With the top-flight HTC Desire already turning heads and the forthcoming HTC Smart poised to snap up the entry-level market, the Taiwanese manufacturer really has every chance of pinning down both ends of the mobile market this year.
The HTC Desire, with it’s 3.7” super-bright AMOLED screen offers an unmatched viewing experience for the user, while the 1Ghz Snapdragon processor delivers extremely rapid web browsing and amazing multimedia functions.
Initial comparisons were drawn between this and the Nexus One, and the parallel was an obvious one, seeing as HTC actually designed both handsets.
However the Desire boasts additional touches that leave Google’s handset in the dust; most notably the inclusion of an optical trackpad which makes navigation a doddle.
Another bonus is that HTC Desire deals tend to be much more competitive than iPhone deals and consumers have already jumped upon this opportunity, with demand outstripping supply in the UK a number of times since it’s April release.
Meanwhile at the other end of the scale, HTC have been preparing for the launch of their entry-level ‘smart’ phone – the HTC Smart.
Ironically, the Smart isn’t strictly speaking a smartphone – it doesn’t run multiple applications and it is pretty lightweight on specs. Nevertheless the 300 Mhz chipset shows very little lag and with its snappy Sense UI, the Smart performs all the usual mobile tasks with ease and first impressions of the Smart from the mobile gadget community are very positive.
Looks-wise, the Smart is a reasonably handsome device with a 2.8” touchscreen, a clean and integrated design but the real star feature on this handset is the lightweight and agile Brew MP operating system, which is designed to make accessing the internet an enjoyable experience for the user on a budget.
Additional features such as the 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD card slot are then also likely to endear the HTC Smart to music loving users who want a phone that doubles as their mp3 player.
With a release date just around the corner, it remains to be seen how well the public take to HTC’s entry-level handset. In some ways it does resemble the Tattoo, HTC’s entry-level Android handset, however since that release there’s been a great deal of positive press surrounding HTC’s new portfolio, not to mention a high-profile advertising campaign. In fact, we’d put money on HTC’s Smart shifting some serious numbers this season.
Expect to see some great HTC Smart deals bringing the mobile internet to the budget-crew later this summer.