Even though Apple is poised to take all the attention with a rumored iPhone 5 announcement today, we can’t forget that there are others fighting to take back all that market share away from Apple. While Android is putting up a good fight, Windows Phone needs some help. Samsung may be that help.
A recent rumor from European Windows Phone site, WP7.nl, says that Samsung is testing out a Windows version of its popular Galaxy series of smartphones. The Galaxy S series is Samsung’s flagship Android smartphone and one of the major threats to the iPhone’s dominance. The upcoming release of the Galaxy S III has even attracted a motion for injunction from Apple.
The Windows version of the smartphone is rumored to be called the Galaxy W. Unfortunately, the leak does not contain rumored images of the device or its specs. The proof comes from a test on WP Bench, an app that runs benchmarks on Windows Phones. A leaked test shows a device called “Samsung Galaxy W” being tested with it running on Windows Phone OS 7.10.8779. According to WP7.nl, that specific version of the Windows Phone OS is 7.5.
A new Galaxy smartphone running on WP 7.5 points to a release in the next few months. It’s strange that Samsung wouldn’t wait until the release of WP 8 to launch the Galaxy W, but I guess they’re hoping to get it out as soon as possible. It should be relatively easy to upgrade from WP 7.5 to WP 8 once it’s released.
Samsung currently has four Windows smartphones on the U.S. market. They’re all a part of the Samsung Focus series and appear to be well-liked among those that use them. I’m sure that Windows Phone fans would love to get their own version of Samsung’s top of the line flagship smartphone though.
This is all firmly in rumor territory for now, but we’ll be on the lookout for any more evidence of a WP Galaxy smartphone. Besides the Nokia Lumia 900, Windows Phone needs a high-profile release to really put it on the map. Who knows? Maybe Siri will start proclaiming the Galaxy W as the best smartphone ever made.
