HTC just finished wrapping up their press conference [see our live blog here] that was conveniently located right next to where Nokia World was held, and one of the devices announced today was the Desire Z. If it looks familiar to you then you’ve been reading IntoMobile during the past few days because it’s the T-Mobile G2, except this is the version that’s going to Europe and Asia. HTC is also introducing an improved version of HTC Sense that we’ll have to play with more first before telling you what’s new, but the exciting bit of news is a new set of services that will be online at HTCSense.com.
You’ll be able to do things like locate your mobile phone on a map, make it ring loudly in case you lost it in your home, backup your text messages, contacts, and settings, and you’ll also be able to browse Google Maps offline somehow … details pending.
The other things you’ve already figured out, since this is the G2 after all, minus the T-Mobile logo, is that the Desire Z will ship with an 800 MHz Qualcomm 7230 processor, 14.4 Mbps HSPA+ capabilities, which make HTC the very first phone manufacturer to make a device that can achieve such speeds, 802.11n, 5 megapixel (need to confirm; may be 8 MP) camera with flash, 720p video recording, and we’d like to tell you more, but we’re waiting on an official specification sheet to hit our inboxes. Pricing was also not mentioned. It’ll vary depending on country of course.
Pay attention Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, this is how you launch a device. You announce it, then you say it’s shipping next month, and then (hopefully) you bring it to market. Many of the devices we’ve seen during the past 48 hours at Nokia World are not even going to be available until December. That’s not cool. Also this is HTC’s first attempt to get into the services industry. Nokia has the laughable Ovi Store, Samsung and LG each have their own equally terrible application stores, Sony Ericsson has a music store, so it’s about time HTC joined the party.
We can’t wait to get this device in house and fully test it. Stay tuned for more!
