Windows Phone 7 is finally getting some love from the United States’ largest wireless carrier.
HTC’s Trophy, a new Windows Phone, lands on Verizon Wireless on May 26, for $150 with a two-year agreement. If you buy a Trophy before July 15, Microsoft and Verizon will sweeten the deal with your choice of Halo: Reach, Kinect Sports or Lode Runner for Xbox 360.
The Trophy itself doesn’t have any standout features besides SRS WOW HD speakers, which claim to provide virtual surround sound. Otherwise, it’s a simple slab with a 3.8-inch screen, 1 GHz processor, 5-megapixel camera and 8 GB of internal storage. The Trophy runs on Verizon’s 3G network and doesn’t support 4G LTE.
In fact, most Windows Phones have fairly ordinary specs, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing (although more than 8 GB or 16 GB for storage would be nice). But rumors suggest that some more distinct WinPho handsets are on the way.
For instance, HTC’s Eternity will reportedly have a 4.7-inch screen, WMPowerUser reports. That’d be the biggest smartphone on the U.S. market unless you count Dell’s Streak, a 5-inch device that’s technically a tablet. I can only imagine the joy of playing Xbox Live games on a phone with a 4.7-inch screen, though it pains me to think of how it would feel in a pants pocket. HTC is also reportedly planning a Windows Phone called the Omega, which will have a 3.8-inch screen like the Trophy and an 8-megapixel camera.
Both rumored phones will run Windows 7.5, or “Mango,” according to WMPowerUser’s report. The OS update will add turn-by-turn directions, multitasking for third-party apps, HTML5 support and Twitter integration, among other features, and is coming this fall.
Microsoft’s finally filling in the missing pieces on its smartphone platform, and support from Verizon will be a big boost. Now, Microsoft just needs consumers to take notice. I hope the company saved some of its $500 million marketing budget.