Windows 10 Mobile dead? These two new phones suggest it's not quite curtains
Wileyfox's new Windows 10 Mobile phone is cheaper and less well specced than TrekStor's.
German firm TrekStor has lifted the lid on its WinPhone 5.0, a mid-range Windows 10 Mobile for the enterprise.
The WinPhone 5.0, the latest installment of TrekStor's WinPhone series on display at the IFA tech conference, features a five-inch HD display and runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 617 chipset, which MSPoweruser notes is compatible with Microsoft's Windows 10 Continuum feature.
The smartphone, which TrekStor says for the moment is just a development project, also has 3GB RAM, 16GB built-in storage, a microUSB port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The phone was spotted at IFA by German Microsoft-focused news site WindowsArea.de, which reports it has a glass front and back with an aluminum frame, and speakers on the bottom. The closest comparable Android handset would be Samsung's Galaxy A5.
The phone hasn't been released yet but will cost under €300, or about $350, if and when it is. It's aimed at enterprise organizations stuck with old Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile devices that need an upgrade. In Europe such organizations include BMW and Austrian Post.
TrekStor says the phone is part of some enterprise projects it currently has under development and is designed to show that a combination of Windows phone and wearable is possible and available in the short term if there is demand.
Microsoft dropped support for Windows Phone 8.1 in July and only offered the Windows 10 Mobile update to a handful of existing phones, such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and HP Elite X3.
UK smartphone brand Wileyfox, a former Cyanogen phone maker, also launched a Windows 10 Mobile phone at IFA, hoping to target the same audience.
However, it isn't very impressive, at a cost of €249 ($300) with a low-end Snapdragon 210. The company earlier this year announced plans to launch a Windows phone, arguing that businesses wanted cheap but secure phones and that Windows was better suited to that task than Android.
Until recently, Microsoft counted the New York Police Department (NYPD) as a Windows Phone customer, but the department has just dumped its 36,000 Nokia phones for iPhones.
The NYPD said it got its Lumia 830 and Lumia 640XL phones for "no cost" with an option to ditch the devices after two years. The Lumia 830 didn't get upgraded to Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft said it would continue to support the NYPD's Windows Phones.
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