Also many international companies just throw their products out on European markets with little strategy and just see what happens. In the US they like to have a “plan” and get everything in place before they unleash their goods. This sometimes results in missed oppertunities and delays to the consumer.

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Until HTC uses something better than the current software rendering for video (as on AT&T Tilt), they might as well stay out of my market.

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/ckh

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Gosh, I really have no idea why make models instead of A model.

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What happened??? You guys are getting royally screwed lately (from your own phone companies).
Kevin

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Then you can once again, a decade or so later, blame the FCC as it further sliced and diced spectrum so that today we have to have fully 4 bands (850, 1700, 1900, 2100+) to support the bandwidth needed for adequate US 3G coverage and market competition (i.e. 4 carriers). [yes the 2100 is for the uplink on AWS]

Kevin Martin’s one of the first half-sensible FCC commissioners in a while, but it’s all a bit late for him to unwind this mess.

Sigh….

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While your rant about phone selection here is justified, your reasoning for HTC’s omission of the 850 band could not be more off. Please see my post on the first page for the real reason. In short, its not a matter of production cost, nor does it have anything to do with pissing off the European/Asian market. In fact, Europeans and Asians want their phones to have the 850 band for when they travel here. The bottom line is that its all about not wanting to piss off AT&T.

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2. their primary business is manufacturing devices, they have several US clients that sell devices under other names. those clients pay them very well and do not want HTC to be a competitor in the US market. HTC looks at the situation according to my #1 and allows their clients to limit their brand and products in the US.

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But blaming HTC? Not so sure about that one. Fact: the North American wireless market is a shit show. The majority of device sales are done through carriers, and due to ridiculous, uncompetitive pricing for both devices and service, the “average” North American wireless consumer ends up signing a 2/3 year contract (Canadian providers LOVE the 3 year contract) for a “free” low end, boring device that WOULD cost $250 unlocked, but due to supply and carrier interference, ends up selling for much more than that.

Quad band support might not cost much at all, as compared to tri band, but a small cost increase will piss off a majority of HTC’s customer base, seeing as how they couldn’t give less of a shit about 850GSM. Pissing off a big chunk of your market in order to appease enthousiasts in North America is a bad business plan when you take into account the rest of the clusterfuck that is this market. Essentially, a cost increase may decrease HTC’s sales in their important Euro/Asian markets, and that decrease may not be made up for by NA sales. Finally, take into account the ways in which North America has fucked with GSM standards, and you can really kinda see why support for 850GSM is kinda.. not so good.

But still, I’m getting tired of having a crappier and crappier selection of phones too.

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I’m afraid you have not been paying full attention. The Raphael was already announced by T-Mobile Germany as the MDA Vario IV, it is a tri-band GSM single band HSDPA phone. What you found was a rumored internal Sprint document that has not been confirmed. While a CMDA version may ultimately be picked up by Sprint this device will launch as GSM first in Europe and Asia.

Next time do a little more research before you try to make people look stupid, as it stands right now you are the one who is looking a bit clueless. I’d say apologies to all are in order.

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Question: will the existing / earlier generation unlocked HTC 3G Triband phones work on ATT 3G network> I thought ATT had proprietary network for 3G. What about other brands?

Also, will they work on the European 3G systems with an activated SIM card being the only requirement to function?

Thanks from a relative noob filtering through the morass on info! Keep up the great work.

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You are incorrect. The HTC TyTN was quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and tri-band UMTS/HSPDA.

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@Randy – Very nice comment. I agree with a lot you are saying. If ATT doesn’t pick up either the Diamond or Raphael initially, I think Best Buy Mobile will pick it up as an unlocked phone but it is going to cost a fortune.

My own personal thoughts – I really, really want the these phones to come to the US like many of us do. However, as stated earlier, I think the reason ATT is not picking it up right now is because it is going to hurt the 3G iPhone sales in the coming weeks. I do believe that an ATT branded Raphael will come sometime this year however, and I know that I will be picking that up on release day. I do not agree with those that are comparing these phones to the iPhone because they can not be compared. They are marketed and designed for two entirely different customers. My thoughts are that the iPhones are marketed for Joe 6 pack and Trendy Tom who want a cool device to show off to their friends, where the HTC devices are marketed to people who understand the power of a what these devices are capable of and want to utilize that.

All in all, I’m excited for a stateside release of these phones and I’m confident that it will be happen this year.

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Ya know I love you guys! Hands down one of the best if not the best for getting exclusives. But I think your post is a little off. Most devices HTC that are not US releases are not Quad Band. Look at the HTC TyTN that device i reviewed was a triband and then released in the US as a Quad. Unfortunately if you talk with HTC their core business model is aimed at the European market that supports the higher 3G speeds and functionality i.e video conferencing.

I agree it sucks but take a look at the HTC USA infrastructure and it is very week. Not many workers in Redmond and scattered throughout the USA.

Sad but true we are the second child..

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@BOSS – I definitely think AT&T turned down the Diamond to be released right now because of their deal with Apple. (if Randy is right and they haven’t officially said no yet, I hope that is the case but that is not what I am hearing)

@Alex – I agree with you but if TMo had rolled out their 3G network nationwide or was ready to, this would be the best device to showcase it. Maybe when they do then?

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