We had seen a few slick shots of the HTC Merge with Verizon branding last month, but not much info on a release date. Well, yesterday the Android slider went on sale in the U.S., but not in Verizon stores; rather, the HTC Merge is only being sold through third-party resellers, not in Verizon stores proper. Why not sell it at Verizon’s location? Anybody’s guess.
It’s not that the hardware’s bad or anything – it’s got a 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen, 800 MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 5 megapixel camera, and runs on Android 2.2 Froyo. The Merge is notable for being HTC’s first CDMA world phone, making it ideally suited for globe-trotters that want to stay connected. You can take a look at how it runs in our hands-on video over here. As far as HTC-built Android sliders go, the Merge’s only real company is the Desire Z / G2, which can be found on T-Mobile. On Verizon, the only other Android slider option is the Droid 2 Global, which beats the Merge in processor speed, if not screen size.
Still HTC has some solid software tweaks to Android, and no doubt the price point (which remains a mystery for now) will be under the Droid 2. Is anyone interested in picking this one up? It may not stack up to the top-of-the-line alternatives, but if the price was right…
[via Droid-Life]