HTC unveiled its first Windows Phone 8 smartphones, the 8X and 8S, at an event in New York City Wednesday. The naming scheme mirrors the company's One X and One S phones.
Calling the 8X and 8S "hero" products, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and HTC CEO Peter Chou unveiled the two new phones together. The 8S is slightly smaller than the 8X, but they both have "personality," Chou said, with striking primary colors similar to Nokia's Lumia phones.
The 8X has an HD 4.3-inch screen and a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. The 8S is smaller and less capable, with a 4-inch screen and a dual-core 1GHz S4 chip.
The 8X brings the One's 8-megapixel camera to Windows Phone, with its burst mode and the ability to pick the best shot from a set of pics taken in burst. The phone's front camera is a standout, too, with a 2.1MP sensor, 1080p video recording and an f/2.0 lens. HTC also says it's an "ultra wide lens" that has triple the area of previous front-facing cameras.
Chou said phones came out of a meeting he had with Ballmer. After the meeting, Chou said it was clear what he had to do. He approached HTC's design team and told them the company needed a "breakthrough" -- and iconic Windows Phone. The result: the 8X and 8S.
The two phones will be available in November worldwide from 150 carriers. In the U.S., those carriers will be AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. Pricing is still unrevealed.
Oddly, HTC says it worked with Microsoft to designate the phones as the "signature phones" for Windows Phone 8. It's unclear exactly what that means and how it affects Nokia's Lumia line of Windows Phones.