A customizable Android phone with the high-end HTC Sense concept comes to town in the HTC Tattoo.
HTC today announced plans to release a less expensive Android phone next month, the HTC Tattoo. The Taiwanese manufacturer offered few details about the upcoming Android model, but the phone is clearly the same device as the rumored HTC Click we reported on recently. One thing we do know is that the HTC Tattoo will use the HTC Sense concept and a user interface similar to the HTC Hero, which will bow on Sprint next month. The HTC Sense concept is a set of personalization features and an improved user interface over the original Google Android design.
HTC has shared the specs for the upcoming HTC Tattoo device (compare it to other devices here). The phone will come with a 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera, a decidedly mid-range feature that's nice to see on some inexpensive hardware. HTC has also made clear that the HTC Tattoo will use a 3.5mm headphone jack. Clearly the mass market wasn't interested in HTC's old all-in-one USB audio port, as we're seeing more and more HTC phones that let you plug in your own earbuds, especially the recent HTC Touch Pro2 on Sprint. Otherwise, HTC said that the HTC Tattoo will be available in Europe at the beginning of October, and will roll out in markets around the world in the following months.
Official specs on the device look acceptably slim for an inexpensive phone. The HTC Tattoo gets a 2.8-inch, QVGA touchscreen (like the new HTC Touch2), which is a pretty low resolution, considering most Android phones push twice the pixels. Still, fewer pixels might be a benefit here, as this mid-range phone could have an easier time rendering the snazzy HTC Sense user interface if there's less of it to draw. The HTC Tattoo will also get HSDPA for fast, 3G networking, though only European bands have been announced with today's launch. GPS and Wi-Fi will also be on board, and we're pleased to see that, like the original T-Mobile G1, the HTC Tattoo will retain the compass that helps so nicely in Google Maps Street View.
The rest of the details we can fill in from the rumors about the HTC Click. The Click supposedly uses a resistive touchscreen. That's not our favorite technology for finger-friendly touchscreens, but it would shave some of the cost off the device compared to the more expensive, capacitive screens found on every other Android phone we've seen, like the HTC-manufactured T-Mobile myTouch 3G. We've also heard hints that the target price point for the HTC Tattoo will be around $100 with a contract agreement. That would be about half what T-Mobile is charging for the myTouch 3G, and a lower price than any other Android phone on the market.
We'll have more details as the phone begins to trickle into the worldwide market. We'll expect some carrier announcement and U.S. availability details in the near future, especially as the next major cell phone trade show, the CTIA: Wireless IT and Entertainment convention, picks up steam next month.
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