HTC Evo 3D goes up for pre-order

An unlocked version of the HTC Evo 3D has hit the e-tail market for the first time, but it’s pretty expensive.

Mobile City Online has posted the device at a sticker shock-worthy price of $700. It lists the retail price as $800. Of course, this is for an unlocked version of the device which means it’s open to multiple carriers and doesn’t require customers to sign a contract.

The other footnote is that it only works with European service providers.

The reason for that restriction is that in the US, the Evo 3D will be linked to Sprint, which uses a network standard known as CDMA. CDMA phones are less open and not transferable to other networks. In Europe, however, all the major carriers use GSM. The phone on Mobile City Online is one tailored to the GSM standard.

The major European services do work in the US, but need to activated in Europe first.

So, in other words, this listing is all about bragging rights. Sprint hasn’t revealed how much its subsidized version of the Evo 3D will cost, but you can be it will be much less than $700, and probably will be within the $250 range.

There’s also no exact release date set for the phone but it will be out later this year.