HTC Aria Comes to AT&T on June 20th
AT&T is annoying me to no end, they’ve got their heads so far up Apples (-you know what-) that they can’t give us anything that’s actually decent anymore in terms of phones. Ever since they paired with Apple for the iPhone and now of course the Magical iPad, they’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a cell phone company it seems. The second Android offering is the HTC Aria and it’s truly unimpressive with it’s measly 600Mhz processor. I’ve got the Motorola BackFlip and it has a 528Mhz CPU, and it sucks, it’s slow, gaming is horrid for the most part and battery life is horrendous. I can’t get through the day without recharging the phone, and that’s a day where I don’t even use it, I get other phones for review all of the time and use those most of the time and the BackFlip will just sit on my desk and the battery will die. What happened to you AT&T? You used to give us the latest and greatest phones, but now everything is about that damn piece of fruit.. Apple should just buy AT&T and get it over with truly, then they’ll have their own little cell phone company and we could go to another company that actually gets new and decent phones, like Verizon for example, they get the best phones anymore. I can tell you first hand actually as they send me the stuff as soon as it comes out and sometimes before, and they‘ve got some good phones on their network and of course they don’t have to worry about the iPhone killing their network either. I think it would be a very bad idea for Verizon to get the iPhone honestly.. Verizon has become what AT&T once was, a good cell phone company that actually cares about giving their customers what they want in terms of the best phones, and their service is excellent as well. Anyway, back to the HTC Aria it’s a mediocre phone, actually it’s more low-end with that CPU in it, I’m sure it will perform as bad as the BackFlip does, but then again HTC knows how to make a phone so maybe they performed some magic and made it better, but I doubt it… So at this point in time we’ve got two crappy Android offerings on AT&T, but they’ve got the iPhone 4 ! Blah… continue on for the full HTC Aria PR if you want..
AT&T* and HTC Corporation ("HTC") today announced that HTC Aria(TM), a rich and powerful addition to AT&T’s Android smartphone portfolio, will be available exclusively at AT&T beginning June 20. Pocket-sized and packing the power of the Android 2.1 platform, a five megapixel camera and a bright 3.2 inch HVGA display, HTC Aria offers AT&T customers Android smartphone functionality in an amazingly easy-to-carry design. The combination of 3G speed, a responsive capacitive touch screen and an optical joystick makes HTC Aria an ideal smartphone for mobile broadband.
HTC Aria is Wi-Fi capable and qualifying customers will receive access to AT&T Wi-Fi, with more than 20,000 hotspots across the U.S. In addition, HTC Aria is compatible with AT&T’s High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 Mbps technology. This technology provides a considerable boost to 3G speeds when combined with expanded backhaul. The combination of faster wireless networks, smartphones like HTC Aria, and tens of thousands of available innovative mobile apps allows AT&T customers to mobilize virtually everything, from video and music, to social networking, to business applications.
"HTC Aria is the first of several smartphones in our Android portfolio to run the 2.1 platform," said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, Devices, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "When you combine the nation’s fastest 3G network, and access to the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network, HTC Aria will be one of the best Android smartphones available."
HTC Aria features the acclaimed HTC Sense experience, which automatically delivers the most-wanted information by bringing it to the forefront of the mobile experience. Featuring the latest version of HTC Sense, HTC Aria offers even more ways to stay connected, including Friend Stream, which delivers Facebook, Twitter and Flickr updates in a single, consolidated view.
"Its unique combination of compact size and beautiful design instantly separates HTC Aria from the pack of ‘me-too’ smartphones," said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. "But what really differentiates HTC Aria from other smartphones is the acclaimed HTC Sense experience, which we are pleased to be bringing to AT&T customers. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC Aria organizes all of your communications in the most human way possible – by person."
A full selection of the newest and most popular Google services can be accessed with HTC Aria. This includes Google search, Google Maps, Google Navigation, Gmail, YouTube and more. With Android Market, customers can also choose from more than 50,000 applications to further personalize the mobile experience.
Along with being ultra-small at just over 4 inches long and weighing a mere 4.05 ounces, HTC Aria’s seamless wrap-around soft-touch back cover eliminates sharp edges, making HTC Aria exceptionally convenient to carry and comfortable to hold as well.
Featuring the best selection of smartphones and OS, AT&T is ranked #1 in customer satisfaction among smartphone owners. AT&T plans to expand its Android portfolio to include other Android smartphones during the second half of 2010.
Pricing and Availability
HTC Aria will be available on June 20 at AT&T retail locations nationwide or at http://www.att.com/wireless for $129.99 after $100 mail-in rebate (pay $229.99 and after mail-in rebate receive $100 AT&T Promotion Card. Two-year agreement required and smartphone data plan required).
For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit www.att.com (1) 3G coverage is not available in all areas. (2) Coverage not available in all areas.
(3) AT&T Promotion Card: Price for HTC Aria before AT&T Promotion Card & with 2 year contract is $229.99. Allow 60 days for fulfillment. Card valid for 120 days wherever major credit cards accepted. May be used to pay wireless bill. Not redeemable for cash and cannot be used at ATMs or gas pumps. Some restrictions and other charges apply. See terms at store or at att.com/wirelessrebate. You must be customer for 30 consecutive days to receive Promotion Card.
(4) Limited-time offer. Other conditions & restrictions apply. See contract & rate plan brochure for details. Early Termination Fee: None if cancelled in the first 30 days, but up to $35 restocking fee may apply to equipment returns; thereafter up to up to $325.
(5) Largest Wi-Fi network claim based on non-municipal company and owned and operated hotspots. An 802.11 b/g enabled device required. Other restrictions apply. See www.attwifi.com for additional services details and locations.
*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
Web Site: http://www.htc.com/
http://www.att.com/
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About The Author
Kristofer
I own Technogog.com, DragonSteelMods.com, ReviewTheTech.com and KristoferBrozio.com and I also write here on occasion of course.
I am back to carrying around 2 phones again…
I do really like my Tilt2 but it is SLOW and well i needed to try out android… So I just got an EVO and this is my first time back to sprint since they became sprint …
I really do think AT&T voice is far superior to anyone else’s and Sprint’s data is pretty impressive (at least in the markets that i travel) but they can’t seem to get the other half working right…
I could live with AT&T’s network if they would just get a HD2 or Whatever you want to call it running android….
It annoys me to have them calling me to try and presell the iPhone4 when my wife barely uses the iPhone 3gs as it is.. it talks/texts and facebooks.. that is all she wants… And i guess they are happy with that market until they lose the exclusivity…
Kristopher, I understand your concerns, but you would have been better off just sharing the specs from the news release. Your rant added no value whatsoever.
I had to read it twice to ensure that your rage was all directed at your BackFlip experience, and you had not in fact spent any time with the Aria.
HTC phones are different than Motorola phones, to be sure. Yet your only expectation for this is that the battery life is going to suck just because it’s Android?
For what it’s worth, I am looking for an upgrade for my wife, who is on a Motorola Razr, not even a smartphone. Please keep your rants where they belong, and don’t litter a product page with them.
Sorry for misspelling your name, that happens to me all the time and I don’t like it.
You’re more than happy to vent, and even vent about how you’re disappointed that this is another “weak” Android entry for AT&T. But all the other stuff about AT&T’s network is irrelevant. It belongs in a post with something other than “HTC Aria Comes to AT&T on June 20th” for a title.
I can tell you’re enraged about this, though. But if you want to communicate your concerns more effectively, do the following:
1) Put it in a separate post.
2) Put some structure into your post. You have a huge paragraph that wanders, stream-of-consciousness style.
3) Highlight more of the evidence backing you up.
While I agree with almost all of what you wrote, as a reader I don’t appreciate the bait-and-switch of it. A different title might have sold it better: “Why AT&T’s Aria is another weak Android song-and-dance.”
As I said, I am looking for a phone for my wife. And I actually LIKE the fact that AT&T has a $15/month plan that would suit her just fine. We wouldn’t be shopping for her if it weren’t for the smaller package. I also want to look into an Android phone for her, because I don’t want her to have to think about configuration – just sync with her Gmail and Calendar and she’s great.
To that end, there are MANY consumers who meet that same profile. She wouldn’t really feel the difference between a 600MHz processor and a 1GHz one. Saving a little money for the slower one fits the profile of someone interested in the cheaper plans.
I am sorry you’re disappointed that low-end consumers on AT&T now have an Android option that sucks less than the Backflip. I wish there was a zippier one for me, too.
#1- If you’re going to insult me or critique me at least spell my name right
#2- part of my rage was directed at the BackFlip yes, but most of my rage is directed at AT&T and how their fall from grace as it were
#3- You missed the point entirely of the rant, it’s that AT&T is giving us these low-end spec’d Android phones when the other providers out there are giving their customers high end phones to choose from. Look at Verizon, you’ve got a couple to choose from, and now Sprint is following as well with more in the pipeline, but yet we see nothing decent on the horizon for AT&T.. Why?!
#4- This announcement was actually the perfect time for that little rant, what better time to rant about the lack of good Android phones on AT&T than when they announce a second one that turns out to be yet another low-end phone
…Bait and Switch… yes it was meant that way, glad you caught it, but what I did was the same thing AT&T did to us all who were actually expecting a decent Android phone from them.. They told us they’ve got a great Android phone on the way, just wait and see they said, so we waited and we got the HTC Aria for our patience..
My contact with AT&T expired a few months ago and I’ve been holding out in the hopes of staying with them.. for the most part I’m happy with the service, but I’m not happy with the phone selections.. I want a powerful Android phone and after many years with AT&T it appears I may have to go elsewhere to get what I want or pay an outrageous price for an unlocked phone that I want.
and it’s great that there’s yet another low spec’d phone in the AT&T lineup, but that’s not he AT&T I knew, they used to get the best before everyone else.. now it’s all Apple stuff and they’ve left the rest of us that want something decent out in the cold..
and as far as the paragraph style, well it was meant that way really.. it was just a streaming thought, rants usually are like that when they come spur of the moment like that… sorry if you don’t care for my style of writing, but I’m a free spirit who doesn’t care too much about form as it were, and I usually just say what’s on my mind in more of a friendly or conversationalist tone as opposed to grammatically and syntactically correct..
Kristofer, you are singing my song. There are some spectacular phones being releases with huge 4.3″ displays and at&t offers an ‘easy to carry’ 3.2″ screen? What year is it? I want a grown up phone, not a baby one. My 2-year contract with at&t ends in Nov, but I have to stay with them as no one else services my rural area. What is up with at&t? Is it really their preoccupation with the Apple comrades? Are they holding out for Windows Phone 7 devices?
If I was certain a good W7 phone would hit AT&T I would be happy to stay with them, but as it looks now, if the way they handled Android is any indication, we won’t be seeing anything but low spec’d W7 phones.. I’ll take a good W7 phone instead of a good Android one…
The timing on my contract maybe just right for me to get a W7 phone. However, I’m concerned that you might be right, AT&T will come out with low spec’d phones…
I think one thing you and i seem to disagree on is low end doesn’t necessarily mean bad. There are a lot of people that don’t want or need a Desire or Evo. I am more in the wait and see vein, cause i’m a bit concerned how snappy Sense would be on the device, but other than that, i think a smaller device is probably a great idea for the regular consumer market.
All I have to say is I miss when they were Cingular. I actually left Sprint because if the sucky offerings but if now… Well at least they are GSM so I can get a better phone unlocked elsewhere, at least until the Apple has lost it’s hold on the big blue ball.
I’ve been with AT&T for about 8 years but i haven’t signed a contract for the last 4 years, mainly to keep $15/m unlimited data. Fortunately i work somewhere i can get phones cheap w/o contract but that doesn’t mean there are any good phones now that T-mobile has their own 3G bands. I was hoping to pick up an unlocked HD2 from T-mobile but its worthless on AT&T unless i want slow EDGE. I would really like to see AT&T get something worthwhile so i can buy it elsewhere for cheap.
forward the link to this rant to the att ceo. if he sends you a cease and desist order, tehn maybe he read it, and that’s even more bad pr. if he doesn’t, then we’re just in the same boat we started in :p