HTC Magic Review (Verdict: A Good Start)
By Simon Sage on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 10:45 AM PST In Android, HTC, Reviews, Rogers
A familiar face on the front of the Magic is the trackball. At first, it seemed a little confusing to have two input styles, but I found the trackball was a great alternative for moving the text cursor precisely as well as picking out web site links buried among a pile of others. (For the record, the web browser on the HTC Magic is superb.) Having to zoom in three or four times to get it by touch is my number one gripes on the iPod Touch’s browser. The worst thing I could say about the trackball is that the sensitivity is awfully low, and having the option to crank it up would be nice.
Sound
The Magic isn’t what you’d call an exceptional phone when it comes to music. App-wise, it’s cool – I rocked imeem Mobile for awhile, which was great for discovering some new tunes, unfortunately, the extUSB jack really puts the screws to anyone with a nice pair of headphones. HTC’s been pushing this two-in-one music/charging format for awhile and from a practical standpoint, it just doesn’t do it for me. The bundled extUSB headphones are passable, but despite having an in-line microphone and volume wheel, there’s no track control beyond pause/play. I would suggest that it would be more useful to package an adapter, but even that is an awkward compromise to force upon buyers.
Headphones aside, the external speaker was excessively tinny. Again, the BlackBerry Bold’ s buxom four-port speakers have spoiled me. They do the trick in a pinch for hands-free phone calls, but your ears, and those of anyone nearby, will thank you for not cranking out the Van Halen on the external speakers.
[...] tight integration with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) services like GMail, GTalk, Maps, and lots more. I just finished a review of the HTC Magic which is coming soon to the US as T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) MyTouch 3G, and was amply impressed.The [...]
[...] Unfortunately, Android doesn’t support Bluetooth file transfers yet. I know, it sucks, was one of my major complaints after using the HTC Magic. [...]
i have been using winmo for last couple of years (o2 xda orbit), and am looking for change. from my perspective, android, lacks the punch.
no synching with exchange server for emails, lack of radio(!), no office document viewer, no bluetooth file exchange … etc etc these are all deal breakers for me.
at the price it’s selling, business features are expected in the device. now i am left with either some blackberry (i dont like storm) or or iphone (i already hv an ipod touch) or some HTC winmo once again.
@Shreyas Kulkarni: Dude!! The phone has all the features what you told are not there !! Check it out the magic now comes with the cupcake update ! you can finally move from Winmob to Powerful Google android! And forget about ifail(iphone)