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Published in Reviews

HTC Magic tested

by on05 January 2010

Index


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Review: Practical and reliable


Magic is HTC's second Google Android-based phone, and just like its predecessor, the G1, HTC Magic comes with a full set of Google's apps and online services such as Google Maps, Google Mail, Google Kalendar, Google Talk, Google search and Youtube.

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A closer look:

HTC Magic is on the market for some time now and already has a pretty nice reputation. This phone is basically the first step in Android evolution and unlike its predecessor, the G1, Magic looks much more stylish. It comes without the slide-out QWERTY keyboard which results in a 40 grams lighter and almost 4mm thinner device compared to the G1. Magic is based on the latest Android OS version which brings many improvements to the table, including improved touch-screen operation.

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HTC Magic is mostly made of shiny plastic in ice-white color. The phone is available in black as well, but we're confident that white will bring out the curves much better and give it that special something.

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Most of the front side is taken by the 320x480 3,2 HVGA touch-screen capable of displaying 65.000 colors.

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We received Vodafone version of the phone, as you can see from the photo where Vodafone logo is just below the speaker. Next to the speaker are status indicator lamps and the sensor in charge of lighting (we've actually seen this on Windows Mobile-based HTC phones as well).

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On the front, bottom you'll find the trackball and keys, including Send, End, Home, Menu, Back and Search.

Of course, most of the keys have multiple functions so End key is used to end conversations, turn the phone on and off and lock the screen. Send and End keys are placed a bit lower than the rest, and we must say that the design in this respect is flawless as you'll almost never press the wrong key, regardless of whether you're looking at it or not.

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Simplicity seems to be one of the focal points in the development of this phone, and thus HTC Magic has only one side key - volume control.

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Just like the rest of HTC's offer, the phone comes with a microphone and the ExtUSB port, which is used to transfer data, charge the phone and serves as audio out as well. Unfortunately, Magic doesn't come with a 3.5 inch audio jack

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Battery lid features pretty stylish design and it covers the back of the phone. Note that while it's quick to catch fingerprints, the ice-white color makes it much easier as they're virtually invisible. We must admit that the color was a nice move in the case of scratches as well, as they're much less visible than on black devices.

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The 3.2MP camera with autofocus, located above the speaker, is surrounded by a nice sheet of brushed metal. Unfortunately, this phone doesn't come with flash, a tradition which plagued HTC for a while only to come to a halt with the recent HD2 model. The aforementioned phone comes with dual LED flash, and we'd very much like to see HTC making a tradition out of this.

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Last modified on 05 January 2010
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