HTC made official what we believed a few weeks ago: The HTC HD2 is coming to America … though not as soon as this month, when our European and Asian brethren will get it. HTC’s press release states: “HTC and Microsoft also announced that the HD2 would be available in the United States with a major US carrier in early 2010.”
Uh, HTC, define “early.” This 4.3” capacitive touchscreen with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor is my dream phone. Yeah, its OS is Windows Mobile, but I’ll overlook that. Hurry up HTC; my nomadic AT&T SIM card wants a home. But can the HD2 be its home?
That question raises another question I posted recently in HTC HD2 – Which US 3G Bands?: Which US 3GSM frequencies will the HD2 support? AT&T’s, T-Mobile’s, or both? AT&T’s 3G bands are 850 and 1900 MHz (though ATT is migrating towards the former). By contrast, T-Mobile’s are 1700 and 2100 MHz.
Perhaps not both. The press release states the HD2 will be available through a “major US carrier.” The betting is T-Mobile USA will be the carrier. If it means anything, the HD2 is coming to T-Mobile … in Germany.
Sure, an unlocked T-Mobile USA HD2 will work on the AT&T network. But data will only be at the slower EDGE speeds. For a quality (and expensive) device like the HD2, that seems an unacceptable compromise.
Though there’s still hope even if T-Mobile USA gets the HD2. There are indications that yet another flavor of the HD2, perhaps for a South American carrier, will support the same 3G bands as AT&T. If so, you could buy that model unlocked … for mucho bucks.
I was looking at this and noticed the 850/1900 bands(AT&T). Perhaps ATT might get this or will it just go on sale as unlocked/unbranded?
http://www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=2062&c=htc_hd2_us_htc_leo
Mark, my understanding is that the US HD2 will support the TMo and not AT&T 3GSM bands. However, there may be HD2 going elsewhere in the Americas that may happen to support AT&T 3GSM bands too. If not, I may become a TMo customer for this bad boy.