Windows Phone 7 Chassis 2 form factor finally revealed?

September 28, 2010 | By Surur

We have always known there were more than one “chassis” for Windows Phone 7, and that all devices we have seen so far were Chassis 1 devices, with 3.5 inch plus screens and slate or slide-out keyboard form factor.

This did of course raise the question what Chassis 2 was.

Microsoft’s ISV developer evangelist Paul Foster have have let the cat out of the bag however in a recent Silicon interview.

It notes:

WP7 devices will have one of two screen resolutions – either 800 x 480 for large touchscreen devices with the potential for slide-out Qwerty keyboards, or 480 x 320 for ‘BlackBerry’ style handsets that can incorporate a Qwerty on the front of the device. Microsoft expects the majority of WP7 devices to have the larger screen resolution at launch, with smaller resolution handsets coming later, said Foster.

Up till now we had expected the lower resolution screens to be destined for cheaper tertiary markets, but it now appears Microsoft never intended to completely abandon the “Blackberry competition” market, and we should see devices with the above form factor some time next year, by which time of course Windows Phone 7 will also have most of the business-friendly features left on the cutting table for the current release.

Are any of our readers willing to wait for the above design? 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 chassis 2, front-facing keyboard, windows phone 7

http://twitter.com/barryAllott @barryAllott

I'll buy that for a doller
BChau

If the rendering has the screen like the HTC HD Mini, 3.2 inches 480×320, then the whole package is very appealing to me.
GP007

I guess we won't see any of this out till mid next year when MS gets a few WP7 updates out to make the phones more business freindly etc. Since this setup is more for business and not the media centric type of the big screen 4" slabs.
http://www.facebook.com/imperialdynamics Imperial Dynamics

I'd prefer a higher resolution not a lower one. iFans already make jokes about WVGA
sdfsdf

there is a vid on youtube somewhere with that chassis
http://twitter.com/MistaWet @MistaWet

Which means you probably want a larger screen as well. I for one love this form factor. Having that awesome OS with keys on the front is too good to resist.
Manny

Any chance of there being a Chassis 3 with a larger resolution than 800×480 in the future?
Danny

Everyone loves the virtual keyboard I don't get why they would focus on a qwerty with pathetically 2004ish resolution. The BB Torch was mocked endlessly for this. Only MS would choose to follow in those sorry footsteps and cheapen the wp7 brand.
Ben

I hope you guys realize that the image is still the fan-render from xda-dev of the HTC Trophy; if it's just meant for illustration I'm sure that's fine… but… just to avoid any confusion.
Ben

I'm more than willing to wait for this design: in fact, this form factor is my favourite form factor!
I'll soon buy a Samsung Omnia 735 with the same form factor and as soon as the business version of WP7 is out (the true successor of WM 6.x – whatever they call it, but where you can access PIM API and everything else as usual again) and a cellphone with that formfactor comes out I'll buy it.
I want a cellphone with no moving parts (no slider for me), a full keyboard and a touchscreen: Chassis 2 would fit that bill, except for the yet slightly incapacitated OS (no Outlook tasks sync and no PIM access for 3rd party apps.)
Churchill

IMHO – best device form factor – get the both worlds capacitive touch screen & hardware keyboard – without dodgy sliding constructions
Billy C

This is what I want and I will wait for it. I have settled for touch screen, but having to use two hands to do most functionsis not user freindly to me. Like the Palm Treos with a better operating sytem (IMO), whats not to like. Those large big screen phones like my EVO is nice but have the text. I always feel like a settled for a virtual keyboard.