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March 25th, 2010, 15:03 GMT · By

HTC Desire's Availability at T-Mobile UK Confirmed for March 29

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Wireless operator T-Mobile UK already announced plans to launch the newly introduced Android 2.1-based HTC Desire on its airwaves , and it seems that the carrier's users will be able to enjoy the phone as soon as Monday. The March 29 availability date for the handset is almost officially confirmed, as a company's employee said on T-Mobile's discussion forums that it would arrive that day.

Here's what the employee notes on the forum: “We can confirm that the HTC Desire is now available to order from our website, with a delivery time of around 7 days, and will be available in stores from Monday 29th March. A technical glitch which had shown the device as out of stock has now been amended, and we apologies for any inconvenience or confusion this has caused.”

The carrier has put the HTC Desire on sale on its website at the beginning of this week, when it announced that it would take about 7 days for it to be delivered. In other words, T-Mobile UK users will be able to enjoy the features and capabilities of this handset starting Monday, March 29, when it is also expected to become available for purchase in the carrier's stores, it seems.

T-Mobile UK's offer for the high-end Android 2.1-based mobile phone is as appealing as it can be. Users can have the HTC Desire for free from the carrier, though they will have to sign up for a 24-month contract agreement on a £35 per month plan. Along with the free device, users choosing this plan option will also receive 1200 minutes, 500 texts and Unlimited Internet.

With a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen display, a 5-megapixel photo snapper with LED flash and video recording, 1GHz Snapdragon processor inside, microSD memory card slot for additional storage space (a 4GB card included in the package), and support for Google mobile services, including Google Mail, Google Talk, or Google Maps, the HTC Desire is expected to soon become one of the best selling handsets on the UK market.
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HTC Desire | T-Mobile UK | availability | Android 2.1

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Comment #1 by: pauljriley on 26 Mar 2010, 12:05 GMT reply to this comment

I have just got off of the phone to T-Mobile upgrade department and have been informed that the HTC Desire FAILED a last minute 'Quality' check yesterday, 25th March 2010, and HTC will NOT be allowing the release of the Desire to ANY networks until the 2nd April.

Either this is the truth, and HTC have been particularly lax in their quality control, or T-Mobile have plunged to the lowest depths in their handling of existing customers and have as suspected sold all of their first batch of phones to NEW customers only and EXISTING customers can go whistle in the wind.

*****************Latest update*******************
Have received an email from HTC content below:
New Response From [ Pedro (UK - Ireland Support (Tech)) ]
Dear Paul

Thank you for contacting us.

We would like to be clear over speculation and confirm that the branded HTC Legend has received quality approval and meets all the requirements for public release.

Also our products can be re-branded to mobile networks and according with the needs they can change the original specifications.

We won't comment on any decisions that a network may do to and pass to their customers but T-Mobile is still selling the device and advertising the HTC Desire on their website:
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/phones/pay-monthly/htc/desire/overview/
and the same applies to the other network who is selling our product.

I trust that this resolves your query, please do not hesitate to contact us again if required.

Best regards,

Pedro S.
HTC

With this response, and obviously beside myself with rage, I called t-mobile to get a genuine answer (I know good luck).

The upshot of this call is:
1. the test failed is t-mobile's, and not HTC's (not how it was originally, reported to me, but we'll skip over that).
2. They cannot explain why the result of this internal test was only disclosed the day before the phone was due to be released.
3. They 'understand' my disappointment, and I'm not the only customer out there who feels that same.
4. Although I have been 'pestered' to upgrade my phone since January, my contract doesn't actually end until 30th April 2010.
5. Is there another handset I would like instead?
6. Because I am obviously 'upset', they will call be back on Monday, and If their testing department has released them then, I might get one, and there MIGHT be a discount on the line rental (though towards the end of the call it did seem that they were playing the last part of that down).

*******************Update on Update**********************
Had a call as I typed this from the upgrade department, following an email complaining about the situation, result of this call is.

1. There is nothing wrong with the Desire, and t-mobile will start shipping the phones later today.
2. Because my contact expirers on the 30th April, I am not permitted a FULL upgrade until one month before the end of my contract. As a 'highly valued' customer from January I can have a 'non-full' upgrade, i.e. one with a selection of the phones on it. This is the first time anybody has ever mentioned this, if I call up the upgrades department just before I get through I get a recorded message saying that I am eligible for a full upgrade. I am shocked and hurt that the person I spoke to on the other end of the line felt that this was a transparent way of doing business.
3. All of those people complaining on the various forums about the appalling way in which t-mobile has handled the launch of the HTC Desire, are the 'trouble making' minority (ok he didn't say 'trouble making' but it felt as though he was thinking it).

So where that leaves me, I don't know, I might get a call on Monday, I might have to go to another network on the 5th April, who knows, I just know that at the moment it feels that you can't trust anything anybody at t-mobile says.

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