Posts Tagged ‘unlocked’

HTC HD2 Shipping SIM Free In UK November 11th

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

htc-logoUK retailer Clove mentioned on their blog that the unlocked version of the new HTC HD2 aka Leo, will be available from November 11th onwards, barring any “unforeseen circumstances” (a standard “CYA” in case they can’t make the deadline!).  The price?  A princely £469 (£539.35 inc VAT) before UK taxes, aka VAT.  This translates to approximately RM 2,529.  Damn.  That’s cheap.  I’d get one myself if this was the approximate price.  Personally, I think that if the local HTC outfit can price this at around RM 2,799 or lower, it can take away some of the interest surrounding the iPhone3GS, as well as the top end Symbian touch smartphones from the other major manufacturers.

According to Clove, this is what’s in the retail box that they are selling:

What’s in the box of HTC HD2?

  • HTC HD2
  • Battery
  • UK AC Adapter
  • USB Cable
  • Case
  • 2GB MicroSD Memory Card
  • Stereo Headset
  • Documentation

Via slashgear.

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Palm Reportedly Threatens Retailers Who Sell Unlocked Pres

Saturday, September 19th, 2009

palm-logo1Wow, that was fast.  Barely two days after the Palm Pre was put up for pre-order on two UK e-tailers for between £450 and £520, which I mentioned here, Palm is reported to be threatening legal action against at least one of them, saying that the Pre can only be sold in the UK in locked versions, presumably through O2, Palm’s exclusive UK partner for the device.

For a company that is just emerging from one of the darkest moments in its history, where it made a net loss of US$ 164.5 million last quarter on sales of 823,000 pieces of Palm hardware,  this is a surprising move indeed.  This move is certainly not going to endear it to many of its fans worldwide who have been waiting patiently for a GSM version of the Pre for a long time now.  And it is certainly not going to score points with retailers/e-tailers who want to carry their products in the future – after all, who wants to do long-term business with a particularly litigious company?

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HTC Hero Pre-Order On Amazon UK

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

htc-logoAmazon UK has put up the pre-order page for the new HTC Hero with its very nice HTC Sense user interface which we talked about here, and which I’ve installed on my old T-Mobile G1 Android handset here.  It’s the SIM free, ie. unlocked version, so there is a premium attached to the phone.  In the UK, two carriers – Orange and T-Mobile – have said that they will offer the phone free, in return for a 24 month contract, so paying £430 (RM 2,523) for the unlocked version seems a bit much!  Amazon says the phone is expected to ship 15th July, which is only around two weeks from now.  HTC sure does move quickly from announcement/launching to availability, unlike Garmin-Asus which takes two years to do so!

htc-hero-amazon-uk-pre-orderFor 430 quid, you get the following:

  • Processor Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz
  • Operating System Android™
  • Memory ROM: 512 MB RAM: 288 MB
  • Dimensions (LxWxT) 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm ( 4.41 x 2.21 x 0.57 inches)
  • Weight 135 grams ( 4.76 ounces) with battery
  • Display 3.2-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 320×480 HVGA resolution
  • Network HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)
  • Device Control Trackball with Enter button
  • GPS Internal GPS antenna
  • Connectivity Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
  • Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
  • 3.5 mm audio jack Camera 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus
  • Audio supported formats MP3, AAC(AAC, AAC+, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI and Windows Media® Audio 9
  • Video supported formats MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media® Video 9
  • Battery Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
  • Capacity: 1350 mAh
  • Talk time: Up to 420 minutes for WCDMA, Up to 470 minutes for GSM
  • Standby time: Up to 750 hours for WCDMA Up to 440 hours for GSM
    (The above are subject to network and phone usage.)
  • Expansion Slot microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
  • AC Adapter Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz DC output: 5V and 1A
    Special Features
  • G-sensor
  • Digital Compass

Via slashgear.

Now then, judging by the pricing of the recently released HTC Magic in Malaysia, the Hero should cost well over RM 3,000, making it inaccessible to the overwhelming majority of the Malaysian population, and in my opinion, rendering such a launch of the phone pointless.  But that’s just my opinion – as they say, an idiot is born every day!

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