HTC HD2 Sold Early?

By March 21, 2010 1:02 pm EST Comments (173)

This certainly isn’t the first instance of pre-release purchasing, but it seems outlandish for  such an anticipated device. This specific phone was purchased from a Walmart a few days in advance.  So, if you have a Walmart nearbyand you can’t stand waiting, then it might be worth the trip (no promises though).  The lucky guy, a former iPhone fan (we stole another one!) going by JDMiPhoner, was kind enough to make/take some video of the device from a consumer’s point of view (which is a new spin).  Who is going to turn down some more face time with the HTC HD2?  More videos after the break, and, if you will excuse me, I need to go to a Walmart.

Engadget

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  • RCornelous

    LOL…laughin’ at comment about Jessica Simpson!!!

    • tchez27

      I was laughing too. I’m sure she won’t see it, if she wants this phone I’m sure she has one already.

  • http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php ~~Tito~~

    Wait until I get the HD2, I’ll have a review up on XDA, and I will review it after I use it for a bit.

    • analog spirit

      Cool, thanks; I’ll check that out.

  • Jeepass

    I bought mine at WalMart last night. $500. Get yours there.

  • HD2 here I come

    Why go and pay $500 when you can wait and pay $200?

    • Joe Pa

      Some people are buying it unlocked….but still, that is $50 extra.

    • ItsMichaelNotMike

      Many of us “geeks” (if you hang on this site you are one, embrace the label or deal with it) are not qualified for upgrades of any kind. And partial discounts require a two year contract extension, so that’s not worth it either.

      Personally, I buy these high end phones, use them, keep them in perfect shape, then sell it used on eBay. With depreciation or “appreciation” (selling for more than I paid)it works out that I pay about $10 monthly to “rent” the latest phones.

      If you go this route, remember, you have to keep the phone in perfect condition and save all packaging, manuals, etc. that the phone comes with.

  • aagvain

    just got it at walmart for 500. i know its suppossed to be 449 retail but mgr stated once its officially released i could go back to get a refund on the difference.

    wasnt planning on getting an upgrade so i knew i would be paying full price.

  • analog spirit

    Getting back to the HD2, I’ve also been concerned about the long-term viability of the WinMo 6.5 platform; now that WinPhone7 has been announced, my concern is that MS might have put WinMo on the back burner now that they’ve committed to WinPhone7, and not develop anything for it anymore, and then it might end up becoming effectively a “dead-end” platform the moment it comes out (I’d hate to get such an expensive phone amd then have that happen!). Putting Android on it would make it a non-issue. That’s I wish they’d just put Android 2.1 on the HD2 and be done with it. That way, we could have the option of either WM 6.5 or Android 2.1 (with or without the Sense UI).

    • ItsMichaelNotMike
    • youdontknowme

      So let me answer your questions as concise as possible.

      You will have less of a headache because most sales and care reps won’t know what to do when you run into an issue with the Nexus One. We all have received our training on the HD2 and exchanges would be easier to process.

      I’m sorry you’ve had problems with Blackberries. It’s still a great platform. For me, I like the usability of the phone and the Blackberry OS provides that. Btw T-mobile Corporates stores replace trackballs on the 8100′s, 8120′s, and 8320′s free of charge.

      The HD2 is a powerhouse. Like the Nexus One it does a bunch of stuff and more. I’ve played with the demo we have in the store and it’s cool. Question is do you really need it? I text, email, use navigation, go on the web. If I need to do something else more intensive, I have a laptop.

      Definitely try out the HD2 in store and ask the sales rep there a bunch of questions to get another set of opinions.

      • analog spirit

        Oh, OK, thanks for pointing that out, about the customer service aspect of it. That does make a lot of sense, and would make it a lot less of a hassle to just be able to walk into my local T-Mo store and get any issues dealt with right then and there, rather than having to deal with Google’s problematic customer service. I hope they get that sorted soon…
        BTW, I’ve already gotten my BB’s trackball replaced for free once already; thanks for the reminder on that too. Yes, the BBs are decent devices, and are pretty usable for most functions, but I really would like a much better web browser and faster processing speed. The native BB browser is just totally inadequate for my heavy internet use. I tried Opera on my 8320 and it looked much better, but didn’t work very well and kept slowing my phone down and making it crash. So I had to take it off.
        And I’d like a much larger screen as well, with the versatility of a touchscreen. I don’t mind not having a physical keyboard, as long as the touchscreen works right. And my old Curve’s trackball was OK in its day, but now it’s just got to go. I’m tired of having to disassemble and clean it at least once a month (the helpful guy at T-Mo showed me how to do it myself). So the BB platform, as it is today, just doesn’t cut it for me anymore, and it’s time to move on to something more advanced, that has the features I’m after.
        PEACE

      • analog spirit

        Sorry, I meant Bolt, not Opera. It was Bolt that I tried unsuccessfully on my 8320, not Opera. I don’t even know if Opera would even work on it (would it?).
        Back to the HD2: I’m planning on going to T-Mo tomorrow (24 March) to finally see an HD2 “in person” and take it for a spin, if there’s one available. That way, I can get a feel for it and decide whether or not it’ll work for me.
        PEACE

  • ItsMichaelNotMike

    Oops… I meant to say “Google this “Microsoft dual platform” but the coding I inserted deleted the words. No matter, the link is where you need to go to read about it.

    IMHO I don’t know if Microsoft’s dual strategy will work (will developers make two versions of programs, one for WinMo and the other for WP7?)

    No matter, since Microsoft is continuing WinMo with support and development, the platform should last for at least the next couple years on the development side and Microsoft traditionally provides support for years after discontinuing an OS or platform.

    And that’s plenty of time for the HD2. If WinMo goes dead, say in two years (very unlikely), we all would have sold or handed down our HD2s by that time.

    • DotNetCoderAZ

      *supposedly*, what you write for WP7S will run on both WinMo6 and WP7S. Given that they are discussing releasing SL4 and .NetCF4 for WinMo6, it seems to make sense considering that Microsoft is adopting the “write once, deploy everywhere” mantra.

    • analog spirit

      OK, cool, thanks for the links. I went ahead and looked that up. That’s interesting; it looks as tho MS is trying to fight a two-front war against Android on one front and the iPhone on the other, using their two-platform strategy. That doesn’t strike me as a good idea, especially nowadays, and I have grave doubts as to whether it’ll work for them in the long run. I guess time will tell whether they can pull it off or not.

    • analog spirit

      I just read up some more on MS’s twin-platform strategy and learned some more about it; so I guess that means that we’re not likely to see an Android-compatible HD2 anytime soon, since the HD2 was designed to compete against Android. Unless, of course, HTC decide to roll out an Android HD2 under a different name or something similar…

  • Nageki

    Well this is true, I went to Wal-Mart last night and purchased one. It was $500 + tax without contract. Was really great until 2 freezes requiring battery pulls, bluetooth paired but would not produce sound through the speaker, 3G/Edge constant switching in a solid 3.5G area, and battery displaying 70% after being off the charger for 5 minutes. Keeping in mind this was 100% stock, no apps or anything added. Yet another half-baked phone from HTC, had terrible issues with the Nexus One as well. This is my last phone I will ever buy made by HTC, quality control seems non-existant. Good thing Wal-Mart has a nice return policy.

    • analog spirit

      Were you ever able to figure out what was causing your HD2 to freeze?

  • confused

    Is walmart selling bad hd2s. if so then i will just pay the extra $50 @ tmobile and not worry about the headache. input please

    • 007

      lol – Walmart is the one charging the extra $50…

  • Michael

    HD2 has Windows Mobile 6.5.3 or 6.5.5 ???

    • DotNetCoderAZ

      6.5.3

      • Michael

        Awwww man!!! i’m pretty sure we could upgrade it to 6.5.5 right?

      • Michael

        nevermind.. just found out that version 6.5.5 are just small features for office exchange. Not a big deal

    • efjay

      Its not 6.5.3, just 6.5 as is plainly visible from the Start menu being at the top of the screen.

      • DotNetCoderAZ

        I stand corrected… I totally missed the start menu at the top of the screen…

  • zoth

    Anyone knows what time the HD2 be available at the T-Mobile site ?

  • Inuyasha

    @Michelle

    Just out of curiosity, what area of San Antonio are you in? I’m just wondering since I’m going to be at the store at The Forum at 1604 & I-35(Selma, TX), but haven’t called them to see how many they are supposed to have.

    • Michelle

      I’m going to the one on 151 and Culebra. If the forum doesn’t have any by chance try that one. The guy said that noone was inquiring about it there. I know it’s aways from you though.

      • Michelle

        Actually it’s 1604 and Culebra. sorry

      • Inuyasha

        Ah, ok. Other side of town from me, lol. I ended up calling the one near me and they said they had 10, so it’s all good for me, lol.

    • somuch2say

      Hey Inuyasha,
      will you be there at 9am Wednesday?

      Julia

      • Inuyasha

        I’ll be there BEFORE 9:00am, lol. I’m still working 3rd shift and am now on my 3 day weekend(got an extra day off for my birthday on wednesday). :P

  • Ryan

    I believe the WinMo version is 6.5.0. You can tell because the “Start” menu is at the top instead of the bottom. I know when I get mine, I am going to flash with a 6.5.5 ROM from XDA.

  • ItsMichaelNotMike

    Per Microsoft – Feature list for 6.5.3, with my comments:

    Ease of Use features

    – Capacitive touchscreen support (the Touch Pro2 resistive screen was unacceptable with the touchscreen-only HD2).

    – Platform to enable multi-touch (or pinch to zoom).

    – Touch controls throughout system (to address that there’s no stylus with the HD2. But HTC Sense is very touch friendly since it was designed without a stylus in mind).

    – Consistent Navigation

    – Horizontal scroll bar replaces tabs.

    – Magnifier provides touch support to legacy applications (read “old”)that require a stylus to click menu items (because the graphics such as icons are so small).

    – Simplified out-of-box experience with fewer steps (HTC Sense trumps this and makes phone setup easy. See the “Wal-Mart” video where he goes through setup when he first fires up the phone).

    – Drag and drop icons on Start Screen (This is somewhat limited IMHO, because you can only “move to top of screen” and not any spot on the display. At least in the version I used.)

    Internet Explorer

    – Page load time decreased

    – Memory management improved

    – Pan & flick gestures smoothed

    – Zoom & rotation speed increased

    Quality and Customer Satisfaction features

    – Updated runtime tools (.NET CF 3.5, SQL CE 3.1)(Another issue if an app developer did not address net compact framework up and down compatibility).

  • HD2 Future User

    I will treat the HD2 how I treat movies. I won’t listen to anybody else’s opinions. I will buy it and try it out for myself to see if I like it. If not, I will simply return it. No big deal. Nothing to lose.

    • analog spirit

      Come Wednesday, I think I’m just going to go ahead and do the same thing…

  • John

    Anyone tested if the $10 web2go data plan works with this phone? Thanks.

    • CEO2Be

      Why don’t you buy the phone, test it out and let us know.

  • NEXUS ONE USER

    just went to my local walmart here in lees summit mo and asked about the phone and the sales lady gave me that “we got them but we are going to act like we don’t know what you are talking about smile”. Off to the next wolly world!!

  • steve

    Are we sure that Walmart is gonna have it for sale for $149.99?

  • T

    I just got my HD2 from Walmart today (Monday March 22) !!!!!! IT IS AMAZING!

  • dm

    Looks like sprint is getting the Supersonic with Android…. Does this change anyone’s mind about HD2 on wed?

    http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/22/sprint-to-announce-groundbreaking-new-device-htc-supersonic/

    • analog spirit

      That HTC “Supersonic,” now known as the HTC Evo 4G, is simply amazing! I saw it earlier today in an article on the CTIA event, and I was just blown away by it. My first thought was, “Why did it have to go to Sprint? We need that thing on T-Mo!” My second thought was, “This just might annihilate everything else out there… for now.” My third thought was, “I want that thing the second it finally arrives on T-Mo.” Who knows if and when that’ll be…
      As far as whether or not it’ll change my mind about the HD2, it’s too soon to say, really. I mean, that Evo won’t even be out for a while, and even then, only on Sprint, at least initially. I if were stuck on Sprint, this would be a no-brainer; i’d find a way to get that thing ASAP. But I have no intention of ever leaving T-Mo if I can help it, as they’ve been nothing but good to me. So again, only if it ever comes to T-Mo would the Evo even become a factor in my decision as to which phone to get. And for all we know, by then there could be something else that’s just as good, if not better, out there.
      It has, however, somewhat diminished my interest in the whole WM 6.5 platform, as my recent experiences with Android have been good, and I really like the direction HTC is going with their Android phones so far (like with this new Evo). Android just strikes me as an overall more user-friendly platform, and that’s important to me. However, since I’ve never messed with any WinMo devices before, I’m going to go to T-Mo to see the HD2 and take it for a spin (if there are any there for me to play with), and approach the WinMo 6.5 platform with an open mind, to see if it’ll work for me or not. If it does, I’ll probably get it. If not, then I’ll just have to keep on being patient and wait til a more suitable phone comes to T-Mo.
      PEACE

  • abel2fresh4u

    HEY CAN SOMEBODY HELP ME RIGHT HERE? I HEARD IF I GO TO TMOBILE AND GIVE THEM BACK MY OLD SMARTPHONE (G1) THEY COULD GIVE ME A $100 BONUS. IS IT TRUE?

    I ALSO NEED TO KNOW SUMTHIN ELSE. I HAVE A FLEXPAY PLAN. AND I ASKED SOMEONE AT MY LOCAL TMOBILE STORE. I CAN MAKE A PAYMENT PLAN FOR MY FUTURE HTC HD2 =D ON WEDNESDAY. AND HE SAID YES. BUT I FORGOT TO ASK HIM. IF IS FOR SURE THAT A QUALIFY. BECAUSE HE DIDNT EVEN CHECKED THE COMPUTER OR ANYTHING HE JUST SAID YES YOU CAN. AND I NED TO KNOW HOW MUCH WILL THE CHARGE ME FOR MAKING THE PAYMENT PLAN.

    THANKS HOPE SOMEONE HELPS. I BEEN WAITING FOR THIS PHONE SINCE I FIRST HEARD ABOUT IT JULY 2009. AND HAD TO HOLD MY G1 UNTILL THIS BEAUTY COMES OUT.

  • KEVIN

    Go into walmart and use employee code 34981 if asked you work at the Peoria AZ store in housewares. It works, not sure for how much longer. Just got mine!!!

  • http://tmonews effdee1121

    Dang I was at tmo and my bro was like “I like this phone” and the employee was like “I like this phone better and he took out the hd2! After spending some time with it I realized how beastly that phone was!! Highly recommended! Compared next to my brother’s iphone and it definely beasted it! Really really snappy too!

  • Chad

    How on earth could we get away with saying we work in Peoria, AZ?

  • KEVIN

    Said i was on vacation!

  • Calvin

    Can someone with the phone tell me how the games are on this phone? And is there game demos like on andriod? Would really like to know. Thanks

  • Michelle

    Can’t wait till Wed I’m so excited!!! Once I go to bed it would be one more day. Have never been so excited about getting a phone! I’m off on Wed and I just can’t wait to get my hands on it.

    I am the person that NEVER waits in line for anything but IF there is one I will be waiting in line for this.

  • Alex

    NCIX in Vancouver, BC Canada has already been selling this phone from at least a month ago! check out at http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=47319&vpn=HD2&manufacture=HTC&promoid=1115

  • Happy Camper

    I’m going to Walmart!…. not to get the HD2, but to get some beer and chips so I can go to the tmo store Tuesday night and camp out with my buddies and do an all nighter! HD2! YAY ME! wooOOHoooOO! SHAZBOT!

    • steve

      Camping out for this phone is not needed my friend.

      • help me

        STOP IT! you’re ruining my buzz….. :D

  • touchpro2

    Hey This phone is very exciting for sure, watching the vids, I can’t believe how thin it is

    OK I NEED SOME ADVISE !!!

    So currently I have a Tmo Touch Pro 2, which I bought new for $180, yep $180 not the $360 they asked for. It’s been an amazing device, but I CAN sell it now to someone for $300 !! Except I would need to buy the HD2 for full price, is that $450 ? or likely more ??
    What do you guys think ?!
    thanks

    • Scott

      I went from the touch pro 2 to the HD2 and I would do the deal in a heartbeat if I was you.

      • touchPro2

        thanks,
        It’s hard to decide if the difference is big without actually holding the phone, but I only have so much time to sell the touch pro
        so thanks for the input

  • GreenRobot
    • Inuyasha

      Hey look! It’s just some dud jr.

      No, it’s not a “sign of things to come”. Opera is just fine and comes on the HD2, just like it came on the TP2. I tried the beta for Fennec and it sucked. It was slow and crashed a lot.

      Why can’t you WinMo haters/Android fanboys find something better to do than come hate on a blog post about a WinMo device?

      Be back later…gotta go take a green robot…

  • windsor

    Found out TMobile in augusta,ga is only get 7 HD2′s on launch date… OMG

  • tmoHax

    Yes I work for walmart we got 3 on the day this guy posted the vids. The ony way to buy it before tomorrow is to pay the no contract price of 500, on contract we’ve heard anywhere from 199 all the way down to 118 so we’ll wait and see but I’ve already got 2 held aside so only one left till next xD

  • Deuce017

    Just stopped by my local T-Mobile store and the rep there said they are only getting in 5 of them tomorrow. I hope there is one left for me when I get there after work @___@;;;

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