2011 will be a make-or-break year for Microsoft's mobile redemption tour, and so far the software giant's nascent Windows Phone 7 is showing some healthy signs. With upcoming CDMA handsets on Sprint and Verizon, Redmond's competitor to iOS and Android should be on all 4 major carriers by late March or early April. Windows Phone 7 launched in October of last year with offerings on T-Mobile and AT&T, and earlier this month, Microsoft announced a massive partnership with Nokia that will make WP7 the sole OS on the phone maker's future smart phones.
The HTC Arrive, announced by Sprint for a March 20th release date, will feature a roomy, tilted slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3.6 inch display, 5 megapixel camera and 1 GHz snapdragon processor. It'll sell for $199 on a two-year contract.
Meanwhile, the HTC Trophy went officially official this morning with a leaked image of the device rocking a Verizon logo and some custom Big Red stylings. An official announcement is expected soon, but based on an already-released European version of the phone, the Trophy should feature specs almost exactly the same as the Arrive, although with a different form factor, no slide-out keyboard and a slightly larger screen at 3.8 inches. Both phones are expected to ship with Microsoft's anticipated WP7 update that will enable copy/paste support.
We'll keep you updated on WP7's extended family members as more info becomes available.
