HTC Accord Windows Phone 8 handset leaks online

The rumoured HTC Accord smartphone, based on Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows Phone 8 build, has emerged online.

An XDA Developers member posted the snap on Twitter, which according to The Verge is a render of the device rather than an actual photo.

Although the Accord was previously reported as being part of HTC’s new Windows Phone 8 line-up the picture appears to show it running the current build of Windows Phone 7. That said, if this is an earlier internal rendering from HTC itself then this could simply be part of the planning and development procedure to get a feel for the phone concept.

Notably, the device is sporting a very bright purple bodyshell which closely matches one of the colour choices available on Windows Phone for the Live Tile interface.

This could suggest that HTC will be offering its new line-up in a range of Windows theme colours and is departing from the conventional black and white.

Alternatively, perhaps HTC is about to reintroduce the interchangeable back cover? Somehow we doubt it, as this would compromise any possibility of a neat unibody style which HTC seems to be so fond of.

Possible specs of the Accord were leaked before but the Twitter post alleges it’ll feature a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8960 dual core S4 processor.

If so, this would suggest 1GB of dual-channel RAM and an Adreno 225 graphics processing unit.

As the chip also includes 4G LTE support and Everything Everywhere (Orange and T-Mobile) is about to upgrade its network to 4G we may see that capability being calibrated on the device for its UK launch too, but that’s highly speculative on our part.

Other features include a 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 display with the maximum resolution on Windows Phone 8 – 720p – options for 8GB or 16GB of storage and an 8-megapixel 1080p camera. There's also Micro SD and NFC support.

HTC is rumoured to also be bringing the Zenith and Rio Windows handsets out as part of the same range, so expect to hear more about these and the Accord in the coming weeks.