Seems like people want Sony to make a Windows Phone even if they don't seem keen on the idea. Take these latest images being reported tonight at XDA Developers (main site) which purport to show a device that looks like an Xperia Arc S running Windows Phone 7.
Although we'll say "anything is possible" and clearly Sony was working on Windows Phone back in 2010 (e.g. "Julie" prototype), we're doubtful that this is legit. Reasons? Well obviously it is missing the three keys near the bottom: Back, Windows and Search which have been on every single Windows Phone since day one and are a hardware requirement. Sure, that "arc" near the bottom could double as those (they're buttons on Android) but we find it odd that Sony would get rid of such a defining feature, let alone modify it to such a degree by removing those icons.
Going further, we don't see evidence for a side camera button. Now in fairness, these aren't the best shots and perhaps the button is there and just really flush, but it's one more thing we see that makes us question the validity of these images.
So while we really want to see Sony enter the Windows Phone game, we're calling this one fake. Plus we'd hate to think that Sony would, pardon the pun, phone it in this badly with their first Windows Phone i.e. just recycle an Android device. But hey, we'll see what happens at Mobile World Congress in a few weeks.
Source: XDA Developers
Comments
Are you faking serious? Its OBVIOUSLY the same phone but with launcher7....facepalm
You beat me to it!
x2! I spotted it straight away. Even the label on the back is hilariously fake.
:-/
Yeah, that's fake, all of the OS icons are different, just look at the message hub and phone hub.
Fake. It's little things like the signal strength meter which is incorrectly flush with the tiles, which are too big to be authentic.
The tiles are all wrong, definitely fake
Fake
Defineatly a fake:
Yeah that's a launcher 7 app I put that on my wife's, my 2 sister in law and they love the tiles. They want to get a wp7 device now ha ha! My friend came to visit and we all took pictures of the kids and her droid rebooted so funny. Thought I might add that..wp7 till thend$$$$
Looks absolutely nothing like the actual WP7....anything actually. Should honestly just delete this article to save face...
The point of the article was to call it fake, not suggest it was real. I don't think we could have been more clear in that. How should we "save face"?
But when XDA's front page reports this we felt we should respond by stating why we felt it's not real. That's how this "news" thing works.
Plus, I didn't want our inbox flooded with "tips" on this story.
Yes the headline was obvious...daniel is right
In all fairness, it could be an early prototype. Testing a hardware/software combo in the shell of an existing phone to save on R&D costs. If they decide they like it, they take more steps to make the shell Windows Phone appropriate, if they don't they haven't wasted their money making a brand new phone design that will never see market.
Will Sony hurry and make a friken WP already! They might as well because they aren't the most popular when it comes to Android phones. WP is the hardware savior, because good hardware isn't anything if it's not running Windows Phone!!
I enjoyed the article so nevermind the besserwissers:)
Sorry. I honestly didn't understand what was meant by Xda main site... I love this site and this just seemed so out of place to report on to me.
But it does point out a relevant issue WP7 has... go read Launcher7, I think it is called, reviews in Android market. People honestly think all there is to WP7 is big colored sqaures with an icon and some text on them somewhere. They rave about it in reviews and really think they are getting the exact same experience as a real WP7 device. Nevernind missing the whole love tile thing. The whole thing is ugly to boot and doesn't look anything like the real ting even in screens, not to mention how choppy it runs.
I am.starting to rant but Microsoft has a huge perception problem even from people who recognize WP.
It's definitely just launcher 7
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