So, I know I’m about two days late on this announcement, but the new Windows Phone 7 was released in the United States on Monday. At this moment, three new handsets are available; two from AT&T and one from T-Mobile. Another is on the way from AT&T and Dell is supposed to be releasing the new Venue shortly, as well. In the first quarter of next year, Verizon and Sprint are supposed to be getting WP7 handsets, too.
AT&T offers the HTC Surround and the Samsung Focus right now, with the LG Quantum currently available for pre-order. T-Mobile has the HTC HD-7.
All of the phones currently available (in addition to the LG Quantum) appear to go for $199.99 when you sign a new 2-year contract and $499.99 if you buy the phone without a new contract. From what I’ve been able to tell, it looks like AT&T is also offering their phones to existing customers for $299.99 if those customers don’t want to extend their contract (I have yet to verify this in an actual AT&T store, though, so it might just be some sort of glitch on their website). I’m not sure if T-Mobile is offering the same deal to its existing customers or not.
I have to say that I’m impressed by the fact that they all appear to be selling at the same price point. I will be curious to see if Dell’s offering will sell at the same price or not. As of yet, I haven’t seen much information at all about how or when the Venue will go on sale, or even which network(s) you’ll be able to use it on.
I recently had to give up my iPhone 3G, as it was supplied by my former employer. After a single day without a smartphone, I am already experiencing withdrawal. I have been planning to purchase one of the new WP7 phones since they were first announced, so I will naturally be buying one very soon (hopefully tomorrow).
I will play with the Surround and the Focus (I kind of wish I could play with the HD-7, too, but since it’s not on the AT&T network and I’m not interested in switching carriers, that’s not really an option for me), but the initial opinions I’ve formed from the information I’ve found online, I expect I’ll be buying the Surround.
What do you think of the new Windows Phone 7, the pricing structure and the handset options that are available? Are you using Windows Phone 7? If not, are you planning to?
2 Responses
former employer??
i would like a windows phone for testing purposes – i think i want an android phone for daily use
Yup. Former employer. I got a new job and started yesterday.
I am going to buy the Windows Phone to be my primary phone, but, after playing with one of the new Samsung Galaxy tablets the other day, which is Android-based, I’m seriously considering buying one of those in a few months. It was a really cool device with a lot of great features. The European version (the guy that let me use his bought it in Germany) even has a phone function built in, but that won’t be part of the version that’s released here in the US.