Did you know that there used to be phones running Windows XP?

posted by Nick T. / Sep 14, 2014, 8:42 PM

Did you know that there used to be phones running Windows XP?

Remember 2009 and the phones we had back then? The year was marked by the releases of a number of great models, including the iPhone 3GS, the Motorola DROID, and the Nokia N86. The ITG xpPhone, however, couldn't really shake the mobile landscape with its announcement 5 years ago. In fact, we bet that most of you have not even heard of it.

The ITG xpPhone was a peculiar niche device – a phone that ran Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. It was the Embedded version, to be more specific, which was very similar to the Windows XP we once had running on our PCs. This allowed it to run PC software, including Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, and perhaps some not-so-demanding video games. Hardware-wise, it had to offer a 4.8-inch touchscreen, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard with a touchpad, a mobile processor by AMD, up to 1GB of RAM, and an SSD-HDD combo with up to 64 and 120GB capacities respectively. Plus, a full-sized USB port was present.

The xpPhone, however, wasn't the only member of the rare breed. ViewSonic announced its own Windows XP-powered phone that same year, the VCP08. Unlike the aforementioned handset, ViewSonic's offering had a dual-screen, clamshell design – flipping it open revealed its 4.3-inch screen and its QWERTY keyboard. Under the hood were an Intel ULV processor, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of storage expandable with the use of microSD cards. On its back was a 2MP main camera.

The fate of these two odd devices isn't clear, but apparently, ITG sold enough xpPhone units to justify coming up with a Windows 7-based successor. As for ViewSonic and its phone lineup, all of the company's current smartphones run Android.

references: Pocketables, (2)

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26 Comments

1. fzacek

Posts: 2486; Member since: Jan 26, 2014

An HDD on a smartphone???

posted on Sep 14, 2014, 8:44 PM 9

4. aksa123

Posts: 368; Member since: Jan 30, 2014

It was 5 years ago and already had 120GB of HDD, which is even bigger than today's flagship phones (excluding external card support).

posted on Sep 14, 2014, 8:51 PM 9

12. pwnarena

Posts: 1129; Member since: Feb 15, 2013

but that's hdd. how big is that phone?

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 12:33 AM 0

16. juandante

Posts: 679; Member since: Apr 23, 2013

You can make HDD as small as your thumb. Its not a desktop HDD mate.

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 2:36 AM 1

18. pwnarena

Posts: 1129; Member since: Feb 15, 2013

yeah i know but that's still not going to be as small and slim as an SSD. well that explains those bezels and thickness

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 6:48 AM 1

11. rency0722

Posts: 158; Member since: Jun 12, 2013

Yes. Nokia N91 has 4GB of HDD storage inside.

posted on Sep 14, 2014, 10:43 PM 2

2. Duketytz

Posts: 534; Member since: Nov 28, 2013

Should I be laughing that these has probably the same number of ram as the iPhone now?

posted on Sep 14, 2014, 8:45 PM 21

6. gregoryyy3 unregistered

No, not really. iPhones run fine with the amount of ram they have so it's not a very funny joke.. Maybe next time

posted on Sep 14, 2014, 8:58 PM 14

10. Mxyzptlk unregistered

No, you should be laughing at how bad your comment sounds. The iPhone doesn't need as much ram as other phones do since iOS is optimized for idevices that run it.

posted on Sep 14, 2014, 10:41 PM 5

14. JMartin22

Posts: 2390; Member since: Apr 30, 2013

You realize that in 2-3 years, iOS running 1 GB of RAM (with more advanced resources apps will take and more resources OS updates will use) will be far worse off than Android phones with 2/3 GB of RAM

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 12:39 AM 2

15. Mxyzptlk unregistered

Why don't you lend me your time machine and we'll find out

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 1:11 AM 1

17. Joulukas

Posts: 115; Member since: Jun 05, 2013

You know, that 64bit system in essence needs moore ram than 32bit, so the fact that Apple moved to 64bit with same amount of ram present in its 32bit phones might be serious downside for current generations. The opimization is the key ofcource, like the best on the market "Nokia" showed with its symbian phones - but growing amount of multitasking and 64 bit applications, is going to hurt the low RAM in devices. Apple might get the message out, and optimization will win in the end, but its douptful, since Android is moving to 64bit and people demand more preformance from its apps.

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 3:06 AM 2

21. sraive

Posts: 80; Member since: Aug 21, 2014

This is how your sentence is correct: The iPhone doesn't need as much RAM as other phones do since iOS doesn't do multitasking.

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 1:00 PM 1

26. VHMP01

Posts: 93; Member since: Aug 27, 2014

Exactly. Also it is very funny that 1.2 million apps are NOT needed for 95% of Smartphone owners! Yet iPhone main crap excuse is "we have more Apps", so more ram is definetly much better, yet iPhony does not need it! Ha, what a joke!

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 7:08 PM 1

3. MacWiNux

Posts: 128; Member since: Jan 07, 2014

wow i didn't know that aside that Fujitsu's Loox F-07C that runs windows 7 :D

posted on Sep 14, 2014, 8:50 PM 1

5. ryanlockovich

Posts: 27; Member since: Jul 17, 2014

Lol it says super big 4.8" display.

posted on Sep 14, 2014, 8:56 PM 1

8. RaKithAPeiRiZ

Posts: 1488; Member since: Dec 29, 2011

at one time , 5" was considered as a mini tablet (dell streak)

posted on Sep 14, 2014, 9:07 PM 6

7. WendyFromCircus

Posts: 40; Member since: Sep 02, 2014

Simply because Nobody pay attention on every smartphones, tablet or smartwatch before Apple does it, glad to have 'did you know' article on PA :)

posted on Sep 14, 2014, 8:59 PM 7

9. wilsong17 unregistered

Stfu people use pda

posted on Sep 14, 2014, 9:19 PM 4

13. retronig

Posts: 23; Member since: Nov 21, 2013

I sure do miss slide out keyboards. Don't care much for typing on touchscreen. Only low or midrange phones have keyboards now these days.

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 12:35 AM 1

19. tokuzumi

Posts: 1961; Member since: Aug 27, 2009

That had to have been really expensive.

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 8:45 AM 1

20. alumoyo

Posts: 392; Member since: Aug 26, 2013

I also remember reading once that some hackers managed to boot-up Windows XP on THE LEGENDARY HTC HD2.

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 10:44 AM 2

22. sraive

Posts: 80; Member since: Aug 21, 2014

Don't forget that you can run old Windows on Symbian S60v3 phones like Nokia N82, N95 with Dosbox. youtube.com/watch?v=Uw2LlgEJw-I youtube.com/watch?v=24DoZqM2ObA You can run even Windows XP on today's android phones, but it's slow. youtube.com/watch?v=auIZtmbPu_Y The future is that the smarphones in the future are going to be much faster so you'll be able to run XP at a reasonable speed and run desktop apps and games on your mobile.

posted on Sep 15, 2014, 1:41 PM 1

23. gazmatic

Posts: 822; Member since: Sep 06, 2012

i installed xp on my n900. with functional mouse support and everything. it was slow but I FREAKING INSTALLED FULL XP ON MY PHONE. yeah. that happened