the::unwired: "O2 Germany to Release the HTC Hermes as O2 Xda trion"

[Raphael Salgado]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=3062' target='_blank'>http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=3062</a><br /><br /></div><i>"While it's neither official released yet nor O2 Germany has given a press release, the device, formerly known as 'O2 Xda Hermes,' appeared now in O2's own web shop as 'O2 Xda trion.'"</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/salgado-o2xdatrion.jpg" /><br /><br />Yes, it seems to be with a lowercase 't.' Arne at the::unwired points us to a page on <a href="http://shop2.o2online.de/o2/interessenten/necos/details/index.html?articleId=04&salesChannel=SHOP">O2's German website</a> showing a very sleek-looking HTC Hermes branded with their O2 logo and with some updated specs: 400MHz processor (yay!), Bluetooth 2.0, and AKU2 out of the box. Arne goes to add that A2DP Stereo Bluetooth will also be available, as well as quadband EDGE/UMTS with upgradability to HSDPA. Now, we're just waiting for i-mate, Qtek, and possibly Cingular to follow suit with some information for their versions of the Hermes, and I think we're looking at some more good times ahead!

[fone_fanatic]

I've been dying for news about this device! Kicked off on one company, its not gonna be soon till imate launches it! I know its gonna be quadband gsm but does anyone know if its gonna be dual UMTS?

[MarcTGFG]

Such a waste of real estate which could have been used for a better/larger keyboard. Why cant HTC cram a Nokia 9300 keyboard with five rows (including a dedicated number row) into an even larger space than the 9300?

Keys for special characters like ä, ü, ö, ß, a dedicated CTRL key, number keys etc....

And why not use a joystick instead of wasting FOUR dedicated direction keys on the keyboard? Which is a duplication anywaY SINCE THE FIVE WAY directional pad is access9ible even in the extracted state.

I also like to point out that I was correct with my original story in March, when Vodafone said that their Hermes wouldnt ship with HSDPA initially. Seems HTC isnt quite ready with their HSDPA stack. :-(

[JonnoB]

When available, I will get one from MMB and pass down my Wizard to my teenager. Does anyone know if UMTS is dual-band? I am on T-Mobile (US), so it does not matter as much for me, but I am sure Cingular users will want to be able to use the higher speeds in the US. EDGE for most of my uses seems to be good enough... but with video conferencing potential, I can see the benefit of higher network speeds.

[JonnoB]

Such a waste of real estate which could have been used for a better/larger keyboard. Why cant HTC cram a Nokia 9300 keyboard with five rows (including a dedicated number row) into an even larger space than the 9300?


It is a bit of a dissapointment to see that the full possible space on the slideout mechanism isn't used for the keyboard. Even though my Wizard has small buttons, the spacing is such that most of the area is used giving good spacing between letters. Just as with the WIZ100 and WIZ200 used different keyboard layouts, perhaps there will be multiple versions of the Hermes and one with a better keyboard design.

[Raphael Salgado]

I received word from a close friend who is a Cingular rep that the 3G will be for video streaming (ala Verizon VCAST style), but not for video telephony. Grr!

[lukas44a]

Keyboard buttons are smaller, instead of bigger than my HTC Apache.
Processor should have been made faster than my HTC Apache.
Screen should have been bigger , given the same size.

I see no reason to upgrade, unless I had a slower K-jam/MDA

ROM may be newer, but they could have done better than just rearrange hardware buttons.

[KTamas]

Yay, I finally found my next device.

[PdaAddict]

Can't wait to upgrade my Wizard. 400Mhz should be a big step up in performance. I really dislike OMAP 850 performance (even when overclocked!) that HTC used in Wizard. Does anyone know if this will be offered in the US? Cingular maybe?

[tpope]

Am I correct in assuming that (at least in the USA) there are currently no VGA converged devices?

The HTC series looks very nice, except that the cell phone providers only ever seem to pick the QVGA ones. I really don't want to downgrade from my hx4700 just to add a phone.

Are there other options out now or on the horizon?

[efjay]

Comes with a microSD slot according to the:unwired

Quote:
"Last but not least, it has 128 MB ROM and 64 MB RAM which can be extended with microSD memory cards."

[jngold_me]

Hey Raf! Can this be the device to bring you back to the GSM world? ;)

[Eriq Cook]

I love it. Looks much better than my MDA. Soon as it's available I'm on it!

[Typhoon]

LOL did anyone notice the Z and Y keys??

[KTamas]

@Typhoon: There's nothing wrong with QWERTZ since many European keyboards, including German is QWERTZ instead of QWERTY.

Also, it looks like there gonna be two versions: One with start/close buttons and one without it (this latter one can be seen at the iMate JAS JAM, see engadget).

Also, JAS JAM....geez iMate, just forget about JarJar already :roll: :lol:

[Typhoon]

ohhh I see

[nilcat]

The Qtek version is labeled the Qtek 9600 and due out (in Norway at least) in Q3. Im drooling all over my keyboard for this one.

The initial press-release can be foun here http://www.smartmobil.no/Article565.phtml. It is in norwegian (and I found no translation) but it does contain a slew of nice pictures

Cato

[Darius Wey]

Am I correct in assuming that (at least in the USA) there are currently no VGA converged devices?

There is the i-mate JASJAR, which is an i-mate branded version of the HTC Universal. Also, the Sharp-Willcom W-ZERO3, but this particular one isn't available in the USA.

[Arne Hess]

but it does contain a slew of nice pictures
For a whole bunch of phots, you can also see my previous photoview over at the::unwired with stand-alone and comparison shots:

http://www.theunwired.net/media/column/htc_hermes/photoview/htc_hermes1_small.jpg http://www.theunwired.net/media/column/htc_hermes/photoview/htc_hermes21_small.jpg

However, I had to use the old device ID for this shots, the one without the two extra keys.

http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=2975

[tpope]

Am I correct in assuming that (at least in the USA) there are currently no VGA converged devices?

There is the i-mate JASJAR, which is an i-mate branded version of the HTC Universal. Also, the Sharp-Willcom W-ZERO3, but this particular one isn't available in the USA.

Thanks Darius! I'm very much a newbie when it comes to cell phones, so I'll have to do some research to figure out where to get one and what carriers in my area will actually support it.

At least I know where to start looking now.

[bnycastro]

I hope dopod releases this in Asia. I too would like to go back to a higher processor speed. I've accepted the fact that flash memory tends to change a lot so I won't be bothered by microSD.

As for the keyboard the new numbers arrangement is welcomed. I would have liked the addition of a dedicated tap-n-hold button, IMO this would make navigation even better.

Get crackin' dopod! :D

[tazzy]

Hi Guys

Looks like a great phone there is no doubt about that......Just a quick question/thought. If o2 is planning to release this HTC manufactured device does that mean o2 didnt sever all ties with HTC in order to join Quanta.


There was huge speculation after o2 released the Atom that Quanta would now be the manufacturer that o2 releases products with however this news seems to suggest otherwise..

Taazy

[Darius Wey]

Looks like a great phone there is no doubt about that......Just a quick question/thought. If o2 is planning to release this HTC manufactured device does that mean o2 didnt sever all ties with HTC in order to join Quanta.

I don't think that was ever the case. The previous agreement betweeen O2 and HTC was probably never an exclusive one.

[Kadegboye]

When I first saw the picture of HTC Hermes, I was very impressed although the specs at that time showed that the processor will be 300MHz Samsung chip. Now that O2 has upgraded that to 416 MHz processor, I cannot be more satisfied irrespective of what type of keyboard it has. I hardly ever use the keyboard anyway. I returned my slow MDA with tiny stylus and poor speakerphone function this morning. I will manage with my old reliable XDA II until O2 XDA trion is out.
Kay.