3 Announce HTC Desire

Walkman

3 are releasing new bill pay plans in August. AFAIK data will be included in some of these, are they not giving data free to iphone customers at the moment.

BeciMester

Just an update: popped into the 3 store in Blanch SC and asked about the Desire out of curiosity, fella said it's coming "in 2-3 weeks, together with the iPhone 4".

conor.hogan.2

3-4 weeks, end of the month, soon they dont tell us exactly when, they have them and they will be sent out to us after they sell them online, blah ditty blah ditty dah da dah.

daltonr

3 are releasing new bill pay plans in August. AFAIK data will be included in some of these, are they not giving data free to iphone customers at the moment.

I had heard they were giving 1gb of data to iPhone users, but they guy I spoke to didn't seem interested in giving me any data. My only option was to wait for the new plans.

Will the new Three plans be available in August?
Anyone want to bet on them hitting a deadline?

Let's say we get to August, the new plans are still two weeks away, and Meteor are no longer offering their current deal (it has already been extended once).

Best plan as I see it is to lock in the Meteor deal, and sit on it. If three come along with a decent package, then switch back. If Three drag their heels for a month or two or more, at least you are on a reasonable-ish plan while you wait.

For people with months to go on a three contract it's more of a pain. But if you're free to move then it's probably worth doing.

Incidently if you get the Desire, it's worth getting your hands on a UK sim so that you can use the full Marketplace, including paid apps.

-Rd

raeGten

What I heard today from a staff member in a 3 store was the iPhone 4 will be with them by July 15th. He also told me the Desire would be with them in September.

Make of that what you will. He couldn't give me a reason and we've heard them all before anyway. For what its worth I believe he was being straight with me. It's a shame.

Meteor have been solid for me so far in Dublin. No reception problems and great service.

Also, After a week of using the Desire I don't accept for a moment that there's ANY issue with the software that would warrant a recall. Other than the battery which could be better, the phone is outstanding!

wireless101

daltonr wrote: »

No I don't. But sadly it's about as good as it gets in Ireland, and it's better than the Relax 150 plan that I'm on which also costs €30.
To get 1gb of data on three I'd need to pay more.

That €30 with meteor also doesn't tie you into a contract, so for the couple of months it takes Three to get their finger out and come up with a proper plan for smart phones it will have to do.

The full Meteor plan includes 200mins and 200 Texts
Meteor to Meteor Calls and Texts are Free.

I gave Three a chance to keep my business yesterday by asking them to give me 1gb data with my Relax150 plan. They weren't interested. Just a vague promise to have a plan for smart phones "soon".

Regardless of the plan you pick, my point is that people should stop bitching about not being able to get these phones. The phones are available. Walk into a store and buy it.
If you really want 1gb of data on three then pay the extra and buy the add-ons.

If you don't like that option there are other providers.

The O2 Pre-Pay phones from CPW are not network locked regardless of what the guy behing the counter might tell you.

-Rd

I'm pretty sure you don't get free meteor to meteor calls/texts on that plan, if you are talking about smart €30

soc

wireless101 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you don't get free meteor to meteor calls/texts on that plan, if you are talking about smart €30

daltonR is referring to the SMART LITE SIM ONLY plan, and you're not tied into a long-term contract.... so theoretically you could switch to this plan, and if THREE get their a$$ into gear with a smartphone decent plan, you could then switch back to THREE.

wireless101

soc wrote: »

daltonR is referring to the SMART LITE SIM ONLY plan, and you're not tied into a long-term contract.... so theoretically you could switch to this plan, and if THREE get their a$$ into gear with a smartphone decent plan, you could then switch back to THREE.

ah i see, cheers. Am I right in saying the free calls+texts are only available if you get this sim online by july 31st? also, does this mean that they will only be doing this until then? id rather not have to change plans again after buying the desire

soc

wireless101 wrote: »

ah i see, cheers. Am I right in saying the free calls+texts are only available if you get this sim online by july 31st? also, does this mean that they will only be doing this until then? id rather not have to change plans again after buying the desire

Correct - free Meteor to Meteor calls/texts are only available if you buy the sim-only plan online. I'm not sure how long the free meteor to meteor calls/texts will last though - can't find any information anywhere on website... I assume it's 'for life' (i.e. for as long as you're on the smart lite sim-only contract with Meteor)

I've been watching the smart lite Meteor deal, as IMO it looks like the best deal out there at the moment for 30 EURO. FYI it was initially due to end on 31/05, then they extended it to 30/06... and then on the 30/06 Meteor extended it again, this time to expire on 31/07. I'm not sure if they'll extend the offer again, or if 31/07 will be last chance to avail of plan.

HTH

tylerdurden94

Quick question if any of you can answer it, when you buy that sim pack that people are talking about what do you actually need, do you have to send them in any documentation or just go through the steps pay for it and then its delivered?

soc

tylerdurden94 wrote: »

Quick question if any of you can answer it, when you buy that sim pack that people are talking about what do you actually need, do you have to send them in any documentation or just go through the steps pay for it and then its delivered?

If you're referring to the SMART LITE 30 plan - because this is a 'bill pay' sim, Meteor need to be able to get money from your bank account on a monthly basis, and therefore need to know who you are... so you'll need proof of ID and proof of address.

PAYG, is a different matter - you just sign up for the sim, and they'll send it out to you... no questions asked (AFAIK)

daltonr

Is it too cynical of me to think that 3 and Meteor are engaged in a bit of brinkmanship.

Three continuously promising new Data friendly plans "soon"
Meteor extending their offer whenever it runs out.

Could it be that Three want to wait until the Meteor offer ends, so their offer doesn't need to be as attractive?

Could it be that Meteor keep extending waiting for three to announce their plans? Trying to catch people who get sick of waiting for Three.

I'm probably giving them both more credit than they deserve.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall in some of those marketing meetings though.

-Rd

leahcim

It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall of the strategy meetings for these companies alright.

I'd say it would also be interesting to be a fly on the wall in a HTC meeting where they are discussing Samsungs failure to deliver enough AMOLED screens for their products. They must be thinking Samsung are using the opportunity to give their own Android phones an advantage.

The over reliance on Samsung is really starting to have an impact on HTC’s progress. It must be frustrating for them having all these customers looking for their products and them not having enough products to supply. Apparently they have finished testing Sony’s Super TFT LCD screen technology with their phones and it is very difficult to tell the difference between it and AMOLED, hopefully having a second source of screens will speed to their product output.

amby666

I got a call from 3 today (had been on my file for months to call me when the Desire arrived) to tell me the lastest email had come round stating the phones from HTC were now September (as advised here by Walkman last week).
Didn't have a reason, but seemed to be all HTC phones. They had checked and there was no stock in VF or Meteor, but O2 had stock (now that's what I call CS!), but O2 apparently admitted there were issues and they had got some back.
Only so long I can wait, time for another plan!

MIN2511

Yep, looking at the iphone4 but a friend of mine bought the htc on ebay for €350

Sandwich1989

fwiw, i work in one of the 3 stores - and the date has been changed a few times with no real reason - latest memo read the desire is due to be released in september - nothing more, nothing less...

on the plus side, i think the new wave is a pretty amazing phone

Inquitus

Sandwich1989 wrote: »

on the plus side, i think the new wave is a pretty amazing phone

It might be an amazing Phone in hardware terms, but it has a Samsung designed OS, which means it will be fecking awful.

RasTa

Any time I pass a 3 store in town it's closed down. Onto Meteor I go.

raeGten

RasTa wrote: »

Any time I pass a 3 store in town it's closed down. Onto Meteor I go.

Stop waiting for 3. It seems official now that it's September...for whatever reason. I got fed up waiting and moved to meteor and have no regrets. No issues with the phone either. Call your local meteor store and if they have stock, go for it.
Alternatively wait till September and hope that 3 don't push it back to Christmas. Or go for the iPhone 4 when it launches. Then again, we KNOW for certain that there's issues with that one. Main one being that it's not Android.

supaburger

i talked to them yesterday they gave me some bull**** about sw problems
they even have the audacity to tell me that all phones in ireland are being recalled by the other service providers

today i called their head office to make an official complaint and they didn't bother to call me back yet

that's it i had enough of them

here is their head office details in case you want to complaint


3rd Floor
6-10 Suffolk Street
Dublin 2
Ireland
Contact

Phone: +353-1-5426300
Fax: +353-1-5426301

Walkman

RasTa wrote: »

Any time I pass a 3 store in town it's closed down. Onto Meteor I go.

Closed down or closed? Are you getting 3 Stores mixed up with 3G Stores?

SteM

Is there any point? Just move network and when you move tell their retentions dept specifically why you are leaving. Losing customers will cause more ripples than people complaining to them but doing nothing.

iwo

You must be joking...Do not even try to ring/write/emial that address I tried few times with absolutely to feedback. I am with Three for three years, every time I try to upgrade I need to go through hell, I am gadget person so looking for nice/advanced phones. I have three accounts at home (wife,me and daughter) Wife doesnt give a sh*t about phone but me and daughter do so there is a battle every year, I promise to myself to quit every year but free skype keeps me with them as we use it a lot. This year was first where I bought unbranded phone and I am very happy with it. getting iphone with 1gb allowance and selling it was great move

Saorog

Well after giving up on 3, we jumped ship to Meteor - only to find they had no Desires. Anywhere. At all. But.... today our local store had 1 (a reserved one the customer changed their mind on) and I got it.
130 euro for phone, 30 euro a month bill (18 months), 200 mins + 200 texts + 1 gig.
Also, as I'm switching from 3, free meteor to meteor calls and texts for 12 months. I thought that was a good deal.

Although I had no issues with 3's service while using them, the lack of clarity on this was annoying, a simple 'we can't get them' / 'we're not doing them' would have sufficed.

drunkmonkey

The desire shortage is world wide when they do eventually come back in stock there not going to be the same phone, the screen will have changed. That's the problem, nobody has them except samsung the manufacturer of the desire screens.

raeGten

Sure. There's a worldwide shortage of Desires. I get that. But you have to admit, the shortage is a lot more noticeable if you're a 3 Ireland customer.

supaburger

F**k 3 in the @a$
I just got my mine from o2

raeGten

supaburger wrote: »

F**k 3 in the @a$
I just got my mine from o2

...and I bet it works fine and you won't need to return it.
They're in stock and working fine...but 3 can't get their act together. They must have really pi$$ed someone off!

MIN2511

o2 have them?

iwo

drunkmonkey wrote: »

The desire shortage is world wide when they do eventually come back in stock there not going to be the same phone, the screen will have changed. That's the problem, nobody has them except samsung the manufacturer of the desire screens.

I agree with you but... Meteor managed to have them, O2 and Vodafone too. Three didnt have one htc to sell...This shows that their planning failed. They knew that phone will not arrive but they were making idiots of people like us. From the other hand, we are maybe 0000,1% of all three customers so they do not have to care about us. Android and htc are not popular - htc (all smartphones) posses only 1.7% market in europe. We can complain, yapping etc. this will not change anything...It was probably cheaper for them to lose some customers rather then getting expensive desire. For me they are just liars...

deadlytea

iwo wrote: »

I agree with you but... Meteor managed to have them, O2 and Vodafone too. Three didnt have one htc to sell...This shows that their planning failed. They knew that phone will not arrive but they were making idiots of people like us. From the other hand, we are maybe 0000,1% of all three customers so they do not have to care about us. Android and htc are not popular - htc (all smartphones) posses only 1.7% market in europe. We can complain, yapping etc. this will not change anything...It was probably cheaper for them to lose some customers rather then getting expensive desire. For me they are just liars...

It's quite disappointing but the only answer is to go for another phone or switch provider. From a marketing point of view, It's quite laughable that the phone has been 'Coming Soon' on their site for over 2 months.

Clone

I gave up on three and have been enjoying my Desire on Meteor.

There were a few hiccups to start on Meteor but that was down to being issued a dud number/sim. While this was being sorted I put my 3 sim in it, set up the APN and had no trouble using it.

If you really want it don't bother waiting for 3, I waited, and waited and the novelty of buying it as reward for myself was waining.

Rumours and conjecture will only fuel your anger.

The coming soon has been there longer than 2 months, they took it off for a few days and then put it back on.

KAGY

Got mine in the car phone warehouse €130 on meteor 30pm in Longford. Just have to ring around a bit.

Up to my proverbials with work so I haven't really had a chance to play with it properly. I'll post up a comparison between that and the N95 8GB when I get a chance.

The Word Is Bor

Just ordered one with Meteor there.

RasTa

Picking mine up on Saturday from Meteor. Anyone have a link from eBay for a good screen protector/wallet type thing?

donkey balls

supaburger wrote: »

i talked to them yesterday they gave me some bull**** about sw problems
they even have the audacity to tell me that all phones in ireland are being recalled by the other service providers

today i called their head office to make an official complaint and they didn't bother to call me back yet

that's it i had enough of them


i got the same story of them as well:eek: when i called yesterday as they were to launch it this week,going wait and see what new phones come out around sept/oct.

P1erce

Global shortage.. bought mine on pixmania (425+shipping). Okay its a hell of a price for a phone but now I am not locked in any contract. (I down graded my contract from 50 to 20euro a month). Or any sim.

So three didn't lose a customer but they lost 30euro a month and a contract making me agree to hold it for 12/18 months.

I got a cover on amazon (its marked as a htc hd mini but i understand it should work) and a 16GB microsd.

Pierce

deadlytea

Hey there, i'm gonna go for the iphone from 3 (and maybe sell and purchase desire ). Can anyone who got one recently verify that they are unlocked? I know a few months back that was the case

Clone

deadlytea wrote: »

Hey there, i'm gonna go for the iphone from 3 (and maybe sell and purchase desire ). Can anyone who got one recently verify that they are unlocked? I know a few months back that was the case

I was able to use the Desire I got from meteor with my 3 sim no problem, just had to add the 3 apn settings. So no it isn't locked.

All the irish operators APN settings are on boards, just don't have the link handy at the moment.

Plus there is no bloatware from meteor just stock HTC Desire.

Three are losing me deffo, they are going to loose 30 a month straight away and then once my contract is up, I'll be gone.

deadlytea

Clone wrote: »

I was able to use the Desire I got from meteor with my 3 sim no problem, just had to add the 3 apn settings. So no it isn't locked.

All the irish operators APN settings are on boards, just don't have the link handy at the moment.

Plus there is no bloatware from meteor just stock HTC Desire.

Three are losing me deffo, they are going to loose 30 a month straight away and then once my contract is up, I'll be gone.

I actually meant is the iphone from 3 locked?

cojomo2

deadlytea wrote: »

I actually meant is the iphone from 3 locked?

no, it's not locked at the moment- they come from 3 Italy, where all phones are unlocked by law.

Once 3 officially launch it, you can expect it to be locked then.

donkey balls

lads i was offered the HTC desire on meteor for 19e (bill pay 85e a month) im with 3 at present with my contract due to expire august, would i be mad to leave 3 and go to meteor if i wanted to get the HTC?

I am thinking of playing meteor off 3 regarding the price plans& mobiles available what do you guys think?

conor.hogan.2

Meteor actually have decent customer care and few problems.

If your willing to pay 85 a month - go ahead as the difference in bill pay plans isnt much at that level.

tadayuki

Hi guys,

any news about that smartphone?

I'll move to Dublin in the next couple of weeks and I would love to have a Desire, but because it is in "coming soon" status since ages I guess I'll go for a Samsung Galaxy S.

What do you suggest me?

Thanks

donkey balls

tadayuki wrote: »

Hi guys,

any news about that smartphone?

I'll move to Dublin in the next couple of weeks and I would love to have a Desire, but because it is in "coming soon" status since ages I guess I'll go for a Samsung Galaxy S.

What do you suggest me?

Thanks

according to their customer care launch date is 24th sept but they dont have any prices yet.

tadayuki

so maybe it's worth to wait a couple of week.
I suppose the prices won't be much different than the Galaxy S, isn't it?

I am reading posts on several forums to understand which one of the thw is better, but I have not yet a clear answer.
For sure Desire looks nicer

What do you think?

conor.hogan.2

Read through these threads this phone has been coming soon for months and months now.

tadayuki

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Read through these threads this phone has been coming soon for months and months now.

Yes, I know and that is why I wil most probably take a Galaxy S.
However, I am still not convinced that it is better than the Desire.

Moreover, yesterday 3 has removed the "Free Skype and "Free Windows Live Messenger" graphics from the Galaxy S advert on the its website, but kept "The Galaxy S also comes with GPS, and you can turn it into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot for your laptop or any other Wi-Fi enabled device. Plus you get free Skype™-to-Skype calls and free Windows Live™ Messenger on the Samsung Galaxy S, only on Three." on the overview section.

Quite strange.

drunkmonkey

tadayuki wrote: »

Yes, I know and that is why I wil most probably take a Galaxy S.
However, I am still not convinced that it is better than the Desire.

Moreover, yesterday 3 has removed the "Free Skype and "Free Windows Live Messenger" graphics from the Galaxy S advert on the its website, but kept "The Galaxy S also comes with GPS, and you can turn it into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot for your laptop or any other Wi-Fi enabled device. Plus you get free Skype™-to-Skype calls and free Windows Live™ Messenger on the Samsung Galaxy S, only on Three." on the overview section.

Quite strange.

I haven't been able to download messenger so i'm not sure it works yet, skype sure does, you also get free sky sports 1,2 &3 + Sky news free for 12mts with the galaxy, the galaxy has a bigger better screen and is a lot lighter, I prefer the galaxy, the desire feels very brick like compared to it. One or 2 reviews have called the design flimsy but I really think it's great to have a phone that powerful with such a large screen and still feel so light is a trade off i'm prepared to make, and judging by this video flimsy is the wrong word. I'd like to see the iphone 4 after these tests:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xASJobjD68

conor.hogan.2

I would get used to the ''quite strange feeling'' if i were you, if you plan to stay with three.