Alright, fellas. It has been one heck of a journey, but today, the Motorola DROID and HTC DROID Eris are finally on sale to the general public. From what we’re hearing, stock levels are insanely high so it doesn’t look like many people that want one will miss the opportunity to take one home. If you’re in line, or at the store, or already snatched one and have made the trip home, shoot us in some photos in the comments and let us know how you’re liking the new Android lineup on Verizon, ok?

One of our connects already did one for us, but there’s nothing like having a handset (and a box) in your own possession. Also what our guy reported seems to be spot on: this thing is thinner, lighter, and a lot more pocketable than Sprint’s HTC Hero. The only other change, we’re told, is that the DROID Eris has a proximity sensor on the screen. We’ll put together something more formal in a little bit, but in the meantime check out a couple photos after the jump!

You already know we smashed this one, but in case you don’t…  Release date? Check. Spy shots? Yes please. Unboxing? Sure. Press release? Well, we figure we would let Verizon handle that one. Today, HTC and Verizon officially announced the November 6th launch of the DROID Eris on the “there’s a map for that” network. This handset has all the goodies: Wi-Fi, GPS, a 5 megapixel camera, 3.2″ touch screen display, and HTC’s Sense UI. The price tag is set at $99 on contract after a $100 mail-in rebate. We’ve given this puppy enough attention, but you can hit the press release for all the minutia.Read

One of our connects just blessed us with a couple shots of the HTC DROID Eris and graciously unboxed the retail packaging. We could bore you with meaningless details about how the phone is thinner and lighter than the Sprint HTC Hero, feels much better in the hand, and is generally the best Android device besides the Motorola DROID our connect has used, but we’ll stop there. Enjoy the photos!

Thanks, Jon!

Our readers in both Europe and Asia have reason to smile this morning, as HTC has at long last announced that the highly anticipated successor to the Touch HD has finally begun shipping. Citizens in Europeans will be able to pick up the HD2 in the next few days while our Asian brothers and sisters will see a gradual rollout staring in a weeks time. As for the majority of our readers, Americans, HTC has formally confirmed what we reported one month ago when the device was first announced — the HD2 will be making its way to “a major US carrier” in early 2010. The only mystery is which carrier could HTC possibly be referring to. Hmm…

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One of our really solid connects just had some information for us and we think you’re going to love it. With the Motorola DROID being Verizon’s hot handset at the moment, you’d figure that the Moto would be it for a while, right? Well, if our guy is right, we could soon be bombarded with a lot more handsets. Apparently if the DROID launch/sales go really well, (is probably will) Verizon will push up handset releases and practically aim for the smartphone crown. Were talking HTC Passion, Motorola Calgary, Curve2, etc.

Apparently the Curve2 or HTC Passion / Dragon will launch on Black Friday, “whatever is ready first.” The second device would be used in a holiday push around mid-December. I asked why Verizon wouldn’t space this out more and he/she said “best network, best smartphones campaign.” Fair enough.

There are also some handsets coming soon that we “don’t know about,” apparently. Could all four Android devices really launch on Verizon before the end of the year, or really close to it? Plus a couple BlackBerrys, and some other stuff that hasn’t surfaced yet? It seems a little crazy, but hey, more power to them.

UPDATE: We’ve also been told that Verizon will release 15 new phones, mostly smartphones, starting with the BlackBerry Storm2 and continuing into the end of December.

A couple days ago, HTC tweeted the Hero would be anointed with Android 2.0, just like the DROID, and now, HTC’s website is showing us that the Hero will be offered on Telus’ network in GSM/HSDPA goodness. No specification surprises in the GSM variant: Telus’ Hero will have the same Qualcomm MSM7200A 528MHz processor, WiFi b/g, BlueTooth 2.0, and 5 megapixel camera as its CDMA cousin. There has been no indication from HTC as to whether the GSM Hero will ship with Android 1.5 or 2.0 in tow, but we’re sure it will make its way onto the handset eventually. Think HTC has developed a bit of a complex from all the Motorola DROID hoopla?

Thanks, Juicy47!

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A mere two days after its release, Android 2.0 SDK has already been ripped from the womb and ported over to a T-Mobile G1. Currently in the most crude state possible, the cooked ROM runs as quickly as Babe Ruth did at his heaviest (and drunkest).The mere fact it’s able to run without melting the G1 and its 192MB of RAM, though, should give hope that the fine folks over at XDA-Developers will be able iron out enough wrinkles to make it usable as a daily driver. The only question is will G1/Dream and myTouch 3G/Magic users be treated to some delicious Eclairs like Hero users, or will they be stuck stuffing their faces with Donuts? We’re thinking the latter. Hit the jump for a video.

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Yesterday, Sprint executive David Owens dropped a ton of great news for Sprint customers in a live chat. Some of the news isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s still good to know and get confirmation from Sprint directly. Read on for the list of items that were mentioned.

• Google Android OS updates are coming for the HTC Hero and Samsung Moment. While he didn’t specify a version – 1.6 or 2.0 – HTC has previously confirmed that they’re working on an Android 2.0 update for the Hero.
• Combination CDMA/GSM Android phones are also “a possibility but nothing this year.”
• They’re considering an Android phone with a built-in MiFi-type router.
• Android phones will get less expensive “as we see volume across the industry.”
• Lots of HTC and BlackBerry phones coming next year. HTC phones “will be on the Android platform.”
• Sprint will “add Wi-Fi to [the BlackBerry] Tour” and have other Wi-Fi BlackBerry smartphones going forward.
• They’re testing Windows Mobile 6.5 updates for the HTC Touch Pro2 and other Windows phones; “plan for early 2010.”
• They want Windows Mobile 7.0 “as soon as possible, but dependent on Microsoft.”
• Expect WiMAX phones next year.
• No tethering for phones that require Everything plans (such as all smartphones) from here on out.

We already know about the updates coming to the Hero and Wi-Fi for the Tour, but it’s pretty cool to see that WiMAX phones are on the horizon. Hopefully that means a faster rollout of the 4G service. Owens also mentions more BlackBerry phones coming next year — could that mean that Sprint is also getting a 85xx series Curve just like Verizon? It could be the Wi-Fi BlackBerry he’s talking about when “going forward.” Lastly, for travelers, having more CDMA/GSM world phones with Android is pretty good news, even if we have to wait until next year.

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Who’s up for one more shot of the HTC Droid Eris? One of our connects wrote us in and dropped this photo on us. They also said, “Overall the same as the Sprint Hero but for some reason it seems faster, slightly thinner and taller.” Otherwise it “seems the same” and is running Android 1.5. We already told you the Droid Eris will be powered by a 528MHz Qualcomm CPU, and while it won’t ship with Android 2.0, well, you know where we’re going with this…

UPDATE: Updated with better shot!

Thanks, PhenomenalONE!

The Android 2.0 news keeps on a comin’! According to HTC via Twitter, the Hero will be blessed with an Eclair software update although an exact release date has yet to be determined. All signs indicate HTC will forgo the 1.6 update and focus on getting the Sense UI tweaked for 2.0 and kicking on the Hero. First the DROID, now the Hero…what handset will be next to grab a little Eclair?

“The rumors are true! Hero will be getting an Eclair update. We ask for your patience as we update Sense for the fancy new Android OS.”

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We just got an an email from one of our connects and we’ve got some great new for all you iPhone-lovers. We’ve been told in just a couple hours, Canada’s TELUS will officially announce that its nation-wide HSPA network will go live on November 5th. Not only that, but on that very date, TELUS will start selling the Apple iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. The iPhone pricing structure for TELUS will be the same as it is for Rogers (and Bell, for that matter) with the 3G going for $99.99/$599.99 and the 16 and 32GB 3GS going for $199.99/$699.99 and $299.99/$799.99. Beyond that, TELUS doesn’t appear to be in any rush to come forward with specifics on its plan pricing and other handsets. All the presses hints at is “TELUS will offer a number of exciting new devices from HTC, Huawei, LG, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, and Sierra Wireless in time for the holidays, including some on an exclusive basis.” That’s more or less in line with the line-up we’ve already told you.

Had enough Android goodness yet? Good, neither have we. While we don’t have many new details on this one we do have an image — and isn’t an image worth 1,000 words after all? This HTC, Verizon branded, touch-screen Android handset has been brought to light (in a very low light setting) by a new connect. All they could provide (other than the pic) was that it was extremely fast, similar in size to Sprint’s Hero, and was sporting the luscious Sense UI.

Thanks, nmc1way!

If there’s one thing us bloggers hate, it’s a mystery, but we’re going to have to get past that for this one as pictures said to be of an unannounced and unknown HTC Android device have found their way onto the internet. Sadly any details beyond those we can spot with our own eyes are nowhere to be found, but unless our peepers have deceived us, we’re certain we’re looking at a WVGA display, camera of unknown megapixels with flash, trackball and touch-sensitive menu keys. So what say you, people? Any thoughts/wishes as to what we’re looking at here? Three larger pics after the jump.

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Businessmen and women have been able to get their hands on it for the past 10 days, but starting today AT&T will sell the HTC Tilt2 to us regular folk. The second Windows Phone Windows Mobile 6.5 handset to be offered by AT&T after the Pure, the Tilt2 is available for $299.99 on a 2-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate or $499.99 contract free. But we have to ask for the sake of stirring up a little Sunday discussion: Considering the fact that all four carriers in the US offer up the Tilt2 in one form or another, why pick AT&T over Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon?

Thanks, Alexander!

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The upcoming Canadian wireless entrant WIND has been pretty secretive about its plans other than the fact it wants to shake things up, but thanks to a tipster within the company, we might have just found out the handsets it will be launching its 3G network with. The first is the BlackBerry Bold 9700, the second is the HTC Snap, the third is the Huawei U8220, and the fourth is an unknown QWERTY slider from Samsung. Other than that, it’s alleged that WIND will start off with three n0-contract price plans, have no SAF, not charge clients for features like caller ID and voicemail as well as not bill for intra-Provincial long distance and all dealerships will be outfitted with Microsoft’s Surface. Sounds nice to us, but what do you think, Canada?

Thanks, Fil!

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T-Mobile users that have grown accustomed to nothing but boring handsets might want to have a change of underwear on standby before reading any more, because it looks as if Magenta is actually going to offer a a handset of lust-worthy proportions.. According to TmoNews, its carrier namesake will offer the Snapdragon-powered HTC HD2 sometime in the near future, although it does not appear to be a part of Project Dark. We’re going to go and hit up some of our T-Mobile connects to see what they have to say on the matter, but in the meantime we suggest that those of you who are into it start praying that T-Mobile doesn’t ask for silly money if and/when it launches the HD2.

Thanks to everyone that send this in!

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With employee HSPA training well under way, one of our TELUS connects hit us up late last night to let us know just what smartphone hungry Canadians can expect once its HSPA network overlay goes live next month. Apart from the obvious ones – iPhone 3G and 3GS — TELUS will be dishing out the BlackBerry Bold 9700, LG Chocolate BL40 and the Nokia E71 (odd, we know). Road warriors should also note that TELUS will be offering the Sierra Wireless 306 USB data stick which is capable of taking full advantage of TELUS’ 21Mbps HSPA network. Okay, fine, rumors about many of these devices coming to TELUS aren’t exactly new, but we’re the first to be able to confirm this 100%. Just one more thing…. We’ve been told that the HTC Hero is definitely in TELUS’ play book and it’s going to be the GSM/HSPA variant.

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Your mileage may vary, but it appears that Sprint’s telesales has begun offering up the HTC Hero a few days ahead of schedule. We called telesales ourselves to check out the matter and were told that we could order up some Android goodness tonight for $279.99 on a 2-year before a $100 MIR. We’ve already given you our thoughts on the device and if you can deal with a little bit of lag here and there, it’s off to the races starting right now.

Thanks, JayTV and everyone else who hit us up!

Believe it or not, Christmas is but 11 weeks away which means that every single tech company on the planet is going to be lighting up our inboxes with press releases about their holiday offerings. The first company to do this for 2009 is T-Mobile. Apart from another chance to get us bloggers talking about the Behold II and the Motorola CLIQ, T-Mobile took the opportunity to introduce two new handsets and a limited edition collaboration piece. The first new handset is the Nokia 3711, a 3G clamshell affair with a 2 megapixel camera, GPS by Telenav, and stereo Bluetooth. The second is the T-Mobile Tap. Presumably made by HTC based upon its appearance, the Tap is an “affordable and attractive” full-touchscreen featurephone that, like the 3711 has 3G, a 2 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth and GPS by Telenav. New in another sense of the word is the myTouch 3G Fender Limited Edition. With only 10,000 to be offered sometime this winter, the Fender myTouch 3G sports a “guitar-inspired wood-grain finish”, 16GB microSD card filled with a bunch of music and videos not a soul alive won’t delete, and *gasp* a 3.5mm headphone jack. What do we think, people?

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While Sprint’s HTC Hero is housed in a different and arguably less sexy shell than the standard HTC version, the internals are the same. That’s a 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and a whole lot more running on Sprint’s CDMA voice and data network. We’ve put together a bunch of things we loved as well as things we disliked about the Sprint version of the HTC Hero after the break along with some photos.

Why, why, why is our beloved Teflon coating gone? Sprint thought the Hero in its pure form was most likely a bit too edgy (that pun was definitely intended) and opted for a more simple and rounded casing. It’s not all bad, though. The physical buttons we really had issue with are now very workable and the trackball has been replaced with a larger one making scrolling a bit more easy. The screen and screen size are exactly the same and we’re told that the Sprint units run the updated HTC ROM that fixes a lot of the Hero’s initial slowdowns.

Unfortunately, the Sprint HTC Hero is still laggy and a bit too slow to use as a main device by our standards. It’s just not fast enough. Not when you have the Palm Pre or iPhone 3GS to compare it to. We can’t tell you how many times our attempts to simply unlock the phone have ended in it being swift-kicked across the room. It freezes, the browser is clunky at best (that Adobe Flash integration doesn’t seem to be helping), and it’s really frustrating to use at times. Exchange support is great, but it doesn’t do much good if it takes 12 seconds to open a single email. Sometimes, it literally takes 12 seconds. There’s countless examples we could give, but our initial review still stands pretty much true: it’s an awesome phone (even in its new shell) that’s hampered by the CPU it is powered by. Is it usable? Absolutely. Is it as fast as it should be? Not a chance. It’s definitely in the upper echelon of greatness and Sprint’s smartphone lineup is pretty fantastic at the current time. Compared to anything other than the Palm Pre on Sprint, though, especially if you’re not a BlackBerry friend, the HTC Hero would be our choice. It’s available on Sprint starting October 11th for $179.99 with a two-year service agreement.

Today was a pretty big day for HTC. Not only did it have a bunch of new handsets go live on scores of carriers across the globe, but it also announced the HD2. Known best by its codename Leo, the HD2 is the crown jewel of HTC’s Windows Mobile 6.5 offerings if not the envy of every other WinMo handset maker with a spec sheet that reads as follows: 4.3″ WVGA capacitive display, 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and dual-LED flash, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, G-sensor, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 512MB ROM / 448MB RAM, 7.2Mbps UMTS/HSPA and HTC’s Sense UI overlay. As it stands, there is no official announcement on the HD2’s USA-bound status, but Slashgear was told by HTC CEO Peter Chou that the HD2 should arrive in the New World sometime in Q1 2010. We hope nothing gets in the way of this because we certainly don’t want to be let down twice.

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We just got a tip that the phone pictured in Eric Schmidt’s hands is actually Verizon’s version of the HTC Hero and it will be called the HTC Hero (not confirmed). As you can see, there’s a couple hardware modifications and one big one is that the buttons below the screen are, as we’re told, not physical, but touch-sensitive buttons. Look for it to drop in November on Big Red.

UPDATE: We’ve doubled confirmed this — check for the HTC Hero (or a different name) in November on Verizon! P.S. We have been told “It’s awesome.”

We don’t even know where to begin with this one… The man on the left is Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. What’s in his hands? A Verizon-branded HTC Android device. Why is this interesting? You know, the fact that it’s not announced? Also could that be a Motorola Sholes in the photo on the right?

Thanks, Berry!

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AT&T officially said sometime in the “coming weeks” as far as the Tilt 2 release date was concerned, but we’ve got that translated out for you — October 8th. Since we also got our hands on the internal training document (it’s dated October 2nd, so it’s very recent), we screencapped a couple slides for informational purposes. There are nice comparisons against the AT&T Pure as well as one on troubleshooting when the device crashes. Yeah.

Sorry, but we couldn’t help posting this… We’ve received a screenshot of a Verizon Wireless calendar that shows in addition to marketing and merchandising dates, a Motorola Sholes target date of October 30th. If you notice the HTC Imagio date on the calendar, it correctly depicts the proper launch day for the handset, leading us to believe this is pretty accurate and recent. Thoughts? Bigger shot after the jump.

Thanks, J Bird!

Listen, it’s not like this official confirmation means too much as you could already buy an HTC Pure starting yesterday, but it’s always nice to have a shiny press release and embargo lift. The HTC Pure and Tilt 2 are AT&T’s very first Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets and feature HTC’s incredible TouchFLO3D UI layered beautifully on top of Windows Mobile. We checked out the Pure in person a little while back and it’s a little different than the stock HTC unit — a tad on the thick side, but with a dark blue case and a pretty angular look, it’s definitely a great touch-based WinMo device. It will run you $149.99 with a two-year contract and the Tilt2 will be available in the “coming weeks” for $299.00 also with a two-year agreement.

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While it might not be intended to be so, it’s generally an exceptional event if a given phone isn’t sold before its launch date by various carrier outlets. Case in point: the HTC Pure. We know over the past few days some AT&T locations begun receiving stock of the customized Touch Diamond2, but now word is that some of those locations are selling the Pure ahead of what is assumed to be its official release date of Tuesday. Overall, the Pure doesn’t appear to be packed with any surprises other than the disappointingly non-existent 3.5mm headphone jack. As we exclusively told you, the Pure is indeed going for $149.99 on a 2-year after a $100 MIR meaning that a lot of WinMo junkies are going to have a touch decision between the more affordable Pure and the better spec’d Imagio.

Thanks to everyone that sent this in!

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Remember the super-sized HTC Leo? Well, it’s now officially called the HTC Touch HD2 and it may be hitting the shelves of the European branches of T-Mobile sometime in the near future. A leaked document with glorious magenta coloring reveals the Touch HD2 as one of T-Mobile’s new handsets. No release date or pricing has been uncovered yet, but with Windows Mobile 6.5 and a slew of new 6.5-powered smartphones arriving next week, the Touch HD2 can’t be too far away. Are you ready for this 1GHz, 5 megapixel monster?

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We were lucky enough to get our hands on Best Buy Mobile’s entire Holiday Playbook and after combing through it, there’s a couple little nice nuggets of information. Really more confirmations than anything else, but hey, we aren’t ones to turn down info. Before we get to handsets specifically, it seems Best Buy has some pretty hard statistics on sales opportunities — check this out:

• The average store sees over 64,000 customers during October and November
• Out of those customers, only 1% receive an upgrade eligibility check on their accounts
• Of the 1% who get upgrade checks, around 30% are actually eligible for upgrades
• If stores increase the amount of customers checked to 2% from 1%, Best Buy Mobile would see an increase in revenue of around $20,000 for those two months, just off upgrading individuals
• After customers upgrade their handsets at Best Buy Mobile, around 16% of them come back and make other purchases later

They’ve really got it locked down, huh? Smart, smart, smart. Hit the break for some other juicy information we gathered!

In terms of hot upcoming products from now until the end of the year, here’s what Best Buy Mobile is pitching their sales staff to be ready for:

• Nokia Booklet netbook — October 25th launch, and can be activated on AT&T
• Sprint HTC Hero — launching October 11th with a presale going on now
• Sprint Palm Pixi — launch date TBD
• Verizon Storm II — launch date TBD
• Verizon Android device — launch date TBD
• T-Mobile CLIQ — launch date TBD (but we obviously know it’s shipping after October 19th up until general release November 2nd)
• “New BlackBerry devices across multiple carriers” — launch date TBD
• There will be a “host of devices launch in late October and November for all carriers.” Multiple Android launches across multiple carriers and “new technology which doesn’t exist today.”

The rest of the playbook just outlines what stores should do for key dates and Holiday sales planning, other merchandising information and what not.