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HTC Desire UAE users

HTC Desire now available in Dubai from Sharaf DG. Just got mine today (Saturday, 21 Aug, 2010) from their Dubai Mall location. Cost is AED 2,999 . You can get a bluetooth headset for an extra AED 79. Comes with a few Ramadan coupons (related to travel and food).

Comes with UAE warranty and detected settings from my Etisalat sim card, right away.

Looks good so far!
 
Just spoke to HTC, the Desire will not be released until the end of September. Sharaf must be sourcing theirs elsewhere. The warranty you have will only be the Sharaf DG warranty for one year and not from HTC (so the Guy in Sharaf tells me).
 
Well ... HTC Desire was officially released today. Of course official release is one thing, availability is another. Mind you, HTC legend was released officially last month but it's still not available any where (in UAE that is). But still it's good news to hear it's been officially released.
 
thats around 240KD , in kuwait its selling for 184KD but that not the middle east version

Can anybody please confirm of UAE version has official native arabic support from HTC or not ?
 
Carrefour are offering desire for 2295 Dhs. I was very surprised as the legend's price is more than 2500 Dhs. the sales guy said Desire is on special offer and has Arabic support.
 
I got mine in April through Clove Technology. It is the first phone I've loved to have that seems to always have something fun or interesting to do with! I'm so glad Android is now properly coming to UAE!

My only concern was that since it wasn't available in UAE that time, I'd have problems getting it repaired here IF I ever needed to. Still got the UK warranty but, hey, at least now I don't necessarily have to send it to UK!

Saw it in Carrefour (Al Ain, UAE) today. And yes it is for abt Dh2300. Personally I don't need it but I'll check to see if it indeed does have Arabic support tomorrow and get back for those who want to know.

P.S - It had Android 2.1
 
hello guys..im from jubail, Saudi Arabia..just want to know if you can suggest any shop to buy htc desire other than nasa4pc (imate). i just think its too expensive at SR 3290. hoping for any suggestions. thanks alot guys..



wow, finally..ill be able to buy my dream phone. it is now priced at 2,499..
 
OK, so for the UAE folks who I promised to check if the HTC Desire sold at Carrefour had Arabic support or not, I have some good news. I checked today and indeed it does!

It is not the same broken Arabic words that you see with the Android 2.2 (Froyo) update so don't worry about that either.

P.S - On a different note, I was surprised that here in Al Ain in Jimi Mall some phone stall on the first floor was selling the iPhone 4 16GB was for Dh5,600! Downstairs in Carrefour same thing exactly was sold for Dh3,600! So I do hope no one's gonna buy the HTC Desire for Dh2999 from Sharaf DG (if the price mentioned by someone else was true)
 
but does the sharaf dg one also have arabic support? and someone had mentioned it comes with only sharaf dg warranty.
what about carrefour? htc warranty?
 
gholam said:
Sharaf DG have also dropped the price. They've matched the price of Carrefour now.
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Oh good to hear that! Maybe it was some strategy they wanted to use there because Carrefour had the same price from day 1 they said. Who cares I guess lol


cheap_deal said:
but does the sharaf dg one also have arabic support? and someone had mentioned it comes with only sharaf dg warranty.
what about carrefour? htc warranty?
Click to expand...

I think the Sharaf DG one must also come with the Arabic support since the product has now been officially released here. I don't know about the Sharaf DG warranty but I'll ask and see where the warranty for the one in Carrefour is from today and post back.
 
Bashar said:
as per HTC Launches HTC Desire in the Arab World - ArabCrunch its available in UAE and arab world by end of August, so it might started to hit UAE already

for those who got it, does it have official arabic support with Froyo ?

i got mine from Kuwait 3 weeks ago but its european version and got froyo manual update from HTC live image but arabic support is broken, letters are not connected
Click to expand...

I'm having the same problem... sadly, android doesn't officially support Arabic. So we'll have to live with it till then...
 
smazhara said:
I'm having the same problem... sadly, android doesn't officially support Arabic. So we'll have to live with it till then...
Click to expand...

The problem you're having is because the Arabic in Android 2.2 (Froyo) still needs updating. However, if you read my earlier posts the HTC Desire sold here in UAE at Carrefour had Arabic support (with Android 2.1) and it wasn't the broken type Arabic letters.

Guys, I also asked Carrefour today about the warranty. They are giving only Carrefour warranty and not an HTC warranty.

Although that won't cause much of a problem since firstly, I've had mine for 4 months and not had any problems I needed to get repaired. Secondly, you can find Carrefour in a lot of places around UAE so it won't be so difficult to get it fixed IF you ever needed to.
 
if the desire is officially released in UAE why does it not come with the official HTC warranty? just wondering about it, not that i really care.
 
stuckindxb said:
I got the Froyo OTA update on 18 Aug in Dubai on my desire that i had bought via expansys uk. Update is 90MB so use wifi to download. Post update changes,

Voice search works well although had difficulty recognizing arabic name places.
Video recording 720p.
Wifi Hotspot functionality (have not used it yet).
App sharing.
Flashlight function, turns on the camera flash permanently.
Navigation, works only for bus routes in Dubai.
Sms app has new look with a new attachment icon in the msg window.
A new news/weather app combined.
Click to expand...


I have been checking for Froyo updates on my Desire with no luck so far. I am on Etisalat and got my phone in the USA for $550, but it came packed in a box with German printed all over it and says T-Mobile at start-up. Does this mean I have a branded, yet unlocked Desire and that is the reason I'm not getting any notifications for updates?? Need some expert advice here!!! Anyone out there?:confused:
 
Iam surprised totaly with most of us telling about having only carefour or sharaf warranty. I live in Oman, i bought Desire on 25th last month from Sharaf DG, supposedly the first day it hit the sharaf stalls. It costed me more fortune than it should've, since prices fell to 2,220 AED. I bought mine for 2,999. This includes "HTC warranty" of 12 months. Trust me on this, since the warranty statement is in my hand as i write this. It specifically mentions "HTC warranty" for 12 months. Sharaf, in addition to this 12 months, DOES offer extended warranty of either one additional year, or two additional years, which costs around almost 230 AED per year added. now, THAT extended warranty is only Sharaf DG's warranty, not HTC's.

I hope this information help somebody's querries. If my info is wrong, please correct me. thank you.
 
gunner150 said:
I have been checking for Froyo updates on my Desire with no luck so far. I am on Etisalat and got my phone in the USA for $550, but it came packed in a box with German printed all over it and says T-Mobile at start-up. Does this mean I have a branded, yet unlocked Desire and that is the reason I'm not getting any notifications for updates?? Need some expert advice here!!! Anyone out there?:confused:
Click to expand...


I bought Desire from Sharaf DG, Dera city center, Dubai. It doesnt update to froyo 2.2 because the froyo has hit only selected places so far in asian countries. Unfortunately, it hasn't yet been launched in middle east. I live in Oman, and another close friend of mine ordered one from handtech.co.uk. He was able to update it easily to froyo. (ofcourse without rooting or anything).

So, from where I see, its about which brand phone you are holding. You have got usa branded, mine is asian ... and probably that's why we arent able to recieve updated froyo. on the other hand, this friend of mine, who got UK branded, is able to update since Froyo is first launched in uk already.
I hope it makes sense.
Please correct me if iam wrong.
thank you.
 
smazhara said:
I used VISA Electron. Worked beautifully. Got mine within four days of ordering from Handtec. Highly recommend it buddy.
Click to expand...

.. and oh yes, to add up on it, I got my accessories from handtech today. So I'd readily second that maz. Trustworthy website.
But oh well, Desire is again out of stock at handtech. They are expecting re-stocking tomorrow (6th sept). You can try their website tomorrow sometime. Order rightaway if you want to, else you'll have to wait another 2-3 weeks before re-stocking.

I used VISA electron also btw. All went well, except for some cofirmation issues they have for security purposes. This issue would come up if your delivery address is not a registered office or a place. Like mine was the address of my house, and they had to confirm my identity for that.
other than that, all smooth.

good luck.
 
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