Windows Phones aren’t exactly the most-popular devices out there, and not even Windows 10 was enough to change that. Even though there are plenty of features on Windows 10 Mobile that make it appealing, including some that Android and iOS users don’t have, they’re not nearly enough to convince people to switch from their current platform. Reactions to Windows Phones tend to range from indifference to mild interest, and that’s exactly how most of us will react to the new Windows 10 Mobile smartphone that VAIO has announced, called Phone Biz.
Microsoft’s Windows Mobile initiative is on the ropes, but no-one seems to have told Japan — the country has already seen more new phones running Windows 10 than ever came out here with Windows Phone 7 or 8. And the latest entrant to the fray is VAIO, the company formed when Sony spun off its loss-making laptop division. This is the first Windows phone to carry the VAIO name: meet the VAIO Phone Biz. If you were disappointed by the staid, plastic build of Microsoft’s recent Lumia flagships, the VAIO Phone Biz may make you wish you were shopping for phones in Japan. It looks like it might be a worthy successor to the company’s lineage of iconic laptops, with a sleek silver-finished aluminum build — VAIO is really emphasizing the construction quality and stringent testing for this phone. The screen is a 5.5-inch 1080p LCD, the camera is 13 megapixels, and inside there’s 3GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor, which is mid-range but supports Windows 10’s Continuum desktop mode. VAIO will sell the Phone Biz from April from about ¥50,000 ($424) unlocked, and the company is also partnering with leading Japanese carrier NTT Docomo to include various applications and network support.
