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While a release date and other info remains unknown, the HTC Merge is one Verizon device that has a longer history than most. It’s model number can be traced all the way back to the battery charger that shipped with the Droid Incredible, followed by a rather early appearance in VZW’s inventory. We finally learned more through FCC filings and eventual leaked images and manuals, but in case you haven’t got your fix DroidLife has gotten their hands on a few more images.
It still isn’t 100 percent clear whether this will be a Droid phone or not, but it definitely has the red accents fitting of such an honor. Yep, there’s Bing too in case you were wondering. The phone won’t feature next-gen LTE technology but will have a global radio paired up with an 800MHz processor, and word on the street is it could see a late release this month or in early November. The device seems pretty similar to the recently announced Desire Z with its Sense UI and specs. The only thing that seems to be missing are the poorly designed hinges. More images at the source below.
[via DroidLife]
Lol another gay bing phone!
Hur hur! Poorly designed hinge!
Why don’t you try to design a hinge and see how easy it is? ALSO, there is nothing wrong with the G2/Z hinge. It’s simple, effective, and unlikely to bind. So instead of taking cheap shots, why don’t you find a better comedy writer.
Is bing something you can just remove from your home screen and never look at again, or…?
Is it locked down or not, can we install custom roms?
This is what we need to know before we buy
LOL…
“why dont you make a better hinge”
Orrrrr, dont make a phone with hinges? What a horrid horrid design idea. For as much as people open/close that, wtf do you expect?
Jack is a very salty consumer who dropped $$ on it and hates it but is too proud to admit his phone is going to fall apart in a few months, lol
If you notice, phones that carry the Droid name have google search. Droid Pro has it. I bet this doesnt carry the Droid name sense it has Bing.
Locked down? You mean rootable? Who knows… i’ve seen the phone in the wild but didnt test the root of it, im sure it will need to be rooted before installing custom roms, like everyother phone. Hopefully its not locked down like the broke ass G2 with the rootkit lol
@Paul T i think they replace google maps with bing maps, google search with bing search, and whatever other google services btu i not that sure
Too bad that unlike the Desire Z, this seems to be running the old Sense UI. It has the old plus button instead of the paint palette.
Boot animation does not show “DROID”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYzWGzoe8J8
I hope these aren’t stupid questions but what exactly the big deal about bing? Can’t you just set the home page to google within bing? Will the phone still have the ability to do all the google voice search services and google maps or will bing not allow this?
I’m pretty sure this device will have froyo, so just just download google search, maps and navigation if you hate bing so much. it’s not rocket science.
*cough cough G1 had hinges on them cough cough* The G2 hinges are fine they just got little carried away with the development of phone. They missed a design flaw in the phone. There not many phones out there that don’t have design flaws in them. I think the hinge problem is being blown out of proportion. And again stop with the bing business it not a big deal it is just business. I think it’s already be stated that you can make Google your default browser and remove at least the bing icon from the home screen those probably not the app menu.
When i start to Get Worried, Dan Hesse always comes through in the clutch. Im Certain he Has an HTC Qwerty device with 4G for us. As soon as he gets his current announcements out the way. Hed never imprison us with Bing thats for sure.
soo when is a good phone coming to VZW? Rootable like the D1, No Sense/MotoBlur, and meets the same specifications as the big bad Evo?
hate bing it sucks i like google
seriously, why do people get so up in arms about bing? you can put a google shortcut right on the home page, and just not use the dedicated search button (which i hardly even use on my DX as it is). you can still search with google just as easily. if folks really hate bing that much, then just dont use the dedicated bing button and stop crying. it’s not the end of the world.
Bing needs to go away all together. Why try and reinvent the wheel when it’s not broke? So what kind of phone will this be? Droid or not? I don’t really care as long as it doesn’t take 500 trial versions before getting it right. I mean droid 1,2, incredible, x. How bout something that does it all right the first time? I’m leaning towads the x right now but this phone looks like it has enough potential for me to wait a couple more weeks. anyone?
Search get bing off android on facebook. We don’t want Bing on our phones!