Wirefly.com currently has the best out-the-door price on the AT&T HTC Aria Android phone: free. 

With a two-year service agreement, you can get the Aria free at checkout (no rebates required).  Shipping is also free.  If you already have an AT&T wireless account and want to upgrade to the Aria, Wirefly can do that too – for $19.99 at checkout.

Learn more about the AT&T HTC Aria Android Phone…

Amazon.com currently has the Aria for $0.01 with a two-year contract. 

The AT&T Mobility direct price is $129.

Nexus One owners have been rockin’ Android OS v2.2 “Froyo” for weeks.  But millions of other Android-powered smartphones have been left high and dry, still running Android 2.1, 2.0 or – condolences – 1.x.

Android 2.2 won’t be limited to the Nexus One forever, though.  HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and the four major U.S. wireless carriers are each working to bring the latest version of Android to a number of existing handsets between August 1st and the end of 2010.

Here’s what we know – or think we know – about Froyo updates for existing handsets.

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The idea seemed impossible just a couple of weeks ago.  But recent events have moved it squarely into the maybe column. I’m not saying HTC is on the verge of discontinuing the Incredible, but there’s now enough circumstantial evidence to make it a possibility. 

Here’s why:

During the weekend of July 10, I was contacted by two unrelated people reporting they had been told, with different explanations, the Incredible was being discontinued.  The first said a Verizon sales rep told him the Droid X would soon take the Incredible’s place in the carrier’s Android lineup; the other said a Verizon salesperson told him not to bother ordering an Incredible (which was – and is – backordered) because it was about to be discontinued.

I largely dismissed the idea that one of the most widely-praised Android smartphones would be discontinued barely two months after its release.  But I did assume there was some truth in the information provided to these two men.  The AMOLED display used in the Droid Incredible had been trickling out of Samsung’s production facilities much more slowly than HTC wished, which was responsible for the smartphone’s chronic backorder status.  Perhaps a new version of the Incredible with a different SKU was in the pipeline, which may have caused the Verizon reps to think the Incredible wasn’t long for this world.

So I contacted Verizon Wireless PR for clarification.  I assumed the response would be something along the lines of a flat-out denial or vague information on a display technology transition.  It wasn’t. 

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Many of HTC’s current smartphone models feature AMOLED displays, a type of screen technology often touted as the best available for mobile devices. AMOLED has its critics, but the most frequent complaint leveled against it – particularly of late – concerns supply shortages. It seems Samsung (the primary manufacturer of the AMOLED screens) has been unable to churn out enough of the displays for HTC to manufacture desired quantities of Desire, Nexus One, and Droid Incredible smartphones, sometimes resulting in long delays for the consumer.

In order to combat this problem, HTC announced today what many have long suspected: that it will transition from AMOLED to Super LCD displays in some of their smartphones, namely the Desire and Nexus One. 

Super LCD, or SLCD, displays have many of the advantages of AMOLED, and even trumps AMOLED in some utility comparisons such as viewability in direct sunlight.  HTC also claims new SLCD displays have “approximately five times better power management” than older LCD technology, which should at least mitigate AMOLED’s biggest advantage: battery life.

HTC will release SLCD versions of the Nexus One and Desire “later this summer.”  There was no mention of the Droid Incredible, whose AMOLED screen has reportedly been responsible for frequent shortages of the smartphone since its April 2010 release.

The Verizon Wireless direct price for the LG Fathom VS750 remains $149 with a new two-year service agreement.  But as is so often the case, third party retailers are offering the Windows Mobile smartphone for much less.

Amazon.com and LetsTalk.com are each offering the LG Fathom for $0.01 with a two-year contract, which is pretty great. 

But Wirefly.com does its competitors one better, letting the Fathom go free with the same new contract agreement (new or existing upgrade eligible Verizon customers).

Learn more about the LG Fathom Windows Mobile phone…