HTC Windows Phone 8S

In addition to the new HTC Windows Phone flagship, the 8X, HTC has announced a new mid-level offering, the HTC Windows Phone 8S. Before going into the specifications, I would like to talk about the design. Like the HTC Windows Phone 8X, the 8S does not look like a HTC. It also look like it is designed with younger users in mind coming in a variety of bright colors. Well, I will say it. It looks like a Nokia.

The phone has a 4-inch display, a decent size. Three years ago, 4-inch was considered big. Today is is decidedly mid-sized and I do expect that the 4-inch display will be the new standard size from mid-level smartphones, a slight move up from the older 3.7 to 4-inch displays. The 4-inch display has a 480 x 800 resolution, 4 GB of storage expandable via a MicroSD card, a 5 MP camera, a 1 GHz dual core 28 nm Qualcom krait processor and 512 MB of RAM, HSDPA connectivity and of course, Beats Audio.

Nothing exciting for the enthusiast, although this phone is not targeted at them. I expect this phone to come out at the Php15,000 or so price range, which basically means it will have no direct competitor in the Windows Phone 8 line-up, and looks like it will be the cheapest Windows Phone 8 handset, for now at least.