Although its share of the worldwide smartphone market has remained stuck at around 3% for some time, Windows Phone has seen astonishing momentum in recent weeks and months, with a huge range of new manufacturers joining the platform. Just a few days ago, KAZAM announced the first in a new range of Windows Phones, the Thunder 340W, which will come with free replacement for damaged screens.
Polaroid – the brand that was once synonymous with instant film cameras – is the latest to launch a Windows Phone. The company has been through considerable turmoil and restructuring since its glory days, and now focuses primarily on digital photography products and accessories, but it also launched a small range of Android tablets earlier this year.
But Polaroid’s new Windows Phone is also the company’s first venture into the smartphone space, and while it has not yet been officially announced, it was spotted on the company’s stand at the IFA trade show in Berlin by WinTouch.de.
The Polaroid WinPro 5 has not been designed or built by the company itself, but is based on the ‘I7B’ reference design from ODM (original design manufacturer) JSR Technology, which also makes the same handset available to other companies that may wish to brand it as their own. Its key specs include:
- 5-inch IPS LCD with HD (1280x720px) resolution
- Quad-core processor (believed to be 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200)
- 1GB RAM
- 8GB onboard storage
- 8MP rear camera
- 2MP front-facing camera
- 7.2mm-thick
- Dual-SIM support
- 2400mAh battery
With the exception of the 5-inch display, those specs are remarkably close to the XOLO Win Q900s and the Yezz Billy 4.7 – and the look of all three handsets is also very similar indeed, making it likely that they are all based on the same JSR reference design.
ODM reference designs are not ‘fixed’, of course – brands such as Polaroid are free to customize the basic framework with spec changes and aesthetic alterations to distinguish the device from others based on the same design (this is how HTC used to make its money as a ‘white-label’ manufacturer before it began selling devices under its own brand).
Reps on the Polaroid stand said that the WinPro 5 will go on sale next month for under €200 EUR ($260 USD). Check out the source link below for a few more pics and a short hands-on video with the device.
Source and images: WinTouch.de via MyNokiaBlog