14 DAY TRIAL // The world of Windows phones is pretty much gone given that Microsoft retired Windows 10 Mobile a few months ago, so the only thing we can do right now is look back and discuss about the mistakes that led to the failure of the platform.
But before Windows Phone 7 was announced at the Mobile World Congress in Spain in February 2010, those who wanted a Windows phone could very well go for a device that ran Windows XP, the desktop operating system which at that point was the leading choice on the PC.
At least two companies invested in phones powered by Windows XP, and while neither became a hit, news of such a project made many excited about the idea of having such a powerful operating system in their pockets.
First of all, it was a company called ViewSonic, which developed the VCP08, a Windows XP-powered phone featuring a form factor similar to the Nokia N97.
Photos that made their way to the web nearly 11 years ago showed that ViewSonic’s phone was supposed to preserve the desktop feeling of Windows XP with all traditional elements, including a Start menu, a taskbar, and a system tray. This was without a doubt a great way to remain productive on the go, although working on such a small screen just like on a PC was painful, to say the least.
However, to compensate for its reduced dimensions, the ViewSonic Windows XP smartphone featured a full keyboard, so technically, you were allowed to type more or less like on a desktop keyboard.
Then, it was the ITG xpPhone, another Chinese smartphone whose purpose was to bring Windows XP to mobile in a way that also allowed users to stay productive beyond the classic office.
With a similar form factor, the xpPhone was equipped with a 4.8-inch touch-capable display with an 800x480 pixels resolution. It was powered by an AMD processor featuring 512MB RAM on the standard base model and several storage options, including a 120GB HDD. It goes without saying this device wasn’t necessarily easy to carry around, so it was mostly considered a smaller laptop with phone capabilities. But at the end of the day, it was still the easiest way to carry Windows XP around wherever you wanted to go.
The xpPhone tipped the scales at 400 grams, including the removable battery. The manufacturer claimed the device allowed for 5 hours of talk time or 7 hours of mixed use per charge. And you also received the other extras, like a headphone jack, a microphone connector, a USB port, and Wi-Fi.
Needless to say, Windows XP phones have never been a hit, mostly because this operating system wasn’t necessarily developed to be used on mobile. Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7 in 2010, and while this operating system originally seemed to be the right way to go in mobile, the company eventually decided to end this adventure earlier this year with the retirement of Windows 10 Mobile.
At this point, Microsoft’s mobile future seems to be all about Android. Not only that the company has brought many of its apps to Android, and is even offering an Android launcher, but it’s also planning to release an Android device later this year. The Surface Duo is a dual-screen mobile device that uses Android and not Windows 10X, which itself is an operating system built for this form factor.
Surface Duo will go live in the holiday of 2020, and more information on Microsoft’s return to mobile will be unveiled closer to launch.
