It’s been nearly a year a year now since we saw HTC deliver its last Windows Phone offering, the unremarkable 8XT. And while that model drew its hardware inspiration from the earlier 8X and 8S, we couldn’t help but wonder what might be possible if HTC took a few notes from its Android lineup – and specifically, from the metal-bodied One – when putting together a new WP model. The idea of a WP-running One M7 never panned out, but the rumor returned this year, now attached to the One M8. It’s been a few months since we heard anything about such a possibility, but those rumors are starting to pop back up again, and they’re insistent that a WP M8 is still very much happening.
Mentioned almost as an afterthought when posting about WP8 GDR1 rumors over the weekend, Tom Warren writes that not only is this Windows Phone version of the One M8 still in development, but that HTC intends to release the phone sometime before the end of the year.
That’s promising for a number of reasons, not the least of which being a lack of options available at the high end of the WP spectrum; sure, you’ve got a nice spread from Nokia, but some fresh blood and new designs (even if we are talking about an Android rehash) sound like a great addition. And while Microsoft’s been bringing on a lot of new WP OEMs lately, most of the progress we’ve been seeing is down on the budget end of the spectrum. If a WP-running One M8 succeeds, maybe we might hope to generate additional interest in higher-end WP models from new manufacturers in 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment