Vodafone announces first Android phone; HTC Magic

Justin Cauchon February 17, 2009 2

magic_3v

Vodafone has announced the HTC Magic, its first Android phone. The HTC Magic will be the first touchscreen only Android phone. This will be a Vodafone exclusive phone, so don’t expect to see it anytime soon if you are not on Vodafone internationally. The Magic will have the following:

  • Android OS
  • Quad-band EDGE / dual-band 7.2Mbps HSDPA (900/2100 MHz)
  • 512MHz Qualcomm® MSM7201a
  • 512MB ROM / 192MB RAM
  • 3.2″ HVGA touchscreen display (though the presser and Voda say QVGA, Android does not play nice with QVGA displays)
  • Virtual QWERTY keypad, trackball
  • 3.2 megapixel camera
  • WiFi 802.11 b/g
  • GPS
  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • microSD
  • 1340 mAh battery
  • Talktime: 400 min 3G / 450 min GSM
  • Standby: 660 hours 3G / 420 hours GSM
  • 113mm x 55mm x 13.65mm, 118.5g
  • Available in black and/or white depending on market

You can expect to see this phone in April. Now for the press release…

BARCELONA — Feb 17, 2009 — Vodafone and HTC Corporation today announced the HTC Magic smartphone, Vodafone’s first Android-powered mobile, which will be available in the spring.

The stylish new handset is exclusive to Vodafone in the UK, Spain, Germany and France (SFR) and available on a non-exclusive basis in Italy. Customers can ensure that they are the first to receive information about the HTC Magic’s availability, pricing and pre-ordering by registering their interest via their local Vodafone website from today.

The introduction of the HTC Magic is the result of a successful relationship between Vodafone and HTC, and Vodafone’s joining, late last year, of the Open Handset Alliance.

A tablet-style device, with a sleek design and unprecedented compactness for a smartphone featuring the Android platform, the HTC Magic enables a superior mobile internet experience, providing broad flexibility for personalisation via the application-rich Android Market. Available in white in the UK, Spain and France, black in Germany and in both colours in Italy, the HTC Magic will be for sale in several other Vodafone markets over the next few months.

“Delivering an unbeatable mobile internet experience for our customers is a priority for Vodafone, so we are very excited to be introducing our first Android-powered smartphone in the spring,” says Patrick Chomet, Global Director of Terminals, Vodafone Group. “Following our joining of the Open Handset Alliance, we have worked very closely with HTC to bring this cool new phone to the market. Our customers want to access a wide range of the most attractive mobile devices to help them make the most of their time – the HTC Magic helps meet that need.”

“The HTC Magic embodies the compact style and sophistication for which HTC has come to be known, with the powerful and intuitive internet experience for which the Android platform was designed,” says Peter Chou, president and CEO, HTC Corporation. “We are proud of our partnership with Vodafone and excited about making the Android-powered HTC Magic available to Vodafone customers in Europe.”

“The announcement of the HTC Magic is an important step for Android and the Open Handset Alliance,” says Andy Rubin, Senior Director of Mobile Platforms at Google. “With it, Vodafone is opening up the mobile web for consumers across Europe and giving more third-party developers a platform on which they can build the next wave of killer applications.”

Available from free on various price plans, the HTC Magic has a 3.2” QVGA touch screen display and features a trackball and navigational buttons for quick, easy access. The HTC Magic includes a variety of email options such as Google Mail™, POP3 and IMAP as well as Google Talk™ for instant messaging.

The HTC Magic has a variety of powerful mobile internet capabilities beginning with an Android-optimised Webkit browser. It also features the popular Google™ applications, Google Maps™ and Google Search™ as well as favourites like YouTube™. In addition, Android Market allows for quick and easy downloading of games and applications utilising Vodafone’s fast and reliable network.

Full details of availability and pricing will be available in the future in local Vodafone markets.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

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2 Comments »

  1. Android Apps Lover July 29, 2010 at 6:05 PM -

    I just love what you’re doing with your site. I initially found it a little bit back on and am grateful that I clicked on your link! There’s some really great, helpful information about the different Android phones and Android apps here.

    This is such an exciting time (assuming you’re an Android-geek like myself) to own one of these great phones. I’ve changed my lifestyle dramatically since I got my Motorola Droid. A bunch less TV and a lot more monkeying around with my phone. I don’t even feel too bad because some of the amazing Android apps out there are helping me with my everyday life… Well, that’s my excuse anyways!

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