HTC Magic review: Practical magic

A cool looking touchscreen carrying a new mobile OS was enough to get the attention of even the most hardened of them techies last time we checked. Fair enough, the HTC Magic isn’t groundbreaking but the Cupcake-ful of changes it brings, promise a whole new experience.

Well, for starters the Android sure looks more human. The formidable and weapon-like G1/ HTC Dream needed every ounce of weight to stand its ground. With an honestly lighthearted and disarming approach, the HTC Magic is willing to play by the conventional touchscreen rules. And may as well be eyeing massive sales. Compact dimensions and distinct styling, decent all round functionality and system expandability, the HTC Magic seems to have what it takes to keep both smart and feature phone touchscreens on edge. The second edition of the OS should have dealt with the issues of the forerunner and given the Magic that extra bit of pace. So, what do you call a good platform getting better and a gadget looking more mainstream but still creative enough? We call it good sense but who knows, it may be Magic.
Key features

* Android OS v1.5 Cupcake
* 3.2″ capacitive touchscreen of HVGA resolution
* Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528 MHz CPU, 192/288 MB RAM
* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
* 3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps
* 3.15 megapixel autofocus camera
* Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
* GPS
* Trackball navigation
* Accelerometer sensor
* Digital compass
* Compact and stylish body

Main disadvantages

* No video-call camera
* No Flash support in the web browser
* No file transfers over Bluetooth
* No FM radio

In the beginning there was the unforgiving vastness of G1. Come to think of it, mobile phone evolution has always moved from huge to small. Android for one is quite aware and unafraid to press the fast-forward on evolution. Anyway, Google and their HTC counterparts feel confident enough to concentrate on style. Size mattered when they were about to take their first dip in the shark pond. Size matters even more when they’re gearing up to beat a legion of seasoned touchscreens at their own game.

It was a pleasure having the HTC Magic around. The little fella puts the young OS into a nicely-looking device with much broader appeal than the G1. The Magic performed quite well, all the more so considering that its platform is just about coming of age. It does have a few flaws and they do count against when choosing your next handset but the handling and the novelty are a huge point in favor.

And it looks there’s bright future ahead for the Android OS with almost every major manufacturer embracing the platform. With a rapidly growing user community, the apps available should mushroom. Tweaking up an open source OS must be quicker and more efficient than any other platform out there – and we’re really talking tweaks here cause the Android is very much up and running.

So, the HTC Magic is a reasonable purchase now, and has the potential to a become a bargain in the future. We saw most of that potential fulfilled with the iPhone a couple of years ago and we hope Android handsets will learn from Apple’s mistakes and do even better.

But passing a final verdict is always a matter of how the handset in question fares against its main market rivals. The HTC Magic is quite keen to stir touchscreen waters so it needs to deal with the ripples.

The iPhone is a name that echoes menacingly in the touchscreen world. The pricing of Apple’s latest tech-toy puts it in a different league but it doesn’t really matter if you are after the ultimate touch interface. The App Store has a good advantage over the Android market at the moment but can Apple really battle against half the mobile world?

Full review with more photos…. Click Here