias.
With its well-publicized 500 new features, it looks very likely that the "Mango" release of Windows Phone 7 will solidify these leads and propel Microsoft to be a market contender. The Nokia partnership will make for good handsets. HTC and Samsung may step up their Windows Phone 7 handset game after Google's planned acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Nokia's carrier relationships and the decline of RIM should help bring Windows Phone 7 more prominence. Nokia's involvement should especially help in Europe and developing nations, and force Microsoft to support more languages on the phone and more countries in the Zune marketplace.
As smartphone prices come down and emerging markets look to bigger, brighter handsets, feature phones may start to dwindle. But, while the market is still there, should this not be something to invest heavily in, rather than throwing money at high-end iPhone competitors that rarely win the battle? Or maybe the focus should be on Nokia's low-end smartphones and making them a competitive alternative to feature phones?
BlackBerry signed over its brand rights to Chinese company TCL last year, and Microsoft exited the consumers smartphone market close to 12 months ago (though rumours of an incoming Surface phone abound). HTC has continued to make a series of generally well-received, but poorly-selling handsets, a pattern it hopes to break with the U11.
Nokia, which now only makes smartphones running Windows, sold 5.6 million of its Lumia handsets in the first quarter, up 27% from the previous quarter, although that is still dwarfed by 37 million iPhone sales. 2ff7e9595c
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