HTC Passion/Dragon Launching Mid-December?

by Rob Jackson on November 11th, 2009 at 9:52 am

An image of what MAY be the Verizon-bound HTC Passion/Dragon’s screen may be exactly what you’re seeing below, with a BGR connect saying a mid-December release is likely:

htc-dragon-screen

They’re in Baltimore. I’m in Baltimore. Hint hint Mr. anonymous picture taker guy in mostly cloudy 61 degree weather. And by the way, do you think a Mid-December launch would be the ultimate Big Red strategery? I mean, it WOULD put all those new Droid owners passed their 30-day return window.

HTC Dragon

Buy the HTC Dragon

HTC Passion

Buy the HTC Passion

jeremy
If this phone is anything like the HD2 it will be a home run.
I need some PASSION in my life!
Pathetic isn’t it?
Brad
Nope, this is bogus. It was already disproved in the comments section on the BGR article. Here’s the proof: http://macthemes2.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16800022&p=1. As you can see, the fonts look a little odd in the spy photo, as compared to HTC’s current weather/clock widget, but they match this knock-off for jailbroken iPhones perfectly.
Brad
For the record, I truly hope it does come out before Christmas. If so, I’ll find some way to return my Eris and get the Passion without paying full price. However, every single shred of “evidence” that this phone is coming to Verizon anytime soon as turned out to be fake. At this point, I won’t believe any new evidence unless I see a picture of a new device with a Verizon logo running HTC Sense.
BackInAction
This one leak has caused me to wait yet-another-month ™ for my android phone.
lyricalpursuit
Rob, what does this hint mean?
They’re in Baltimore. I’m in Baltimore. Hint hint Mr. anonymous picture taker guy in mostly cloudy 61 degree weather.
DL
Any chance this could be coming to Sprint and not Verizon? I’m holding off on getting an Android phone until something dominant comes out. The Dragon seems like that phone based on the rumors.
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/10/06/rumor-htc-working-on-new-flagship-android-device-the-dragon/
StephenSaurusRex
@Brad is right, I was following the comments. Compare the supposed screen shot, to the link @Brad provides and then to this one of HTC’s real sense UI: http://www.cellphones.ca/news/upload/2009/06/htc-sense.jpg
.
No other blogs picked this story up and its been out for nearly 24hours. Fail.
kwest12
That sucks that this newest one was a fake :/ You said that all evidence of this phone has been a fake. I know besides this picture there were two others released a while back (one of the front and one of the back of this phone). I wasn’t aware that those were proved to be fakes. Were they?
GRRemlin
I’m in Baltimore too! Yuppie!
P.S. I know, this is the most useless comment ever :)
Matt
@DL: I’m in the same boat as you, I’m on Sprint and this would be my perfect phone. My contract is up soon though, so I could switch to Verizon to get this, but I don’t want to pay their high plan prices.
Biggles
Yep, that’s a Mac theme, not the HTC weather widget. But that’s neither here nor there. The Passion will be coming out mid-December on big red. Mark it down.
Zaggs
@Brad and Stephen,
So let me see if I get this right. Because the clock doesn’t exactly match the clock of Sense running on Android 1.5 it cannot be Sense running on Android 2.0? Because HTC surely wouldn’t have noticed hacks trying to emulate their Sense and perhaps took a clue people wanted darker numbers? Because thats the only thing you have going (thats assuming its not an option). Well that and some iphone fanboys mystical pic which doesnt exist.
Brad
@Zaggs
Okay, first of all, the burden of proof in this situation is on the one claiming that this picture is from a Verizon Android phone. The problem is, there is no real proof provided, because the photo doesn’t show the device it’s running on. Right now, the fact that it looks identical to the iPhone theme is more solid proof for/against existence than the empty claim that it’s from a Verizon phone. Also, HTC has maintained the look of their clock/weather widget across multiple platforms. If you think they’re going to redesign Sense for Android 2.0 based on an iPhone knock-off theme, think again.
Brad
@kwest12
Those photos you’re referring to are indeed of a real HTC phone. That much is obvious. However, it was proven, through several small details, that it’s a picture of a GSM phone (most likely the actual Dragon phone), not a Verizon phone. The fact that it’s missing the Verizon logo is kind of obvious, and the person that posted the article citing a reliable source as having confirmed that it was a Verizon phone later retracted that claim, admitting that the source was not so reliable, and listing several seemingly insignificant things that point towards the device not being a CDMA device, meaning it’s not for Verizon. Like I said, we may yet see a new HTC Android phone on Verizon, because it sounds like Verizon still has some surprises up its sleeve, but unfortunately this photo is NOT the proof we’ve been looking for. Now, if somebody shows me a non-Photoshop’d version of this photo that shows the device it’s actually running on, I will certainly take a step back and apologize, but for now, this is proof of nothing.
StephenSaurusRex
@zaggs I am DYING for this phone to come out. I cant wait! but if you go back and read the original article carefully, you look at the lack of follow up from other bloggers, you compare the pics (pay close attention to even the way the flip clock looks, its different), there is nothing here but speculation. some guy at BGR received some image about a phone thats supposed to be on verizon and the rest is speculation. I’m obsessed w/ this phone, but not blind.
lyricalpursuit
Biggles, you say: The Passion will be coming out mid-December on big red. Mark it down.
Do you have any way of knowing this other than rumor? I would so love to know that my waiting, while using a defective phone, was worth it!
Matt
Well I am holding off on the Droid and waiting for the HTC Dragon. This will be called the HTC Passion when it comes to Verizon. I am for sure of this, lets just say I have some friends.. and by the way, this picture looks too much like a fake to believe.
jason
Pretty much everyone at verizon from the top down claims to know this and won’t talk about it… There are reports all over the place in comments and forums of ‘reps’ looking like the cat that ate the canary every time the subject comes up… I don’t think I’d rule sprint out, but it wouldn’t surprise me if verizon gets it first. I’ve also seen someone who claims to be from HTC bitching about ‘HTC being held down by the man’ with exclusives and suggesting that this is the end of it because they will be dropping this phone on all carriers ASAP.
Who knows…it’s all a bunch of BS….but it does seem pretty solid that this phone will be out in the next 2-3 months…somewhere.
jose
This is a fake! This image is a blurry cam picture taken of an app for the Iphone which is made to copy or emulate the sense UI…. I hate that BGR is such a verizon fanboy site that it reports anything like this. I speculate they are being taken for quite a ride. Look up the FCC filings for such a device being CDMA… I highly doubt you will find it. According to Phonedog.com… this phone that is rumored to be the dragon (again nothing to do with this screenshot) is a GSM phone headed to EU at some point later this yr or early next.
jose
here goes the link for the iphone app for jailbroken iphones
http://macthemes2.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16800022&p=1
i guess BGR might be going for a ride… I hope they have a real credible source… I am beginning to question their credibility.
Terry
It just doesn’t make sense for VZW to release another flagship Android phone so close to the Droid phone, then again maybe they will just to sell more phones.
I am thinking of getting the Eris, hopefully this phone will come out within 30 days so I could return the Eris for the Passion.
Biggles
@Jose: Phonedog is no more credible. They claim the phone pictured by theunlockr.com is a gsm phone on pretty flimsy evidence but offer no explanation why it has the same capacitive soft keys as the Droid and similar to the Eris when any other android phone out there not on Verizon has buttons. I have yet to hear anyone offer an explanation for this, but the insistence is that the pictured phone is heading anywhere but Verizon and to a gsm carrier. Yeah, right. Mark it down. Mid-December. Big red.
phillypharm
so if this phone comes out after december 6th how can i get it? i just got the droid and love it but the offset keyboard is making it almost useless for me.
i added a plan (was going to anyway) and used that to get the droid. can i return the droid and have that line go month to month? then buy the passion with that line and make it a 2 year contract?
jose
wishful thinking Biggles… like i said before.. the image above has nothing to do with an HTC device…
so dont defend BGR for reporting something like this. Second… why don’t you do your own homework… and look through the FCC filings and find information on said device?
waiting
@phillypharm-i have verizon and I know that they offer a 30 day trial. If you don’t like the phone in any way you can exchange for a different one. I am not sure if there is a limit or any fees though so you may want to contact you verizon store.
BachinPhx
When I was at the Verizon store checking out the Moto Droid and the HTC Eris, I was chatting it up with the nice sales girl. She may as well have just told me to wait for “great” things to come soon. Oh, right, she did. She was so giddy and couldn’t help but giggling like a little school girl. She couldn’t tell me anything concrete but more than implied that by December, we were going to see some awesome devices. I am only hoping and praying that she is right. The Moto Droid just is too heavy and the UI just isn’t exciting. The Eris is gorgeous but the 1.5 and the 528mHz Qualcomm is a deal killer for me.
The Passion/Dragon or whatever you want to call it will smoke them all. Why, do you ask, is VZW bringing out so many devices at once? They don’t care. They want to sell units. Lots and lots of units and want to smoke AT&T. They will do this with a great selection to appease everyone. Good job Verizon!!
Terry
@BachinPhx
Any time frame in December? I am thinking of getting the Moto Droid, hopefully if I do the new phone will come out within the 30 day window.
BachinPhx
Unfortunately, she wasn’t terribly time specific but sounds like we could be around mid-December.
mulda71
philly-you can return it… if you wait 4 days to buy your next phone you can avoid the 35 dollar re-stocking fee. i’m not sure how it works if you added a new line/#, that may complicate things… might lose the # if you plain out return the droid, or just pay the 35 bucks and buy the passion the same day you return the droid to avoid the hassle, presuming it is out in time. I myself have the eris and I freakin’ love it, but I will return it for the passion if it does come out… but boy i really do like it, and i actually kind of like the size, as it fits right in the pocket…
Ooberandy
Does anyone know if this phone will be available in the UK? If so, would you know a rough date?
dragondude
i dont know if im right but i noticed that the iphone app http://macthemes2.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16800022&p=1 where it displays time in a book way only has 2 pages to each side or four in total. and the picture of the passion has 3 in each side and six in total so they are different …. Hope im right and they throw some dragon passion for christmas.
cscoot03
Why a feminine name like the Passion? What’s wrong with Dragon? I mean I can adapt to having a “Passion” but I’d feel more comfortable carrying a “Dragon”. Yea this may sound stupid but it’s just a question concidering the “Leo” changed to “HD2″ which seems acceptable to the female & male to carry. You know?