Last week, the first photos were published of Microsoft"s Surface mini, the 8-inch Windows RT tablet that came incredibly close to launching before the company cancelled it at the eleventh hour. Now, another defunct small Windows tablet has been captured on camera.
The device was developed by Nokia under the codename "Mercury", but as renders revealed in 2015 showed, it could potentially have launched with Microsoft branding, following Microsoft"s acquisition of Nokia"s devices and services business in 2014.
But along with several other Nokia devices - including its Moonraker smartwatch and an 8.3-inch Nokia Windows RT known as the Lumia 2020 - Mercury was instead consigned to the scrap-heap.
Unlike the Lumia 2020 and Surface mini, Mercury ran the full version of Windows 8.1 with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom (Bay Trail-T) Z3795 processor, and either 1GB or 2GB RAM. That means that it wouldn"t have been dependent solely on the weak selection of apps on the Windows Store at the time, as it would have been capable of running x86 desktop apps as well.
Mercury also had front and rear cameras, and quite a large cut-out on one side, which would likely have given owners access to the microSD and SIM card slots, suggesting that the device had integrated 4G LTE connectivity.
Notably, the device shown in these images does not carry any Nokia branding. It"s worth remembering that many of Nokia"s prototype Lumia devices were unbranded, so that"s not necessarily a reason to doubt the authenticity of these photos.
Source: Windows Blog Italia via MSPoweruser | Images via Windows Blog Italia