Edcon has added an affordable Windows 8.1 smartphone to its in-house Verssed brand. The W1 phone will be available in selected Edgars, CNA, Jet and Legit stores from 15 December.
Priced at just R899.95, the Verssed W1 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor and offers excellent connectivity via WiFi 801.11n plus Bluetooth 4.0, and fast download speeds (HSPA+ speeds of up to 42 Mbps).
Users can capture important life moments on the smartphone’s 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and make Skype video calls using the VGA selfie shooter.
Good battery life is also part of the Verssed W1’s appeal thanks to its decent-sized 1420 mAh battery.
“Modern smartphones enable users to boost their productivity, multitask, navigate to their destinations with live traffic info to avoid jams, and enjoy their favourite media or mobile games on the go,” says Jurgen Schreiber, CEO of Edcon.
“In this day and age, price should not be a barrier to putting this kind of functionality into the hands of more users.”
The Verssed W1 is the first phone in the range to run Windows 8.1. Other devices under the Verssed label are two smartphones and two tablets, all running the Android operating system.
As a Windows Phone 8.1 device, the Verssed W1 includes features such as Live Tiles that surface information important to you; Action Center, which show new activities and notifications at a glance; and Senses, which is a suite of
features that takes the work out of managing data use, storage space and battery life.
Despite the affordable cost of the Verssed W1, it still offers local users all of the same advantages of the Windows Phone ecosystem including access to thousands of apps on the Windows Phone Store.
“The Verssed W1 smartphone is the first Windows Phone partner device to become locally available,” says Melanie Botha, consumer channels group executive at Microsoft SA.
“We understand that each market is different and our partner device programme has been specifically designed to help original equipment manufacturers and original device manufacturer partners build Windows devices that meet local demand as well as develop local brands. The focus caters to the needs of our consumers by encouraging device manufacturers and other partners to deliver low-cost devices with an uncompromised Windows and Microsoft Services experience,” concludes Botha.
