Low end Windows Phones should not mean low spec

There has been a lot of talk lately about the next wave of Windows Phone handsets taking aim at the mid and low end of the market to combat the proliferation of Android devices in that space. It is my hope that Microsoft will not be tempted to let OEMS build cheap lower spec phones just for that purpose. Instead, I think they should follow the Apple model and make the current generation phones be their low end and the next generation be their high end.

This idea became even more clearer when I was playing around with two of my friends iPhones (and was able to compare them side by side), one which was a 3GS and the other an iPhone 4. The latter device’s screen and design is so much better than the older generation. That’s the same kind of thing I wish to see for the next Windows phones. Perhaps the rumors of a higher resolution screen may come true because the iPhone 4’s screen sharpness is remarkably better than their previous generation. There were stories last year that Windows Phone had the capabilities of resolutions higher than the current 800×400 and the fact that Windows Phones include a hardware image scaler, a 1280×720 screen device seems quite plausible for second generation device.

So here is how I see it, instead of chasing the low end market with cheap underperforming phones, the strategy should be moving current generation phones which are still quite capable to the mid and low end  while at the same time introducing higher specced  hardware for the high end. In this way, Microsoft can maintain the quality of the Windows Phone brand and user experience at a level on par with the iPhone and better than Android.