HTC HD7 exclusive to O2 as Windows Phone 7 deals announced
The launch-ready Windows Phone 7 mobiles have been parcelled out to the UK networks, with Orange having the most phones and O2 and Vodafone nabbing HTC exclusives.
The UK mobile networks have been quick to pick sides with the new Windows Phone 7 handsets, with Orange bagging three phones and O2 nabbing an exclusive on the HTC HD7. O2 will offer the HD7 for free on a £40 per month, two-year tariff. The deal includes 900 minutes, unlimited texts and 750MB of data. You can also buy it on pay as you go for £379.
The LG Optimus 7 will join the Samsung Omnia 7 in Orange's Windows Phone 7 launch line-up along with the exclusive HTC 7 Mozart. Yesterday we revealed Vodafone would have the HTC 7 Trophy exclusively (free on a £25 per month deal), and it turns out it will offer the LG Optimus 7 as well.
O2 only has one phone so far, but with the HTC HD7 it has an exclusive on the handset with the largest screen of the three HTC phones that are coming out, as well as a decent 16GB of memory. This is the natural successor to the HD2, which managed the considerable feat of not totally sucking while running Windows Mobile 6.5.
3 and T-Mobile don't seem too bothered by WinPhoSev, each only offering the Samsung Omnia 7, which will be available from T-Mobile free on plans from £35 per month on a two-year contract. On 3 you can get it in black from £35 per month.
You might have thought T-Mobile would stock the same phones Orange does because they're under the same Everything Everywhere corporate umbrella, but they would rather offer different phones to pull a wider range of customers.
Whether people will be willing to stump up the cash on 21 October is not a straightforward question. Our first impressions of the software are that it's pretty and original, but Microsoft has a huge job to do to catch up with the massive app stores offered by Apple and Google. The phones all look very similar, too. Do any of them stand out to you? Let us know what you think.