HTC Confirms: Passion/Dragon Does Not Exist

[CSTblank]

Hello (My Name),

I understand how important it is to have the latest information about the best new devices around. Currently there are plenty of rumors spreading around the internet about a device referred to as either the HTC Passion or the HTC Dragon. At this time, the device officially does not exist. There has been no announcement made by HTC regarding this device, whether it be for the worldwide market or for a specific carrier (Verizon is the most commonly pointed at in these rumors.) With no announcement having been made, it is unknown what the device is from the pictures that have been seen. As it is unconfirmed that the device exists, so is it unknown when such a device might be released were it to exist. That picture [I sent a copy of the spy photo] does not seem to match the description I have heard of the Passion; I am not entirely sure what that is. Half the fun of waiting for new devices to be announced is the rumor mill; the most common description of the Passion I have heard is the HTC HD2 but running Android rather than Windows Mobile. I would love to be able to make some sort of confirmation, but the facts remain that there is no official acknowledgement of the existence of the device, and I have not heard anything unofficial that would counter that. The best way to keep up with official news is to keep an eye on HTC. You may also wish to follow the HTC Twitter account at www.twitter.com/htc, as announcements are often made on here.

If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us again. You can find additional support at our user forum www.htcwiki.com. There is also a customer satisfaction survey for you to take if you are interested.

Philip
HTC Technical Support
HTC

I said I would update IF I recieved a reply. This is what I got. Just wanted to share with you guys, take it however you want to.

 

[VaDivot]

I said I would update IF I recieved a reply. This is what I got. Just wanted to share with you guys, take it however you want to.

Im not convinced the phone exists anymore either but this doesnt mean anything. If you would have emailed HTC two weeks before the Droid Eris came out (prior to it being announced) you would have probably received the same exact reply. Whether it exists or not, they will hide behind the "it has not been OFFICIALLY announced". Not until the carrier gives them the go ahead to officially announce the phone will you ever recieve confirmation.

 

[anexanhume]

Your thread title is a blatant misrepresentation of the fact. The person refuses to officially confirm anything, stating only confirmed devices would be ones that he could acknowledge. Given nothing is confirmed thus far, his response is nothing more than an interesting addition to the pile of comments from people "on the inside."

 

[Dmac333]

I said I would update IF I recieved a reply. This is what I got. Just wanted to share with you guys, take it however you want to.

Thanks,
I would think that Motorola and Verizon would have said the same thing two weeks before the Droid launched. I do appreciate your post, but my hope is weak but I am holding on!!


VaDivot stole my point...lol

 

[CSTblank]

Your thread title is a blatant misrepresentation of the fact. The person refuses to officially confirm anything, stating only confirmed devices would be ones that he could acknowledge. Given nothing is confirmed thus far, his response is nothing more than an interesting addition to the pile of comments from people "on the inside."

While he did say there was no OFFICIAL info, he said that he has heard nothing unofficially to counter there being nothing officially.......

but the facts remain that there is no official acknowledgement of the existence of the device, and I have not heard anything unofficial that would counter that.

Sorry to has mis represented, but he specifically said the phone did not exist.
I just put what he said in the title. So long as people read it and make up their own mind.

I too am a hopeful and think the phone exists, I'm just passing along the email I received like I said I was going to.

 

[Android_LIFE]

This email reply you received does not convince me that hTc does NOT have something coming.
All I really got from it is that whoever wrote that, is denying anything "official" as of now.

I am not worried that nothing will come from hTc, as I know that they are working on new devices. (Who isn't??)

Find Drew Bamford from hTc in the Endgadget videos.

No worries here.
Good things come in time, just because I want the new rumored snapdragon running android device from hTc NOW...doesnt mean that I along with anyone else will get it...NOW.

The device will be ready, when hTc makes & says its ready.

Hang in there everybody.
hTc IS fully aware of what we all want as far as the community wanting something similar to the HD2 running android.

 

[rdalcanto]

I agree. The topic is misleading and wrong. It doesn't "officially" exist yet, but I'm convinced it is currently at Google. The only thing I'm frustrated about is not knowing if it will arrive this month, or sometime in the next three. I would hate to get the Droid, and then find out two days after my return date ends that it is being released two weeks after that.

 

[CSTblank]

This email reply you received does not convince me that hTc does NOT have something coming.
All I really got from it is that whoever wrote that, is denying anything "official" as of now.

I am not worried that nothing will come from hTc, as I know that they are working on new devices. (Who isn't??)

Find Drew Bamford from hTc in the Endgadget videos.

No worries here.
Good things come in time, just because I want the new rumored snapdragon running android device from hTc NOW...doesnt mean that I along with anyone else will get it...NOW.

The device will be ready, when hTc makes & says its ready.

Hang in there everybody.
hTc IS fully aware of what we all want as far as the community wanting something similar to the HD2 running android.

I side with you completely.

The only reason i made the title what it is, is because he said " at this time the phone officially does not exist."

You can't say that something unofficially exists as it is just bad grammar.

 

[sooper_droid12]

Thanks,
I would think that Motorola and Verizon would have said the same thing two weeks before the Droid launched. I do appreciate your post, but my hope is weak but I am holding on!!


VaDivot stole my point...lol

Untrue. Two weeks before the release of the DROID, DROID advert was in full effect with a full website, no pricing. Verizon held off announcing prices for that two weeks prior and held onto it until the final 5 days before release. Even before then, the DROID had been seen and spied with Verizon logos well before release. Maybe Motorola didn't keep tabs on it as tightly as HTC.

 

[CSTblank]

I agree. The topic is misleading and wrong. It doesn't "officially" exist yet, but I'm convinced it is currently at Google. The only thing I'm frustrated about is not knowing if it will arrive this month, or sometime in the next three. I would hate to get the Droid, and then find out two days after my return date ends that it is being released two weeks after that.

Just because you believe the phone exists (as do I) doesn't make my title wrong.

In the email it says it does not exist. I did nothing more than put exactly what he said into the thread.

 

[sooper_droid12]

Whatever you believe from this email, you have to be naive to think that HTC doesn't have a fancy phone waiting to run Android. The Eris CAN'T be their best Android offering, not with the HD2 sitting pretty out there with WinMo. HTC being the ones that went out on a limb with Android probably can't stand sitting around taking second fiddle to Motorola and the DROID hype.

 

[bruceo]

The way I see it is the Droid has the focus and any other possible competitor to it would be totally locked down to secrecy, otherwise it would destroy the droid's existing sales. I would imagine that there is no way anything would be even truly leaked until at least 30 dys after droids began sales and probably even 60 days just to lock in the moto droid base, so that any droid user dying for the newest phone would have to buy it at full price.

The way I see it, there is no way I am going to be stuck with a Moto droid for 2 years as lacking as that device is when Sense + Android 2.1 on anything resembling the HD2 hardware comes out even if it takes a year. I would go back and put up with my POS Touch pro. Droid is nice but it just doesn't, no matter what the commercial says. The HD2 hardware with HTC Sense + Android is the first device that has the potential to truly far exceed the Iphone and with Verizons obvious desire to crush Iphone and AT&T I cant imagine it happening sooner than later.

 

[Android_LIFE]

Subject heading of this thread could be changed from:

HTC Confirms: Passion/Dragon Does Not Exist

TO

HTC confirms: Passion/Dragon Does Not Officially Exist

OR

HTC confirms rumors DO exist, but denies anything official...

you get the idea...

 

[CSTblank]

Subject heading of this thread could be changed from:

HTC Confirms: Passion/Dragon Does Not Exist

TO

HTC confirms: Passion/Dragon Does Not Officially Exist

OR

HTC confirms rumors DO exist, but denies anything official...

you get the idea...

I would change it to the second one to please everyone. But I am unable to change thread titles. A Moderator or Admin will have to.....

Sorry I was only trying to pass on information I had gotten

 

[junkie]

I think that post was pointless as you recived the same copy /paste email as another user...

I emailed HTC North America and below is the response I received.

Hello, I understand how important it is to have the latest information about the best new devices around. Currently there are plenty of rumors spreading around the internet about a device referred to as either the HTC Passion or the HTC Dragon. At this time, the device officially does not exist. There has been no announcement made by HTC regarding this device, whether it be for the worldwide market or for a specific carrier (Verizon is the most commonly pointed at in these rumors.) With no announcement having been made, it is unknown what the device is from the pictures that have been seen. As it is unconfirmed that the device exists, so is it unknown when such a device might be released were it to exist. The best way to keep up with official news is to keep an eye on HTC. You may also wish to follow the HTC Twitter account at HTC (htc) on Twitter, as announcements are often made on here. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us again. You can find additional support at our user forum HTC Smartphone Wiki - HTC. There is also a customer satisfaction survey for you to take if you are interested. HTC Technical Support HTC

 

[CSTblank]

Whatever you believe from this email, you have to be naive to think that HTC doesn't have a fancy phone waiting to run Android. The Eris CAN'T be their best Android offering, not with the HD2 sitting pretty out there with WinMo. HTC being the ones that went out on a limb with Android probably can't stand sitting around taking second fiddle to Motorola and the DROID hype.

From the latest leaks, I would assume that HTC is trying to get sense to work on the existing Android Phones (puuting them on 2.1) before releasing ANOTHER new device. BUT that being said, what was that phone seen in France that COULD have been the Passion.(Which would be another HTC Android device, as you said) It's in a few threads down.

I'm just sayin....

 

[bruceo]

Whatever you believe from this email, you have to be naive to think that HTC doesn't have a fancy phone waiting to run Android. The Eris CAN'T be their best Android offering, not with the HD2 sitting pretty out there with WinMo. HTC being the ones that went out on a limb with Android probably can't stand sitting around taking second fiddle to Motorola and the DROID hype.

Yep but I bet HTC is doing everything they can to abide by Verizon's desires because they have the network for their devices to proliferate. Even though MotoDroid was leaked, it was probably the tightest closest to release date info so far and the leaks would have not been detrimental to moto or Verizon whereas a leak of a MotoDroid/iPhone killer HTC android device would be very detrimental to Moto. Not as detrimental to Verizon, but Moto is on it's last legs and if verizon allowed them to be crushed then HTC would be the monopolistic Android handset maker which would be detrimental to Verizon.

 

[CSTblank]

I think that post was pointless as you recived the same copy /paste email as another user...

While it did contain the same copy/paste base facts, my email did have some other things that weren't in your quote. thus, mine had info that your quoted email did not.

That being said, I wouldn't have posted my thread at all, regardless of thinking it had some different things in it if I had known there was already a post with the similar email. I apologize, as I did not know anyone else had made that post.

 

[sooper_droid12]

The way I see it is the Droid has the focus and any other possible competitor to it would be totally locked down to secrecy, otherwise it would destroy the droid's existing sales. I would imagine that there is no way anything would be even truly leaked until at least 30 dys after droids began sales and probably even 60 days just to lock in the moto droid base, so that any droid user dying for the newest phone would have to buy it at full price.

The way I see it, there is no way I am going to be stuck with a Moto droid for 2 years as lacking as that device is when Sense + Android 2.1 on anything resembling the HD2 hardware comes out even if it takes a year. I would go back and put up with my POS Touch pro. Droid is nice but it just doesn't, no matter what the commercial says. The HD2 hardware with HTC Sense + Android is the first device that has the potential to truly far exceed the Iphone and with Verizons obvious desire to crush Iphone and AT&T I cant imagine it happening sooner than later.

How do you know that? 1) How do you know that HTC will be running Sense + 2.1? From what's been rumored, it's only running 2.0. What makes the DROID so lacking? Have you even owned one to give it a fair shake? My bet is no, you haven't. Sense UI is just a skin for Android -- a 3rd party app.

As far as HD2 hardware is concerned, nothing I've seen so far impresses me, even at full clock, especially since it got its butt handed to it by an iPhone 3Gs running the OMAP3 SOC processor. As far as dethroning said iPhone, the HTC no matter how powerful people think it might be, or how slick it UI, it still suffers from the same problems that cripples any phones attempt to knock off the iPhone:

1) No iTunes environment, market interface is still lacking
2) No widespread adoption in applications (10K vs. 100K)
3) No widespread availability of 3rd party accessories, etc.

Until then, no matter how slick the device, iPhone will always win. Because if the DROID proved anything, it's faster, it's screen is more brilliant, it's powerful... but it still hasn't swayed iPhone users. The one knock is that it doesn't look like a chick phone. HTC may have that, but still won't get people moving away from iPhone to get it.

 

[rdalcanto]

We appreciate you posting the info you got. Next time avoid the New York Times type, misleading, headline....

(especially with a crowd as tightly wound and anxious as this one)

 

[CSTblank]

How do you know that? 1) How do you know that HTC will be running Sense + 2.1? From what's been rumored, it's only running 2.0.

Is he referring to the Passion running 2.1 and Sense? Or the fact that HTC is going to be running Sense UI (Which is an HTC function, not a 3rd party app btw) on Android 2.1, on devices such as the Hero and Droid Eris (which is the latest rumor)

 

[CSTblank]

We appreciate you posting the info you got. Next time avoid the New York Times type, misleading, headline....

(especially with a crowd as tightly wound and anxious as this one)

LOL what can I say, I was born to write for a paper

My Apologies

 

[sooper_droid12]

Is he referring to the Passion running 2.1 and Sense? Or the fact that HTC is going to be running Sense UI (Which is an HTC function, not a 3rd party app btw) on Android 2.1, on devices such as the Hero and Droid Eris (which is the latest rumor)

I think he was implying that Passion would be running 2.1 and Sense. That's not been confirmed. But yes, 2.1 will be coming to Hero/Eris as well as DROID by the end of the month or early January. Okay, Sense UI is a 2nd party app. HTC developed it and it sits on top of Android OS.

 

[CSTblank]

I think he was implying that Passion would be running 2.1 and Sense. That's not been confirmed. But yes, 2.1 will be coming to Hero/Eris as well as DROID by the end of the month or early January. Okay, Sense UI is a 2nd party app. HTC developed it and it sits on top of Android OS.

He is wrong then.

 

[bruceo]

How do you know that? 1) How do you know that HTC will be running Sense + 2.1? From what's been rumored, it's only running 2.0. What makes the DROID so lacking? Have you even owned one to give it a fair shake? My bet is no, you haven't. Sense UI is just a skin for Android -- a 3rd party app.

As far as HD2 hardware is concerned, nothing I've seen so far impresses me, even at full clock, especially since it got its butt handed to it by an iPhone 3Gs running the OMAP3 SOC processor. As far as dethroning said iPhone, the HTC no matter how powerful people think it might be, or how slick it UI, it still suffers from the same problems that cripples any phones attempt to knock off the iPhone:

1) No iTunes environment, market interface is still lacking
2) No widespread adoption in applications (10K vs. 100K)
3) No widespread availability of 3rd party accessories, etc.

Until then, no matter how slick the device, iPhone will always win. Because if the DROID proved anything, it's faster, it's screen is more brilliant, it's powerful... but it still hasn't swayed iPhone users. The one knock is that it doesn't look like a chick phone. HTC may have that, but still won't get people moving away from iPhone to get it.

Actually i have had 2 Droids since launch day and have plenty i have said and can take many paragraphs to describe the basic features that it is lacking.

Sense UI is not a skin. Apparently you must not have thoroughly used Android devices because then you would know sense includes many enhancements that fill/ed several gaping holes in the Android OS that are no where near adequately filled by any current apps in the market.

IMO iPhone has set the benchmark extremely high but saying always win is a naive statement. Iphone is an infant. 3rd in installed base to Symbian & BBOS. Windows Mobile used to be one of the kings but is dying fast.

Ipod touch installed base and Itunes environment is a big plus in the Apple camp, but the closed and limited nature of it could be it's downfall. Android is well positioned to be a true competitor.

I could be content with MotoDroid for 2 years if I had to but it certainly falls well short of not only the iPhone but even further short that big red's own advertisements. I know the HD2 style device with Sense plus android wont be perfect but I know it would go much further than MotoDroid would/has towards besting iPhone. Which would make me more content than i am with the droid, some times referred to by my cursing while driving as the Roid....