Sprint launches Touch Pro at "select national retailers" this week

Locked in a footrace with AT&T's Fuze to become the first US national carrier to launch a variant of the HTC Touch Pro, Sprint has announced that folks can start ordering the QWERTY smartphone this week from "select national retailers," making good on a promise made at CTIA last month. That's not quite as cool as a full-scale launch, but at least we'll start to get 'em in the wild in the next few days -- meanwhile, a more full-scale, fanfare-filled launch is planned for November 2 when the Touch Pro is made available online, via phone, and in all Sprint stores. Any Touch Diamond buyers feeling lingering regrets right about now?

[seangthomas @ Oct 24th 2008 11:09AM]

soo..any idea when verizon gets theirs? i want this!

[7on @ Oct 24th 2008 11:15AM]

Can't you unlock it for Verizon? Or was Verizon's jab about using any compatible device an empty promise?

[Jason @ Oct 24th 2008 11:33AM]

So far it's an empty promise. Haven't seen any non-VZW devices being allowed to activate. And they announced this new 'open' idea almost a year ago.

They're just stringing people along....

And as far as the VZW Touch Pro coming out... Sprint AFAIK has exclusivity for a month so probably in December. That and they need more time to cripple it and remove features.

[sip @ Oct 24th 2008 2:11PM]

Haha... For vzw customers, the removal of features is a feature.

But seriously, I've been waiting very patiently for verizon to get a phone like the touch pro/diamond or the omnia... it's just a matter of time now.

[whatishalo? @ Oct 24th 2008 3:38PM]

"And as far as the VZW Touch Pro coming out... Sprint AFAIK has exclusivity for a month so probably in December. That and they need more time to cripple it and remove features."

Ha ha. Sprint must suck at negotiations. AT&T can negotiate a 5 year exclusivity deal for the iPh@#$ (in the US) but Sprint only gets 1 month exclusivity for the Touch Pro? Funny....

[Gamer90 @ Oct 24th 2008 6:34PM]

Wow you must suck at life if you didn't realize that HTC is launching the Touch Pro on 3 US carriers and Apple's iPhone only launched on ONE US carrier. ...what a dick head...

[Serial @ Oct 24th 2008 11:16AM]

Best Buy will be one of the retailers. I seen one in a store yesterday with a sign that just said "coming soon"

[nerdtalker @ Oct 24th 2008 2:34PM]

Arrgh, I just called all the Best Buy locations in my area and none have any availability information other than what we already know. None in stock, likely availability on the 26th. That's it.

Some people on ppcgeeks are reporting getting them today (the 24th) at BB locations, but it's an extremely small subset of people.

[Evil @ Oct 24th 2008 2:54PM]

I talked to the rep at best buy and they told me they are schedule to have them for the public on the 26th...2 days from today.

[Brandon @ Oct 25th 2008 12:40AM]

A good friend of mine at the Best Buy Mobile store in the Mall of America showed me the phone today. I'm buying NO Questions asked it looks way better in person.

[cesium @ Oct 24th 2008 11:16AM]

Awesome. Gotta compare this and the diamond at the sprint store sometime, still dunno which one to get

[Ricardo @ Oct 24th 2008 11:34AM]

I have a Pro, and the reasons I chose it over the Diamond are basically the keyboard and card slot. Those make a huge difference for me. More memory and video out don't hurt too.

[Drew @ Oct 24th 2008 1:23PM]

The Touch Pro does not have more memory than the diamond, you may want to double check your info. Video out is ... i guess ... kind of cool, but I doubt I'd ever use it. The memory card did really make me hesitate when I bought the diamond, but on all my previous devices the biggest card I had was 2GB, so I am not very worried now. Even with GPS maps on it, I have about 2.5gb free.

[ben123 @ Oct 24th 2008 1:49PM]

The Touch Diamond is sleek and responsive, but the virtual keyboard is...well...unusable. Imagine the iPhone virtual keyboard, and then shrink that down by about 30%, and you have the keyboard on the touch diamond. So, if you have big hands, forget about the diamond and go for the pro. The physical keyboard on the pro is top notch.

[Phoenix @ Oct 24th 2008 2:04PM]

@drew

It has 288mb RAM rather than 192, 512MB internal ROM rather than 256.

[Josh @ Oct 24th 2008 5:10PM]

Sorry mate but i definitely have 288mb of ram in my touch diamond sitting on my desk, just check your facts before posting.

I love my touch diamond, i only use the compact qwerty keyboard though, as the full size is pretty difficult to use but certainly not impossible. More than enough ram (only use about 50% tops most of the time because i shut programs down when i am done with them to keep battery life up). I can imagine a full sized keyboard being better but to be honest, have a slimmer phone is a bit more important to me than a keyboard but that is just a personal preference.

[PynkFloydd @ Oct 24th 2008 5:15PM]

I replaced my Mogul with the Sprint Diamond. I love the Diamond and I don't miss the keyboard at all! My experience is actually the opposite of ben123's. I use the Compact QWERTY (2 letters per key) and after about a 3 day learning curve, I type faster yet just as accurately as the Mogul. The Diamond fits perfectly in your hand and you can type with just one thumb. Also, when you get bored you can try out the transcriber and handwrite everything.

Engadget made a good call when they said that the Diamond's pocket-friendly physique is worth consideration when comparing the two. I was actually surprised at how small it is! You actually get a higher screen resolution and a smaller package than the iPhone (with the Diamond).

If you drive and multitask to where using two hands on a keyboard is an annoyance, the Diamond is great. When you get used to it, you also notice a tiny amount of feedback since you actually press the screen. After the Mogul, I'm just not convinced that HTC worked out all of the bug with their keyboards. I'm not sure about the Pro but, the Diamond is trouble-free and makes the last generation of HTC products look like beta test devices.

[Phoenix @ Oct 24th 2008 6:13PM]

YOU might want to check your Touch Diamond then

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_Diamond

"Memory 256 MB internal flash
192 MB RAM"


Don't get snarky with other people's facts, especially when they're right

[John @ Oct 24th 2008 7:08PM]

"YOU might want to check your Touch Diamond then

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_Diamond

"Memory 256 MB internal flash
192 MB RAM"


Don't get snarky with other people's facts, especially when they're right"

Um no.. you are wrong. 288MB of RAM. 84Mb allocated to the OS, 80MB allocated to TouchFLO3D and background processes running at the time i took this screenshot, and 123.87MB Free. On soft reset i have 137MB free.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n258/Aturayd/y1p77VBwz7.jpg

[Windzilla @ Oct 25th 2008 1:44PM]

@ john and pheonix

give me 10 minutes and I'll have a Wikipedia article to support any "fact" you want.

[Phoenix @ Oct 26th 2008 9:15AM]

Let's go somewhere more reputable then.

http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchdiamond/specification.html

"Memory ROM: 256 MB
RAM: 192 MB DDR SDRAM
Internal storage: 4 GB"

[Phoenix @ Oct 26th 2008 1:18PM]

Actually hold on a second, that's the CDMA Touch Diamond...

Might have more RAM. The GSM version certainly has 192.

[Cranius Lupus @ Oct 24th 2008 11:17AM]

i want i want i WANT!!!...

It would be a great update to my Mogul...(lack of RAM is the only reason I don't like my Mogul)

[xtreme571 @ Oct 24th 2008 2:05PM]

I can second that. I hate the pop-up asking me whether I want to close This This or This application to free up ram as system needs more resources.

They put out great phones, and cripple them at things like RAM and Storage.

[Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Oct 24th 2008 11:19AM]

Waiting for VZW to get this phone.

[t3yf5g @ Oct 24th 2008 11:31AM]

Why, do you like crippled phones? Less flash memory and less RAM.

[seangthomas @ Oct 24th 2008 11:34AM]

same here...my contract is up november 18th, *sigh*

[Valicore @ Oct 24th 2008 11:19AM]

Someone really needs to punch Sprint in the face. I really like the original Touch Pro but of course Sprint went and rounded off the corners. Totally kills it for me :(

[Gamer90 @ Oct 24th 2008 11:31AM]

The GSM Touch Pro always had rounded corners....

[t3yf5g @ Oct 24th 2008 11:33AM]

Okay, my reply was for Smoke_Dawg_187 but it decided to reply to Valicore.

[Pikl @ Oct 24th 2008 9:44PM]

I agree, but it's still probably one of the nicest looking phones that SPRINT has ever come out with...

...but yeah. Friggin' Sprint.

[DssTrainer @ Oct 24th 2008 11:19AM]

Gotta laugh at all those who kept talkin about getting the diamond first, and within 30 days switching to the pro.. that's probably why sprint delayed it a few days, to make it longer than 30 days, just to avoid the mass returns.

Next time you might want to just shut your mouths about it!

[bandigolo @ Oct 24th 2008 1:22PM]

Funny you should mention that. I just bought my diamond 3 days ago and I do plan on - at the very least - entertaining the idea of a trade-in. But I already bought my damn gel case from an online retailer! No! What a waste of $10.

Any idea if the screen protectors I just ordered will still work for the Pro? Same screen, right?

[Andy TGD @ Oct 24th 2008 11:28AM]

I think all Win Mo users feel lingering regret after purchasing a device. ;-)

[JAmerican @ Oct 24th 2008 11:29AM]

Not really. I think you're referring to iPhone users who don't jailbreak their phones.

:)

[Teh Lup @ Oct 24th 2008 11:44AM]

I sure am, teathering feature, totally moddable w/ no reprecussions.. breaks my heart.

I've been trying to get this phone for weeks... Even went to a retail show for sprint last week to view preproduciton phones, no working Touch Pros.

Dude that has one, how did you get it?

[barry99705 @ Oct 24th 2008 12:01PM]

Heh, I replaced my iPhone with a WinMo device.....

[chefgon_ign @ Oct 24th 2008 1:05PM]

I have never owned a touch-screen WinMo device, but I did have a T-Mobile Dash running 6.1 Standard and it was a seriously awesome device. I've recently traded up to a G1, but I will always carry a torch for WinMo because of that phone. I don't get where all the hate comes from.

[Andy TGD @ Oct 24th 2008 2:10PM]

@JAmerican:
Touché!

Why must everything come back to the iPhone? o_O

[Andy TGD @ Oct 24th 2008 2:33PM]

@chefgon_ign

I think, like Windows on the desktop you experience will vary with the device it happens to be running on. Had an XDA IIi - loved it. Sadly, my experiences with Win Mo weren't great on a HTC Universal handset. Had to soft reset at least once a day and it would freeze all the time. I think things have probably improved since then though. As for the GUI, I think if it wasn't for 3rd parties, Win Mo would still be a pig to navigate. Its great as a PDA OS, but not that good for phone calls.

Oh, btw I don't own an iPhone - I'm a Sony Ericsson user these days. Pretty reliable so far.

[JAmerican @ Oct 24th 2008 11:32AM]

You do know that there is a CDMA and GSM version. I believe the GSM version is the one you are referring to. Sprint doesn't tell HTC what to make the device look like. Just where to put the logo and how big.

[Valicore @ Oct 24th 2008 11:36AM]

I thought they did have input. Why else would the AT&T Fuze version have no front facing camera and additional modifications from the original?

[barry99705 @ Oct 24th 2008 12:02PM]

I don't think any US carrier supplies the HTC phones with the front facing cameras.

[jefffaucher @ Oct 24th 2008 11:37AM]

Everytime I hear someone say that so and so provider "cripples" their phones, it makes me want to turn them into a cripple. Not that I am offended at the term cripple, but it has become almost a Pavlovian response whenever someone says the word "Verizon".

[What the Frack?! @ Oct 24th 2008 11:47AM]

Well, maybe Verizon should get a Nobel Prize for stimulating their customers salivate when they announce a new device and then when it is released there is no full or normal featured device for those dogs. I mean customers...

[gadjitfreek @ Oct 24th 2008 1:15PM]

I cringe every time Verizon comes out with a crippled phone! It's true! The VZW version will have a slower processor and less RAM than the Sprint and AT&T versions. The numbers were published here on Engadget months ago. The problem is, VZW has an excellent high-speed network with great coverage, and Sprint's and AT&T's high-speed networks are miniscule, making the purchase of this phone in my area through those carriers pointless. I don't understand WHY VZW has to cripple their phones, but they have been doing it for years. Disabling wifi, disabling BT, then charging for BT...they are the Great American Greed Machine that just happens to have a great network.

[Dave @ Oct 24th 2008 2:24PM]

LOL... what I've pictured...

"Verizon"
... "cripple"

"It's the Network"
... "cripple"

"Can you hear me now?"
... "cripple"

It appears almost python-like in my mind. Thanks for the laugh, regardless of whether you meant it.

[Xenoterranos @ Oct 24th 2008 8:14PM]

Did you mean python like "import cripple" or python like a giant suffocating snake, because both of those are valid analogies.

[James @ Oct 24th 2008 9:11PM]

@gadgitfreek
I would have to agree with you on how much it sucks that Verizon cripples almost all of their best phones but they defiantly dont have the best network. And calling ATT and T mobile's 3g networks minuscule is insane. Even my college out here in the middle of nowhere (pullman WA) has 3g from ATT.

[Mycroft @ Oct 24th 2008 11:40AM]

O.k. lets see if I am barred from posting everywhere...

Will thing upgrade to Winmo7? Or, when can we see Android ported over to this thing? How about a dual-boot?