Last week, Bell officially announced that they would carry the HTC Desire Z (better known as the G2 down in the U.S.), but didn’t get specific on a release date. Luckily, a slide has leaked revealing that a launch is planned for the HSPA+ smartphone on November 3, which is coming up soon.It will be priced at $499.99 off-contract, but there’s no mention of what kind of subsidies Bell will offer.
The HTC Desire Z is a sweet little number, packing the best of both touchscreen and physical QWERTY keyboard worlds. It has a 3.7″ WVGA display, 5 megapixel camera with flash and autofocus, 512 MB of RAM, 800 MHz processor, Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS, and 3G with HSPA+ support for up to 21 Mbps (in theory, at least). The Desire Z also runs Android 2.2, which includes a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot function and full-on Flash 10.1 in the excellent WebKit browser.
The Desire Z is a fine addition to Bell’s lineup, especially considering their top-of-the-line Android phone right now has been available in Europe since the early summer, and Bell needs to offer something new for the holiday season. Of course, forcing customers to pay another $10/month for HSPA+ access will be a hard pill to swallow for many shoppers. To sign up for availability updates, go over to Bell’s landing page.
[via BGR]