HTC & T-Mobile launch HD2 smartphone in US, No Windows Phone 7

On Tuesday, cell phone maker HTC and wireless carrier T-Mobile announced the HD2 smartphone
in the U.S. but also said that there were no plans to put Microsoft's upcoming Windows
Phone 7 OS on the device.
The smartphone includes a large 4.3-inch touchscreen and runs the Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
OS. The HD2 was originally launched in October in Europe, and Microsoft has said Windows
Mobile 6.5 devices could not be upgraded to Windows Phone 7.
The phone includes a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1. and runs on Qualcomm's
1 Ghz processor. Weighing in at 1/3 of a pound, the HD2 achieves 320 minutes of talk time
on 3G and 490 hours of standby time.
The battery will also last you 8 hours for video playback or 12 hours for audio. The
device comes with 576MB of memory and includes a MicroSD card slot for expandable storage.
HTC and T-Mobile have also teamed up with a range of content providers to deliver multimedia
to the device. Users will be able to download video from Blockbuster, e-books from Barnes
and Noble and MobiTV to view live TV.
The HD2 phone will be available in the U.S. on March 24 for US$449 without a contract,
and for $199 with a contract from T-Mobile.
With reporting by Agam Shah in New York, I'm Justin Meisinger, IDG News Service.