New Android power-devices from HTC, coming your way…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Here goes with HTC again! Two new devices announced last week; The HTC Desire HD and the HTC Desire Z (with a keyboard). Here’s a quick glance of the specs of these 2 new Android power-devices:

HTC Desire Z

  • 180 grams, with battery
  • slideout keyboard
  • 3.7 inches, 480 x 800 WVGA touch screen with pinch-to-zoom capability
  • 800 Mhz processor
  • 1.5Gb of internal phone storage
  • 512Mb of RAM
  • more specs…

HTC Desire HD

  • 164 grams, with battery
  • 3.7 inches, 480 x 800 WVGA touch screen with pinch-to-zoom capability
  • 1GHz processor
  • 1.5Gb of internal phone storage
  • 768Mb of RAM
  • more specs…

Both devices will be running Android™ 2.2 (Froyo) with HTC Sense™. There’s much to look around these days, Android-wise, and the competition keeps bringing out more devices, suited for a wider range of users.

I should probably talk about Motorola’s Droid 2 and Droid X next…

Android Smartphones getting popular in Australia

It started with Optus and the HTC Dream, end of 1st quarter of 2009, followed shortly by 3 (Hutchison), with the HTC Magic. There was not much corporate/Telco interest Android-wise here in Melbourne, and I could assume the same Australia-wide. Around the same time, Harvey Norman ,a major consumer electronics retail company down-under, ran with the HTC Hero and the HTC Tattoo (later with the Tattoo). At that time, I owned an ADP1 (Android Dev Phone 1, Google’s first development phone, an unlocked HTC Dream, with some nice art on its back cover) and that was enough for me then.

Recently, Optus started 2 Android Smartphones from Motorola, the DEXT and the BACKFLIP, a good start I should say, but the general population was unaware of what Android was, where it stood and why should they even consider it. All that until Telstra got on the Android bandwagon and got the exclusivity on the HTC Desire, hence the Telstra HTC Desire review that happened a few months back and I was one of the lucky 25 to be selected to review the phone.

We are seeing a sudden interesting surge in interest regarding the Android Platform now in Australia. Here is what I’ve got as per each telco’s Android offering (device only, current and not talking about plans, contracts, etc…)

NOTE: this information was gathered by browsing the different shops in Melbourne city. I will be confirming these soon.

Telstra, 2 devices
• HTC Desire
• LG Optimus
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

Vodafone, 2 devices
• HTC Legend
• Google’s Nexus One (online order only)
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (could be online order only – will confirm)

Optus, 8 devices
• Samsung Galaxy S
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini
• ASUS Garmin A1
• Motorola MILESTONE
• Motorola QUENCH
• Motorola DEXT
• Motorola BACKFLIP

3 (Hutchison), 2 devices
• HTC Legend
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

Virgin, 1 device
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

Only one of these phones can be updated (officially) to version 2.2 of Android, a.k.a FroYo, and it’s the Nexus One from Vodafone, when you can only get online. HTC is known to be working on integrating their Sense UI with FroYo, for a “soon-to-be-know” release date. The Sony Ericsson devices are still running Android version 1.6, a.k.a Donut, with a known September update to version 2.1, a.k.a Flan, but no FroYo version update on the horizon. Devices from Samsung are running version 2.1, well at the least the Samsung Galaxy S that was on display today at Optus was a 2.1 version. As for Motorola devices, I think the Milestone is running version 2.0, a.k.a Elcair, out of the box and the others I do not know, yet.

I will be confirming those details and posting the results here very soon!

Cheers and happy phone hunting.

Today was one of those days… I haven’t written a thing on this blog since the Telstra HTC Desire review ended. I have been busy with both work and my uni exams where around the corner, and the lack of necessary hardware made it not quite possible. I’m now on holidays (a short one) and also the proud owner of a powerful HP Pavilion dv6 3042tx laptop, which I favoured over the latest MacBook Pro as Apple’s Intel Core i7 offering was only a dual core (hyperthreading at 4), starting with 4GB ram, while my new machine is an Intel Core i7, quad core, with 8GB ram straight out of the box. But that’s another review, which I will write, someday, soonish…

HTC Desire at work #TelstraDesire

Today is the last day of the HTC Desire Social Review. I’ve had an interesting experience, my first product/service review, and maybe more to come. Now talking about the HTC Desire in the workplace, or at University (both for I). I have been using the Android platform for a while now and I can say, the being able to sync your data with a variety of Google Services is very useful and helps me to do things faster, with added ease and peace of mind (my data being in the cloud).  I will use Ben Bevins’ headings on this topic, as per his post.

Email

With the HTC Desire, you get to sync the device with a multitude of  Gmail email accounts. Easy access to both POP3 and IMAP is also well supported. And with HTC, they’ve added an extra, most welcomed Exchange ActiveSync support to connect to your work Exchange Server. (note: The latest version of Android, FroYo, or version 2.2 adds Exchange Mail support by default)

Calendar

The initial Google Calendar sync with the Android platform was, and is still one of my favourite features. Being able to be on the road, having your calendar with you, and furthermore, being able to add to it, modify existing entries on the go is a big time saver. Google Calendar is also a very versatile calendar service, with reminders, access to other calendars, be it public, shared (co-workers, clients, etc…), scheduling meetings with email notification options. Having the ability to have this service in the palm of my hands, wherever I was (with or without connection, as it allows for offline access & syncs on connection availability). HTC also adds the Exchange ActiveSync for Calendar Sync features.

Contacts

Having a single source for my contacts details is awesome; no more multiple contacts sources, finding some software online to merge/sync them together. With the Gmail contacts, I get to store all my contacts details in one single place, online, and the HTC Desire syncs to this seamlessly. HTC, with the inclusion of the Exchange ActiveSync, allows contacts from your Exchange Server to sync to your phone too. Furthermore, the HTC Desire gives you the option to link both Gmail contacts and Exchange ActiveSync contacts.

Productivity

The HTC Desire comes with a couple of neat apps that would suit most work-related environments.

QuickOffice, to view Excel and Word documents. I receive a lot of Word documents through email, and a simple touch on the attachment link, gets the file and launches QuickOffice – the viewing experience is a breeze.
PDF Viewer, to view PDF documents; this app works very well indeed. Pinch & Zoom is awesome. Tried it using the HTC Desire User Manual, a 211 page PDF file, it was a fluid read. (note: Adobe also recently released an official Adobe Reader for the Android Platform; They have some work to do: getting more familiar Android Platform SDK, as the experience with this app was not as smooth as the one provided with the HTC Desire, and suprisingly the HTC Desire PDF Viewer “contains Adobe Reader LE 2.5, from Adobe Systems Incorporated).

Furthermore, the Android Market is a source of a variety of Productivity apps.

Evernote; those familiar with the desktop and iPhone Evernote apps have a good idea of the features and ussability of this app;


Evernote turns your Android phone into an extension of your brain. This award-winning app lets you remember and recall anything that happens in your life. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put everything into Evernote and watch as it all instantly synchronizes from your phone to the Web to your PC.

Documents To Go 2.0 Main App, an alternative app to QuickOffice. Does virtually the same thing, viewing Excel, Word documents on the free version. Buying the full version unlocks access to Editing, Creating, PowerPoint, Adobe PDF, Zooming, Charts, Passwords & more…

Thinking Space, This is a great Mind Map app that I use regularly. It’s compatible with Freemind 0.9, & Xmind (through Freemind support), allows you to share your maps via email or via the cloud, and more…

Mind Mapping for Android! Portable Mind Mapping has never been so much fun! Keywords: Mind Map, MindMap, Thinking-Space Vlad, wes: Freemind support is already included :)

The Android Market has a range of different apps you can check out, some free, some you buy (with returning app/refund policy option). AppBrain.com, linking to the Android Market, is also a great place to look into.

Check out Ben Bevins‘ and the 25 #TelstraDesire reviewers‘ HTC Desire at work review here: http://goo.gl/vH43

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.