Why was that? Well, one main reason was that manufacturers had not yet delivered an affordable handset that convincingly taps into the possibilities of the mobile internet, particularly at the entry-level.

With the HTC Smart however, the fast rising Taiwanese manufacturer looks to solve the conundrum by attempted a dizzy hat-trick: deliver a smartphone experience with uncompromised functionality that is easy to use, yet affordable.

Strictly speaking, the HTC Smart isn’t a smart-phone, despite it’s name. however, it’s balance between, form, function, UI and O/S set it at the highest heights of the feature-phone market.

Central to the balance achieved in the HTC Smart is the extremely lightweight yet capable mobile operating system – Brew MP, created by Snapdragon wizards Qualcomm.  We first saw Brew performing nimbly in the INQ 3g handset, which delivered nicely optimised access to a range of social networking services including Facebook and Skype.

Combined with HTC’s  Sense UI, the HTC Smart is set to deliver one of the simplest and most intuitive gateways to using the mobile internet yet.

Add to that, HTC’s friend-feed, which thread messages from across SMS, email and instant messanger and it’s hard to see how the new addition to the HTC family is going to fail in it’s mission.

Anyone keen to start enjoying the mobile internet, but who recoil at the hefty expense of iPhone deals should definitely consider.

HTC Smart deals are available in the UK from April, exclusively on O2.

From taming Windows Mobile with TouchFLO to embracing a new operating system in Android (T-Mobile G1, baby!), the Taiwanese phone maker hasn’t put a foot wrong in courting public affections and tackling new and challenging smart phone ideas with aplomb.

In an attempt to put themselves into the forfront even further, they have begun a serious push with a marketing blitz usually reserved for Nokia phones and the like. Using the strapline ‘Quietly Brilliant’ (how fitting!), both HTC and their leading handsets get a chance to show the close, symbiotic relationship we have with our mobiles, and cleverly shows just how important to our lives they are.

Android phones feature heavily including the slightly curvier US-model HTC Hero, as does UK pop spank warblers McFly. Oh well, the lord giveth…

Like your Android phones a little bit cool and a lot cheap? The HTC Tattoo is the perfect handset for you. Already on our radar as a hot handset to watch, the Tattoo is set for an October release on Vodafone.

With a 2.8″ resistive screen, the Sense UI that made people go weak at the knees for the HTC Hero and a 3.2 megapixel camera, the Tattoo also manages to exude a sense of style thanks to replaceable covers and a 3.5mm headphone jack for the music lovers out there.

Even more exciting, the Tattoo is aiming for that lucrative lower-end of the market by targeting the youths with an impressive, and affordable, Android device.

We wait with baited breath to see if the Tattoo materialises on prepay shedules…it has the potential to be a far less regrettable purchasing decision than indelible graffiti on your skin!

The Android-powered HTC Hero has only had one major fault levelled at it since release (apart from that opinion-splitting chin), that of the unique ‘Sense’ interface feeling a tad sluggish and unresponsive to use.

Following on from HTC’s own attempts to pimp out the Hero, Orange has released a fix on the official site, allowing users to upgrade their firmware for a boost in speed as well as the odd tweak in other departments.

The process is fairly simple, but be warned that the update will delete all your data, so be sure to back up you contacts and saucy texts beforehand…

The T-Mobile G2 Touch – the network’s take on the HTC Hero – is a little more liveried up with carrier-specific functions, and in turn seems to require a lot of tinkering before the release of a performance update.

With T-Mobile asking customers to sit tight on their forum, it looks like the G2 will see its update brought forward from an initial October/November release to the next couple of weeks, keeping up with the HTC Hero’s new go-faster stripes as well as calming the crowd of pitchfork-wielding Touch owners.

The debate of whether network-specific firmware is detrimental to phone features is a fair one, but at least the respective carriers are making a concerted effort to appease impatient owners this time.

Source: Register

See, Google has not forsaken us!

More than an incremental upgrade, Android 1.6 offers:

• Quick Search Box
• Quicker camera use along with integrated gallery
• Battery usage indicator
• VPN and 802.1x inclusion
• Android Market revamp
• Text-to-Speech engine

See it all in motion in the below video!

The HTC Click is the entry level Android phone that the Korean manufacturer hopes will sweep up in the cash conscious sector of the mobile market later in the year, and here’s the first video showing it off.

It is very no-frills as the pic above shows, with a camera (HTC still not fans of the flash), a microSD card slot, and 3.5mm headphone jack.

Flourishes like the Sense UI seen on the HTC Hero are sadly absent, whilst the touchscreen is somewhat smaller than the rest of the Android handset range thus far, as the TinhTe comparison to the HTC Magic proves.

Check it out in moving pictures below! And do try to focus on the phone, or the amusing jazz muzak (synth rock guitar for the win!) accompaniment in the background. Anything but the obvious.

The update takes Rosie to the next level, making the phone a no-brainer for those looking for the slickest phone experience that isn’t Apple flavoured.

It seems like an imminent US release will be met with a nice shiny software update. Nice to see that the Brits only ever get things first when acting as guinea pigs…

Source: MoDaCo via Gizmodo

Taiwanese manufacturer HTC was happy to announce that over a million of their Android-powered Magic handset have been shipped in 2009, since their recent April release. HTC Chief Peter Chou was jubilant at the announcement, and also announced plans to tackle the mid-range market with future handsets.

If they are able to crack the mobile game at the high end price point, in the face of super smartphones like the Nokia N97, iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre, common sense dictates that even further success can be achieved with decent phones on lower tiers.

The HTC Magic has just seen a US launch under the name myTouch3G with T-Mobile,  making this global milestone without American sales even more impressive.

It also shows that market leading design and innovative features can buck any downward trends…

Seems like the Android interface isn’t just for people that drink champange out of crystal slippers and wear monocles to bed, the HTC Click offers to bring the mobile platform to the masses in an unassuming form factor.

Sporting the usual array of Google phone buttons and a style reminiscent of the HTC Touch, the Click could be out as soon as Q4 2009. Corners have indeed been trimmed in an effort to lower the price, noticable changes like the trackball being replaced by a large d-pad are noticable, but far from a deal breaker.

Rumours that it could have the same user interface as the HTC Hero proves interesting…what will justify the cost of a pricier Android device if they all have identical UIs? Soon megapixels and gigabytes of space will mean less and less if the experience is no different.

Isn’t that why the T-Mobile G1 and HTC Magic are still without even a hint of a Rosie update?

Source: Slashphone