Microsoft’s cancelled bezel-less Windows phone makes another appearance

Earlier this year, a near bezel-free Windows 10 phone was leaked via Chinese social media, now the phone has made another appearance courtesy of  Windows Central.

This Windows phone would have been the Lumia 435 and was one of the many prototypes Microsoft tested. As such, it shared many of the same specs including the stifling 4GB of internal storage but diverged with a 5-inch 720p display and a near bezel-less display.

Similarly to Xiaomi’s Mi Mix device which was hailed for starting the bezel-less revolution (sorry Sharp), the smartphone would have had its front-facing camera placed at the bottom.

From the photos presented, it looks like a genuinely nice design, with Windows phone’s tile-based UI flowing nicely on a nearly all screen design. We’re not entirely sure why Microsoft didn’t at least try to adapt some of that design into any of their handsets like the 950 or 650 going forward instead of the boring devices that they shipped.

As you can tell, the handset was never released, and Microsoft instead stuck with the cookie cutter brick that was the released 435.

Microsoft’s Windows 10 Mobile and Windows phone haven’t had especially stellar weeks, and for some fans of Windows, pieces like this just serve to throw salt onto the wound of Microsoft’s perceived abandonment. Nevertheless, it’s a good look at what might have been, and you can actually read the review over at the afore-mentioned site (obviously, the phone still isn’t for sale).