HTC 8X advertised in the Metro UK newspaper

HTC has kicked off its advertising campaign for the Windows Phone 8X, the company's flagship Windows Phone 8 handset, with an advertisement spotted in today's Metro newspaper. Running the latest version of Microsoft's mobile OS, the 8X packs a punch with the latest specifications and included Beats Audio.

It's fairly humorous that the HTC 8X is featured in the Metro newspaper with all the legal trouble Microsoft has had with the 'Metro' branding of its UI. The advert states availability of the handset starting today, which we can confirm with Clove, Expansys and O2 reporting stock of the blue variant, with the former detailing other colours on the way. Phones4u and Carphone Warehouse are still up in the air with websites and employees being none the wiser for the time being.

The advertisement itself is appealing to the eye with the usual HTC backdrop and presentation of hardware. The blue, yellow and black versions are featured, with the absence of red. The blue HTC 8X sports an entire page of the newspaper to highlight a handful of features / specifications. As the headline points out, the HTC 8X is the first Windows Phone to wield Beats Audio, though this may come across as a mere gimmick to many.

We're pleased to see HTC starting to fire up the marketing engine and it'll be interesting to see levels of demand once retailers and carriers follow suit. When Nokia begins pushing handsets to consumers, we should see a combined effort with Microsoft's platform advertising taking effect.

The only OEM left is Samsung. Once the ATIV S hits the stores we'll hopefully see a push from the company to match up to what's being carried out by the competition. Especially since Samsung's flagship Windows Phone 8 handset sports intriguing specifications (16GB with MicroSD slot anyone?)

Thanks, Keefo, for the photo!

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.