Samsung unveils world's first Windows 8 phone

The announcement at a Berlin electronics show comes amid expectations that smartphone makers may turn increasingly to Windows devices after a US jury decided many of Samsung's Google Android-based phones infringed Apple Inc patents.

Samsung Electronics became the first handset maker to announce a smartphone using Microsoft's latest mobile software, making its surprise, hurried announcement just days before the highly anticipated launch of Nokia's version. Samsung said the ATIV phone would hit stores in the October-November period but did not give an exact start date.

   The brief announcement at a Berlin electronics show comes amid expectations that smartphone makers may turn increasingly to Windows devices after a US jury decided many of Samsung's Google Android-based phones infringed Apple Inc patents.

Samsung's ATIV S Windows phone sports a high-end 4.8-inch display, Corning "Gorilla" glass, and an 8-megapixel rear camera and 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera.

The ATIV S features a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, a 4.8-inch high-definition Super AMOLED display, 1GB of RAM, microSDHC support, an 8-megapixel camera, and a 2,300 mAh battery.

  Samsung's Windows-based smartphone, introduced on Wednesday, marks the first in a 'big lineup of new hardware' from the South Korean company based on Microsoft's software, Microsoft executive Ben Rudolph said.

    Samsung hopes the new device will take the focus away from its loss of the court case. Apple is now seeking speedy bans on the sale of eight Samsung phones, moving swiftly to turn legal victory into tangible business gain.

    Nokia, the ailing Finnish mobile firm, once the world's leading producer of phones but now struggling to reverse losses, is due to unveil its new Lumia line of smartphones using Windows Phone 8 in New York on September 5.

Analysts say the introduction of Samsung's Windows phone may be designed to assuage concerns that Microsoft will favor Nokia, whose Chief Executive Stephen Elop -- himself a former senior Microsoft executive -- has staked its future on the Windows platform