[HD2 General] Benjiro:
To answer some off the questions here:

"Why are you angry, there is always new tech around the corner":

Problem is, the HD2 v1 was only out 2 months, before today, we get the announcement that the HD2 v1 is going to get replaced already.

While some suggest that the US market may be a different Phone, from a economic perspective, its clear that they will only produce one version in the future. The HD2 v2.

AMD/Intel CPU/GPU comparison:

Comparing this to AMD/Intel releasing a new cpu, gpu, is a total different mater. GPU's in general get a refresh, after 6 months, with maybe a 100$ lower price tag, and slightly higher speeds. But, the hardware itself is not changed.

Also, its know in advance, for anybody following the GPU market, that those refreshes happen every 6 months. Same as CPU markets have a slightly longer delay, as +- 1 Year.

Phone Market:

The customer can expect this, and can decide to wait and not buy the product. The Phone market, is a different beast.

You don't see product refreshes after 6 months, for SmartPhones. Let alone 2 months for the HD2.

This clearly impacts the buyers decision. Buy a HD2 v1, or wait for the HD2 v2 in two months with better specs, and 16GB card? Guess what people will do? Yes... Most people will wait.

2GB/16GB microSD:

The price difference with the 2GB vs 16GB microSD alone is big. A lot off people seem to have gotten 8 or 16GB SD cards, as the 2GB one that's defaults shipped is rather pathetic ( mine is still in the original box ).

Now imagine shelling out 52€ for a microSD card, only to find out, that the HD2 v2 will have this default included in the same price.

Better specs, and actually 52€ cheaper, by waiting 2 months? Again, buying decision is impacted a lot with this information.

512MB/1GB Flash

Then we come back to the internal storage. Now there is a lot more discussion going on regarding the Windows 7 Mobile Specs. Seeing as competitive devices are also shipping with 1GB flash, seems to indicated that 512MB may be to little for Windows 7 Mobile.

Like the minimum requirement on a PC for games. Sure, it will run on a minimum requirement, but you can downscale all your setting, and only get a fraction of what the game is supposed to be.

This sudden increase in Storage, seems to clearly indicated that W7M will need more storage for comfortable usage.

Buy a device that might struggle with the OS storage, or wait a few months, and get the same device with double to storage with no added expense... Not exactly hard to make, especially with extra factors adding in like SD/Ram.

448 vs 578 MB Ram:

The same problem as above. Maybe this was just a added bonus, or maybe some internal also have chanced.

Do not forget, the HD2 v1 has only 320MB available memory, with 128MB being used for the GPU. Technically this memory is overkill, as the GPU hardly gets used, and for a device this small, with lower quality texture etc, is surprising to see it using 128MB.

This then started the discussion, as to why the 578MB on the HD2 v2... Did they lower the GPU to 64MB, and 514MB for the Main system. Or has the available memory for the Main system been upgrade to 450MB.

This in return comes back to the question, W7M? Minimal specs indicate 256MB. The HD2 v1, was 74MB above the minimal specs. Maybe during the development off W7M, Microsoft has indicated to its Premium Partner ( that's what HTC is ). That the current memory amount is to little, with the OS in combination with other applications.

Like with the Flash question, we again come back to, buy or wait a few months for a better version. You know the answer to that question.

Buying responds:

My guess is, that the HD2, will have gotten a much lower buying responds, when people knew about all the perks a few months later.

And it will also have raised the question a lot sooner, as to how W7M will affect the HD2 v1 in the future. Possibly stopping a lot off people from buying it in the first place.

Given this information, whats now know, i can say with a clear heart, that i will NOT have bout the HD2 v1. And just will have waited for a few months extra, and gotten the HD2 v2.

Unlike some people, money does not grow on threes. Save 52€ just on the SD card alone, with waiting a few months.

W7M:

And i'm now actually worried about the possible future with W7M ( and lets face it, you need W7M if you want to enjoy the REAL power off the Cortex / DSP / GPU on the HD2 ).

The fact that is, that the HD2 v1 will have problems ( maybe a to strong off word ) with W7M, indicated with the sudden new HD2 v2 version is clear.

About 1.3GHz / Dual Core / A9:

Anybody who looked up Smartphone's, know that these things are announced most off the time, way in advance. And at times, you can wait for years for them ( like the Snapdragon 1Ghz ). This is in contracts to the sudden storage / ram / SD card upgrade.

Problems with HD2 v1:

Lets face it, none off us expect the pink camera problem, what is not solved by the patch. Only partially masked ( indication some post processing is done on the pictures ).

Or the problems with the over saturated camera pictures from the flash ( possible software problem, unless the saturation adjustment is done in hardware ).

But to find out only 2 months later, with a half working patch ( being described a some miracle patch. You got to love the Marketing person at HTC ), that there is a new device with hardware upgrade.

This quickly indicated that more has changed then just the SOC ( system on chip ). As we see with the changed colored keys also. What other possible changes have happened to the device under the hood?

One is clearly the camera. Its close to impossible that this HD2 v2, will not include a new / fixed camera. Another slap in the faces off the HD2 v1 owners. And take it from me, that pink is freaking annoying when you outside taking pictures, with the area covered in snow ( white + pink = very noticeable ( yes, even with the patch )).

So, we come back to the buying description... Wait a few month, and get a version with all the bugs & hardware problems fixed? Ofcourse.

In fact, one can say, that HTC is selling a defective product to the EU market, and after a few months, release a upgraded, cheaper ( SD card ), and fixed version to the US and possible EU.

Reason:

There are plenty off reason for current HD2 v1 owners to feel shafted. Nobody will not say that the HD2 v1 is not a good / excelled device, but it has its problems ( like the Camera ).

But it also makes us extreme insecure, how good its going to be with WM7? What if WM7 has problem with the HD2 v1 specs, and runs slow or problematic on it. Forcing HD2 v1 owners to go back to WM6.5 ( a rather not perfect os for the technology in the snapdragon ).

When we got this device, we expected the ability to run perfect on WM7. The device had the specs. But the sudden chance in all the other devices, like i said before, now indicates that these specs might not be up to standard.

So, here we are... with our HD2 v1's, and unsure about the future with WM7.

Sure that any off use that have gotten 4/8/16GB SD cards, have lost money compared to the HD2 v2!

Apple:

This is like Apple, who pulled that sudden 200$ decrease in price, also exactly two months after the first sales. It was only after they got there ass handed to them, that they gave people the ability to "refund" in there apple store.

This case is actually even worse, as this not only devalues the v1 device's, adds even more value to the v2's with extra's like 16GB sd cards, but also a possible better future upgrade for the v2's.

And we are not supposed to complain, or whine? Like hell ...