Prior to the start of Mobile World Congress we got word that Kyocera was bringing a prototype device to Barcelona that would be running Windows Phone. So we dropped by to take a look at it, and prototype is definitely the key word here.
That's because this is literally a version of the Android powered Torque smartphone with Windows Phone as the OS. The hardware is 100% identical, right down to the Android physical buttons at the bottom of the device. But, two interesting things in particular stand out.
Firstly, this is a fresh prototype. It doesn't say it on the device, but given what we can see, it's running Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2. The new app permissions and refreshed settings menu are definitely present. So Kyocera has definitely not had this around for long, since the only other phones we've seen this actually running on are the new Lumia 640 and 640 XL.
Secondly, if this device were to launch in a similar form factor to what we've seen here, it would put a nice, niche device into the Windows Phone ecosystem. Ruggedized phones aren't for everyone, but for the target audience, they're essential. We'd definitely welcome this particular type of variety.
But really there's not much to say. There's no point in getting bogged down in the hardware or the software, or anything really. This is a prototype. There are no current plans to bring this or any variation of it to market as things stand, but to see yet another OEM experimenting with Windows Phone is nothing but good news.
Check out a quick look in the video above and be sure to drop by our dedicated page for all the Mobile World Congress news right here
