HTC Magic (HTC Magic)

Member Name: shellyuk1000

Product:	HTC Magic
Date:	26/07/09 (195 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great looking, easy to use

Disadvantages: Bluetooth doesnt work on mine!

My Vodafone contract was due to finish at the end of this month and I have had my eye on the iphone since it first came out. I was adamant I wanted one! Vodafone quite kindly rang us the other day to say our contract was coming to an end and to inform us we were eligible for our upgrade now. We told them we were planning on leaving at the end of the contract and go for the iphone, the man from Vodafone told us he could get us a phone that is similar to the iphone, with similar actions, layout, applications etc on a cheaper contract with free texts and internet access. We went away, thought about it and when he rang back we said thanks but no thanks, as I said I was adamant I wanted an iphone. Anyhow the man got back to us again with an even cheaper monthly contract and a free Bluetooth headset, the phone he was offering was the HTC Magic. This time we put some real thought in to it and looked the phone up on the internet and checked out the reviews. After reading up on it I decided to go for it - a hard decision to make!

So we upgraded over the phone and the new phone and headset were delivered the very next day - we were extremely impressed with Vodafone, the level of customer service and the speed of the upgrade!

Anyhow on to the phone, I opened the box and have to say it was love at first sight. Inside the box were the phone, a case, a charger, a USB cable, a wired stereo handset, 2GB microSD card, a battery, a pouch and the user manual.

Appearances;
One thing that struck me was how girly it looked. Mine is the white one. It is slim and has only 7 buttons: the Trackball, search button, end call/power button, back button, menu button, home button and call button on the front and a volume button on the side. There is a small camera lens on the back. The screen is large enough to see everything clearly.

Technical Info;
I never look in to the technical info too much when looking for a phone but here it is,
o GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA
o 3.2 megapixel camera
o Wi-Fi/Bluetooth 2.0/mini USB 2.0
o Internal GPS Antenna
o 3.2" HVGA Touchscreen Display
o Powered by Android
o Google Search
o Google Maps with latitude
o Google Mail, You Tube, Calender
o Android Market

Easy of Use;
This phone is the first phone I have had where I have ever bothered to read the user manual. It is easy enough to use but because it was such a big difference between this and my last phone I thought I had better figure out how to use it properly. I found it to be so easy to come to terms with, the hardest thing about it was going from texting on a phone keypad to touch screen typing but I'm getting better at doing that everyday!

Best Bits;
I personally think this phone is great looking, and nearly perfect for what I wanted it for which is using the internet on the go. The camera is good enough for me and the sound quality, from my experience so far, is great. I love the applications that are available and the fact that I can download child friendly apps is great, I even have a toddler application that my 1yr old can play with! There are plenty of applications available such as: games, multimedia, lifestyle, entertainment, finance, shopping etc. Being able to budget your finances and log your family activites for the month in one place is a real bonus!

Bad Bits;
The Bluetooth is rubbish, I haven't been able to send or receive things via Bluetooth yet and that's not for lack of trying! (What is the point in the free Bluetooth headset!). The internet can be slow and obviously you cant sync it with your itunes account! The YouTube application takes a while to load and it can be frustrating waiting to watch the videos. The battery life doesnt last very long and I find myself charging it either everynight or every other night.

Overall I am getting on really well with this phone, I don't know if its as good as or even better than the iphone because I never got one, but it is cheaper and Im guessing it does the same things. Great for texting and browsing the internet and offered on a cheap contract! I would definitely recommend it.

Summary: Im happy with it.

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