News on the arrival of two as-yet unreleased HTC phones has come out this week, the first being the HTC 8S Windows Phone and the second, the AT&T-bound HTC One VX.
Some new information regarding two missing in action HTC smartphones has emerged. The Android HTC One VX and the Windows Phone HTC 8S are the phones in question, the former being announced by AT&T recently, while the latter has remained missing since its launch several months ago. Sadly, the news isn’t overwhelmingly positive in either case.
Let’s start with the One VX. In mid-November, it was made available as a pre-order through AT&T, where it was scheduled to launch on November 16 for just $50 with a two-year contract. Not a bad price considering it has a 4.5-inch screen, a dual-core Snapdragon processor and 4G LTE connectivity. However, the One VX didn’t arrive as planned, and according to an AT&T spokesperson, it will now be ready for sale from December 7 instead.
So, from an unfortunate delay we come to even more unfortunate news about the HTC 8S. The sister Windows Phone to the HTC 8X range-topper, the 8S has been absent from release schedules since its announcement back in September. HTC has issued a statement clarifying why, saying “The Windows Phone 8X is our signature Windows Phone available at AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the U.S. With our focus on the Windows Phone 8X, the Windows Phone 8S is not currently planned for distribution in the U.S. market.” As a reminder, the HTC 8S is equipped with a 720p, 4-inch screen, a 1GHz dual-core processor and perhaps best of all, a microSD card slot to expand its 4GB of internal storage memory.
The HTC 8S already has a choppy record when it comes to getting itself into stores. Like the U.S., the HTC 8X was the UK’s first Windows Phone 8 device to go on sale, but the 8S was plagued with delays, finally being put up as a pre-order by several online retailers as well as networks such as Vodafone at the end of November. The phone should start to ship later this week, and it has been priced around £230, or $360.
Without the HTC 8S making it onto U.S. networks, Windows Phone 8 is lacking in choice for buyers not wanting a top-of-the-range phone. The Nokia Lumia 820 and its variants, the Lumia 810 and Lumia 822, are the only options until the second wave of Windows Phone 8 handsets are announced next year, when Huawei is expected to launch a cut-price model of its own. Until then, those on a budget will have to look at Android for their smartphone thrills, or hope Verizon comes up with a free-on-contract Windows Phone handset as it has teased.
Source : digitaltrends[dot]com
Post a Comment