Want the new T-Mobile HD2?  Live near a Wal-Mart and don't mind dropping $500? You may want to swing by your local Walmart and see if you can grab yourself one today and see if you can beat the official sell date of March 24.

Seems as a few people are having luck doing this trick and while they are paying the full-retail price, they get the joy of having what is no doubt one of the best Windows Mobile 6.5 devices to grace this planet.

Your best bet is to call ahead and just see if they have it available, then go down and see if you can find a store employee who is hopefully unaware of the launch date.

And if you want to vicariously experience unboxing the darn thing, you can check out these related videos of someone who did the above.

[Thanks, Jeremy, for the tip!]

In case you missed our live coverage of the T-Mobile HD2 launch event in New York City the other night, we figured we'd recap what we know and what we found out while there, getting our nerdy groove on.

One thing is for certain: the HD2 for T-Mobile U.S. is one heck of a multimedia powerhouse and you get a lot of bang for your buck. Still, with Windows Phone 7 Series around the corner, is the HD2 already falling behind? We think not and we'll explain why as we cover all the glorious media features on board.

Read on for all the details!

Read the rest of this entry »

We're at T-Mobile's HD2 event in New York City. Follow us on Twitter or check out the stream below for all the happenings.

Microsoft finally came out and said it (again) today at MIX10 -- No Windows Phone 7 Series upgrade for the HTC HD2. Sorry, it's just not gonna happen. And that news comes a mere 24 hours or so before T-Mobile throws a little wake party for its latest and likely last Windows Mobile 6.5 device. (Oh, and we'll be there, so check back in Tuesday night.)

So we'll put the question to you: Now that it's really real that the HD2 won't be getting an upgrade, will that affect your decision to get one on T-Mobile?

The excitement over T-Mobile bringing the HTC HD2 to the U.S. Market is increasing. To add to this excitement, unboxing photos of the Windows Phone have surfaced, and T-Mobile customers may be treated to a slightly earlier release.

The unboxing pictures are just enough to whet your appetite. Modestly packaged, the contents aren't that much of a surprise and include the phone, battery, charger and stereo headset. While the packaging also indicates 16 gigabytes of memory that will be the included microSD card with the Transformer movies (part of the entertainment package) preloaded. Shame it couldn't be 16GB of on-board memory.

With regards to a possible early release, MobiTV (a featured application on the HD2) tweeted confirmation that the mobile television app would be on the HD2. In the same breath the tweet mentions a release date of March 23 (as opposed to the early indication of a March 24 release).

This may be a simply typo, but we know T-Mobile is planning a launch party on March 16 for VIPs and the press. It should be that big of a stretch to see the T-Mo HD2 on store shelves a seven days later instead of eight.

Whether it's the 23rd or 24th, T-Mobile deserves kudos for bringing the HD2 to the U.S market.  Now if we could only get the other carriers to follow suit.

Via boygenuisreport and gearlog

As March 24th slowly gets closer, the anticipated T-Mobile HD2 release date, we are now seeing images of this new Windows Phone. TmoNews has captured a series of photos of the HD2, complete with T-Mobile branding, and they look good.  Sporting Sense 2.5, you can see the Blockbuster and Transformer movie shortcuts that are a part of T-Mobile's mobile entertainment package.

Upgradable or not to Windows Phone 7 Series, the HD2 is an impressive piece of equipment and is sure to attract its fair share of customers to T-Mobile. One can only hope that other carriers will spread the joy and offer the HD2.

Read: tmonews.com

In what has to be one of the most cruel geek teases in recent Windows phone history, the back and forth about whether the HTC HD2 will receive a Windows Phone 7 ROM update seems to be coming to end.

Over at ZDNet, Mary-Jo Foley received a response from Microsoft on the question and Redmond restated their position that WP7S will have very strict hardware requirements that they plan to enforce.

No surprises there, but the Microsoft spokesperson ends with 

We currently do not have plans to update the HTC HD2 to Windows Phone 7 Series.

Of course that wording does leave open the possibility. After all, plans do change and there was no "it definitely won't". Still, we think if MS wanted to be cagey, they would have given their usual "we do not comment" response in regards to the HD2 question.

None of this would have been such a big deal had not HTC themselves tweeted that the HD2 would get the update. In the future, we hope these companies can all be on the same page.

Anyone still holding out thinking it will get the coveted update?

We've known that the HD2 is headed to T-Mobile for some time now and have recently learned the pricing information.   But the "when" has been a bit of a mystery.

The BoyGeniusReport has stumbled upon an out of focus events list that might bring the release date into focus.  The second entry on the sheet indicates a "Dark Handset" will launch on March 24, 2010.

"Dark Handset" is reportedly double-knot spy code for the HD2. All of this goes along with the rumors we heard last month about the release date.

Now if only the other carriers could come up with thier own code words for the HD2 and leak release dates!

As we await the official launch of the HTC HD2 on T-Mobile, we've all been wondering just what the price of the biggest, baddest Windows Phone available today would be. Wonder no more, my friends, as this leaked spreadsheet shows it'll go for $199.99 with the usual two-year contract and rebates, and $449.99 if you want to forgo such formalities.

Still unknown is exactly when it's going to be available, but it has to be anytime now. Stay tuned. [via TMoNews]

Last week we heard from Microsoft that some Windows Mobile 6.5 phones may be upgradeable to Windows Phone 7 Series. This brought a glimmer of hope that more recent Windows Phone releases could be upgraded to the new OS. Today we are hearing the opposite from Microsoft, in particular about the HTC HD2's potential for upgrade.

Natahsa Kwan, General Manager for Microsoft's Mobile Communications Business in the Asian Pacific Region, said the HD2 doesn't qualify (for upgrade) because it doesn't have three buttons (the HD2 has five buttons). Kwan explained, "Because we have very specific requirements for Windows Phone 7 Series the current phones we have right now will not be upgradeable." There is some indication that the button issue may not be sole reason behind the HD2 not being upgradeable.

Tony Wilkinson, Microsoft Australia's Business Operations Director, has said that "there are some hardware components that the HD doesn't have." We are expecting Microsoft to reveal the core specifications later this month at the MIX10 Developers Conference.  If this happens, we should have a better picture of what may or may not be eligible for upgrade to WP7S.  Until then, the topic of WM 6.5 upgrades may become another marathon, "on again/off again" topic (remember the Zune phone?) for discussion.

Read: apcmag.com