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From Taiwan comes the HTC Magic - and at first glance it appears that this phone is a bit of a misnomer. While everyone coos and aahs about the Apple iPhone, the HTC Magic quietly goes about its business - that for which it was designed, and which it performs with impeccable ability and seamless ease.
The HTC is powered by Android™ - upgraded in this version of the phone - and designed to include the Google suit of services like Mail, Search and Maps. Specifically made for surfing the internet the HTC Magic is designed to be as easy to use as possible.
The phone has a ‘triple' effect home page screen which can be moved left or right, showing the icons on both side-pages with a simple swipe off to one side or the other. The icons are easily rearranged into position to suit the user. The simplistically designed touch screen really shows its design merits by the ease with which this is done - either by dragging or double tapping where appropriate.
Google search enables you to be up to date with the latest information, for example finding night club or concert information. With integral Bluetooth, the HTC Magic supports tunes via wireless headsets, and allows video capture. Videos can be emailed, sent by MMS or even published on YouTube™ directly from the phone. Social events are thus easily recorded and communicated - this is the ultimate phone for the socially-orientated person.
We liked:
- The touch screen. We found it to be really excellent, both in terms of its functionality and the ease with which the interface works. It responds to light taps when they are required, and harder taps and hold-downs make dragging and dropping really simple to do.
- The Android upgrade. For once we have a system designed specifically to do what it is intended for. The result is a speedy system, easy access, and simple searching on the web. Why can't all phones be designed this way?
- Easy messaging.
- The interface is one of the nicest we have seen. Simple enough for the least IT savvy person to learn, and intuitive in its design.
- The keyboard is good. HTC made a good choice - not only is the keyboard well spaced, doing away with the physical keypad gives the added bonus of a super-lightweight phone that is sure to please those who are tired of sagging pockets and stretching handbag straps. In fact, until you get used to it, the phone feels a little too light in the hand.
- Tight Google integration. We'd expect nothing less from a phone designed for the job. We were more than impressed with what we found.
- Slim and lightweight.
We weren't too impressed with:
- No 3.5mm headphone. For people who are used to one - this comes as a bit of a disappointment.
- 2 year contract: Two years in today's world is a very long time - especially considering how fast technology develops. We were disappointed with this, and feel it will put many potential users off what is really a very nice handset.
- Some people have complained about touch screen response issues. We didn't experience any, at the time of our test - in fact the phone was very responsive.
- Some might find it slightly lightweight. We felt this was a boon - at last we have a phone which will not ruin your clothing, or feel as though you are dragging a brick around with you.
It's pretty - it's white, and has a really handy sliding screen which provides access to the full five-row landscape orientated QWERTY keyboard.
The T-Mobile G1 weighs in at a pretty heavy 158 grams, unlike its bigger Android brother - the HTC Magic, which only weighs 118.5g. For those who prefer a keyboard to the touch screen function, this is the phone to choose when you need to surf the web, and wish to be able to take videos of your social life and immediately upload them to YouTube.
It measures a touch under 118mm long, and at nearly 56mm wide and only 17mm deep HTC and Google have packed an awful lot of power, web-loading speed and functionality into a tiny little package.
The T-Mobile runs off a Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz processor. With a ROM of 256 MB and a RAM of 192MB, it has enough oomph to seamlessly work with the Android operating system to give you unequalled surfing and web search capability. The memory can be expanded by the use of SD 2.0 compatible microSD memory card.
This is a quad band phone, and is designed to work on HSPA/WCDMA in Europe (2100 MHz), US (1700/2100 MHz) and give up to 7.2 Mbps down link (HSDPA) and 2 Mbps up-link (HSUPA) speeds. On Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, workable frequencies are 850, 900, 1800 and 1900MHz. The final accessibility and band frequency is ultimately dependant on the network service provider.
From the point of view of connectivity - the HTC T-Mobile G1 has Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate, and also uses Wi-Fi and an HTC ExtUSB. This is the 11-pin mini-USB and audio jack in one and replaces the standard 3.5mm audio jack.
The camera could be improved - at 3.2 megapixels with auto focus it ranks below other phones with good connectivity on the market.
For the person that enjoys listening to music on their mobile phone, the HTC T-Mobile G1 offers a built in speaker as well as Bluetooth headphone connection. It plays 40 polyphonic and standard MIDI format 0 and 1 (SMF)/SP MIDI.
Finding your way to the club you have just searched for on the web need not be a problem - this compact handset sports GPS capability with Google Maps.
The HTC T-Mobile G1 has a Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery which, when fully charged, will last 350 and 406 minutes of talk time, depending on whether you are using WCDMA or GSM, and on standby, from fully charged, it will last between 319 and 402 hours - also dependent on whether you are using WCDMA or GSM.
The T-Mobile's special features are a Motion Sensor and Digital Compass.
All in all - this is a nice compact, user friendly little phone - with tremendous accessibility to the World Wide Web, and seamless up- and down-loading from video sites such as YouTube. For the socially orientated person who wants assistance capability - HTC T-Mobile G1 is a good choice.