First Android phone with iPhone-like virtual keyboard debuts
HTC on Tuesday formally introduced "Magic," the first Android-powered handset to lack a physical keyboard in a bid to challenge the style of Apple's iPhone.
Due to turn up in Europe via Vodafone in the coming months, the Magic will be one of the first Android devices to run Google's Cupcake update, which provides a virtual keyboard as an alternative input method for phones with slide-out keyboards like the G1, and phones with no physical keyboard, like the new model.
"The HTC Magic embodies the compact style and sophistication for which HTC has come to be known, with the powerful and intuitive internet experience for which the Android platform was designed," said HTC president and chief executive Peter Chou. "We are proud of our partnership with Vodafone and excited about making the Android-powered HTC Magic available to Vodafone customers in Europe."
The handset will be a Vodafone exclusive in the U.K., Spain, Germany and France. It will be sold in Italy on a non-exclusive basis, but the identity of the alternative carriers has not been revealed.
Vodafone's enrollment in the Open Handset Alliance in late 2008 paved the way for the new phone, which lacks support for 3G in North America but could possibly be brought to the United States with EDGE on T-Mobile, as Electronista points out.
However, no plans for other countries aside from the five mentioned have actually been announced. Vodafone's U.K. website reports an April arrival date, and the carrier says it will be for sale in other markets it services "over the next few months."
The phone has a 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen display (slightly smaller than the iPhone's 3.5-inch) with accompanying trackball and navigation buttons. It also has a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and video support. Users can send their recorded video through email or MMS and upload directly to YouTube from the device, according to HTC.
The handset maker is also claiming 6.7 hours talk time on WCDMA or 7.5 hours on GSM. Other technologies include an internal GPS antenna, a 528MHz Qualcomm processor, and expandable memory via a microSD card. The Magic has 192MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM. In terms of footprint, the hardware is just slightly more compact than the iPhone in height, width and depth, and about 0.5 ounces lighter.
However, as seen in the embedded Gizmodo video below, the Magic is clearly thicker than the iPhone, conflicting with stated dimensions claiming the opposite. This may reflect differences between the demo model and the final shipping product, which will have a slightly different button arrangement and, if HTC's specifications are to be believed, a thinner profile. As it stands today, the iPhone is the thinner device.
A partner in the design consultancy firm Fjord told the Wall Street Journal that he believes the Magic will be the first phone to challenge the iPhone in style.
"The first G1 wasn't principally bad, but it was more of a development platform for the operating system," said Christian Lindholm. "This one is more of a proper Android product."
According to initial hands-on observations by Gizmodo, the software keyboard "felt cramped" on the smaller screen, and the way each key press is flashed on the opposite side of the device is "extremely distracting." (For example, pressing the "O" key will cause the letter "O" to quickly appear and disappear near the "Q" and "W" keys on the opposite side.) HTC says this is to prevent your finger from covering up key press feedback. On the iPhone, Apple handles the problem by making key presses "pop up" above your finger.
Despite these qualms, the gadget and technology blog concluded the Magic's physical beauty alone will "make many customers put up with the less-than-ideal software keyboard."
Pricing details are fuzzy, but according to Engadget, the price tag in Spain will run from 99 to 199 Euro ($125 to $251), depending on the contract. Vodafone says the phone will come free with some plans.
Unfortunately for those frustrated with this aspect of the T-Mobile G1, the HTC Magic will not be offered with a standard headphone jack and will require the use of an adapter to plug in headphones or earbuds.
Due to turn up in Europe via Vodafone in the coming months, the Magic will be one of the first Android devices to run Google's Cupcake update, which provides a virtual keyboard as an alternative input method for phones with slide-out keyboards like the G1, and phones with no physical keyboard, like the new model.
"The HTC Magic embodies the compact style and sophistication for which HTC has come to be known, with the powerful and intuitive internet experience for which the Android platform was designed," said HTC president and chief executive Peter Chou. "We are proud of our partnership with Vodafone and excited about making the Android-powered HTC Magic available to Vodafone customers in Europe."
The handset will be a Vodafone exclusive in the U.K., Spain, Germany and France. It will be sold in Italy on a non-exclusive basis, but the identity of the alternative carriers has not been revealed.
Vodafone's enrollment in the Open Handset Alliance in late 2008 paved the way for the new phone, which lacks support for 3G in North America but could possibly be brought to the United States with EDGE on T-Mobile, as Electronista points out.
However, no plans for other countries aside from the five mentioned have actually been announced. Vodafone's U.K. website reports an April arrival date, and the carrier says it will be for sale in other markets it services "over the next few months."
The phone has a 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen display (slightly smaller than the iPhone's 3.5-inch) with accompanying trackball and navigation buttons. It also has a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and video support. Users can send their recorded video through email or MMS and upload directly to YouTube from the device, according to HTC.
The handset maker is also claiming 6.7 hours talk time on WCDMA or 7.5 hours on GSM. Other technologies include an internal GPS antenna, a 528MHz Qualcomm processor, and expandable memory via a microSD card. The Magic has 192MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM. In terms of footprint, the hardware is just slightly more compact than the iPhone in height, width and depth, and about 0.5 ounces lighter.
However, as seen in the embedded Gizmodo video below, the Magic is clearly thicker than the iPhone, conflicting with stated dimensions claiming the opposite. This may reflect differences between the demo model and the final shipping product, which will have a slightly different button arrangement and, if HTC's specifications are to be believed, a thinner profile. As it stands today, the iPhone is the thinner device.
A partner in the design consultancy firm Fjord told the Wall Street Journal that he believes the Magic will be the first phone to challenge the iPhone in style.
"The first G1 wasn't principally bad, but it was more of a development platform for the operating system," said Christian Lindholm. "This one is more of a proper Android product."
According to initial hands-on observations by Gizmodo, the software keyboard "felt cramped" on the smaller screen, and the way each key press is flashed on the opposite side of the device is "extremely distracting." (For example, pressing the "O" key will cause the letter "O" to quickly appear and disappear near the "Q" and "W" keys on the opposite side.) HTC says this is to prevent your finger from covering up key press feedback. On the iPhone, Apple handles the problem by making key presses "pop up" above your finger.
Despite these qualms, the gadget and technology blog concluded the Magic's physical beauty alone will "make many customers put up with the less-than-ideal software keyboard."
Pricing details are fuzzy, but according to Engadget, the price tag in Spain will run from 99 to 199 Euro ($125 to $251), depending on the contract. Vodafone says the phone will come free with some plans.
Unfortunately for those frustrated with this aspect of the T-Mobile G1, the HTC Magic will not be offered with a standard headphone jack and will require the use of an adapter to plug in headphones or earbuds.
Comments
192MB? wow, let me decide which album to put on it, it better be one I like listening to a lot.
You realize thats RAM right? The iPhone has 128MB iirc....
Well, now they've lost the whole Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers crowd. Way to limit your consumer base.
"The letters flash on the opposite side of the screen so we do not violate Apple's patented interface."
"We offer what everyone has been wanting: video recording. Of course this device is not available yet."
Nice attempt....but still not better than the almighty iPhone.
Well... its faster than the iPhones processor.. about the same RAM... Android OS definitely surpasses iPhone OS... so I am looking forward to more android phones. And with less lag than the iPhone. Even though this is an apple news site and the story attempts to take stabs at the Android phone I think it looks pretty cool. Read about it on a site that actually isn't apple based to get a less iPhone based review of the phone.
Well... its faster than the iPhones processor.. about the same RAM...
Well, you need to remember this from the article
(from the article)
Due to turn up in Europe via Vodafone in the coming months
You are comparing a product that does not exist yet with the 1 year old iPhone. In a few months, we can be fairly certian that the iPhone will have better specs...
Android OS definitely surpasses iPhone OS...
Well, this remains to be seen. Do we even have any idea how the Andriod OS really works with a touchscreen phone? It is possible that the Android OS will blow away the iPhone OS, but to state it as fact is a little strange, at this stage of the game. We still need to see how the Android platform holds up when being used for dozens of hardware platforms...
so I am looking forward to more android phones. And with less lag than the iPhone.
certainly, no one likes lag...
Even though this is an apple news site and the story attempts to take stabs at the Android phone I think it looks pretty cool. Read about it on a site that actually isn't apple based to get a less iPhone based review of the phone.
Fair point. This is a partisan site, and the articles are written that way. Notice how this site has panned all the "iPhone killers" of the last two years? And they have all turned out so well...
Well... its faster than the iPhones processor.. about the same RAM... Android OS definitely surpasses iPhone OS...
Better how? Better because multitasking isn't disabled in the developer version of Android?
so I am looking forward to more android phones. And with less lag than the iPhone.
I detected a bit of a lag in launching the video app. And you're comparing an unavailable device to a device that's 2+ years old from its "debut."
A partner in the design consultancy firm Fjord told the Wall Street Journal that he believes the Magic will be the first phone to challenge the iPhone in style.
How many times we've heard this before?!
"in style"?! It is basically G1 with glossy finish!!
It's the reason for me not to get a Windows Mobile phone for instance. Unless things changed and I am unaware of it.
The lack of a 3.5mm headphone socket kills this phone in my eyes. I'm not a fan of HTC's industrial designs either, they always look cheap.
I like the design on this one much more than the G1. However, I can't understand why on earth these companies continue to omit such a basic, yet necessary feature as the 3.5mm headphone jack.. Like the lack of WIFI in other ''smart phones'', no 3.5mm means NO SALE.
192MB? wow, let me decide which album to put on it, it better be one I like listening to a lot.
The iPhone only has 128MB. What's your point?
With this one you'll have to buy a memory card for flash memory beyond 512MB, but they're cheap and upgradeable.
And I'm sure that the next iPhone in June will have 256MB of RAM, but that's not even been previewed yet.
This is shaping up to the the best iPhone alternative. After the joke of a release of Windows Mobile 6.5, you can see why HTC is moving towards Android for future devices. I would say that Android is less than a year behind the iPhone, software wise, and the hardware is now roughly equivalent - better in some areas even.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7895384.stm
No annoying voice on this one, and also shows the Palm Pre, and more of the features and interfaces of both than the linked video.