It’s about time we got some official news on the HTC Desire HD on Vodafone, and that news is trickling out of the launch event currently taking place in Sydney. What we know so far.
- It will be available on the $59 cap (meant to be $69 but $10 off) as we were already leaked
- It is a permanent exclusive to VHA, so only going to Three & Vodafone, no one else.
Whether or not HTC’s idea to keep it at VHA is good or not is yet to be seen, but I’m sure Optus & Telstra aren’t happy about missing out. What this may mean is that the Desire Z will be snapped up by Telstra or Optus in the near future. Neerav Bhatt, who is currently at the event, did tell us that HTC don’t expect the Desire Z to hit Oz until next year at least.
Update: Press Release available after the break.
HTC UNVEILS HTC DESIRE HD WITH NEW HTC SENSE AND HTCSENSE.COM
Sydney, Australia – 27 October, 2010 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today unveiled a new HTC Sense experience with the new Android-based smartphone – HTC Desire HD. The HTC Desire HD will be available from early November 2010 exclusively on Vodafone and 3 mobile.
“The HTC Desire HD includes the new version of HTC Sense which introduces a number of key innovations including a series of connected services called HTCSense.com, that broadens a user’s mobile experience,” said Anthony Petts, Sales and Marketing Director ANZ, HTC Corporation. “The HTC Desire HD’s sleek unibody design offers a stunning visual experience and window to your news, friends, photos, favourite places, and video content. It’s perfect for those who want a great multimedia and web experience, interacting, connecting and sharing with friends.”
“The HTC Desire HD is one of the most highly anticipated Android smartphones this year, and will give customers an even simpler and more amazing experience,” said Ross Parker, General Manager Devices and Pricing, Vodafone. “Available to our Vodafone and 3 customers, we expect the HTC Desire HD, with its stunning features and multimedia performance, along with a competitive price point to be one of the hottest Android devices this Christmas.”
HTC Desire HD
The first smartphone to be powered by the new 1GHz Qualcomm 8255 Snapdragon processor, its bright 4.3” super LCD display, coupled with Dolby Mobile and SRS virtual sound, 720p HD video recording and an 8-megapixel camera with dual-flash, means the HTC Desire HD is designed for optimal enjoyment of outstanding multimedia content. Building on the unibody heritage of the HTC Legend, the HTC Desire HD is sculpted from a single block of solid aluminium and embodies the quality and innovation that HTC is known for. Busy professionals will also appreciate the new HTC Fast Boot feature that significantly cuts short the power-up sequence, allowing users to quickly respond to emails and calls the moment their planes touch down.HTC Sense
The new HTC Sense experience offers a variety of enhancements that improve how people capture, create, share and access multimedia content. Shoot videos in HD, edit photos using a host of fun camera effects, and then share photos and videos directly to YouTube or to your big screen TV via DLNA. The new HTC Locations offers a differentiated online mapping experience that delivers instant, on-demand mapping without download delays.HTC Sense also includes a new integrated online e-reading experience that comprises an e-book store powered by Kobo and a mobile-optimised e-reader which allows users to highlight, annotate and quickly search for definitions or translate unfamiliar terms.
HTCSense.com
With the new HTCSense.com service, people can simply manage their mobile phone experience from their HTC phone or personal computer. For example, people can easily locate a missing phone by triggering the handset to ring loudly, even if it is set to silent, or to flag its location on a map. If the phone has been lost or stolen, users can remotely lock the phone, forward calls and texts to another phone, send a message to the phone to arrange its return or even remotely wipe all personal data from it. HTCSense.com makes it easy to setup a new HTC phone or access archived mobile content such as contacts, text messages and call history from a PC browser. People can also customise their phones with exclusive HTC content like wallpapers, HTC scenes, sounds or plug-ins.Availability and Pricing
HTC Desire HD will be available for $0 upfront on Vodafone’s $59 promo offer over 24 months (min total cost $1416)¹. The device will be available through Vodafone from early November and launch dates to follow soon on 3 mobile.About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative smartphones that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.About Vodafone Hutchison Australia
Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) is Australia’s fastest growing mobile provider, operating the Vodafone, 3, and Crazy Johns brands. Formed in June 2009 following a merger between Vodafone Australia and Hutchison 3G Australia, VHA provides mobile services to over 7.4 million customers in Australia. http://www.three.com.au & www.vodafone.com.au¹: Approved customers only. Offer ends 25/11/2010 (unless extended). Offer available to new customers who sign up to a Vodafone $69 Contract Cap over 24 months. Minimum monthly spend is $59 for months 1-24. From month 25 onwards, if you remain on this Plan, minimum monthly spend is $69 per month. Early exit fee: $69 x months left on contract. Offer will be applied as a $10 credit to your Vodafone mobile bill each month for the first 24 months of your contract. $10 credit may be used towards included services only. Any charges for additional or excluded services will still apply. Not available with any other offer, not transferable and not redeemable for cash.”
ARGH! Preorder only for new customers. Can’t even order online as an existing customer. Have to wait til it’s available and call or go to a store. I’ve been with Voda for 11 years, and this is how they reward customer loyalty??
*sigh* another few days of obsessively refreshing the vodafone store to see when it’s available available rather than preorder available 🙁
I feel your pain TWITCH. Been with Voda for about 10yrs also. Called up the upgrade centre LAST WEEK and they said that its only available to NEW customers. U think being with voda this long will have priority. ” NO SIR YOU HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL VODAFONE OFFICIALLY RELEASE THIS HANDSET”. what a load of crock. and i can’t even put down a pre-order.
Not happy VODA, Not happy!!!!!
Pre Ordered mine yesterday. YAY. Unfortunantly only new customers can pre order apparently which sucks and doesnt really do anything to reward customer loyalty. I have been with 3 for ages now, and my other half and I didnt really want to split the bill. But I have signed up with Vodafone now instead. And can I add that Vodafone retail shops are horrid. I went into the one at tuggerah yesterday to talk about switching and the blond bimbo in there was insistent that the dhd was going to optus. I told her it was on her own website… Read more »
Just letting you guys know but the preorder form for vodafone’s up finally http://store.vodafone.com.au/handset-desirehd.aspx
check out this
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/33276
Desire HD up for pre order. Only 7000 available currently (apparenetly).
Also nice way to get a discount
Wow that was easy setup you guys dont mull over this phone order now you wont be disappointed
Just received DHD from UK looks impressive out of box will set up tonite problem what to do wih desire update now or wait till update problems are fixed for my desire decisions decisions decisions will repot on DHD after setup
There’s an update for the DHD already as well.
after seeing the brochure in store i asked when it would be available and he said it should be within the next week… duno if that meant store stock or offer availability.
Desire HD won’t be available until early November @ Vodafone.
Wheres this info coming from?
Vodafone Twitter
And from the Press Release
That sucks. I hate exclusivity . I’m hoping the Desire Z isn’t carrier exclusive.
hopefully i can get it on 12month Contract plan
Release date would be nice,
i thought exclusivity was banned in Aus,
wasn’t that why iPhone had to be released on all carriers ?
exclusivity isn’t banned at all, it’s alive and kicking.
As much as I hate operator exclusivity, with new phones being developed and released so rapidly are we really going to care in 6 months time this is locked forever onto one carrier?
Good deal for HTC imo (I’m sure they go some form of deal out of it) and a somewhat short term (if any) payoff for Vodafone.
Considering this phone wont have NextG speeds on the Telstra network anyway I’ll be hanging on to my Nexus One in the mean time anyway.
It does look like a very nice phone so I’m still somewhat jealous.
Oh bollocks, I’m going to buy the Desire Z outright from the UK. I can’t be arsed waiting until next year for it.
Good news for the Desire HD fans.
AkD,
Good question. I asked the same to the Upgrade Call Centre today. They said they will need to clarify once we’re negotiating the terms of the new contract, but the potential could be the NRMA 10% + 3months access fee…now I believe Access Fee is the same as the monthly fee (i.e. $59 per month)…please correct me if im wrong 🙂
I will definitely push for both. Unfortunately read that the NRMA three months access fee deal expires 31 Oct, so we need to hope that the DHD gets released ASAP.
cheers
I really hate this operator exclusivity. It is one thing to have exclusive deals at launch, but forever?? Thats stupid. HTC will have enough demand worldwide, so not having it on Optus or Telstra won’t make any difference for them. But it is unfair to keep such a good phone out of reach from the majority of Aussie mobile users. Good I didn’t wait for this; coz NO way I’d switch to VHA, or to a $59 cap. Except for the camera I still think Galaxy S is as good (if not better), especially for the price and features (front… Read more »
So will the NRMA 10% off + 3 months access free work here or will that promotion be over by the time this gets released?
I was in 2 different vodafone store today, none of their employees have any clue when to expect the handset. One of them actually seemed surprised to hear they are even stocking it.
Yeah I had that happen a few weeks back. made me laugh
you seem to think that phone retail people actually care.
Good stuff, now we just need a date!
Can’t wait to upgrade to Android from my old but trustworthy E71
Idiotic if they lock it to vodafone, they’d get more customers with telstra or optus.
And then they will say, DHD will not hit stores until next year at least. Then I will be like -_-“
but when?!?
According to the VHA live blog (look in the comments to the DHD press release back in September), tonight they’ll announce everything on their site.
WOOHOO!!
Sold!