Well it looks like a major issue has plagued the HTC Advantage where HTC apparently shipped the wrong units for inventory to CompUSA. According to a review up on CompUSA"s site the user states, "My software said "test only, not for sale" each time the unit was turned on- which is the reason I called tech support. Turned out that all I had to do was update the software using my home computer. But I think my unit was one of the first that was shipped. Hopefully they'll fix that issue before the next shipment."

When we checked inventory in our NY Metropolitan area we were told it was sold out.. Now it looks as if online orders are sold out possibly due to the preproduction shipping error!

Source: CompUSA

UPDATE#1: We were just informed that users are complaining about this at Amazon too!!

UPDATE #2: WOW it looks as if this is larger than we last anticipated. People over at theHTC Wiki are complaining too!..

Confirmed: Take a look at our Unboxing

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Let me know when you get a rebate for your car, a considerably larger investment by any means, when a recall or warranty issue which requires at least an hour just to get to service center and fill out the paper work. This of course does not include the inconvenience if they need to keep the car for the day.

Don't get me wrong, this was clearly a goof on HTC's part. Just not that big of a deal to me. Now if they released a bunch of devices with dead zones in the screen area, (an issue which can not be simply resolved by a ROM update), then I would say there is some serious concern for the consumer.

Posted by Physboy, Wednesday, Aug. 15th, 2007

I think such stupidity in the product shouldn't be ignored. Emphasizing such deficiency will make the manufacturers improve their products or services to the consumers.

It's a hassle to do a ROM update for a VERY BRAND NEW product!

HTC should even give a rebate for the inconvenience that they caused their customers.

Posted by talakitok, Wednesday, Aug. 15th, 2007

Physboy you are funny. I just laid out $970.00 and had to spend 53 minutes to download the ROM and spend another 30 minutes to upgrade..

WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO DO THIS!! IT IS NEW!!

Even the tech support agent at HTC was embarrassed and told me HTC wasn't too sympathetic..

Not good in my book..

Posted by David Ciccone, Tuesday, Aug. 14th, 2007

Well, that serial number issue can not be resolved with a ROM update which the person in this article is claiming all it took to fix the issue was a ROM update. It does not look like pre-production models were sent out, it looks like the correct devices were sent out with the incorrect ROM software.

To me this is not an issue, just minor temporary software based inconveniece. Nothing more, nothing less.

Posted by Physboy, Tuesday, Aug. 14th, 2007

Buying HTC.....Caveat Emptor!!!!!

Posted by JNGold, Sunday, Aug. 12th, 2007

A lot of time the pre-production units are not FCC certified that is why they can't be sold. In essence the unit is identical to what will be sold. However there are differnces with the software and in other cases the hardware might have to be changed to meet Federal guidelines, but this is very rare. The biggest issues the consumer may face is that the unit might not be covered under warranty because it is a pre-production unit. The serial number of the unit, if there is even one on it, will identify it as pre-production.

Posted by agent680, Sunday, Aug. 12th, 2007

Phys you are joking right? Shipping preproduction models is a big issue and screw up.

Posted by David Ciccone, Sunday, Aug. 12th, 2007

I don't see what the big deal is. They need to get the latest software (Which is already out) anyway, doesn't that solve the problem?

Posted by Physboy, Sunday, Aug. 12th, 2007