[Phil Nickinson]

HTC Merge on Verizon today, but Big Red won't actually be selling it | Android Central

[Dark Wizard Matoya]

Meh. It could be a decent phone, but Bing kills it for me. I don't know what posessed HTC to remove Google's location services and use Bing, but Bing plus Froyo means a it's a no buy for me.

[oldpueblo]

Has anyone spotted it for sale anywhere?

[jtowndawg]

I'm glad this is happening. The Merge is a very good phone and it didn't come with bing from alltel so maybe it won't on verizon now that best buy is selling it.

[dyslexicbunny]

Well has anyone found it anywhere? Just because "it's on sale" doesn't mean anything if you can't find it...

[rickhamilton620]

Well has anyone found it anywhere? Just because "it's on sale" doesn't mean anything if you can't find it...

This. I got super excited until I read "third-party distro."

That means finding this thing is gonna be like looking for a needle in a haystack, you'll have to find out which vzw stores in your area aren't corporate stores. Then you'll have to see which of those decided to pick up Merge.

I wonder if one could ask a third party retailer to order a Merge for them? I could see myself plunking down a deposit as collateral if this is the case.

The bing thing is not as big of a deal as people make it seem. My stepmom's Fascinate has Bing, and it was simple to download Google Maps w/ navigation.

In all, this is a bittersweet ending.

[VideoEngineerAJS]

This. I got super excited until I read "third-party distro."

That means finding this thing is gonna be like looking for a needle in a haystack, you'll have to find out which vzw stores in your area aren't corporate stores. Then you'll have to see which of those decided to pick up Merge.

I wonder if one could ask a third party retailer to order a Merge for them? I could see myself plunking down a deposit as collateral if this is the case.

The bing thing is not as big of a deal as people make it seem. My stepmom's Fascinate has Bing, and it was simple to download Google Maps w/ navigation.

In all, this is a bittersweet ending.

It's not hard to know which stores aren't corporate. If they have anything on their sign except for Verizon Wireless then they aren't corporate. I think they are required to put Authorized Reseller/Retailer as well.

[dyslexicbunny]

Are all Verizon premium resellers getting them or is it more of a voluntary thing? I'm trying to figure out where I can play with it and see a price. Then I have to decide about the Charge.

[tnt118]

My local reseller checked the system last night where they order phones from, and it wasn't showing. Hopefully that's just a matter of not showing "yet". They're gonna check for me over the next couple of days and give me a call if it shows up in the system. But from what I could gleam, yeah, they can order individual phones if needed.

[cthunder]

According to an article I read it. It said the Merge could be purchased from 3rd party resellers such as Best Buy, Costco and others.

[VideoEngineerAJS]

Are all Verizon premium resellers getting them or is it more of a voluntary thing? I'm trying to figure out where I can play with it and see a price. Then I have to decide about the Charge.

I think it's voluntary because the resellers should know which phones will sell in their particular area. I'm sure they wouldn't carry a phone unless they think they can sell it.

[dyslexicbunny]

So if they don't think it will sell, it likely won't have a demo unit either? At the least, I want to play with the phone before buying it. And I'm sure they don't want to order it without knowing I'll buy it for sure.

[VideoEngineerAJS]

So if they don't think it will sell, it likely won't have a demo unit either? At the least, I want to play with the phone before buying it. And I'm sure they don't want to order it without knowing I'll buy it for sure.

I honestly don't know the inner workings of the authorized resellers, but I would guess that they are probably given the opportunity to receive a demo unit at a significantly lower price than the phone itself. Even if they wouldn't have it out on the floor, it wouldn't hurt to ask them about the phone and see if they have a demo unit and if not, they may be able to get one.

[oldpueblo]

So if they don't think it will sell, it likely won't have a demo unit either? At the least, I want to play with the phone before buying it. And I'm sure they don't want to order it without knowing I'll buy it for sure.

You could always try to find an Alltel store or US Cellular to see if they have a demo unit. Next best thing is to go handle the EVO Shift 4G which is almost the same device inside and out:

Visualized: the HTC keyboard slider family -- Engadget

[dyslexicbunny]

Not one even close. At today's gas prices, I think I'd save more money just buying the Charge or Dinc2.

I'm going to check out the Verizon Premium Retailer near me as well as a Best Buy and a Target in the area later today. I also chatted with an online rep. They never heard of it either. While I realize they aren't the most knowledgeable people, that's still disappointing.

[yogi1574]

Another proof that verizon is going for it is if you search Merge on the VZW site there are now 145 pages of support as opposed to the 3 that used to come up.

[Droid800]

This. I got super excited until I read "third-party distro."

That means finding this thing is gonna be like looking for a needle in a haystack, you'll have to find out which vzw stores in your area aren't corporate stores. Then you'll have to see which of those decided to pick up Merge.

I wonder if one could ask a third party retailer to order a Merge for them? I could see myself plunking down a deposit as collateral if this is the case.

The bing thing is not as big of a deal as people make it seem. My stepmom's Fascinate has Bing, and it was simple to download Google Maps w/ navigation.

In all, this is a bittersweet ending.

Did you miss the 'Best Buy' part?

[rickhamilton620]

Did you miss the 'Best Buy' part?

They said "like Best Buy" not necessarily that Best Buy was getting the phone, plus several members have checked their local Best Buy's and nothing has been said so far.

[Droid800]

They said "like Best Buy" not necessarily that Best Buy was getting the phone, plus several members have checked their local Best Buy's and nothing has been said so far.

Actually, they said 'such as' which implies that it will likely be carrying it. And considering that there are no other stores 'like' Best Buy, they wouldn't have mentioned it if they weren't going to be carrying it.

[cthunder]

They said "like Best Buy" not necessarily that Best Buy was getting the phone, plus several members have checked their local Best Buy's and nothing has been said so far.

It was only released on Thursday. Given a few days, I would wait until after the weekend and try again on Monday.