Camera Phones Plaza

From its debut on the mobile phone market, HTC was always considered a business solution manufacturer. Basically HTC produced only smart phones in a period when people didn't really understood what high feature phones were about. However, since Nokia developed its E series and RIM gain more popularity (especially in the States); potential customers diverted their attention to HTC products, with hopes that they will find the perfected balanced device. Even more, HTC is now considered to be one of the greatest high end phones manufacturers. Nowadays, it offers not only business solution phones but also great headsets for average users. The HTC G1 or HTC Dream was the first phone to bring the new Android software platform. However, as a prototype phone, its life cycle came to an end pretty fast due to some drawbacks. Its successor in line is the new HTC Magic.

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This device provides beside the great Android platform, an excellent touch screen and an overall decent feature package. All of this offered under compact dimensions and a good looking design. As any other device, HTC Magic has a few drawbacks, it lacks the second camera for video calling, no flash support in the web browser (iPhone, anyone?), no built in FM radio support, and a bad Bluetooth profile. The HTC Magic comes with a good design, nice shapes and a glossy white finish. Fortunately, the white glossy case doesn't show the how much of a fingerprint magnet it really is.

However, if you choose for the black HTC Magic, you are probably going to hate the glossy finish. Even so, the black finish is more resistant to scratches than the white glossy finish. Beside plastic you will not get any other finishes on your HTC Magic. On the front panel, under the display you get six keys (pretty much for a touch screen phone). However, because they're so many keys onboard, HTC reduced the keys dimensions to the minimum, making the usability of the keys from this phone under average.

The menu button will bring up a set of options. You also get the home button and back button, the search key (pretty useful), and the end call key on the right, and the call key on the left. HTC doesn't provide the Magic with a touch screen switch, you will have to use the end call key to lock and turn off the touch screen. HTC replaced the five keys pad (left, right, up, down and select / ok) with a trackball (not many manufacturers use this feature anymore, because is unreliable on long term usage).

Even so, the trackball worked pretty well (because the phone is new), and it has multi functional purpose (not only navigating through the menu, but also provides as a camera control key). The overall built is pretty simple, you don't get ports or buttons neither on the left side nor the right side. The only keys you will get on the right side of your HTC Magic are the volume control keys. However, on the bottom of the phone, you get beside the microphone pit, the mini USB port (you will have to use this mini USB port in order to connect any headset to your HTC Magic).

On the back panel, you can find in the upper center the 3 megapixel digital camera lens and right above the camera the loudspeaker. Don't look for an external memory card slot, because you are not getting one. The memory card slot is under the back cover, but not under the battery. Therefore, you don't have to shut down the phone when you will replace the memory card. HTC Magic is equipped with a 3.2 inches TFT capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels (HVGA), offers up to 65000 colors. For a better use of this screen, HTC included an accelerometer sensor for auto rotate. You don't get many colors in the HTC Magic, even more because the touch screen has a big diagonal, you will see that it lacks vibrant colors. In direct sunlight the result is undesirable. The ambient light sensor above the display doesn't do any justice in broad daylight.

HTC Magic runs in 2G networks (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) but also in 3G networks (HSDPA 900 / 2100 and HSDPA 1700 / 2100). The dimensions include the Magic in the average department. It has a height of 113 mm, wide of 55 mm, deep of 13.7 mm, Magic weights about 118.5 g. HTC Magic is shipped with the latest Android version, 1.5. One of the best features of this version is the landscape and portrait on board virtual keyboard. It is easy to use when writing with both hands (landscape mode), but also when writing with one hand (portrait mode). Even if the keyboard is on screen it can still provide a good feedback. Even if the Android competes with the iPhone platform, the home screen of Android is just dull. You don't feel anything. It doesn't provide nice icons, and a good overall feeling.

A good feature (also found in the Symbian platform) is the widget application. The HTC Magic comes with a few widgets pre-installed, like the music player or calendar. This feature comes to improve the dull home screen. You get two types of widgets, the first type, is the widget that extracts a result and displays it (like the title of the current song played), and the second type of widget involves a back door application. HTC offers for the Magic a Lithium Ion battery of 1340 mAh. This battery is pretty powerful and will provide about three days usage (average usage).

HTC official press release provided a number of 420 hours in standby mode for the Magic, and about 7 hours and 30 minutes in talk time. All the day by day functions (phonebook, messaging, calendar, notes and other), work great, smoothly even, because of the Qualcomm MSM 7200A 528 MHz processor and the 288 MB of random access memory. The internal memory is limited at 512 MB but is expandable using micro SD memory cards, or Trans Flash memory cards (up to 16 GB). The connectivity in ensured by the Class 10 GPRS (4+1 / 3+2 slots) with a speed from 32 to 48 kbps, HSCSD, Class 10 EDGE with a speed of 236.8 kbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g profile, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP (limited access), HSDPA with 7.2 MB per second, HSUPA with 2 MB per second, and mini USB connectivity. This phone is not camera orientated. However, it sports a 3.15 megapixel digital camera with a maximum resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels (with autofocus).

This camera will deliver average performances. It can also record video in QVGA resolution at about 15 frames per second (also known as bad video quality). HTC ships the Magic in a iPhone look alike box. Beside the actual Magic you also get a charger, mini USB cable, wired one piece stereo hands free, and a 2 GB micro SD memory card. A nice touch is the leather carrying case that matches your Magic at color. Overall the HTC Magic is an average touch screen phone. However, if you are looking for an Android touch screen phone, then the HTC Magic might just be what you are looking for.

HTC was founded on May 15, 1997 and was strictly an outsourcing company, an original design manufacturer. In October 2008, T-Mobile released G1, the first smart phone to use Google’s Android software. G1 is manufactured by HTC. The success was imminent so HTC released an upgrade, T-Mobile G2 Touch and HTC Hero. HTC Hero is the third phone manufactured by the HTC Corporation for the Android platform. The phone was announced on June 24, 2009 and released in July 2009.
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Let’s see a full specification for this phone. HTC Hero works in both 2G Network (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) and 3G Network (HSDPA 900 / 2100). Dimensions: 112 x 56.2 x 14.4 mm with a weight of 135 g. Hero has a 3.2” TFT capacitive touch screen with only 65K colors, with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. More features of the screen includes the sense UI, multi touch input method, accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and trackball. The memory department it’s a minus for the Hero, only 512 MB ROM. At least the random access memory is very good, 288 MB (the other manufacturers offer similar phones with only 128 MB RAM). The internal ROM memory can be expanded using a microSD card. The connectivity is very important for HTC, therefore the Hero has GPRS - Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD, EDGE - Class 10, 236.8 kbps, 3G - HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2.0 Mbps, WLAN - Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP and mini USB port. HTC Hero has a 5 MP digital camera, 2592 x 1944 pixels, with autofocus. It runs the Android OS, v1.5 and the CPU is an Qualcomm MSM 7200A 528 MHz. It also has a standard battery, Li-Ion 1350 mAh with a stand by time up to 440 hours in 2G or up to 750 hours in 3G. The talk time can reach up to 8 hours in 2G or up to 7 hours in 3G.

The reception quality is not really that great, but there will not be any lose of signal even in areas with so-so coverage. Its earpiece was pretty loud. The loudspeaker is average, while the vibration alert’s strength was a nice surprise. The estimated retail price of the HTC Hero is around 600-650 euro. It’s not a cheap model. The price situates the Hero in the high-end mobile phones range, but unfortunately the plastic case and the overall design don’t reflect the quality of this phone. Basically you are paying all that money for the brand new platform. The Hero has a lot of potential but can’t beat the great quality materials or the luxury feeling of the Apple iPhone 3GS.



The HTC Hero is the first mobile phone in the world to feature Sense UI. There have been a few problems with this feature but the new firmware will be released in order to solve this problems. HTC has also promised to bring Sense UI to the latest HTC phone, HTC Magic (also known as my Touch 3G).

If you are looking for a complete touch screen phone than the HTC Hero mobile phone is for you. Hero combines the business features with multimedia. Because it’s equipped with the latest CPU and enough RAM memory you should be able to experience the potential of the new Android OS v1.5.

HTC Touch is a little bit different than the previous products of HTC. The TouchFlo interface is the biggest difference and this one was the smallest smartphone until then. It is 3.9 inches long by 2.8 inches wide by 0.5 inch tall and it weighs only 3.98 ounces. It fits nice in the palm, and it is easy to slip it into pants pocket or in a bag. Compared to the bulky Palm Treo 755p (4'' x 2.3'' x 0.8'', with 5.6 ounces) and to Cingular 8525 (4.4'' x 2.2'' x 0.8'' and 6.2 ounces), it is quite slim and elegant. This device has a soft-touch finish, and it has a rubber-like texture which makes it easy to grip.
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This device has a 2.8'' screen on diagonal, and it can display 65,536 colors. The resolution is 240x320 and it is pretty standard, but the TouchFlo technology of the interface makes it really special. It allows you to operate the smartphone with your fingers or with the taps. This version of HTC smartphone has also a lot of improvements in the interface and in the menu, and this means you can access your messages easier, the applications and other information.

In the menu, on top of the shortcuts you can find access to contacts and calendar, and you can read your messages with only one touch, and also check the call list and the frequently used applications. The screen makes the difference between a tap and a finger sweep, and it is quite handy for scrolling in messages, e-mails and Web pages.

The biggest problem with this HTC product is that entering text is quite difficult, and there is no easy way to do this. Even if the design is compact and you have a full QWERTY keyboard, you actually have to use the tiny virtual keyboard, of course with a stylus. On the right side of the smartphone, you will find the camera key and the SIM card and miniSD card slots, which have protection from an attached cover. The volume rocker is on the left side, next to the USB port and the power button is located on the top of the smartphone. HTC doesn't actually offer anything revolutionary in the features field, it runs Windows Mobile 6, the Professional Edition and the wireless options include WiFi and Bluetooth but not 3G. So you have to surf the Web with EDGE speeds, where you find a hotspot.

HTC is equipped with a 2Mp camera, which offers an 8x zoom and which also has video recording capabilities. The available options are standard for a phone camera: five resolutions and four quality settings. It doesn't have a flash, but you get the white balance settings, which include the night mode settings, and many other image effects.

HTC Touch's battery has a 5 hours talk time lige, and it can stay alive for 8 days in standby mode. On a single charge, this smartphone offers 6 hours of talk.

HTC's touchscreen is quite advanced, and it allows you to operate it with the fingertips. The Windows Mobile 6 is quite good for this smartphone and the updated TouchFlo interface, Bluetooth and WiFi availability and the 2Mp camera make of HTC Touch a cool smartphone. As cons, the tiny virtual keyboard is quite hard to use, and it doesn't even work on landscape mode. The SIM and microSD cards are covered, and this is good, but it is actually hard to access them. The speakerphone quality is poor, and sometimes, the phone is sluggish.

The lack of a good keyboard limits the usability of this smartphone, and despite the beautiful design and hardware, Windows Mobile has quite low performances, and it needs some tweaking before making it work really good.

HTC Touch was the first real competitor for the incumbent iPhone, and we can easily observe that HTc was trying to capitalize on Apple's touch devices' popularity, but we all know that Windows Mobile is more open, and in the same time much clunkier that iPhone's OS X. HTC Touch had a finger friendly skin, but iPhone was built from the beginning as a consumer friendly product. The second generation, HTC Touch Diamond, with its TouchFLO 3D is ready to top iPhone, and the support for Opera Mobile 9.5 instead of Mobile IE ensures flawless websurfing. Photo albums can be browsed and music albums listened from the homescreen, the phone which wakes up when you remove the stylus and many other cool features make of HTC Touch Diamond "the most important product for HTC this year", like HTC CFO, Cheng Hui-min said also.
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When you purchase this product, you will find in the box the phone itself, the Li-Ion battery, an extra stylus, stereo headphones, AC charger and UK adapter with US travel adapter, an USB data cable and the installation CDs.

This smartphone looks pretty good in pictures, but the sleek mirrored face and the prism effect give you a "wow" sensation when you hold it in your hands. It is quite small, much smaller than you can see it in the pictures on the Internet, and because it is 4'' tall x 2'' wide and 0.4'' deep, and weights only 3.8 ounces, you won't loose it in your pants pocket, even if it seems to be so small.<

HTC Touch Diamond has a 2.8 inch display with a resolution of 680x480 pixels, on which text and images looked vibrant, clear and sharp. The phone has also an orientation sensor, so the orientation of the screen will be changed each time you change the position of the phone, horizontally or vertically. Below the display, there are the tactile controls: the Home key, back, talk and end buttons, and a keypad for directions which has in the center the select button. All keys are easy to press, and the select key has a slightly concave shape.

This smartphone runs the latest Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition, and since Touch Diamond uses the TouchFLO 3D interface, the new "Getting Started" menu will be accessible through the Windows menu. HTC Diamond surfs the Web on EDGE, and it is also equipped with Wi-Fi. It doesn't offer the latest Flash Lite 2, but there is Adobe Flash Lite 2, without FLV support, but watching YouTube videos is possible with a preloaded YouTube applications. Touch Diamond has also GPS for turn-by-turn directions and real-time tracking.

HTC Diamond Touch has a 3.2 Mp camera, with 4x zoom and video recording capabilities and sic capture modes. You can choose between five resolutions and four quality settings for still photos, and you can modify white balance, brightness and effects also.This mobile phone has a rated talk time of 5.5 hours and almost 12 days of time on standby.

This HTC smartphone has a beautiful touch screen and an user friendly interface, Windows Mobile offers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 3.2 Mp camera and GPS, but it is quite sluggish and the call quality is also a minus. All in all, this phone has a quite good design and it is a great feature set, but we can only expect the performance issues to be solved soon.

While everybody is crazy about iPhone and its features, some fans of Google are enjoying the Android new product, HTC Magic. The Taiwanese company, after it brought on on the market the first Android-powered phone, T-Mobile G1, now it is releasing the new HTC Magic. This products has a lots of upgrades, comparing to the previous versions. It has no physical keyboard, but it has an on-screen one, and this because of the Cupcake 1.5 update of Android. Its dimensions are very friendly, and 113x55x14 are very well designed in less than 120g.

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HTC Magic has some considerable updates, and it is more functional than G1, and I would be curious to see if it will attract a market segment as big as the one possessed by iPhone. In the box, when you buy it, you get the phone, a USB charger and a headset (on USB too), a phone cover . All are white and I think it's good color option, because you can spot it easily on a full desk, but for people who like other colors, it would have been cool to find it in their favorite color too.The buttons have a slightly different position than on G1: the menu button is just above and to the left of the trackball, since it was at the base of the screen on G1, and now I can see a search button on the right, which is used by almost all applications installed on the phone.

Loosing the keyboard can be seen as an advantage, but in the same time as a disadvantage, because the on-screen keyboard might be difficult to use for some persons, but the space gained and the weight loss by removing the physical keyboard are considerable. The interface is user friendly, and what I liked very much, is that you have to draw a pattern to unlock it. I think this is very classy. You have direct access to Google services, and  the camera is very good on the photo field, while the video is not so high quality as I expected.

I observed that it doesn't have a 3.5 mm jack, so I couldn't listen to music with my headphones, but the ones from HTC are good too, though they are kind of small. The applications installed on the phone are interesting, though I found many of them useless, like the metal detector or the barcode reader. With everything turned off, the battery life is 660 hours, and with heavy usage it worked 24 hours. Maybe with a little less calling, streaming, download and usage, I think it would work easily 48 hours.

All in all, I think it is a good alternative for an iPhone, but the lack of a 3.5mm jack and the standard 3.2MP camera with no flash are the minus points I would give to this product.

On the other hand, HTC Touch is a good product also, and I would mention as a plus the WiFi connectivity and the camera, which is pretty good, but I am amazed that it doesn't have 3G support and that it doesn't have a QWERTY keypad. Both phones , HTC Magic and HTC Touch are cool, but a common "against" point would be the cameras, which aren't too good and I think that HTC Magic should solve the jack lack problem in the future versions.