Haha, my wife said the same thing!! I need an offshore bank account...

How did you do that? I also plan to go though a corp discount (I think that means B2B).

not sure it has anything to do w/ corporate discount. We have 100+ phones w/ vzw and are always replacing,etc. Our account rep has gotten sick of me badgering her about the impending release. She said she will personally deliver mine the moment they come in.

I work for a small company, no VZW love here. I need to figure out how i'm gonna get mine ahead of the general publc. Anyone in the metro detroit area have any suggestions?

I'm in Metro Detroit as well. No such luck in getting an inside hookup so far...

So I too have been waiting for this gorgeous phone to come to be. When I last talked to my guy (I am in WA State), he told me that the phone was in QA and also mentioned that it could be end of the year still. Also, can anyone confirm that the the OS will be WM6? I am now seeing differing arguments online.

Thanks.

No one will know for sure. The testers are testing it with WM6 supposedly. I doubt they'd go WM5 cuz they would have probably put it out by now.

The rumors lately are all circling around first week in july. unless something ugly shows up in the QA.

We're all just crossing our fingers, I think they'll lose alot of people if it gets pushed to Nov/Dec, so I think they'll have it out soon. Reps are starting to get actual information on it which is a good sign.

OK, I like to foster an attitude of acceptance. You seem like a nice, intelligent person. On top of that, I was born & raised in Washington state. So I say this as a friend. You have one post under your belt. For the love of God & Washingtonians everywhere, change you username! Nothing says "unhip white nerd" like using 10 year old black slang. Please, please stop playing "Mambo number 5" at your parties and don't add "izzle" to anything. That went out with the Macarena. Peace.

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Free Katie Holmes!

Hey there,

If we were to buy this thing online through the Verizon website, do we still get to test drive the unit for the two week period and exchange it at a verizon storefront if we don't like it? Or is that only when you get it from an actual storefront? If this is so, do we get to return it within 30 days to a storefront, or do we have to send it out to Verizon via mail and have it take a few weeks?

Also, if we buy it online, is there any way to get around forking out the extra money to get the data plan with it, only to cancel it later? I have a family share plan and I want to add it on to that. I wonder if the same buying process can be done over the phone so that I can add it to family share. All this is too complicated...Maybe I will just have to wait.

Just received the following message from a buddy who is a service tech at a local VZW store (an actual VZW store, not one of the mall kiosks or whatever). I know it can be filed under the normal propaganda heading and all, but thought I would share with those who wish to know...

Really hoping this isn't true... Buddy at work recently got one of the Wing's from T-Mobile and WM6 looks pretty nice!

if you wait for her to personally deliver, you will be late getting it. The reps don't get a stockpile of them, they have to order them like we do. So on release date, she will order and have your delivered to herself, then will bring it. Or she could just have it shipped to you..

Ok, update. Just called Ethan. Although he didn't tell me a date, but he said SOON, and emphasized that "SOON". I said, "before July 10?" (I wanted to pick a date farther out than we have heard, and his response was "soon, I can't tell you a date, but it's going to be soon". Damn I hate when he does that...

Also to confirm:

1. He said he didn't hear ANYTHING about the potential for WM5, and that all testing was done with WM6, and downgrading to WM5 would put the device back on the shelf for more testing. Samsung wants this to be the first phone out on Verizon with WM6.

2. This IS one of the devices that Verizon will use to put the iPhone to rest. This is the business phone they will push (as well as the 6800 and 5800 and new Q) to the business people explaining what this will do better than the iPhone for business use. They have other devices in the pipeline to push towards the public as a "better" device. (and no I didn't ask, because that is something he was asking about and got in trouble over).

3. He did say part of the delays were incompatibility with Windows Vista, and Verizon didn't want to deal with the overload of support calls if they sold the device. It seems Microsoft has worked out many of the issues and they are now back on a schedule.

This is all I know...

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-Michael
Need help setting up your i730/i830 or other WM2003/WM5 Phone, as well as the other hacks I have done, check out the MRailing Guides and Links

Excellent info Michael!

I'm excited, but I didn't like to hear the "Better Devices" line. Cuz I'll be signing a 2 year contract! And don't want to be lusting after another device 6 mos from getting this one.

Dood, it's inevitable.

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Geckotek
http://geckotek.blogspot.com/

It's been easy for me to not get excited about new devices, I've been a sprint customer for 10 years.

IIRC, Sprint had some of the best phone selection back then. It's only been the last 3-4 years that the other carriers had a better selection.

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Geckotek
http://geckotek.blogspot.com/

What I meant for the better devices were they are releasing devices that they think are "better" than the iPhone, but aren't Windows Mobile devices, and devices that aren't geared towards business use (something like the Prada, although I wasn't told anything in particular).

From what I have heard, and not from Ethan, Verizon will have i760, 6800, 5800, Q9m, Treo 755P, Treo 800w, and Pearl as their PDA Phone roundup of the year, which will probably hold for about a year, until we get something like the HTC Touch...

Anyway, whatever you pick, if it has Windows Mobile on it, it should do about the same, and the only main difference is in the size...

__________________
-Michael
Need help setting up your i730/i830 or other WM2003/WM5 Phone, as well as the other hacks I have done, check out the MRailing Guides and Links

hello - 1st post here because i have been trolling the boards for the past week or so.

i just spoke to a salesperson at verizons tele-sales asking if they had any more 730's in stock (im jealous of you guys and they were selling them for like $100 2 or 3 months ago). he said no, they were discontinued. So I said what the hey, what I am really looking for is the 760. he checked in his system and said he could not find it, but he searched and found some accessories for the 760. I'm not sure how far before verizon receives accessories for phones before the phone, but I figured it can't be bad news.

on another note, she says i am worse than a woman shopping for shoes or handbags - I am drooling over this phone and want one now!!!

I know most B2B reps seem to be right there with CS reps, but my guy (I'm sure everyone thinks this) has always been on the money. Anyway, I just updated another line to a krzr (best non PDA phone out there) and while he was here I had to ask about the 760 (he is so sick of my weekly emails) and he said "within two weeks". He said just like anything, it "could be moved back" but right now its going to happen within a two week window. he was "certain".

Im a partner at an ad agency, so i had to ask him about their marketing strategy (or lack there of) and he said we'll see a considerable amount more spent than what was spent on the 730. we agreed that their strategy is and always will be to wait until a phone is released to do any marketing whatsoever. marketing upcoming devices would kill sales for all the old crap they are trying to unload before the latest and greatest arrives. -im sure this was yet another reason big red passed on the iphone. -think at&t is selling any smartphones before june 29?

two weeks!! woo hoo!!

I went to the VZW store at Oakland Mall. They said they would contact me as soon as they become available. i would start there.