HTC announced three new smartphones at Mobile World Congress last month. The flagship One X with a 4.7 inch 720p display, the midrange One S with a 4.3 inch qHD display, and the “low end” One V with a 3.7 inch 800 x 480 pixel display. That last device, the One V, wasn’t exactly complete when it was being demoed. The phone was done, it had all the final components and everything, but it wasn’t loaded with any software when we were in Barcelona. We were literally staring at a blank screen. Kind of a disappointment really, since we wanted to play with what we think will be a device that sells by the truck load. Anyway, today all of that changes thanks to the Canadian website MobileSyrup. They were at an event hosted by Telus, a wireless operator, and they got to play with a working One V. We’re happy to report that it runs Android 4.0.3 and HTC’s latest version of Sense. We don’t know how much the One V will cost when it launches, but there’s been a rumor floating around the internets that Virgin Mobile, an American prepaid wireless operator, is going to sell it for $200. That’s the bargain of the century is you ask us.
If you’re willing to go used, then chances are you could pickup a Samsung Galaxy S II for a fairly good price these days. That might be another option. Amazon has them for around $400. You’d have to make sure that you get the right model though if you want to hop on AT&T’s or T-Mobile’s respective 3G networks. But back to HTC, we fell in love with the Legend when it was announced back in February 2010, so it’s nice to see that same design come back with the One V and up to date specs. The lack of a dual core processor might freak some people out, but we think it’ll be OK.