The Windows Phone brand is already fading from existence, with GoFone’s new GF47W being the first device to sport a ‘Windows’ logo sans ‘Phone’.
Chances are you haven’t heard of small British electronics manufacturer My Go. The company’s product portfolio is so far limited to a handful of tablets, laptops and eReaders, but based on a leaked document it’s about to make a play into the smartphone market too and the product it’ll be launching will be a first in more ways than one.
The upcoming GoFone GF47W (let’s hope they rethink that name before launch) is looking to offer an affordable, big-screened device to those after a taste of Windows Phone 8.1, or rather just ‘Windows’. In amidst the GoFone’s product page is a set of downloadable press images showing the phone from various angles. One particular photo detailing the phone’s back shows a Windows logo that does away with the Windows Phone branding we’re currently used to.
This marks the first time we’ve seen such a change actively making a physical appearance on a device, following on from HTC’s One (M8) for Windows, which dropped the ‘phone’ part of the name it had used for older devices like the 8S and 8X.
If you’re intrigued about the hardware inside the GF47W it’ll sports a 4.7-inch 720p HD IPS LCD, protected by toughened Dragontrail glass, a 1GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage with microSD support (up to 32GB), dual-SIM functionality, an 1800mAh ‘Quick Charge’ battery and of course, Windows Phone 8.1, sorry Windows. The 7.2mm body also houses 2 and 8-megapixel front and rear facing cameras.
Interestingly, the current release of the GoFone GF47W’s product page still makes numerous references to ‘Windows Phone’ and it’s not completely clear how Microsoft will purvey the differences in operating systems when it comes to its smartphones and complementary products like its Surface tablet line.
This name change comes as part of Microsoft plans to lay the foundations for a fusion of the Windows Phone and Windows RT tablet ecosystems into one experience. When this transition is expected to complete is unclear, but at least we can now mark today as the start point.
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