Rumored specs and renderings surface for HTC's next flagship device, the HTC Firestone. We figure out what's believable, and what's missing.
Supposed specs and pictures for HTC's next flagship Windows Mobile touchscreen device have appeared on the Web. The so-called HTC Firestone has not been officially announced or acknowledged by HTC, but it's a name we've heard bandied about a number of times to describe this device, and the current specs we're seeing are certainly within the realm of today's technological possibility.
The HTC Firestone will possibly replace the current high-end model, the HTC Touch HD. The new device will use a 3.6-inch WVGA screen, which, if true, would be a small step down from the larger 3.8-inch screen on the older device. The HTC Firestone will supposedly use a Qualcomm 8250 processor running at 600 MHz, which would make it the second WinMo phone powered by next-gen Snapdragon technology to hit the market.
Updated: Since our original post, we've seen screenshots that supposedly represent HTC's latest TouchFLO 3D 2.5 design. Pocketnow has a full selection of screens, you can see them here. In addition to a more polished and detailed look, we're seeing plenty of advanced functions built into the new interface. For instance, Facebook support seems to reach a deeper level, and in our time with the HTC Touch Pro 2, we saw some hints that Facebook would become an integrated part of HTC devices.
Otherwise, the new interface design hints at more homescreen customization, something that was sorely lacking on the TouchFLO interface up until this point. There was always a screen dedicated to shortcuts, but now it seems like there are more places to keep shortcuts to your favorite apps and features. We also see new features like the geotagging Footprints app, as well as new deeper level options and settings.
Even with this new information, we're still skeptical about the hardware. We don't see a zoom bar, which we think would play very nicely with this large-screen device. We're also not taken in by the overall design. It seems more like a test unit or prototype device than final hardware.
The new HTC Firestone could see a camera boost to an 8-megapixel sensor. We were impressed with the camera on the HTC Touch Diamond 2, so we're happy to see the manufacturer might be gunning for the lead in the smartphone camera race. The phone will pack 256MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM. As we said, these are still rumored specs from an unknown source dug up by wmpoweruser.com.
As no official announcement for the HTC Firestone has been made, we don't have pricing or availability details. The radios in the supposedly leaked specs don't include support for U.S. 3G bands, which makes sense because the HTC Touch HD never made it to these shores. That said, HTC last year promised that the next-gen version of the device would be coming to the U.S., so it wouldn't surprise us if one or more versions of the HTC Firestone appears in late 2009.
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