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HTC's 'Uh Oh' program will replace your busted One M9 once for free
HTC's two-toned M9 hasn't landed in the US yet, but the company's already champing at the bit to give you more reasons to buy one. Just as earlier reports suggested, HTC is fleshing out its Advantage program with a little something called "Uh Oh Protection," and it's a little more impressive than that tongue-in-cheek name implies. Long story short, if you crack the phone's Gorilla Glass-swathed screen, take it for a swim in the Pacific or pledge allegiance to another carrier within your first year of ownership, HTC will overnight you precisely one replacement unit totally gratis. On the off-chance that your M9 survives that first year without incident, you'll get $100 to apply toward the purchase of a new One down the road.
HTC offering free screen replacements within the first six months, but only in the US
HTC clearly doesn't think that promising two years of Android updates is enough to win over American smartphone buyers. It's launching HTC Advantage, an upgrade to its US support policy that goes beyond the usual warranty limits. In addition to delivering on earlier promises of OS upgrades and extra cloud storage, the Advantage program replaces one cracked screen for free within the first six months of ownership. You're only covered if you buy a One series phone from today onward, but the initiative could be just the reassurance you need if you're worried about dropping a shiny new handset.
HTC sets Window Mobile 6 upgrade deadline for October 31st
Back in April of last year, HTC came clean with its Windows Mobile 6 upgrade plans. Fast forward to now, and the very same company is getting official with the cutoff plans. October 31st will be the very last day (no tricks, folks) for select Windows Mobile 5 users to get a free upgrade to WinMo 6 via HTC's website. More specifically, October 31st at 12:00PM GMT -- after the clock strikes 12:01PM, the download link will be removed for eternity. The affected handsets are the S621, S620, P4350, P3300 and HTC Advantage, and while we'd typically encourage you to stop procrastinating and get on with the upgrade, we know in our hearts there's no way you're still rocking WinMo 5. Right? Right.[Via phonescoop]
HTC Advantage X7510 now up for pre-order
HTC still hasn't gotten official with the exact price or release date for its HTC Advantage X7510 handheld, but that hasn't stopped a number of retailers from putting the device up for pre-order, and at quite a range of prices to boot. As Pocketables points out, UK retailers Clove Technology and eXpansys each have the X7510 up for £595 and £700, respectively, although neither are making any promises about when it'll ship. US retailers are also offering the device at similarly varied prices, ranging from $800 at GearTrade to $1,300 at Smart Mobile Gadgets and On The Go Solutions (Google Product Search even turns one retailer by the name of PrestoMart listing it at $550, although that link unsurprisingly goes to a blank product page). For its part, Pocketables speculates that the $800 price tag is closest to the official one (which probably isn't too far off base), but we'll just have to wait for HTC to give us the final word on that.
Hands-on with the HTC Advantage
So we happened to get our hands on an HTC Advantage last week, and damn is this thing ready to rumble. The keyboard (which we just weren't that fond of) snaps into place from a good inch away, and feels more like an industrial magnet than something you'd find on a consumer device. The VGA screen is fantastically large and bright, and played back full-res video without a hiccup. It even has an idle mode with a couple mini-widgets and an email ticker when the keyboard is magnetically latched onto the body to protect the screen (that VueFLO nav, we think). Check out the gallery to get a better sense of what you're in for, but be warned: this is a machine by and for handheld computing enthusiasts and cellphone nerds. So even though HTC wants you to replace your laptop with an Advantage for short trips, it's still a beast of a connected PDA at heart.%Gallery-2240%
HTC Advantage coming to US... under the HTC brand
Another from HTC we saw coming, but that's still a pleasant surprise: HTC's Advantage (codename Athena) will in fact be making it Stateside! Noice, but even better, HTC will be releasing the Advantage (now camera-free) under its own brand. In other words, the little ODM we all watched grow up in the last couple of years has finally broken free of designing handsets for others and the perpetual carrier rebadges, and is officially launching devices under its own brand in the US. Perhaps they finally have the cachet to play the game outside of the normal carrier / device ecosystem (or, equally likely, no US carrier was brave enough to sell the Advantage), but either way users can look forward to: 5-inch VGA touch display Tri-band UMTS / HSDPA, quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 GPS navigation 8GB drive, 256MB flash memory, 128MB RAM miniSD card slot, HTC VueFLO nav 3.5mm audio jack Coming this summer -- hard price and date not yet established.
Goodbye HTC Athena, hello HTC Advantage
While Athena was far from the worst product name we've come across, HTC seems to think they can do one better, using the 3GSM conference to officially rebrand the desirable device as the HTC Advantage. Apart the spiffy new moniker, however, the Windows Mobile-based device remains otherwise unchanged, with that same 5-inch VGA display, Intel PXA270 624 MHz processor, 8GB hard drive, 3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS, not to mention tri-band HSDPA and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity. Of course, this isn't the first identity crisis that the device has suffered, with it already once undergoing a name change at T-Mobile's behest, who found the friendly-sounding Ameo more to their liking. In case you haven't seen enough of the device yet, you can check out another pic it sans keyboard after the break, and click through to HTC's newly-launched Advantage website for product shots aplenty, including a hypnotizing 360° view.[Via Laptoping]
