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HTC Introduces Low Cost 'Smart' Phone

HTC has finally announced the introduction of a budget touchscreen handset, which is expected to be available in the UK soon on tariffs from as little as £15 per month.

The HTC Smart becomes the latest addition to the 2010 line-up, which we already know includes the HTC Legend, HTC Salsa, HTC Buzz, HTC Tide and HTC Bravo as well as the three Windows Mobile handsets; the HTC Photon, Trophy and Tera.

The HTC Smart however does not fit neatly into any of the categories with its 2010 peers. As a budget phone, it would make more sense to drop the HTC Smart into the same category as the 2009 HTC Tattoo and the HTC Touch 2 (although one is an Android phone and the other Windows Mobile). In actual fact, the phone almost needs a category of its own because not only because it is cheap, but it runs Qualcomm’s own Brew OS which has not been seen before in the HTC line-up. Brew offers the flexibility to deliver smartphone features across multiple tiers and at affordable prices.

“HTC Smart breaks new ground in delivering the powerful, in-demand smartphone features that consumers want on a more accessible device for global markets,” said Paul Jacobs, chief executive officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “We are pleased to be supporting HTC as they utilize the capabilities of Qualcomm’s Brew Mobile Platform open operating system to offer high-end capabilities and a compelling mobile user experience at mass-market price points.”

Needless to say therefore that the phone is based on a Qualcomm chipset; a 300MHz ARM based processor to be precise. The phone will also come with 256MB of RAM, 256MB of ROM, a microSD expansion slot and Bluetooth. Most interestingly, for a budget handset, is the inclusion of a 2.8-inch touchscreen display and a 3-megapixel camera (although the camera does not have a flash). The handset is also highly portable at only 108g, and has a 3.5mm audio jack so that you can easily take your music on the move.

The device is made “smart” by integrating HTC Sense – a user friendly and intuitive interface seen previously on other Windows Mobile and Android handsets.

HTC said in a statement that “Adding a touch interface doesn’t mean a phone is a smart phone; the integration of HTC Sense brings an unparallelled smartphone experience for people looking to do more on their phone”.

Some of the more lavish features such as Wi-Fi and GPS are expected to be trimmed back though, but what do you expect for a budget handset?

We say hats off to HTC.

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January 12th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: HTC

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