HTC 8S

The HTC 8X and HTC 8S is readily available in India, with the likes of retailer Saholic stocking both the flagship and mid-level Windows Phones for Rs. 34,149 ($624) and Rs. 19,359 ($354) respectively. We've just covered news that Lumia hardware will be heading to the market early 2013, but it's good to see other Windows Phones available in the meantime, and HTC hardware isn't necessarily a bad choice.

HTC mainland stores in China have started to take preorders for the 8X and 8S. The devices are on China Unicom and the 8X is available in black and red variants for 3999 RMB ($640), while the 8S can be purchased for 1999 RMB ($320) in blue and black & white. The company is clearly targeting low price points to battle Nokia in the Windows Phone ecosystem.

Virgin Mobile Canada has completely sold out of HTC 8S stock, according to an alert on its website. It's displayed when attempting to add the Windows Phone to the basket for checkout. This is a refreshing look on Windows Phone popularity with HTC hardware continuing to sell as well as Nokia handsets.

Virgin Mobile Canada has completely sold out of HTC 8S stock, according to an alert on its website. It's displayed when attempting to add the Windows Phone to the basket for checkout. This is a refreshing look on Windows Phone popularity with HTC hardware continuing to sell as well as Nokia handsets.

The Canadian carrier Virgin Mobile is looking for beta testers to try out new mobile phones the company will be stocking. This is also including the HTC 8S where if you register your interest (and are chosen) you'll receive the device and it could well be yours to keep for free. It's simple to get involved and the potential reward is a brand new Windows Phone.

Although HTC has no immediate plans for US pickup of their fancy 8S Windows Phone, that isn’t stopping Virgin Mobile Canada from offering it to their customers.

The phone is now listed on the site for what seems like affordable pricing at $79 on contract and just $279 pre-paid/off-contract. That’s actually not a bad deal for those looking to pick up a mid-range Windows Phone 8 device with an eye-catching design...

The HTC 8S is now available from Three UK on contracted plans as well as Pay As You Go. Pricing starts at £17 a month with no upfront cost for the smartphone, or £179.99 SIM-free (locked to the carrier). The device joins the HTC 8X and is the company's low-end Windows Phone 8 offering, but isn't a slouch by any means.

Hold your breath everybody, we're publishing positive news about HTC and the company's finances. After a number of reports released by the manufacturer have each displayed signs of continued negativity, the November unaudited financial documentation is a different story. 

According to company numbers, there are possible signs of improvements with revenues of NT$21.2 billion ($729 million), up from NT$17.2 billion ($529) million reported in October. This boost can be attributed to the release of new hardware on the Android and Windows Phone platforms.

The HTC 8S finally allows Wi-Fi to stay on with the display off, making it the first Windows Phone device to offer this much vaunted feature.

We've noticed something pretty awesome on our HTC 8S (review coming shortly, folks), something that many have been calling out for from Microsoft since Windows Phone launched back in 2010. In the Windows Phone 8 build that's loaded on the HTC 8S, we can enable the setting to allow the WiFi connection to remain active when the screen times out.  Huzzah!

The rumor that the HTC 8S would bring this functionality was first reported back on November 22nd and it is now 100% confirmed.