We saw the HTC Trophy late last year when it appeared as an upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 handset in an HTC roadmap leak. Things have changed in the intervening nine months and the Trophy has apparently morphed into a Windows Phone 7 handset. The handset is unusual as it is candy bar with a front-facing keyboard, a form factor that harkens back to the Motorola Q and is a rarity for a 2010 smartphone.
This HTC handset has recently appeared at the Global Certification Forum with quad-band GSM and the name of HTC 7 Trophy. Presumably, this new name reflects its new Windows Phone 7 OS. If that is not enough to suggest the handset is coming soon, the HTC 7 Trophy has made a second recent appearance within the inventory system of Vodafone Germany as shown above in the screen grab. This appearance is timely as the Windows Phone 7 launch right around the corner and handsets from the five hardware launch partners will begin to appear in inventory systems worldwide.
Previous specs suggest this handset will feature a 3-inch VGA capacitive touchscreen display, 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, aGPS/GPS, HSPA 3G connectivity, 802.11b/g, microSD expansion, and Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR. Presumably some of the underwhelming specs will be upgraded to support Microsoft’s hardware reference design for Windows Phone 7.
In the end, the HTC 7 Trophy may be a high-end Windows Phone 7 handset with a unique, yet desirable form factor. HTC has a press event scheduled for September 15th in London, so let’s hope we see this handset transition from rumor to officially announced.