The Cherry Mobile Alpha is a nice lower-end Windows Phone for the Philippines

While hanging out with the Microsoft OEM Partners division at Mobile World Congress we got chance to see a bunch of different Windows and Windows Phone devices that are sold by regional partners and retailers. Like this, the Cherry Mobile Alpha (Neon, thanks to John Terence Vidal in the comments for the assist!), a lower-end Windows Phone for the Philippines. And it's not bad.

The hardware isn't anything to write home about, but at the same time it's far from the worst. It has a 1GB of RAM for a start, a 5-inch 720p display, 2000mAh battery and a slightly disappointing 4GB of internal storage. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 CPU while not particularly powerful has proven capable enough in other devices, such as the Lumia 435, but all told it's a nice enough phone. It doesn't look the same as a bunch of other Windows Phones as some other competing devices do, and in this shade of yellow it certainly stands out in the crowd.

The real story though is how many partners Microsoft is attracting to Windows Phone. Cherry Mobile means nothing to anyone in Europe and North America, for example, but in the Philippines it's a different story. The "local hero" manufacturers, retailers and carriers may only sell small amounts of phones compared to the likes of Lumia, but every little piece adds up to the bigger picture. And the bigger picture is a lot more Windows Phone devices out there.