Buying an HTC HD7 in the UK

Well I have tried all the O2 shops within a 50 mile radius of me and none of them have stock at opening time this morning.  Dissapointing, will trek out again this afternoon and report back!

Meanwhile their web site has been updated quoting a 5 day delivery and a pretty good price I feel:

http://shop.o2.co.uk/mobile_phone/HTC/HD7

Unfortunately, from the Engadget review the HD7 was the model I was going to avoid (gaps around the casing edge that will collect lint, gap between the battery cover and the main body, and the fancy stand on the back to allow the phone to be propped up did not close flush to the body -- all in the video review).

Orange were supposed to have WP7 phones online today but they're still 'comming soon' at the time of writing.

Herbie

Just ordered my HD7 now....even though the web site says 5 days delivery the guy on the phone said i should get it tomorrow! 

@AJHP: Let us know how you get on with it once it arrives -- we want a full, 1000 word review

Herbie

HD7 seems fitting as my last winmob was the HD2 which I loved (bit annoying it wasn't upgradeable).  I won't be keeping it loose in my pocket so 'lint build up' not really an issue and I like that I can get a 48GB phone quite easily (32GB Micro SD seem to be just a little over £50 at the moment).  Bottom line is I want a large screen for web browsing  - like the 720p video as well.

I'm waiting to see what the Samsung Omnia 7 is going for at Orange (4" AMOLED screen), or possibly the HTC Mozart (casing looks higher quality than the HD7).

However, in the end I expect price will be the driving factor for my purchase so it might well be an HD7 in the end.

Herbie

Guildford had some HD7's this morning, 5 left after the other half brought herself one.  Aldershot also had some at opening, not sure how many they had but I was the first one in there.

Must say they're pretty nice.  Won't fit in my HD2 cradle though, about half a mm too thick!  Typical.

Thoughts: as someone who had an HD2 already, obviously this isn't a hardware upgrade at all.  Same processor, same RAM, same screen etc.  But it's only £380 which isn't too bad, the HD2 set me back £450 last year, and my Touch Pro £550 18 months prior.

Interface is silky smooth as had been reported, syncing with Zune works really well.  Few nice touches like the Zune UI picks up on the theme used on the phone, so at the moment on the phone section it's got the light blue of the o2 theme on the phone.

More thoughts later, overall I'm pretty happy with it so far.  And just to clarify the o2 HD7's have 16GB of storage, unlike the 8GB that HTC's website reports for Europe.  About 12.5GB usable, 1.5GB reserved.

@Dr Herbie: I've just ordered a Omnia 7, got to wait till the 29th for it though.  The screen sold me, with the amount of black in the OS, the AMOLED screen screen just looks a lot nicer.

@daSmirnov: Does the stand at the back lie flush to the case (see engadget video link above for their one that didn't).  I can't decide how annoying that would be if it didn't (might be in a case anyway so it wouldn't be a problem).

Also, how does the battery compartment fit (again see the video link)?

I'm hoping that Engadet just got a duff one and they're not all like that.

Herbie

31 seconds ago, PerfectPhase wrote

@Dr Herbie: I've just ordered a Omnia 7, got to wait till the 29th for it though.  The screen sold me, with the amount of black in the OS, the AMOLED screen screen just looks a lot nicer.

Where did you order from?

Herbie

@Dr Herbie: Three.co.uk.   I'm moving off O2 as the recption in my house is awful on O2.

@Dr Herbie: kickstand does not sit flush, like the camera lens it is raised slightly.  Feels a bit cheap wouldn't surprise me if it broke off in time, or at least bent out of shape.  But then the HD2's camera was raised about 1mm.  It doesn't stick out anywhere near as much as that.  So far it hasn't got caught going in and out of the pocket.

Battery cover is made from super thin plastic, and you pull it out and down from the top, and it clips in.  I won't be opening it up too much to avoid risk of breaking some of the clips.

Wasn't able to get an HD7, was just about to buy one in O2 in Cheltenham* but when I told the guy I wanted in on PAYG (379.99) he said he would only sell it as part of a full contract.  Phoned Bristol - they had 'loads of stock' drove straight there and both shops had 'just sold the last one'. 

Might try again tomorrow but feel like I have had a wasted day. 

* I queried this with the Bristol shop who said this wasn't O2 policy - I'm guessing the guy was on commission or something, very frustrating.

@Ian2: Better luck next time, it's always frustrating when you head out knowing exactly what you want but the shops are unable (or unwilling) to deliver.

Herbie

@Dr Herbie: I got up today thinking this would be my last day as an iTunes user, the fact that I have to use it for another week is somewhat disappointing

Well my other half was going to pick me up a phone in Guildford along with hers, but they refused to sell her two.  So I had to get my backside up and get into Aldershot myself to get one.

Annoying on my day off!

OK, last minute reprieve, on an impulse I checked Cribbs Causway and they still had some stock (well, one) so my wife is now the proud owner of an HTC HD7 (she hasn't opened the box yet - Doh! - don't they realise?)

Should I get an HD7 or Dell Venue?  Heard the GPU in the HD 7 is old and the screen isn't OLED.