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Enhanced mobile phone experience by HTC

By Roel Hoang Manipon, Staff Writer

06/18/2010

New mobile phone brands may find promising and exciting the Philippine market, which is obsessed with mobile phones and SMS, but many Filipinos can be loyal to a brand, being familiar with its features and uses. A new mobile phone brand has just entered the market with its tempting features and attractive look that may capture the fancy of Filipinos.

The global smartphone designer HTC, which was just established in 1997, introduced itself to the Philippine market in late April by launching three kinds of phones at the elegant Ayala Museum in Makati City with popular actress Rhian Ramos serving as host.

The three phones cater to different kinds of individuals. One is easy-to-use and affordable. Geared toward to the masses, this one, called HTC Smart, allows personal customization and features compact touch design. Another one, the HTC HD mini, allows user convenient access to and heightened experience of Internet surfing. Lastly, the HTC Legend, the most expensive of the three, has a host of attractive technological features.

These phones are made employing the so-called HTC Sense, which is defined as an HTC design philosophy that puts people at the center by making phones work in a more simple and natural way, revolving around three fundamental principles that were developed by observing and listening to how people live and communicate, and having the core tenets of “Make It Mine,” “Stay Close” and “Discover the Unexpected.”

The new HTC Sense experience “begins with a new HTC application and widget called Friend Stream that seamlessly aggregates all of your social communication, including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, into one organized flow of updates. This simple aggregation makes it easier than ever to focus on what friends are doing as well as to view the images and links that they share. In addition to Friend Stream, people can be organized into specific social circles, such as groups of friends, colleagues or any other way that makes sense.”

Also, HTC Sense also introduces “broad improvements to applications, including the browser, e-mail client and others. In addition, the new version of HTC Sense includes a new newsreader application and widget, as well as a new seven-screen Leap thumbnail view for quick and easy access to specific screens.”

The HTC Smart for all

The most inexpensive of the HTC phones, with a suggested retail price of P12,900, HTC Smart has a friendly compact touch design and integrates an intuitive user experience that is centered around HTC Sense. This phone enables personal customization and provides a quick and easy way to communication via various social networks as well as through text messaging or e-mail.

“HTC has always focused on listening to customers and setting the stage for new mobile categories and HTC Smart is the response to customer demand around the world for an easier-to-use, affordable smartphone,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer of HTC Corp. “Just adding a touch interface doesn’t mean a phone is a smartphone. The enhanced HTC Sense brings an unparalleled smartphone experience for people looking to do more on their phone.”

Additionally, “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 Kaneungjit Suriyathumrongkul, senior director of business development for Qualcomm Inc. “We are pleased to be supporting HTC as they utilize the capabilities of Qualcomm’s distinctive Brew MP operating system to offer high-end capabilities and a compelling mobile user experience at mass-market price points.”

The Qualcomm Brew Mobile Platform (Brew MP) is a “mobile operating system that enables smartphone devices to be offered at more aggressive price points, providing HTC with the flexibility to deliver smartphone features on devices across multiple tiers.”

HTC HD mini with HD2

and compact design

The HTC HD mini is an HTC Sense-based Windows Phone focused on delivering the experience of the HTC HD2 in a more compact design.

“The demand for the HTC HD2 has exceeded our expectations, and the HTC HD mini fulfills a desire from some customers to bring the capabilities and experience of the HTC HD2 to a more compact design,” said Jack Tong, vice president of HTC Asia. “The integration of HTC Sense and Windows Phone on HD mini and HD2 gives customers an additional choice for an advanced Windows Mobile phone that is sleek, well crafted and easy to use.”

The HD mini sports is said to be very usable and beautiful — “Precision fasteners used to assemble the phone are externally visible, displaying a high level of craftsmanship rarely found in mobile phones. And the strong design ethos continues under the battery cover where a bright yellow internal structure, offers an unexpected surprise when the phone is opened.”

For sociable and communicative people, HD mini has complete Outlook integration, which “helps you stay close to the important friends and colleagues in your life by providing a single contact view that displays individual communication snapshots of your conversations regardless of whether it was a call, text, status update or e-mail.” Additionally, the phone model has Windows-based Twitter application called HTC Peep.

Also, the HD mini includes capacitive touch for viewing, zooming and resizing Web sites, Microsoft Office files, PDF documents and pictures with just a pinch of your fingers. Leveraging its 3G broadband connectivity, the HTC HD mini also offers personal Wi-Fi anywhere for computer or other devices and can also be further enhanced by downloading a variety of applications from the Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

The standard retail HD mini package has a suggested retail price of P29,200 and comes with a two-gigabyte microSD card.

The high-tech HTC Legend

The HTC Legend mobile is said to have HTC Sense experience, taking Android 2.1 operating system to a new level.

“At its essence, the mobile phone is the most personal item you have in your possession. HTC Sense was created to magnify your ability to create and define your own unique mobile experience,” said Tong. “HTC Legend takes Android to another level in both substance with HTC Sense and style with HTC Legend’s revolutionary crafted aluminum uni-body design.”

Built around a newly enhanced HTC Sense, the HTC Legend boasts a design with a smooth, continuous surface, machined from a single aluminum block into a seamless compact frame. To complement its looks, the HTC Legend includes a 3.2 inch, Amoled HVGA display. The traditional trackball has also been replaced with an optical joystick, surrounded by a narrow button to improve usability without interrupting its design.

The phone’s read-on memory size is 512 megabytes while its random access memory size is 384 megabytes. It has a five-megapixel color camera with auto focus and flash, widescreen photo capture and Geotagging.

The new HTC Legend is now available at all authorized resellers at a suggested retail price of P31,700. Standard retail HTC Legend package comes with a two-gigabyte microSD card.

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