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Polaris / Touch Cruise on T-Mobile UK

I popped into T-Mobile in Derby today and asked if they'll be getting the TC (I'm assuming it'll probably rebranded as the MDA Compact IV) anytime soon. The lady said they definitely will be getting it but didn't know when. When I asked her to hazard a guess she guesstimated end of Feb.
Just thought you might like to know

thanks not too long....

No way. I'm leaving T-mobile for the Polaris and 02 and the sales guy is trying to keep me on by offering all sorts of stuff including a free Touch Phone with accessories and a really good contract. If they were getting one soon he would have been in a better position to judge and tell me to hang on, instead he is offering me newer phones for free that haven't been released by T-mobile yet. If they are getting their version it will probably be in April or May. They are always 3 - 4 months behind o2.

Spoke to T-Mobile and they said they would not be selling the TC or a rebadged version of it.
Sounds like t-mobile dont know whats going on

I don't know what to believe to be honest. From experience, the guys and gals on the shop floor haven't got a clue what's coming until about a week before it arrives. That's why I said guesstimate not estimate
Really, o2 isn't an option for me. Nobody can compete with T-Mobile's web-n-walk at the moment. Yes, o2 offer an 'unlimited' plan but it's 200MB plus loads of fair usage restrictions. I'm away from home a lot so I use Internet Sharing for my laptop in the hotel rooms - I'd use 200MB up in about 2 hours! Plus I much prefer their Flext plan over fixed x mins and x texts plans of the other providers.
I also can't justify £300+ on buying an htc branded one.
I hope T-Mobile pull their finger out and get the TC sharpish! I have the Vario II (Hermes) at the moment and my battery's screwed - it barely lasts a day even without actually using it. I've just bought a new battery but I want some TouchFLO action!

Even if they eventually do TC, I guess you will be disappointed when they tell you the upgrade price...
I love my T-Mobile too, but I will have to switch to O2 to get a good deal on the phone.

i would love to have it on TMob but i need something by the end of Jan or I will lose my number. pretty sure im gonna go with O2.

Well, technically I have to wait 'til May before I can upgrade - that might be long enough for TMob to catch up!
My new battery has arrived as I type this it's a 1500mAh - It's lighter than the stock 1350mAh and the pack has a 'cheap' look to it - "Cameron Sino" branded (never heard of 'em!). It this doesn't improve the life I get out of it then I may claim on the insurance. My bank covers it on new for old so I may be able to convince them to replace it with htc branded polaris (probably wishful thinking).

I'm running a TC on T-Mobile (bought phone simm free which is expensive I know) but unless O2 have improved their data charges I'd never switch to them. I was with them until last year and it was a complete rip-off. T-Mobile's web'n'walk is unlimited (ok 1Gb fair-usage) and perfect for the TC.

If any UK T-Mobile user runs out of patience and wants to go the unbranded route then I can report that my unbranded UK HTC Touch Cruise works perfectly with my UK T-Mobile PAYG SIM card for both GSM and 3G.
When I first turned my TC on it offered to auto-configure the network for me; I let it and it set up both GSM and 3G and then defaulted to 3G for the connection. I'm paranoid about battery life so I went into phone settings and set the band manually to GSM but I have since switched it to 3G temporarily to try some browsing.
- Julian

Pricing Increase?

www.mobileplanet.com increased their Touch Cruise (English) pricing by 10% over the weekend. Anyone know why? (lack of competition?)

bigdigtown said:
www.mobileplanet.com increased their Touch Cruise (English) pricing by 10% over the weekend. Anyone know why? (lack of competition?)
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So far, any UK retailer with actual stock has done that. Just somewhat cynical opportunism ... I've asked the devicewire forum member why he thinks that actual supply is so pathetic - best estimate now is mid-February, but that's not to be believed either.

Good question
However the price raises are making me more likely to wait until other Touch phones come along from Nokia or Samsung like the i900.

TmanTman said:
However the price raises are making me more likely to wait until other Touch phones come along from Nokia or Samsung like the i900.
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Yes ... I prefer the phone/PDA/GPS combo, so I'm looking at the MWg Atom V (Expansys Hong Kong). Due in Feb (sound familiar ?), SirFIII GPS (excellent !!), same breadth/thickness as Polaris, 5mm longer (not so good), 64Mb RAM (liveable !), over $100 cheaper (excellent !!), no front video camera (excellent, I never use it and don't want to pay for it). Actual retail time cannot be any worse. I still suspect that this pathetic release date fiasco is due to the US Court injunction on Qualcomm for convicted patent infringement.
http://www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=1020
for specs so far

Sounds interesting, but I think the TC can't be topped yet right now (If we get the GPU drivers that is) But you will not like 64 MB RAM. The Touch also has 64 MB RAM, and it lags like hell on WM6. Ok the CPU is a lot faster (500 MHz) but I didn't find a GPU spec so I'm thinking that it'll be the same cr*p like the Eten Glofiish X800...

TC in trouble if this Glofiish V900 arrives
I realize E-Ten's releases are normally put back and back(AKA HTC's Touch Cruise) but this Glofiish V900 looks the business. Watch out HTC!!!
http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index.php

Is the Polaris a big upgrade to the Artemis?

Hi
I want to upgrade my XDA Orbit (Artemis) to the XDA Orbit 2 (Polaris / Cruise).
However when comparing the two PDAs i see that theres not much difference... I already have TouchFlo on my Artemis, got navigation software, memory is not a problem, etc.
The only things that are new is the hard flush screen, the 3MP camera, 3G and...er...thats all i can think of!
So anyways my main question is, those people who have upgraded from the artemis to the polaris, is it worth paying £150 (or $300) for those few extra features? Is there anything I should know that makes the polaris significantly better than the artemis?
Thanks...

100% faster CPU.
More memory is always better for performance and it has 100% more memory too.
Also, given that all the cool apps are included in ROM in means even more memory is free to boost performance.

& you can sell it on eBay for approx. £350 if you arn't impressed.

Yh on eBay they are selling for huge amounts of money... £350
I recently bought a 22 inch monitor for my computer. I spent £140.00 on it but now I think its time I sold that along with my XDA Orbit and bought a XDA Orbit II.
They don't look as nice with the silver front. Why didn't O2 keep it black ;( Lol
The speed is a bonus aswell, I don't know why they used a 200Mhz processor for the orbit 1? Thats just really stupid in my opinion, just makes the PDA...well slower lol especially when it was the latest PDA of its time and the previous ones had like 400Mhz processors. It makes it stand out, but not in a good way.
Anyway I will try to sell my orbit to friends and not on eBay because on eBay they go for really cheap now!
As for the monitor I'll try get that sold....man I really regret buying it in the first place now, i bought it weeks before the orbit 2 was released - the money i was saving TO BUY the orbit 2! I just got impatient lol...
Does anyone know where I can get an orbit 2 for £300 ? or can anyone predict when they will dramatically fall in value on eBay (and start selling for like...£280-£320)
Thanks!
(P.S. - "& you can sell it on eBay for approx. £350 if you arn't impressed." -- I doubt i wouldnt be impressed with a PDA like that lol

My single reason for the upgrade from P3300 to Polaris was iGo 8 Try to run this one on a 200 Mhz CPU with 64 MB RAM. It's unusable. On the Polaris it rocks
Last but not least: The Polaris IS much faster even than Meschle's fastest ROMS for the P3300 And that with stock ROM. I can't imagine how much bigger the difference will get when Meschle gets a Polaris

Well the 3G sold it for me! But the faster processor and extra memory were plusses too.

Yh his ROMS are fast and if the factory Polaris ones are fast... pheeww.... thats gonna be lightning LOL
Just took a look at eBay - If I were to sell my Artemis i'd get about £135-£145 UK Pounds (one UK Pound is two American Dollars).
A massive decrease from when I last bought it. They have just plumetted in value... should I try to sell my Artemis A.S.A.P. and get what I can from it and not have a PDA for 2-3 months (to wait for the value of the Polaris to decrease) and then buy the Polaris?
I can try get about £180 for it from friends - some are not aware of the massive price decrease LOL.

Ok just gave my XDA Orbit 1 (HTC Artemis) to my friends dad who is going to try it out for a few days. If he likes it, he will pay £180 for it!
Wish me luck! Hope that it doesn't break or somehow mess up and that hes pleased with it and wants to buy it! I regulary see my friend and his dad and if he buys it and then something goes wrong hes going to come to me with the questions!
Yas

Wow, high price for Diamond!

Surely this can't be right.
Just checked with Smart Mobile Gadgets, and HTC Diamond are selling at $899.94. Compare to Sony Experia X1, which is selling for $979.94. I am not an iPhone person, but WOW at those price, I may be forced to buy the 3G iPhone instead. Lets hope the price will be lower than what they have there.

Hahahahahaha! That's way too much money for this phone, HTC will sell only a few.

it'll probably drop to $800 or less quite soon after (£400)
it's 'cheaper' with a contracy usually though, free or very cheap (>£100) with contacts <£35/month, that also includes all your calls/texts/internet so it can be quite good.

if you think about it, that has always been the price for the high end phones. remember the Nokia 8890 back in the days? it was about the same price as well.

Yeah, it's far too much for a phone with 4GB storage only and without a card slot.

These are pre-release prices so they are obviously high. When these phones come to carriers, that's when the prices will come down significantly and plus they won't be released in the U.S till the end of the year so that will also give some time to reduce prices.

PLus they are unlocked, Locked devcices are usaully cheaper by hundreds of dollars and unlocking is no big deal.

HTC want us to pay >$900 for Microsoft for using Google youtube and Opera browser?
NO WAY!

I think I disagree.
Keep in mind that it will be available in Europe first so...
900$ is about 600 euros, which seems reasonable for a new WM device with VGA screen + GPS...
Moreover, the old HTC Touch is still sold for about 420 euros..

After checking out the iPhone, it does make sense that the Diamond is way too expensive. In any case, AT&T only carries the iPhone. For now, I am happy to use my 8525 and 3125.

Well I paid 915 US$ last year for a TyTN II with shipping included, so this prices are high but not overpriced.
I like the Diamong but for now I think that I'll wait for Windows 7.

daniel_rh said:
Well I paid 915 US$ last year for a TyTN II with shipping included, so this prices are high but not overpriced.
I like the Diamong but for now I think that I'll wait for Windows 7.
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THAT IS INSANE!
I know the mogul is a tad bit under the specs of the tilt, but i paid 500 about a month before its official release. I cant really see the diamond going for more than 600 usd, especially if it want to compete with the iphone (which IMO, is better)
I really hope the raphael is around the same or less.

let's say you have 900$. what are you going to buy? sony or htc?

Stop yer fussin. Thats only the prices they're charging because the phones aren't even out yet. When they come out they'll probably be impossible to find too, but hopefully Sprint lets me upgrade at a discount with a new contract or something.

Yeah, they'll come down after they release. At least I hope they do! My wife and I are planning on getting one of each next year (I like the X1, she likes the Diamond).
If they stay almost a grand a pop we'll be passing...too rich for my blood.

I only paid $120 for my Mogul... I won't pay $900 for a phone.

hidavi said:
I only paid $120 for my Mogul... I won't pay $900 for a phone.
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$120! Where did you pull that off, ebay?

I got my Hermes (two of them, 8525's) for $199 each from AT&T themselves. No contract extension, nothing. I just called up one day and told them what I wanted, and they gave it to me somehow. I think it's because the Tilt was like two months away so maybe they were trying to clear 'em out.
$399 for two 8525's was a deal, I thought. But no way I'm going to pay even five hundred for one phone. That really is a bit high...and 900+ is just out of the question, as far as I'm concerned.

hidavi said:
Stop yer fussin. Thats only the prices they're charging because the phones aren't even out yet. When they come out they'll probably be impossible to find too, but hopefully Sprint lets me upgrade at a discount with a new contract or something.
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Exactly. I got my Wing for $326 off eBay. $900 is not worth a phone especially when it's going to be like $300 in the next 6 months.

Just checked pricing here too and it's £480 unlocked without a contract and £200 for T-mobile flext 25 which is what I'm on. That's quite a bit more than I'm usually willing to pay - I haven't paid more than £60 for a phone on contract. As others have said though, the price will come down when it's been on the market a few months, plus we'll know all it's little bugs by then
I couldn't wait for a new phone though as I've just bricked one, so I've ordered a LG KS20 unlocked without contract (managed to brick my phone 4 months before contract is up).

Upgrading on Orange

For years I've been with Orange and I last got a tytn1 recently replaced with a tytn2 because of repeated problems with the tytn1. last renewal I "upgraded to a n6301 for my wife to keep my contract price down. I am a band5 user and am on a Dolphin 40 websave. I have:
Dolphin 40 £30
websave eve n WE internet
500 mb +£5 peak use internet
100 mins loyalty reward (that dont include voicemail call... weird that one...) I
10.00 loyalty reward -£10
Orange Care +£6
Thing is I know I can do better ESPECIALLY as I havent upgraded for years and that a friend from PAYG got the same deal getting a contract AND a n95 which, at the time was new.
I need 400 xnet + unlimitted landline call and 250 texts or so and internet as I currently only have access through my phone.
The big one though is I want to actually UPGRADE and get a well deserved touch pro2 as it has the keyboard and I dont think the ACER is a great idea)
how do I get it? searching the internet comes up with a few places that suposedly do the touch pro2 on orange but I've not heard anything of these companies and am worried leaving orange direct. Can anyone advise me where to go for the best deal and to get this TP2? Otherwise it'l be cheap phone upgrade and max deal for minimum £PM so I could get the phone myself.
Lastly am I foolish sticking with Orange thinking my loyalty count for something?
I'd really apreciate any advice. I'm due to upgrade now

orange direct dont do the tp2 so you wil have to go through another company anyway, I would first phone up orange and ask if there is a way to use another company to upgrade through without having to leave and come back to them. As for staying with a company i dunno really I don't I switch the second I see a better deal, saying that my gf has been with o2 for years and she gets the most amazing deals every year I think she has 400mins unlimited texts unlim internet for £15/pm and she got a free e71. I on the other hand brought my touch hd sim free £500 and got a sim only deal from tmobile 600mins/unlimited texts/internet£20pm
also don't limit your choice to one phone until you have seen what deals you can get for example orange do the tg01 (no keyboard) they may give that to you for a really good price then you could sell it and buy whatever phone you wanted on ebay maybe, the n900 from nokia looks amazing although not wm (until wm7 I think thats a good thing- apart from no tomtom)