Lenovo will launch its first Windows
Phone OS-based smartphones in
mid-2015.
Microsoft at its WinHEC conference in
Shenzhen on Tuesday announced
Lenovo as its strategic partner along wit
Tencent and Qihu 360. The company
says that Lenovo has also committed to
"build Windows phones, to be available
in mid-year 2015 via China Mobile."
While the Redmond giant is approaching
its Windows 10 release, which company
confirmed to get available this summer i
190 countries and 111 languages, and i
going to launch Windows 10 for phones,
Lenovo will still be launching Windows
Phone OS smartphone in mid-2015, as
suggested in the presentation slide by
Microsoft (via The Verge). An upgrade to
Windows 10 for the Lenovo phones can
be expected, if not a launch with
Windows 10 onboard.
At the conference, Microsoft also named
Xiaomi as its testing partner for Window
10. It announced that the company is
working with China's Xiaomi to offer
some customers a test version of
Windows 10 to install on their Mi 4
smartphones.
Microsoft added in a statement that it
would be helping select group of Xiaomi
Mi 4 users "flash their phones with the
new Windows 10 OS" on their handsets
and let them "contribute to its future
release later this year."
The details of the programme are not yet
known, but with Microsoft's use of the
word flash, the company will probably b
offering a ROM, similar to custom ROMs
like CyanogenMod, to install on the
Android smartphone. Microsoft's deliver
of Windows 10 ROM for Mi 4 users,
however, is said to be with a software
that helps "convert" an Android phone
into a Windows 10 phone, complete with
access to all Microsoft services,
according to sources close to the matter
cited by Techcrunch.
Lenovo to Launch Windows Phone Handsets in Mid-2015 | NDTV Gadgets
