Microsoft Pure and Turtle phones heading for Vodafone in May
Microsoft seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment. Not content with rewriting their mobile OS and unleashing Windows Phone 7 Series on us, they’re also rumoured to be developing their own range of mobile phones.
Called Project Pink, the phones form part of a new range from Microsoft that comprises the Microsoft Pure, and, oddly, the Microsoft Turtle, each of which is a new smartphone based on its new mobile OS.
Today we learn that the phones will be released on Verizon in the US on April 20th, and across the UK and the rest of Europe on Vodafone shortly after.
But what is Microsoft Project Pink phone, and are the phones any good?
Read on after the jump for more details.
Microsoft phone rumours
Rumours of a Microsoft phone have been around as long as rumours of a Sony PSP phone. With the Sony phone, they stem from the desire of people to own such a thing. With the Microsoft phone, it kind of makes sense, even if nobody actually desires one!
Windows Mobile was such an awful mobile OS that nobody would have wanted a Microsoft branded phone that carried it. Initial rumours had a Microsoft phone being based on its Zune MP3 player, as a counter-strike against Apple who turned their iPod MP3 player into a phone.
The problem was the Zune was as unloved as Windows Mobile, so all that Microsoft would have proved with its phone was how bad a turkey it could really unleash on the world (which we already knew thanks to IE6!)
Recently, though, a new version of the Zune has been launched that’s actually not bad. And at MWC 2010, Microsoft showed off its updated mobile OS – now called Windows Phone 7 Series, and completely rewritten from the ground up.
So now maybe a Microsoft phone doesn’t sound so bad after all?
Microsoft Pure
The latest news is that the Microsoft Pure phone will be launched on April 20th. Looking at these photos, I’d have said the rumours are true as the phone looks like it’s nearly ready for release, and an April 20th release date sounds about right for a launch at the CTIA trade show in the US.
As far as looks are concerned, the Microsoft Pure is pretty conventional. It’s your average touchscreen handset with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and some pink detailing.
What’s very different about it, though, is the user interface. Described as being “hectic and colourful”, it’s aimed firmly at the yoof. So that’ll be lots of social networking built in then!
There will also be an impressive amount of cloud support, with back-ups, data storage, picture uploads, contacts and all manner of data handling being managed by Microsoft’s servers.
What’s odd is that these phones won’t be using Microsoft’s shiny new mobile OS, Windows Phone 7 Series. No idea why not, they just won’t be.
Very little of Project Pink makes sense though. Like the next phone, for example – the Microsoft Turtle.
Microsoft Turtle
The other Microsoft Pink phone is the amusingly named Microsoft Turtle. The name’s odd in its own right, but when you consider that it’ll be called either the Lion or Pride in the UK, it’s even more bizarre!
The Turtle is an altogether different looking phone. Actually, that’s too kind – it’s an awful looking phone! It’s too fat to fit in your pocket, yet its screen is too squat to look at comfortably.
It’ll be interesting to see this phone in the flesh, if only to see if it lives up to the true horror that it seems to be about to unleash on the world!
I’m not sure what’s odder – the design of these phones (particularly the Turtle), their names, or the fact they don’t use Windows Phone 7 Series.
Fortunately, we won’t have too long to wait. The CTIA mobile tradeshow in April is looking like it could be the even of the year, as Microsoft, Motorola and Nokia are all rumoured to be showing off their new phones.
Here’s hoping they make more sense than Project Pink!
