Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

HTC MANIA OR WHAT??? Now this is the icing on the cake for HTC at Mobile World Congress, not only with the Desire and HD mini have we seen the potential of two great new mobiles but then they saved the best till last with this bad boy.

Like Apple’s MacBook Pro these smartphones are made from a single block of Aluminium set with black plastic making them look the dog’ danglies. Rocking a similar shape to last years Hero phone, the bottom of which protruded like Jimmy Hill’s chin, has been made a little less obvious and has been given a new optical trackball for extra responsive use.

Housed within the lovely metal is the usual gubbins of 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth running the latest Android: Eclair 2.1 OS and HTC’s own “Sense” UI. It also sports a 5MP camera with a flash so you can view decent quality pics on its AMOLED screen.

What puts this one above the other two is the raw speed that the phone can function thanks to the UI. Multitouch is available allowing the user to flick quickly between the Android screens and packs full of features for quick and easy social networking use. Again due in April this could be one to watch!

Now here we have another phone from HTC which doesn’t seem to be breaking too many barriers by appearing to be an updated version of one of its current line of mobiles. Like The Nokia N97 got its Mini, this is the HD2 but mini.Originally this phone was going to be named the “Photon” it’s one of the only phones HTC managed to keep under wraps before the congress. If you remember the HD2 was a very solid good all-round phone, maybe a little big but HTC again appears to have delivered that in a smaller form.

Running Windows Mobile 6.5.3(hasn’t 7 just been announced at the congress? :s) in conjunction with HTC’s Sense UI the HD mini has a 3.2” HVGA capacitive touchscreen more than capable of multitouch functions. It also has a a 5MP camera on the back but unfortunately it lacks a flash so no snaps in the dark i am afraid, well lit areas only.

Other exciting features lie in the software of the HD mini. Firstly it can share its 3G internet goodness to other Wi-Fi enabled wireless devices, acting as its own little Wi-Fi hotspot, WOW! This feature is exclusive to Windows Mobile, HTC phones. Another funky little addition is something that HTC calls “Manner Mode”. When you pick up your phone your ear-shattering ringtone quietens down. Its little touches like this that make HTC such a great competitor in todays mobile market. Like the Desire we’re looking at a Q2 release.

HTC were busy yesterday in Barcelona showing that the new boys in town mean business with a bunch of great phones will be hitting our shelves in the coming months which will make you think twice about getting an iPhone or Nokia.

The Nexus One appeared to be the next best thing but didn’t seem to live up to the task with reported faults and poor reviews, however HTC have come up with the Desire. Now basically it looks like a Nexus but HTC have said its got a “different construction” basically I think that means they’ve ironed out the problems.

Running Android 2.1 with a 3.7” OLED screen being run with Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon it has also been given HTC’s new optical trackpad. The main difference however is the UI. Flash Lite 4 software, a little menu that pops up in it’s browser allowing cut/copy/paste/translate and wiki text to mention a few tweaks. This phone will be available on Vodafone(who announced shortly after the release of the phone it will be carrying the three HTC phones we will talk about today) around the April/May time.

Google’s “Nexus One” phone has been stirring up plenty of interest in the past few weeks, not only as Google’s next big phone after the slightly disappointing one that was on T-Mobile not so long back (apparently this is the phone that should’ve been) and the apparent lack of originality in the name(according to the Philip K. Dick family estate saying they stole it from the author’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? AKA Blade Runner). However all this aside a little birdie(a Voda spokesman to Engadget) let slip that the release will be “imminent” and should be shipping “within weeks”

The UK will be the first country in Europe to receive the Nexus One with the rest of Europe having to wait till later in the year.

The Nexus One is a collaboration between HTC and Google and from what we’ve seen it looks nice and on paper looks………nice!!! Powered by Snapdragon, OLED touchscreen, 5MP camera, Android 2.1 OS(animated wallpapers, lovely window transitions……..nice!) This could really be the next best rival to the iPhone. Hopefully when we get the full officialness we can let you all know the exact prices and dates!!

It seems that HTC the Taiwanese mobile company will continue to use the Android platform with a supposed 20 new phones on the horizon. With the success of the Hero and the well reviewed HD2 this can only be a good thing.

The rumours have come from a text thread inside the new Android 2.1 ROM. Some of the names within have been seen before but some new have shown up. Since the first phone released the T-Mobile G1, HTC have used the Google made OS in its phones. I personally have not used one but with the sheer volume of new phones using and big mobile manufacturers switching to it, it must be a solid performing OS leading to so many great reviews of Android phones.

The full list of names within the ROM are Bahamas, Bravo, DesireC, Dragon, Dream, Espresso, Halo, HeroCT, HeroC, Hero, Huangshan, Incredible, Legend, Liberty, Memphis, Paradise, PassionC, Passion, Sapphire and Supersonic. Obviously some of the names will be phones probably based in the East but it shows HTC’s future in the Android Mobile business.

Source : T3

PC World are reporting that HTC will ship "at least" three smartphones this year that use Google's Android software.

HTC, already the largest maker of smartphones that use the Windows Mobile OS, was first to the market with an Android-based smartphone last year, when it teamed up with Google and T-Mobile to launch the G1 in the U.S.

The Taiwanese handset maker last month announced its second Google phone, the HTC Magic, or G2 as some are calling it. The handset is being sold first in Europe by Vodafone.

HTC will sell at least two more Google phones this year.

At the sidelines of a Merrill Lynch technology conference in Taipei, HTC CEO Peter Chou was asked whether or not a report saying HTC will market five Android-based handsets this year was true.

HTC will launch "at least" three, he replied, declining further comment on the matter.

I just wish someone would bloody hurry up and release a good phone already! I have been due an upgrade for 2 months now but holding out for the Palm Pre!

A new page on Vodafone UK’s site confirms that the HTC Magic will launch at some point during April 2009.  No pricing or specific launch dates are given, nor is there any way to preorder the Magic; instead would-be buyers can register for updates.

The HTC magic is very similar to the T-Mobile G1 in terms of specification however it lacks the QWERT keypad which is no replaced with a new on-screen keyboard.

The specification includes:

• HSDPA
• GPRS
• Built in GPS navigation
• WiFi
• MP3 player
• 3.2-megapixel camera
• Email

It will also measure 117 x 55 x 14 mm making it slimmer than the G1 by 3mm

We have already had a few details about the range of phones HTC will be releasing this year including the Diamond 2 and the Touch Pro 2.

Now we have a few more details about all the other phones they are planning to release:

Whitestone:

• 3.6″ WVGA display
• GSM and EVDO
• Qualcomm 7600 at 528MHz
• 256MB RAM / 512MB ROM
• 5 megapixel camera
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• ETA: September on Verizon

Firestone:

• 3.6″ WVGA display
• GSM/HSPA
• Qualcomm 8250 at 600MHz
• 256MB RAM / 512MB ROM
• 8 megapixel camera
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• ETA: September

Thor (aka Athena 2):

• 4.8″ WVGA display
• Qualcomm 8250 at 1GHz
• 256MB RAM/ 512MB ROM
• 5 megapixel camera
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• ETA: September

Twin:

• VGA display
• Qualcomm 7501A at 528MHz and TI Locosto processors
• GSM/CDMA
• 256MB RAM / 512MB ROM
• 3.2 megapixel camera

Maple (aka Excalibur 3G)

• 2.4″ QVGA display
• Qualcomm 7228 at 528MHz
• 156MB RAM / 256MB ROM
• 2 megapixel camera
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard
• ETA: May

The 2 specifications that stand out the most are the Thor and Firestone models. Thor sounds like a beast however it is worth noting this is the successor to the Athena and therefore is more of a UMPC. However the Firestone does sound mighty impressive with WM 6.5, Qualcomm 8250 at 600MHz and an 8 megapixel camera.