AT&T confirmed that the HTC Freestyle will debut on February 13th. The feature phone will be the first quick messaging phone to include HTC’s Sense interface. Similar to Samsung’s Touchwiz interface which appears on its smartphone and feature phones, a variant of HTC’s popular Sense UI will grace the user interface of the Freestyle. The HTC Sense experience will provide users with customizable widgets they can use on the homescreen of their phone.
The Freestyle is a feature phone, but its specs blur the line between feature phone and smartphone. It offers the Sense interface, FriendStream application for social networking, and a full HTML browser. It is a Brew MP phone which supports applications written for this cross-carrier mobile application platform. With applications, social networking and a widget interface, it’s as close as you can get to a smartphone without actually purchasing one.
For those interested in the Freestyle, the feature phone will include a 3.2-inch touchscreen display, 3.2 MP Camera with Video Record, MicroSD expansion (up to 32GB), and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The AT&T Freestyle will debut for $99.99 with a two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate. It will be available online and in AT&T stores beginning Feb. 13. The full press release with the launch details is available on the second page.