Notice in the signal bar, it says 3G rather than EV like all of Verizon's other EVDO enabled phones.

I want one too!

How is it that Palm is getting away with charging that much for this. 649.99 for this?! It doesn't include wifi, HSDPA is not enabled out of the box (I need a hack!) and it's got that all so great 240 by 240 screen. Aside from the form factor (which at this point is pretty much the only reason to consider this) this is NOT a better purchase than the 8525 or TyTN or any Hermes variant. That whole one handed thing and the palm specific dodads does not justify the 700 price with tax. I have a 8525 and I use it with one hand just fine...besides, a WinMO phone without a scroll wheel is so strange to me now.

@ korey

I have an e61, paid a little more than $400 for mine, but I've seen places for around 350 not including tax. It's a bigger phone than I though, but the Wifi works like a charm and it has a good solid feel. But back to the post at hand. I would get a MAXX in a heartbeat but not for that price. I'll wait until my local channels have it then wait a month for the price to drop.

@ duestown (#4) certain countries don't use our standard Qwerty keyboard. This is most likely an eastern european phone or an asian phone, that's where the Azerty comes from. I'm sure someone here will explain it alot better than I can and maybe correct me if I'm wrong.

To all of you people who keep telling Engadget(?) or Peter to get a lawyer, I'm sure he has, or at least Weblogs Inc. has looked into this. Engadget, I believe, is owned by AOL or AOLs parent company(or something like that, please correct me if I'm wrong) so I think they are well covered if they or he need some legal advice. Peter's reaction to this is why this site always seems laidback and fun to read.

Maybe this will be a budget smartphone...for the masses. The HTC code name could be a play on words...you know cuz we all need oxygen, maybe we all need an HTC smartphone.

Cingular's doing pretty well with their 2125 and that has nearly, if not the same, spec's as this and its cheap with contract.

theloststory

I think what Paul Miller was talking about was the dated phone hardward (tech). The specs for that phone are pretty weak. They are inline with any number of midrange handsets that are on the market today.

Radio Shack typically prices their merchandise higher than anyone else. Take for example the Cingular 8125: Cingular sells it for 449.99 retail, that is, without a contract. Radioshack sell it for 599.99 without a contract. What is the extra 150 for? I have no idea...but go into any Radio shack and check it out...

I thought Sunn Comm sold the the SideKick under its Danger given name of Hiptop?