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The global mobile ecosystem is no doubt moving to embrace touchscreen smartphones, what with their larger displays and power-packed feature-sets. But, that doesn’t mean a non-touchscreen smartphone isn’t just as powerful a productivity tool as its touchy-feely brethren. In fact, HTC’s new HTC Snap (Maple) proves that you don’t need a touchscreen to be a truly effective (not to mention sexy) smartphone.
HTC has unveiled their latest Windows Mobile Standard handset here at CTIA Wireless 2009 in beautiful Las Vegas, as part of their big 2009-push into the smartphone market. The HTC Snap has been popping up here and there over the past couple months as the HTC Maple that we saw leaked as part of HTC’s 2009 lineup earlier this year. Having gone through a few minor aesthetic updates since then, the HTC Snap is now live and ready to show the world that a Windows Mobile Standard handset can play with the big boys. 
The HTC Snap features a 2.4-inch QVGA display (no touchscreen, remember?), 2-megapixel camera, 3G data connectivity (HSDPA), GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD card slot and, of course, that BlackBerry-esque trackball. And, with quad-band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) GSM support, the HTC Snap will be comfortable latching onto wireless networks around the world. The Snap will be launched in two variants – Europeans can expect the Snap to support 900/2100Mhz 3G bands and US customers will see their HTC Snap sporting 850/1900Mhz 3G support.
As part of HTC’s focus on people-centric communications, the HTC Snap features a new “Inner Circle” email manager. The little green-circle key in the lower right corner of the Snap’s QWERTY keypad fires up the “Inner Circle” application. Inner Circle takes your various email accounts and keeps an eye out for emails from previously selected individuals – the people in your “inner circle,” get it? – and collects them all in on convenient email inbox. It helps to think of “Inner Circle” as a customizable smart mailbox for your Windows Mobile smartphone.
About The Author
Will Park
Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...
