HTC Magic powered by Google's Android coming to Vodafone with video recording

HTC Magic

HTC Magic

HTC Magic

HTC Magic

Vodafone and HTC announced the HTC Magic G2 smartphone, based on Google's Android operating system, today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Featuring an improved, sleek design, the HTC Magic comes complete with a 3.2-inch HVGA (320x480 pixels) TFT capacitive touchscreen. Below the screen, navigation is handled with a trackball and six zoom, home, menu, back, and call buttons.

The smartphone is a powerful e-mail and messaging device, offering users access to GMail, POP3 and IMAP e-mail, and Google Talk for instant messaging. Powerful web applications are powered by Android's Webkit browser, including Google Maps, YouTube, and Google Search. A built-in GPS chipset integrates with Google Maps to help with localized searching. The device is also compatible with Vodafone's Find & Go service. The HTC Magic syncs contact and calendar data with a home PC, and can store back-up files while syncing. Users will have access to Android Market, Google's paid application marketplace, which opened with paid applications this week. The smartphone also features a 3.2 megapixel camera that supports video recording in standardized QCIF (176x144 pixels) and CIF (352x288 pixels) formats.

The HTC Magic has quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) support and dual-band UMTS (900/2100MHz). The phone supports HSPA data connectivity, but it appears that Vodafone can only take advantage of HSDPA data rates. WiFi is also onboard for fast, local downloading.

The HTC Magic will be available in April exclusively on Vodafone in the UK, Spain, Germany and France, and on a non-exclusive basis in Italy. The HTC Magic comes in white in the UK, Spain and France, and comes in black in Germany. Both colors will be available in Italy. The Magic will be available for a price between 99 EUR and 199 EUR. Users can register for more details with their local Vodafone Web site.