Microsoft announces new low-end WP7 chassis with only 2 GB storage and 3 megapixel camera

September 28, 2011 | By Surur

When the ZTE Tania was revealed the 4 GB storage was very confusing, as from what we knew of the Windows Phone 7 chassis specs 8 GB storage was the minimum.

According to Nanapho.jp however Microsoft has just revealed a revised low-end chassis at the Microsoft Conference 2011 in Shinagawa Japan.

The new chassis requires:

Capacitive Touch Panel	4 points or over multi-touch
Sensors	A-GPS, Accelometer, Compass, Proximity
Camera	3 Megapixel or over
Connector	MicroUSB, 3.5mm jack
Storage	2GB or over
CPU	Not specified

This is clearly a much lower-end specification, but also clearly 100% compatible with what we have already, which is the best compromise we could have asked for, given that the changes made should not impact the day to day user experience dramatically or split the app market.

What do our readers think of the new chassis? Let us know below.

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged low-end chassis, windows phone 7.5

http://davepermen.net davepermen

Sounds just fine if one doesn’t plan to store much stuff onto it. As most have their stuff mostly on the web anyways (good or bad, another discussion), this should work just fine as a phone that serves well.

Best would be, if they would put a card-adapter into it, so one could plug some 32gb chip into it

Mom, Dad, need a new phone? I can seriously see tons of people who’d like to have such a phone.
http://www.facebook.com/chuckwhit Chuck Whitaker

IDGAF, i just want a high end phone that can match up well against the the Galaxy S II

Anonymous

There’s something called the Focus S/ Omnia S coming soon in case you haven’t heard!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NMVJ5XL5KCTBVNO6FP4QXZ53CQ Bryan R

thos are midrange phones they are not high end. They were 2 years ago.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Haikal-Sykes/100001531666758 Haikal Sykes

no no..this is not good!
MS have to be stringent in thier chasis requirement so that thier OS wont lead to fragementation like Android. 2GB? really? Thats like only 1.4GB of free space. Well i just hope they wont change the minimum RAM requirement though. 800MHz is adequate and in today’s era, its considered low-end to mid-range.

Anonymous

1.4gb is a lot of apps. Its a low end phone meaning people shouldnt expect to put their whole music library on it.
It sounds like a really good plan for lower end devices because it keeps the fragmentation and extra work for developers away (ie from resolution, RAM, and CPU changes.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Haikal-Sykes/100001531666758 Haikal Sykes

thanks for replying politely, unlike Adam Paris..well , i guess your right since the CPU, res, and RAM remains the same.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KTAHVKS2RNDWTQPHQEJALLRNEQ Adam Paris

Shut up there wont be fragementation, cause companies are still restricted.

Who cares. Cant you read the worlds LOW END??

http://www.facebook.com/people/Haikal-Sykes/100001531666758 Haikal Sykes

didn’t your teacher teach u some manners? damn so, you’re rude. I’m a proud wp owner btw.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Haikal-Sykes/100001531666758 Haikal Sykes

didn’t your teacher teach u some manners? damn so, you’re rude. I’m a proud wp owner btw.

http://twitter.com/Johannespreekt Johannespreekt

Why not? My dad won’t put music on his mobile, just a ring tone. He would just like to browse and have a smartphone, nothing fancy! And as extra he can even run some apps. Just ask €150 for it and he will buy it.
Anonymous

1.4gb is alot for apps, pictures, and ringtones. Hopefully there will be better SDcard support, so that people can add microSD cards to the low end phones if they choose to.

http://disqus.com/siyamalan/ Siyamalan

Indeed it is a very good decision to catch Indian and Chinese markets… As long as Microsoft release these low spec phones, I can feel confident of getting continued support and updates to my Focus
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KTAHVKS2RNDWTQPHQEJALLRNEQ Adam Paris

Good decision. Nokia will need this too to put out some cheap devices for developing countries.

I hope MS will also make a new high-end chassis for people who want more power.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=615205408 Mark MacInnis

Im figured this was comming, the feature phone market is the best way to pick up more market share and peak more intrest in WP7. These should come in at a low cost out right price point.
http://www.ultimate-communications.com Tommy Clarke

Yes thats smart but i hope it wont cost to much anyway
Anonymous

Where’s the revised high end chassis, i.e. minimum storage amounts from 8GB to 16GB?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Airan-Plaster/1719426825 Airan Plaster

I see the reason behind this as to get the phone into more hands but I personally will never go backwards from what I have with the Focus.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NMVJ5XL5KCTBVNO6FP4QXZ53CQ Bryan R

you wont be going forwards either. a processor speed bump on the same phone. I like the Focus S but its not high end at all

Anonymous

love this move.

Next moves need to be: add support for LTE, dual/quad core, increase max resolution dramatically
Following that: get back to developing great end user features as in mango (I wouldnt mind another 350 – 500 features in the next big release )
Anonymous

I think this is a good move to spread more phone volumes into the market….
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NMVJ5XL5KCTBVNO6FP4QXZ53CQ Bryan R

this is not what i want to see they don’t need to be lower in less than a year current phones will be mid low to low. I DON’T WANT A WINDOWS PHONE SERIES its exactly the same don’t say it isn’t.

there is no difference between weaseling your way to it and announcing it and when they announced it we all said no, so whats different now?
Anonymous

Good stuff if you think about it! Picture this, these low-end chassis costing $250 or less Unlocked, made by cheaper OEMs like ZTE, and Chinese are best at exploiting things, so SD card is almost guranteed. I’d so pick up one of these just as a unlocked device for Wi-Fi, Games, Zune music player purposes, kinda like iTouch.