WP7 wide availabilty?

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Asha'man X

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Hi everyone

Does anyone know for sure when Windows Phone 7 devices will hit wide availibility here in SA? In my case specifically, MTN. I'm really interested to get one of these devices, even with some of the shortcomings at the moment. I see Vigin has the HTC Mozart, which isn't quite what I want. I read here that Vodacom was supposed to start offering them, but I've not seen anything much from them.

Would be interesting to know what is happening with these phones.
 
It is listed on their upgrade site, but not available and they don't know when it will be. Go figure...
 
At the rate MTN is going, by the time my upgrade comes due in June, I will probably end up buying a new phone from Expansys or something. The only thing now is to figure out what to get. Samsung OMNIA 7 with Super Amoled and 4" screen, or HTC 7 Pro with hardware keyboard and normal LCD. Both only have 8GB storage, which is a bit of bummer, but I can live with that. Ah well, will see what the following months bring.
 
These SP's are taking sooooo flippin long to bring in the new phones that I imported a T-Mobile US HD7 WP7 ;)
Loving it! ... Hope the SP's get the HD7, Omnia 7 and Dell Venue Pro here soon ... those are the best ones so far IMO ;)
 
Scooby6 said:
These SP's are taking sooooo flippin long to bring in the new phones that I imported a T-Mobile US HD7 WP7 ;)
Loving it! ... Hope the SP's get the HD7, Omnia 7 and Dell Venue Pro here soon ... those are the best ones so far IMO ;)
Click to expand...

Is it all working correctly here in SA? As far as I know the AT&T phones do not have 3G access in SA due to the weird frequencies but the T-Mobile phones do, can you confirm this.
I was going to import the HD7 back in November but figured I'd wait for MWC on the 13th-ish of Feb to see if there are any newer WP7 phones to look out for.
Glad you're enjoying it!
 
Jonno2343 said:
Is it all working correctly here in SA? As far as I know the AT&T phones do not have 3G access in SA due to the weird frequencies but the T-Mobile phones do, can you confirm this.
I was going to import the HD7 back in November but figured I'd wait for MWC on the 13th-ish of Feb to see if there are any newer WP7 phones to look out for.
Glad you're enjoying it!
Click to expand...

Yes sir ... working 100%! ... Even using 3G here no probs! :) (still have to figure out MMS setting but spent no time one this ... lol)
Every single thing from Marketplace to Email working 100%
Very smooth interface and with the HD7's 4.3" screen, typing is even better than on the iPhone ;) (My favourite typing phone)
PS. Mine is a T-Mobile US 16GB version (if that helps anything ... :))
 
Scooby6 said:
Yes sir ... working 100%! ... Even using 3G here no probs! :) (still have to figure out MMS setting but spent no time one this ... lol)
Every single thing from Marketplace to Email working 100%
Very smooth interface and with the HD7's 4.3" screen, typing is even better than on the iPhone ;) (My favourite typing phone)
PS. Mine is a T-Mobile US 16GB version (if that helps anything ... :))
Click to expand...

Great to hear, yep that's the one I was getting. How is the screen quality? There have been some complaints about it but with the whole fanboy war XXI going on it's hard to tell what it's really like :)
 
If you have used the HD2 then I would say ... its the same screen ... So it is fair ... it is awesome in size (being 4.3") and that makes everything more readable and easier to type/click on.
From a comparison point of view the LCD panel itself is outdated ... that is compared against the iPhone 4's 3.5" Retina display and some thing like the Galaxy S's 4.0" super AMOLED screen.
But at 4.3" and 480x800 resolution it is a good enough screen for me (different strokes for different folks ... for me, the screen is only 1 part of the story ;)). Sunlight legibility is not good compared to the iP4 and Galaxy S also.
Hope that helps ;)
 
@Scooby

How are you getting apps from the Marketplace? Using the app on the phone or using the Zune client? If using the Zune client, are you using a US based Windows Live account to get around the fact that the Marketplace isn't available in SA?

I will be keeping a close eye on MWC this year to see what new phones come out running WP7.
 
Asha'man X said:
@Scooby

How are you getting apps from the Marketplace? Using the app on the phone or using the Zune client? If using the Zune client, are you using a US based Windows Live account to get around the fact that the Marketplace isn't available in SA?

I will be keeping a close eye on MWC this year to see what new phones come out running WP7.
Click to expand...

Hi there
I am using the Marketplace on the phone and everything seems to be working for me.
Don't think its region specific like the iPhone but I could be wrong?
 
@Scooby

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering about it, since you can't use the Zune software to browse the apps unless you sign in with a Live account, and Live accounts that are SA based don't work. The work around is to set up a new Live account that is based in the States so that you can access software. Paid apps won't work unless you have an American card. Ah well, one can hope that Microsoft rolls out support for other countries soon.
 
Asha'man X said:
@Scooby

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering about it, since you can't use the Zune software to browse the apps unless you sign in with a Live account, and Live accounts that are SA based don't work. The work around is to set up a new Live account that is based in the States so that you can access software. Paid apps won't work unless you have an American card. Ah well, one can hope that Microsoft rolls out support for other countries soon.
Click to expand...

You know what ... I'm very curious about this ... so tonight I'm gonna go into the Marketplace and then Zune and try to buy a "paid app" and see how it goes using an SA account ;)
I will post back tomorrow and let you guys know ;)
 
As far as I know, you should be able to buy free apps with a South Africa live account as WP7 has been 'officially' launched in SA but you will not be able to buy and paid-for applications for some reason.
If you have a US-based live account you can try a website like www.instantvirtualcreditcards.com (does work, no matter how weird the site works) as our SA cards will not work. I wish they implement MS points as a payment method.
 
Jonno2343 said:
As far as I know, you should be able to buy free apps with a South Africa live account as WP7 has been 'officially' launched in SA but you will not be able to buy and paid-for applications for some reason.
If you have a US-based live account you can try a website like www.instantvirtualcreditcards.com (does work, no matter how weird the site works) as our SA cards will not work. I wish they implement MS points as a payment method.
Click to expand...

Yep ... This is right ... just tried buying apps on the phone and on Zune ... no go ... Basically the apps are not available in our country :( ... Oh well!
 
@Scooby6: When you started the phone did you say that you live in South Africa and all that? You didnt "fool" the system into believing that you live in another country? Sorry to reiterate this whole thing, I just wanna know if the marketplace works. I see that you say that free apps can be downloaded, but paid apps not?
 
Synthetic_Darkness said:
@Scooby6: When you started the phone did you say that you live in South Africa and all that? You didnt "fool" the system into believing that you live in another country? Sorry to reiterate this whole thing, I just wanna know if the marketplace works. I see that you say that free apps can be downloaded, but paid apps not?
Click to expand...

Not a problem ... I set my "locale" to South Africa on the phone and my Windows Live account is set with a South African locale.
Thing is ... My Windows Live account WAS set with a US (New York). I did this a long time ago when I got my first XBox 360 and wanted to use credits to buy stuff. Thing is ... when I went into my WL account to "Add a Credit Card", the country (US, New York) was grayed out and so I could not add my South African credit card to it because the validation kept failing.
So I changed my WL local to SA and added my credit card. But now when I use my phone's market place to buy anything, it just fails saying that it is not available in SA! :(
But ya ... free apps and trial apps all work ... its when you "Buy" something that it fails for this country! :(

Hope that helps?
 
Dude thanks so much. Yeah that clears everything up. I guess Microsoft will add the rest of the functionality in due time. Android and Ovi store had the same issue. I'm just glad to hear that the whole marketplace works. Thanks dude

Anything else thats missing or whatever from the phone because of locale?
 
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