Telus Officially Announces HSPA and iPhone Launch Date: Nov 5th
After many months of internet fed rumours, which most of time should be taken with a grain of salt, Telus and Bell let the news drop that they would start selling the iPhone on their new HSPA network in November.
Today Telus finally clarified the exact date, November 5th. They also announced the other handsets that they would be launching, since the iPhone isn’t the end all and be all for everyone. One of them is the (exclusive to Telus) HTC Hero, the hotly anticipated Android phone running HTC’s slick Sense UI, and the other the LG BL40 ‘New’ Chocolate.
The only price announced today was for the iPhone – which matches Apple’s and Roger’s Canadian prices ($199 and $299 on three year terms) – which was no suprise. What was not announced, however, were the new rate plans, and this is where that Telus could surprise everyone, and probably why they are still keeping some cards close to their chest.
Stay tuned tomorrow for more news and details, including the pricing of all the handsets, which was leaked on The Mobile Ninjas. Hopefully by then Bell would have also spilled the beans about their launch plans.
More info on Telus 3G+ devices can be found here
The Hero looks interesting, mainly for the Sense UI, but a lot of reviewers are disappointed with the performance, especially once you have a few apps running at once (they blame the older Qualcomm processor).
I’m curious to see if Bell brings anything interesting to the table. I can re-up in Feb, so I have a few months to see if any carrier brings a Snapdragon based device to the table by that point (HTC HD2 I’m looking for you). If not, I can hold off until something next gen finally hits our neck of the woods.
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