Verizon’s HTC Razzle puts the ’smart’ in dumbphone
By Will Park on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 12:41 AM PST In BREW, Devices, HTC, Rumors, Verizon
This is the HTC Viva
HTC is known for a lot of things. They know how to make stunning handsets. They are the veritable masters of finger-friendly homescreen UIs – like TouchFLO and Sense. They only manufacture smartphones. That last bit, though, is about to change. HTC has been rumored to be preparing to launch their first non-smartphone (dumbphone) handset this year. And, it seems the HTC Razzle that BGR recently leaked will be hitting Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless in October as the smartphone-maker’s first foray into the mass-market.
According to PocketNow, the HTC Razzle will be a BREW-powered dumbphone featurephone sporting a swivel-out QWERTY keyboard, 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, EVDO connectivity and, wait for it… a touchscreen! The touchscreen featurephone is said to look a lot like the HTC Viva you see pictured above. For a non-smartphone, the HTC Razzle’s feature-set fits the bill quite nicely – the touchscreen is a nice, uh, touch.
If previous rumors prove accurate, the HTC Razzle will use the BREW OS to power a custom-made UI that’s supposed to be something of a TouchFLO-Sense mash-up. And, considering that both the TouchFLO and Sense UIs are the cat’s meow for their respective platforms, the HTC Razzle should take the mass market by storm.
All eyes are on Verizon to deliver HTC’s Razzle as the Blitz 2 in October!
[Via: PocketNow]
Anyone have any experience with the Brew OS? Do you like it? Pros & cons?
BREW is what all Verizon dumbphones run, down to little flip phones.
There are hundreds of tiny apps for it, but none that natively use a touchscreen.
This phone could be good for my wife. Simple, hopefully unbreakable OS, but with little features like weather.