Though it was teased late last year -- on the same day that HTC announced its very first
Windows Phone 7 devices, in fact -- the company's QWERTY-packing
7 Pro has taken its sweet time to make it to American airwaves; in the process, it's gone through a name change and picked up the
first big platform update from Microsoft. The phone we now know as the
Arrive is finally available from Sprint, becoming the first Windows Phone 7 device available on a CDMA network. These days, it's pretty unusual for an HTC handset -- or a handset on any American carrier, really, regardless of manufacturer -- to take this long to make it to subscribers' hands after announcement, but in this case, Sprint's hands were tied: Microsoft simply didn't support CDMA initially, which explains why both AT&T and T-Mobile have been enjoying a selection of models from Samsung, LG, Dell, and HTC alike while Sprint and Verizon have been patiently twiddling their thumbs.
The CDMA dry spell's over, though; the Arrive marks just the first of what should be several Redmond-powered phones over the course of 2011. Is it a fitting first effort? And how does it fare against the GSM models that beat it to market? Read on.
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Pros
- Typical HTC build, designSuperb keyboardSolid battery life
Cons
- Mediocre displayWindows Phone 7 still behind competitionNot a global phone
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