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Just because the Sprint HTC Hero is a Sprint phone don’t think you’re going to get the best deal at a Sprint retail store… not at all. Best Buy Mobile just issued a press release today claiming they’ll have the phone starting on the launch day for $179.99. And while that is the EXACT same price that you’ll find in Sprint stores, you won’t have to worry about the irritation of Mail-In-Rebates delivered by snails.
$179.99 in, out, done. And if you don’t believe, here is the Press Release for proof:
Best Buy Mobile will apply rebate savings for the new smart phone at the point of purchase to help customers avoid the hassles of mail-in rebates.
MINNEAPOLIS, September 3, 2009 – Best Buy Mobile, now in all 1,044 Best Buy locations as well as 48 standalone stores around the U.S., is the exclusive national retailer for the much anticipated Sprint HTC Hero™ smart phone, which launches October 11. The HTC Hero runs on Google’s innovative Android operating platform.
Customers who purchase the smart phone at Best Buy Mobile can avoid the hassle of mail-in rebates with instant savings applied at the point of purchase. The phone will retail for $179.99, after $150 instant savings, with two-year activation.
“We want to bring the absolute best mobile technology that we can to our customers and the HTC Hero helps us do that” said Best Buy Mobile President Shawn Score. “The addition of the HTC Hero to our already extensive assortment allows our customers the convenience of comparing this new phone with other popular smart phones, such as the iPhone 3Gs, Palm Pre and Blackberry Tour, side-by-side and under one roof.”
Best Buy Mobile has become a leading destination for smart phone purchases, in part because of the promises the store offers its customers: better choice of phones and networks; impartial, informed advice; straightforward pricing; and someone to be there for the life of the phone.
In addition to the instant savings, Best Buy Mobile offers an array of services aimed at improving the mobile phone buying experience, including:
- Upgrade Checker: A quick and easy in-store service that gives customerss the ability to see when they are eligible for their next phone upgrade. When the upgrade time is nearing, customers receive a complimentary reminder call or email.
- Walk Out Working™: Free in-store smart phone setup by a Best Buy Mobile Phone Specialist who will sync personal email accounts, set up Bluetooth® headsets, transfer contacts and activate other services to allow the customer to leave the store with a fully functional new smart phone.
The new HTC Hero runs on the Sprint network and is the first phone to feature HTC Sense™ – an intuitive, seamless interface experience built on the principles of personalization, connectivity and discovery. HTC Hero lets users view important content at a glance with a selection of customizable widgets that can be placed right on the home screen. Contacts’ information is easily accessible with all text exchanges, email conversations, Facebook status updates, Flickr photo albums and phone logs, neatly organized by contacts’ names. The integrated Flash player optimizes the HTC Hero for Web browsing while a dedicated search button provides for a more natural, contextual search experience that enables searches through Twitter, contacts, emails and in any other area in the smart phone.
Told you so.
[Via Press Release]
In video the guy says this also uses Android???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJLr-ENvP0Y&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eengadget%2Ecom%2F2009%2F09%2F04%2Foptimas%2Dmaemo%2Drunning%2Dop5%2De%2Dmid%2Ddemoed%2Don%2Dvideo%2Dpriced%2F&feature=player_embedded#t=95
Will it work with SERO?
And another new device:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGbAj6OgwkA&annotation_id=annotation_41848&feature=iv
This is great! Best Buy has always been a great place to shop for new phones because they don’t deal in mail-in rebates! My question is however, what will the phone price be to purchase it out-right? I am not able to upgrade. I know it will not simply be $329.99 ($179.99 + $150 rebate). So what will the out of the box price be?
and what’s your point cro? this is about sprint htc hero… who cares about those mid’s.
maaan… they killed the hero… now its zero… that explains why it’s on sprint
Yes but they will charge you about $18 for activation at Best Buy, while it should be free at Sprint and sprint.com. You should save taxes on the $100 you save at Best Buy, so the actual difference is only about $10. But still, something to consider…
So is there still any truth to the rumor Samsung will also be releasing an Android phone on Sprint? I made a $50 deposit at BestBuy yesterday to reserve a Hero but would exercise patience if I thought there was a Samsung lurking in the shadows…
Sprint > TMobile
OMG I’m soooooo glad I didn’t wait for another three months just to find out they killed the Hero like that! Switched to T-MO and got the My touch on the first day it came out. Happiest man in the world and could careless about the fancy UI.
Good for you? Glad you felt the need to air your superiority over the net.
xD
This looks like a non-cheap version of the MyTouch. I’m glad I waited, I almost gave in to T-Mo. I really hope they have the gold-lined version available.
F*** You sprint !! Does that mean the Hero with the chin was just a fake, and no longer for t-mobile ? If so, thank god I got my mytouch3g, sweet, slick, and user friendly, I had the G1 as well I love android and t-mobile but the android should have stayed with T-Mobile !
Sisi, you are missing the whole point of Android: it is completely Open – so any carrier can offer Android phones, and any manufacturer that wants to can make phones that run Android.
To say Android should stay with T-Mobile makes no sense…
@ Cru
Non-Cheap? You call my touch a cheap ?
With HTC Hero, personalization reaches a level never before possible. Rather than burying important content under layers of menus, the HTC Hero lets you put it at glance view, with a selection of widgets that can be placed right on the home screen. The widgets themselves can be personalized with a variety of designs and sizes that best match your personality.
Love this phone. I HATED the stupid chin.
news : the other form factor of the hero (chin) will land in USA on t-mobile by the end of this year or beginning of next year as t-mobile G2. news leaked from a trusty interior source from t-mobile corporate.
seeing android fans complain about which carrier should have android phones is about as silly as seeing pc gamers argue intel vs amd. regardless of the hardware we all support the same software. Considered switching to T-Mobile this news just helps my bypass the hassle of changing carriers.
Went to Best Buy today bought my Sprint Hero… waiting for its arrival on 10/11/2009. Can’t wait till that Sunday comes. I was beat to my closest Best Buy by only three other people but as I understand it their big advertising push [BB] has yet to come. I was told that I would receive a call with a time to pick up my Hero. I’m very happy not to have to wait on a Rebate after the fact but I guess as it stands now BB will be using my $50 for free for the next month… so be it!
D mind your f***ing business to what I say.. thank you.
If you didn’t want anybody to comment on your comment, what was the point of commenting?
@sisi you’re a f***ing idiot. D is correct, it’s like telling blackberry or windows mobile to choose one carrirer and stay on it.
If you were really to have a valid arguement (which you don’t) it would be a request that HTC stay with android only instead of it mixed up with windows mobile. That idea would be one I would support, any improvements would reflect on all of their phones instead of just a handful.
But to answer your question. The Hero with the chin was first released in the UK about a month or so ago. It had SIM support and was for their “Orange” carrier, or “O2” can’t remember exact details. The chin was removed in the Sprint version as I’m sure as a direct result of user input. You perfering the chin based on their research makes you the minority. I personally perfer this version better.
I do remember their being a rumor that t-mobile was getting a Hero a while back, but that came out before the MyTouch 3g, I imagine the 2 phones got confused as this sometimes does. I did read on a newsletter from sprint that the Hero is exclusive to sprint for now, maybe in 6-12 months (look at palm pre) more carriers will start carrying it.
I’m sorry if you’re upset the hero isn’t for t-mobile just yet but to make sence of your 100% moronic comment like that hurts my head. Then to aggressively lash out at someone that has an opinion other than your own…. I don’t even know what to say to that.
For all the people talking about tmobile you are so wrong the my touch 3g is just a full touch screen of the g1 ,I have the g1 and have it so it does more than the my touch 3g and if you do your research the hero has 10 times the amount of software than any phone out now , and with htc sense as well , no other phone compares to it and if tmobile had it , it would be a heck of a lot more than 179
tmobile sucks
hi i live in india
i wanted to know if i buy htc hero from us will there b any networking problem in it. has it got any kinds of lock codes as in i phone???
n wat ill b the current cost in total ???
and wat do u mean by ”The phone will retail for $179.99, after $150 instant savings, with two-year activation.” in the above given specifications ???