Features

Ok now down to the feature list, the basic features of this phone that come with this phone are simply what you would expect from a smart phone. By default it comes with the following:

• Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / mini USB / GPS
• Touch screen
• Email clients (x2)
• 3.2 megapixel camera with video capture support
• Integrated web browser
• Multiple Desktops (3)
• Media centre
• Calendar / multiple alarms
• Google Application Integration including Maps, Email, Talk, Search
• YouTube video player
• Desktop widgets – default widgets include calendar, music, search, analogue clock and a picture frame

These are the main default features which don’t look that impressive but the way the features are integrated throughout the phone actually works really well. There is also the ability to install further applications by utilising Google’s Android Market which contains literally hundreds of free apps that can be downloaded straight to your phone.
Now, some of you may be wondering why there are two email clients. Well, one syncs your Gmail account whilst the other allows for access to any IMAP or POP email. The latter is very easy to set up; by adding your email address and password the software looks up the email settings on the server and then allows you to tweak them if necessary. Whilst the email subsystem may not be as sweet as the Blackberry’s (which uses a push mechanism to provide a real-time email system) there are settings to define how often the client checks for new emails. There are also reports that the Google Android OS supports push technology for emails however I have yet to find any evidence of this (will research it more and report back).

Touch Screen

Now some of you may be wondering how well the touch screen interface performs. Well first impressions are very impressive with the ability to detect varying levels of pressure. The one problem I have found though is around the edges of the screen the responsiveness can be a little flaky with the occasional touch being ignored. Normally I would say this is a concern but over the past week I have found I only use the sides of the screen when using the keyboard. Saying that, the predictive text software is very good at picking up these missing key presses and as a result the inaccuracy around the very edge of the screen shortly becomes un-noticeable.
I have a few friends who are also phone mad with a couple of them owning Apple’s iPhone. Now after letting them play with the touch screen interface on the HTC Magic they were all impressed at how well the interface feels and responds in comparison to what they are used to. I would this is classed as a success for HTC’s latest addition. One friend had recently upgraded his phone to the Blackberry Storm, however after only a week he had a play with this and immediately rang Vodafone to switch to the Magic.

Could this be the nearest competitor to Apple’s iPhone? Could Apple’s domination in the Smartphone industry be over? Where do you see the future of Smartphone’s heading?

Specification at the moment is as follows:

• 7in display
• laptop-like QWERTY keyboard
• Intel’s Ultra Mobile Platform chip technology
• 512MB of memory
• 4, 8 or 16GB of Flash storage
• 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
• 100Mbps Ethernet
• 0.3-megapixel camera, stereo speakers, microphone, VGA output
• 22.5 x 16.5 x 2.1-3.5cm

It is expected to go for around £100 or $200 but once demand increases I can see this price increasing.Basically its just a machine for accessing the net whilst your on the move, not going to be powerful enough to run most 3d games, but that price who really cares.

The full story can be seen at Engadget – Chinese or an english version can be found at reghardware
Cheers to DotWaffle who found this in the first place and showed me it