We told you about Karbonn, Lava (and Xolo) planning to launch affordable Windows Phone devices starting at Rs 6000 within a few months. What we didn’t tell you about was the specifications these handsets will boast of. Lava CEO and MD, Hari Om, had said that the company’s phones would have Snapdragon 200 processors and run on Windows Phone 8.
But the current version of the mobile OS does not support Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 200 SoC. As Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore revealed at the Mobile World Congress 2014, Windows Phone 8.1, the yet-to-be-released update to the OS will accommodate such chips. We can assume that not just Lava, but the Xolo and Karbonn smartphones will also run on the upcoming software.
Specifications of the Karbonn, Lava and Xolo ‘Windows Phones’
So we’re laying out the bets on what specs and features these forthcoming devices will carry. For one, the aforementioned Indian manufacturers are free to use Snapdragon 200, 400 or 400 with LTE SoCs in their phones. They won’t have to pay licensing money to Microsoft for borrowing the Windows Phone OS since the tech giant dropped the fees for OEMs in India with a view to gaining a bigger footprint in the mobile market.
Next, you can expect dual SIM slots within the phones since the mobile OS will be updated to offer compatibility with this. People will be able to customize the way they use the feature owing to support for individual Live Tiles (those square shaped icons for applications on Windows Phone) for each SIM, the option to link message tiles for both numbers and so on. Also, users will have the choice to store apps on the SD card as opposed to just the internal memory.
Lava, Karbonn and Xolo will thus be able to sell budget Windows Phone handsets with RAM as low as 512MB and 4GB internal memory since adding space will be an option. There won’t be any need for those three hardware buttons that used to sit at the bottom of the display since Microsoft’s mobile OS will be bringing in support for soft keys or on-screen keys. Even the physical camera button can be done away with.
So we’re talking about brands which are famous for affordable smartphones (and others too, as it goes without saying) being able to build extremely sleek devices without those unnecessary bumps called buttons. The forthcoming OS update will be able to handle TD-LTE, TD-SCDMA and SGLTE networks too. Lastly, you may be able to personalize your phone by setting a background image in the home screen also.
Apart from announcing Karbonn and Lava (Xolo) as its latest Windows Phone hardware partners, Microsoft even revealed Foxconn, Gionee, JSR, Karbonn, Lenovo, LG, Longcheer and ZTE as its new supporters. These companies together account for almost 56% of global smartphone shipments.