Show me the MAGIC - THE HTC Magic is finally HERE (HTC Magic)

Member Name: dotmythoughts

Product:	HTC Magic
Date:	21/05/09 (763 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: brilliant touchscreen;amazing accelerometer;excellent GPS navigation option;full browsing experience

Disadvantages: no flash;no push email facility;limited bluetooth capability;no 3.5mm jack

The HTC magic....well well, what can I say about this phone/pda. I am not usually one of the people who get easily impressed by phones, but I must admit.. I think I am in love with the new HTC magic. At this very moment, I am literally typing this review on the HTC magic phone with its fully integrated browser.

Ok, let's get into the nitty gritty features of the HTC magic. The first look at the phone can throw up two views - you either love it or you hate it (sort of like MARMITE). The reason for that would be that it is currently available in the UK only in one colour - pearl white. While many people may disagree with me on this one, I personally think that the pearl white colour is quite attractive and is also a distinct feature that sets it apart from some of the other phones in its category.

The screen itself is a very good size at 3.2", and the layout and buttons on the phone itself are quite prominent, yet not an in-your-face sort one. Another look at the phone would also reveal that while it is predominantly a touch-screen phone, it does have a few buttons, and not to mention a track-ball which is very similar to the one on the blackberry bold. I personally think that's a clever step done by the designers as that means that in the event that one does ever get tired of the touch screen feature( I doubt it ! ), they can alternatively use the trackball to navigate and to some extend even type. I would also say that it is an ingenious way to access your data on the phone, in the unlikely even that the touch screen does go faulty.

To make it easy to describe the function and features of the HTC Magic, I'm going to divide this review into sub-headings :

Screen, Size and Network Bands :
By far one of the best touch screen phones out on the market at the moment. Definitely a worthwhile competitor to the Apple iPhone 3G. It has just the right amount of sensitivity for the screen, and the accelerometer sensor is perfect for the auto-rotate feature.
Weighing at just under 120grams, the HTC Magic is Quad-band, which enables it to literally work in every country. The on-screen keyboard is very responsive and very user-friendly for even the most novice touchscreen user.

Imaging Features : The HTC Magic sports a decent 3.2 MP camera, with auto-focus, video and video-calling capability. However the area that it seriously lacks in, would probably be the lack of a flash on the phone. Hence for those of you looking at night photography - Tough luck with this one.

Sound : The audio quality on the HTC Magic is comparable to any of the top-end phones available on the market today. The speakerphone is quite good as well, however i would personally prefer it to be a bit more louder. The ring tones go up to a good decent volume and also the vibration feature is decent. Tried playing some music on the phone, and my-oh-my , it can take on any mp3 player any day. One of the drawback in this category would be that the htc magic only takes its standard headphones. Hence you wont be able to hook up any normal 3.5mm headphone to the phone to use as earphones. Another one is that the phone doesn't have a Radio. Now considering that most phones come with a radio application, i would say this is a major setback.

GPS and Maps:
The HTC Magic has got built-in GPS functionality like most of the phones in its category these days. However the fact that sets it apart and in a class of its own is probably the full use-ability and functionality of Google MAPS. I have used a fair few phones, and I must say that the Google Maps on the HTC Magic is by far the best. And one of the main features of the maps on the HTC magic would be the controversial but amazing Google STREET VIEW option. As far as I am aware, none of the other phones have the Google Street view option on them.

Browser and Browsing Experience:
The HTC Magic sports a full HTML browser unlike some of other PDA/touchscreen phones. The full browser literally supports all possible websites and even does the flash intro from certain websites. Hence the browsing experience on it, is like no other. It's also got a good guide tool while browsing, which lets you automatically zoom into different bits of the whole web page.

Battery Life:
The advertised battery life is about approximately 7 hours for talk time and up to 420 hours as standby time. However it is subject to the use of the various applications on the HTC Magic phone such as maps, the internet and music.

Memory:
This is one of the features which I feel that the designers could have improved on the new HTC Magic. Its only got a 512MB ROM and 192MB RAM. However it does have a microSD card slot, and you can install upto 16GB in the memory card slot.

Data connectivity:
The HTC Magic has built-in bluetooth. However a drawback here is that the bluetooth support is for headsets only and does not enable data transfer. It has also got Wi-fi support; Hence for all those you worried about data roaming charges --- no fear; feel free to use data as much as you want, when you go abroad with the built-in wireless application

The other bits and pieces:
The HTC Magic runs on Google own home grown operating system which is known as the ANDROID OS. The best thing about the android system is that it is mostly open-source with users being able to create their own applications for any andriod powered device. The HTC Magic also links to the android Operating system's own version of the iPhone's App Store, which is known as the Android market, where customers can download for free and also purchase premium quality apps, themes, ringtones etc.

One of the other features that I believe stands out on the HTC Magic is its SMS view, which is popularly known as the threaded view. The threaded view lets you follow the SMS conversation just like you would with a chat session. The other feature is obviously the flawless synchronization of the HTC magic with most of Google and Googlemail's application features. It also boasts of one of the best versions of the Google talk application that I have seen.

On the office category, the HTC magic also has a built-in document viewer which lets you view WORD, EXCEL, Powerpoint and PDF files. The games featured on the HTC MAgic are very innovative combining the amazing touch screen functionality with the accelerometer.

The phone is currently available on a contract with Vodafone in the UK, and is scheduled to remain exclusive to Vodafone for a while. It is free from about a monthly fee of about £40 on an 18 month agreement.

Overall, I believe the HTC Magic is definitely in a class of its own, and is what will definitely be re-branded as the iPhone Killer. I remember what i mentioned when i wrote a review for the Nokia 5800 touch screen phone. This phone beats the Nokia 5800 hands down, and is by far the best touch screen phone ever.

Summary: HTC MAGIC - Amazing Touch screen phone with brilliant features and state-of-the art technology

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