These handsets to pack great hardware build, affordable prices

Jul 24, 2012 21:51 GMT  ·  By

The upcoming Windows Phone 8 platform could arrive on shelves loaded on devices coming from far more handset vendors than before.

Among them, WPDang says that we could see handsets manufactured by Chinese vendor Oppo, which has recently launched one of the smallest smartphones in the world, the Oppo Finder.

We already knew that Microsoft was looking into attracting more phone makers to its Windows Phone 8 operating system, and the partnership with Oppo does not come as a surprise.

However, no official info on the matter has been provided yet, nor were details on upcoming Oppo Windows Phone 8 devices unveiled.

Based on the company’s history, however, we could expect for some highly appealing smartphones to be released, hopefully in more markets than just China.

Oppo’s aforementioned Finder was made official with a 6.65mm thin body, a dual-core application processor inside, 1GB of RAM, a 4.3-inch touchscreen display, and Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich platform on top of them all.

Although capable of delivering appealing performance capabilities, the new device features a rather affordable price tag, at only around $400 off-contract.

This spells great news for Windows Phone 8 enthusiasts, as Oppo is sure to load the platform on similarly spec’d devices, without tampering too much – if at all – with the software.

However, the company might not launch such a mobile phone until next year, although the first Windows Phone smartphones are expected to emerge on the market in the fourth quarter of the current year.

Microsoft already partnered with leading handset vendors for the launch of its new platform version, including Nokia, LG, Samsung, Acer and others, but no specific release date for these devices has been unveiled until now.

Rumor has it that the first Windows Phone 8 will land sometime in October from Nokia, and that other makers will have their products on shelves as soon as November.