We
heard last week when Sprint launched the
HTC Touch Pro at "select national retailers" that the device would be available online on November 2nd. Well, it's November 2nd, and they've kept their promise. The base retail price of the QWERTY smartphone is $579.99, but an "instant savings" of $180 combined with a $100 mail-in-rebate brings the price down to palatable $299.99 (with a 2-year agreement, needless to say). Of course, if you're really starved for human contact, you could always head over to a Sprint store and buy one in person, too.
Update: Had a little trouble with those read links -- all fixed now.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted Nov 2nd 2008 at 5:27PM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JV @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:56PM
Best Buy has been selling the touch pro now for a week and they don't do any of those mail in rebates. You can go in and buy the touch pro with a new 2 year activation for $299.99 with NO mail in rebates!
t-pain @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:57PM
Picked this up a week ago at Best Buy for $229 and it's a great phone. The only issues I have with it are it's thickness and the color (would have prefered it in black rather than the silverish gray that Sprint chose). The accelerometer has been a little slow at times, but beyond that it is a really nice device.
eRs @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:28PM
I picked one up at BBuy last week. I'm liking it a lot. A touch on the thick side, but hey you gotta suffer with that for the qwerty. I installed the SPB mobile shell and like it better than the TouchFlo.
om @ Nov 3rd 2008 12:36AM
Accelerometer? I wasn't aware the touch pro had the sensor. I thought it was only the touch hd and the g1?
Sean @ Nov 3rd 2008 12:05PM
The Sprint versions of the Touch Diamond and the Touch Pro both have accelerometers.
joel @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:25PM
I was at best buy earlier today to buy invisible shield for my iphone and god this thing is THICK! Like hey look at my pants thick....
Pimpzilla @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:14PM
Having fun typing out long messages on your iPhone? Is Apple's sliding keyboard really that much thinner? Oh, wait, they don't offer one.
eRs @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:24PM
Howrvr my affwection for corrext spekling keepw me awau fron thr iphgogne.
Brian @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:47PM
ATT hurry up and release the fuze! still hoping for this tuesday
and yes always go to best buy for phone needs ;) much better then carrier stores
alltouchdiamondcom @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:06PM
I'm interested in buying a Touch Pro, but have just been playing with a friend's unit and it seems very slow, with a lag of a couple of seconds between opening/closing the keyboard and the unit/screen responding. He said that this was typical of the performance, and that it seemed slow all round (and this guy works for a phone software supplier, so gets to handle pretty much all of the current phone models).
What are others' opinions of the performance of this phone? Are there any tweaks that can improve it?
I ask the same question on http://www.AllTouchPro.com please help me out there.
t-pain @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:47PM
I have experienced the same lag when opening and closing the keyboard, as well as when rotating the phone to landscape mode. The other issues I am having, that I failed to mention above, is the battery life is fairly poor and Touch Flo will sometimes not respond to touches immediately after waking the phone up or closing the keyboard. I see a lot of great potential in this phone, but I don't know if I am willing to wait for a possible software update at an unspecified date. The issue is, however, what phone do you go to that has similar features and a similar voice/data plan? ATT and VZW are getting their versions soon but ATT's network is notoriously bad, and VZW is getting ready to screw anyone that decides to purchase a smartphone from them. I don't know, I am really perplexed and I need to make a decision before Wednesday.
t3yf5g @ Nov 3rd 2008 5:18PM
This is the version of the phone. So that being said, you will have some issues with stock configurations. There is a growing community with developers that have greatly improved the Touch Pro's battery and performance. Since it is a WinMo phone, possibilities are endless with make the phone work for you.
Brian @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:54PM
ATT service is fine most places if not great especially in the west
and yes verizon is putting a crap version out wich they hacked so dont buy theres. but as far as performance goes if you flash a new rom and get rid of sprints crap the phone speeds up and there are many tweaks to get the performance faster
just go to xda you will find many awesome things
ShogunMaster @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:57PM
Anyone know when it's going to hit Canada? Telus/Rogers/Bell?
TurboFool @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:30PM
Bought mine at Best Buy last Friday. Best Windows Mobile phone I've ever used. Granted it's not flawless, as it has occasional slowness issues and the poor battery life I expected, but everything else is fantastic.
Nathan Chaltry @ Nov 3rd 2008 7:18AM
My HTC Touch Diamond was slow and laggy also. All you need is a new ROM. The current pagepool (how fast the processor gets things done) is at 6mb, while if you change to a new ROM with a 16mb pagepool, you will definitely be much happier. Your finger swipes are done more fluently, and it's just an all around improvement. Doesn't seem to fix the accelerometer much, but I personally don't use it often. Search the net for "HTC Touch Pro ROM" and you will come to some great sites. All "homemade." I would suggest some, but I don't know if I'm allowed too. Sounds hard, but it's actually really easy.
thatguy @ Nov 3rd 2008 5:37PM
finally my dream comes tru just one question and i'm probably ignorant for asking but would sprint allow me to just get this for the new-member price if i just extend my contract another 2 years? i really wouldn't mind doing that for this phone here
Brettinsocal @ Nov 3rd 2008 7:57PM
Are you at least 1 year into a 2 year plan? Call retentions!
This is the deal I just scored:
$580 retail
- $75 1 year annivereray credit
- $75 bonus 1 year credit (told them my Touch was not working out without a keyboard... most of my dignity still intact)
-$100 equipment credit
-$100 MIR
shipping - waived
upgrade charge - waived
Total $230
- $160 sell old Touch used on Amazon
Net to me $70.00 !!!
SWEET!!!
Oh, and all this on a SERO plan!?!
thatguy @ Nov 4th 2008 7:44PM
yeah i'm one year in as of like last week so i know i have the 75 towards a new phone, but when u say bonus one year credit and the equipment coverage that confuses me a bit...what exactly is that?
but on another note sounds like a solid plan =D