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Mystery HTC Android Handset Has a Name and a Carrier

October 25, 2009 in Featured, Video, Wireless News

So do you remember the post we did on a certain mysterious HTC Android device that we’ve never seen before?

Well after doing some research I’m 90% positive as to what this phone is…

Its the HTC Passion! A CDMA version that resembles the HTC Dragon (with slightly less specs as far as we can tell, one being the smaller screen size) that is headed to Verizon.

This would explain the similarities that people noticed about the buttons and the white notification bar from the Motorola Sholes (Droid); Verizon is trying to keep things a little similar on all their Droid devices and it’s not the HTC Desire, which is a Verizon branding of the HTC Hero (a 3.2 inch screen, which this phone definitely does not have).

You might have heard of the HTC Passion a few times so the name might ring a bell. It is the rumored handset that is supposed to be coming to Verizon in Q4 with a snapdragon OMAP? processor, Android 2.0, and be the Android equivalent device that comes close to the HTC HD2 (Leo).

If this is true, then you have some nice Droid choices on Verizon; Motorola Sholes (“Droid”) for those who need the keyboard, HTC Desire for those who can live without the keyboard but like a smaller device (and smaller price tag), and the HTC Passion for those who want a huge screen and need the faster processor.

Very nice, Verizon. Very nice indeed.

Anyone got more info on HTC Passion, do tell…

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78 responses to Mystery HTC Android Handset Has a Name and a Carrier

  1. Anonimac said on October 29, 2009

    TheUnlockr,
    Any comments about articles such as this one which suggest that the processor may be an OMAP 3640 vs. Snapdragon. Here is one article but there are others.

    http://news.softpedia.com/news/HTC-Dragon-039-s-CPU-to-Be-OMAP-124086.shtml

    Also, are you still pretty confident (“90%”) that this phone is coming to Verizon and that it will have HD2-esque specs (don’t have to be IDENTICAL like screen size)? In fact, i’m one of the folks who wouldn’t mind slightly smaller screen than the HD2…something between Droid and HD2 would be perfect for me due to “pocketability” concerns.

    • TheUnlockr said on October 29, 2009

      Anonimac,

      Thanks, I’ll take a look.
      All we are sure of it that it is the HTC Passion and that the HTC Passion has always been rumored to be headed to Verizon.
      I think it is pretty safe to assume a higher than 600mhz processor (either 800ish or 1Ghz would make sense for HTC). We know it will be running Android 2.0 and we know it has no keyboard and a pretty larger screen.
      What other specs do you mean? :) RAM size we have no clue, but safe to assume over 256MB. And camera we have no clue but again probably safe to assume 5.0.
      So for everyone, it is only rumors that it is an HD2 variant, but based on the photos and what we know of previous HTC models and the rumors around the HTC Passion, we know there is enough info for HTC to say it is “not an Android HD2″ but we also know that it will be pretty close. :)

      As for you, I think the biggest factor would just be the screensize and whether or not you want a physical keyboard should be the decider between getting the Droid or the Passion (PS Keep in mind that there is also a rumored Predator for Verizon as well…)

  2. Anonimac said on October 29, 2009

    TheUnlockr,
    Thanks for the quick response! I agree with all of your points…i would be curious on your thoughts (or “gut” feel) on whether this could have the higher frequency OMAP 3640 (1 Ghz).

    I thought the Passion was the CDMA version of the Predator…am i way off on that?

    So you’re still pretty confident that it’s coming to Verizon and that it will be before end of the year?

    I don’t have a strong preference for keyboard .vs not. The phone i have now has one but it’s VERY old (embarrassed to admit model), but needless to say it’s the last phone that got me excited on Verizon. It’s 4 years old…can you guess what it is? lol

  3. Meyer77 said on October 29, 2009

    I also heard from other sites such as phonedog.com that this could be headed to tmobile UK as a gsm model. To many rumors. Hope something concrete soon.

    • TheUnlockr said on October 29, 2009

      Meyer77,

      Ha, I agree. Too many rumors, not enough facts. I’m just as eager as all you to find out more on this phone :)

  4. KO said on October 29, 2009

    I have the imagio, and have decided to take it back for the Droid. Then when the Passion does drop, I will have to go pick one of those beauties up. I think they might have found a true “iPhone Killer”. Or atleast untill Apple decides to re-vamp their product.

    I eagerly await a confirmation on weather or not VZ will be the passions carrier and a release date that is set in stone. So I can get my funding sources up.

  5. Anonimac said on October 29, 2009

    Anyone know of any comparative benchmarks of a Snapdragon processor vs. an OMAP one?

  6. Anonimac said on October 29, 2009

    So this is necessarily EXACTLY what i was looking for but it does make some comments about the difference between the two most prolific processors in use today, Snapdragon and OMAP. I’m looking for very specific head-to-head benchmarks so if anyone is aware of any please let me know.

    http://www.insidedsp.com/Articles/tabid/64/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/238/Qualcomm-Reveals-Details-on-Scorpion-Core.aspx

  7. Elaine said on October 29, 2009

    whats the difference between the gsm version and this version?

  8. Meyer77 said on October 29, 2009

    I’m very curious to see what U.S. carrier this will end up at. I just can’t see Verizon releasing an Android phone of this caliber after all the money that was spent on the Droid. I hope I’m wrong! I just want HTC to make a very serious Android handset that we all can enjoy.

  9. Wolf said on October 30, 2009

    @unlockr – any chance you could check up with your source who sent this and see if we could get a few more details? i know a lot of us really have a hard on for this device and if it is in fact a verizon device a lot of us won’t want to waste our upgrades on a droid or eris. any think you could do to help spare us cause this sucker ain’t gonna come cheap without an upgrade. i know all of us big red owners have been waiting for a god awful amount of time for a new awesome touch screen smart phone and now that we see them coming in we all want to make sure we get the right one!

    • TheUnlockr said on October 30, 2009

      Wolf and Anonimac,

      No problem, but I’ve told you all the info I have. What do you think I’m doing, withholding info for fun? lol As I get more I will of course put it up here ASAP, I promise.
      Keep in mind though that you can always buy the Droid or whatever with your contract and then when the Passion comes out you can sell the Droid (and get more than you paid for it since you bought it with a contract and are selling it without one) and then buy the Passion with the money from the Droid without a contract. Don’t think that because you sign a contract for a phone you are stuck with that phone ever.
      The contract gives you up to $200 off the phone (hence the cancellation fees are always around $200), so if you bought it with a contract and sold it you should be making $175 or more in profit (the difference the contract made) so then if the new phone is without a contract $175 more than with a contract you have the cash in hand to use to pay that difference without having to sign a new contract, make sense?

      Check out the How Contracts Work post on this site for more details.

  10. Anonimac said on October 30, 2009

    Wolf,
    AMEN! Ditto EVERYTHING you said, that’s the same boat i’m in. Been waiting for years to use my upgrade and finally looking like there’s a phone (or two) on Verizon worthy of the upgrade so i’m trying to decide whether to go the Droid route or wait for the Passion but Passion rumors/leaks/details seem to have just died…

  11. Wolf said on October 30, 2009

    @unlockr – i’m not trying to be a prick man. i’m just hoping you might be able to help us some how…

  12. dnyce said on October 30, 2009

    Hey unlockr,

    Any word yet on a more final date for release on this bad boy? Also was your tipster able to clarify on who the carrier would be state side?

  13. dnyce said on October 30, 2009

    Sorry,

    Should have read the comments above mine. So still no new details huh?

    Sounds like fun. :-)

  14. Anonimac said on October 30, 2009

    Found an interesting post at:

    http://www.phonedog.com/cell-phone-research/blog/mystery-htc-passion-dragon-headed-to-t-mobile-uk.aspx

    “I’m actually amazed that HTC has managed to keep this phone a secret as long as they have. Here’s the scoop on the Passion… It’s not necessarily just a CDMA phone… it’s not necessarily just a GSM phone… it WILL be released in the USA (sooner than you think)… it will be HTC branded… it will be sold directly by HTC (not tied to a specific carrier/like the Xperia X1/X1a). HTC isn’t satisfied with sitting in the shadows anymore… and it’s coming.”

    If there’s any credibility to this it implies it won’t be picked up by any carrier and support both CDMA and GSM. Not sure what to think of all that…

    • TheUnlockr said on October 31, 2009

      Anonimac,

      Wow, that is pretty interesting and I wouldn’t be surprised is HTC started selling unlocked phones stateside (they have thought about it for a while and they are the only manufacturer that even honors their overseas unlocked phones warranties here in the US).

  15. Anonimac said on October 31, 2009

    So i have a theory that i’ll throw out there…i’m not an insider and i have (likely) no clue what i’m talking beyond following this industry for a while…

    I think HTC is about the become a household name in the US and start selling their phones direct with their first device to be the Passion/Dragon. If the rumors are true this phone will be CDMA and GSM so you’ll be able to take it to any carrier. Also, i think the viral campaign (“You”) launched a few weeks ago in the US is a precursor of a larger HTC launch as a brand in the US. Thoughts?

    P.S. If anyone is aware of where i can snag the “Droid sound” somewhere let me know…you know, the sound the Droid phone makes on start-up at the end where the robotic voice says “Ddrrrrroooooiiiiiiiiddd”.

    • TheUnlockr said on October 31, 2009

      Anonimac,

      I think that is a good theory, but as for the Passion being CDMA/GSM this is possible but usually very expensive for a carrier, so not sure if they would do that. Now it would be VERY interesting if they did do that though and put pentaband 3G in it… this is what I think manufacturers should have been doing for a while now…

  16. Anonimac said on October 31, 2009

    Again, i have absolutely nothing to back this up other than a hunch and perhaps a healthy dose of wishful thinking, but wouldn’t that be the “game changer” that i’ve heard quoted for this phone for HTC. I read a quote on a site that said this phone would be a “game changer” and what better way to establish brand image/penetration then to market the first phone in the US that you can take to any carrier you want(!) as part of the “You” marketing campaign.

    I don’t enough about all the intangibles to say whether something like this is simply far fetched, technically infeasible, against some contractual obligations/regulations, etc… but god, wouldn’t it be sweet to finally decouple the choice of phone from carrier!

    I’ve been with Verizon over 4 years because at the end of the day i’m still mostly concerned about having a device on a network that always works, no matter where i am. I’ve been with every single carrier over the last 15 years (Qualcomm, VoiceStream/T-Mobile, Alltel, BellSouth/Cingular/AT&T) and i’ve never had the “SLO” met as i do with Verizon. I simply don’t know what dropped calls are, and my friends on AT&T can’t stop complaining about their service/speed/call quality/etc… I’m not some fanboy of Verizon and was actually ready to leave them for AT&T hoping that some of the stories of investments into infrastructure, 850 Mhz spectrum, etc… were going to lead to improved all around service and then all this Android news hit and now i’m in “hurry up and wait” mode…torn between Droid and HTC Passion. Whew…that was a long winded venting session…needless to say i’m anxious to hear any news about Passion otherwise it’s Droid here i come!

  17. Dave said on November 1, 2009

    Tha Passion can’t have 2.0 and Sense as HTC hasn’t developed Sense for 2.0 yet. That is why the hero won’t be getting 2.0 for another 6 months.

  18. Anonimac said on November 1, 2009

    So another hunch/wishful thinking…

    Any chance the Passion/Dragon will be coming with the new HTC UI that’s been disclosed recently? If Sense UI is not yet ready for 2.0, perhaps this new UI was designed to work with 2.0 from the start? Thoughts?

    http://www.unwiredview.com/2009/10/30/hts-is-working-on-next-gen-virtual-book-touch-ui/

    How does the timing of patent filings usually line up with launch date, could it really be out soon? or does this imply we’ll see it some time in the second half of 2010? Just thinking out loud…

  19. Dhill said on November 1, 2009

    Well the phone pictured has to have 2.0. It doesn’t have send/end call buttons on the face. I’m pretty sure no version of android before 2.0 has had software answer/hang up buttons.

    They have had 2.0 for awhile. The hero isn’t getting 2.0 for awhile because it’s already out which is less of a PR issue. I’d be we don’t see anymore phones released with < 2.0 anymore (besides the eris)

    • TheUnlockr said on November 1, 2009

      Dhill,

      The Eris is the Hero so if it gets 2.0 the Heros won’t be far behind (and they will actually get it before the Eris does, since the Hero worldwide is a much more popular device).
      As for send and end on screen, my HTC Hero has them on screen and it’s 1.5…

  20. Dhill said on November 1, 2009

    Didn’t know the hero had it. When I played with one months ago i didn’t make any calls. Well then, there goes my theory. I don’t think people should assume HTC hasn’t been working on 2.0 for awhile though.

    I just want a 3.5+” Sense UI phone with a quicker processor, no hardware buttons although I’m ok with the track pad, and the same cool docking hardware as the droid and I’m not afraid to tell anyone… not that it helps me any. ;) I’d also like to get as far away from AT&T as possible. Unfortunately sprint and tmobile aren’t options either so I’m really hoping for the passion to be on verizon.

  21. dave said on November 2, 2009

    Passion set to release either Black Friday or mid December…

  22. dave said on November 2, 2009

    I believe BGR was first to report it

  23. RLarson said on November 4, 2009

    Just went to my local Verizon store – They had demo models (non-functioning) of the Passion and the new Droid there. I held and played with both. I decided that the Droid was just way too blocky and “backward” looking for me. What were the Moto guys thinking when they designed it? The Passion just ROCKS! I love the non-skid back-coating and it just “feels right” in your hand. I can’t wait!

    • TheUnlockr said on November 4, 2009

      RLarson,

      Nice! Hey can you confirm if the pictures we have are the Passion you played with in the store. Or are you referring to the Eris not the Passion?

  24. Shatterv2 said on November 24, 2009

    Sorry to bring an old post back to life but, one of my goof friends who works inside t mobile says that the dragon is defiantly going to hit t mobile.

  25. Scott said on November 29, 2009

    shatter, i sincerely hope so.

  26. dave said on December 3, 2009

    so that was obviously the eris not the passion you demo’d way back when… i think all the friends of friends of friends who work inside of X are full of crap. But if we’re keeping score, there are more friends of friends of friends who know someone who works for VZ that “says” the passion is coming to VZ than there are for T-mobile or any other carrier. So what does that mean? Absolutely nothing. I do like the BOGO android offer VZ is throwing out there… could it mean they are trying to max out on sales of the droid as the 30 day window expires (it supposedly runs the 4th-7th, the final days of that window) before leaking info on the next droid? lets hope its not just that nintendo looking motorola calgary POS….

    • TheUnlockr said on December 3, 2009

      Dave,

      Just to verify, what we had a picture of was the Passion NOT the Eris. I even verified it. BUT unfortunately, we don’t know if it is the way it will look when it is released or where it is going or anything else for that matter, everyone went verrrry silent on that phone recently (Verizon, Google or whoever put a lid on it I would assume). But that makes me think it is coming out sooner than later.
      If it is going to Verizon (which I kinda still think it is) then they will wait a bit for the Droid marketting to die down before they announce the new phone (obviously they don’t/didn’t want the Passion to upstage the Droid and people to wait for it instead of jumping on the Droid when it came out like they had planned).
      But again just speculation as noone can get any word on it.

      PS I don’t know anyone who works in Verizon… :)

  27. dave said on December 3, 2009

    I was referring to RLarson’s comment not your original report… thanks for doing what you do, I enjoy the site!

  28. Grizzly420 said on December 23, 2009

    check this version of the passion out.

    http://www.androphones.com/htc-passion-android-phone-122.html

  29. Eshaw_27 said on August 18, 2011

    Sprint

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