Micromax today unveiled 2 new Windows 8.1 OS based mobile smartphones – Canvas Win W121 and Canvas Win W092 – that are attractively priced at Rs. 9.5k and Rs. 6.5 respectively.
These are first Windows based phones launched by Micromax, India’s second largest handset maker. This has come close to heels of them announcing partnership their partnership with Microsoft. Both these phones by Micromax have been developed in close collaboration with Qualcomm and Microsoft
Canvas Win W121
The Canvas Win W121 is a 5-inch device with HD IPS display, an 8 megapixel rear camera (with LED flash) and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera. It is based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 1.2 GHz quad core processor. The dual sim phone has 1GB ram and 8GB of internal memory which is expandable to 32GB using external SD card.
Canvas Win W121 has proximity, gravity, and light sensors, an accelerometer, and comes with a leather finish back panel.
The W121 is priced at Rs. 9,500/-
Canvas Win W092
Canvas Win W092 has identical specifications to W121 in terms of processor, RAM, storage and dual SIM support. However, the display on W092 is 4-inch IPS WVGA display.
The W092 sports a 5 megapixel rear camera (with LED flash) and a 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera. It also has all the sensors that Win 121 has. The battery on W092 is 1500 mAH, which should ideally give you a full day worth of charge.
The W092 is priced at Rs. 6,500/-
From the looks of it, the W092 should be a worthy competitor to Moto E launched recently!
Why Did Micromax Launch Windows Phone?
The real question is “Why Not?”
Micromax does not have anything to lose and everything to gain. With Microsoft desperately trying to increase Windows phone market share, we are sure Microsoft would have offered dollops of incentives to Micromax to bring these phones to the market.
From Micromax’s perspective, they now have more choices for users who do not prefer Android and want sub-10k phones. If the reviews of these phones is good, we are sure many would find these attractively priced phones quite appealing.
In addition to this, these phones are based on updated Windows 8.1 OS version, which have been added with some nifty features that users will really like.
Another aspect is that Micromax needs to create some differentiation- The initial euphoria about their cheap Canvas line of Android phones has dipped in recent times, and these new Windows phone will bring back the buzz which has been sorely missing!
Only time will tell how well Micromax Windows phones will do…in the meanwhile we wait and watch!
What do you think?