Wednesday, March 31, 2010

HTC SMART Review: Cheap smartphone with Brew mobile platform

HTC SMART is latest launch by HTC mobiles in entry segment of smart phones. HTC Smart is based on BREW platform with dashing and stylish looks. HTC is most famous brand for its Windows mobile platform smart phones but this time they launched a BREW Platform mobile. So lets review HTC Smart and have a look on official specifications.


Now lets review HTC Smart by feature --


Design and construction
Dashing and stylish .. :) .. Yes HTC smart is a very slim and smart phone by HTC. Mobile front face has a 2.8 inch QVGA TFT color screen. You will get 3.5 headphone Jack on TOP and mini USB at bottom. On the back 3 MP camera with a small LED give mobile a style statement.

Operating Platform
HTC Smart works on Qualcomm BREW(Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) platform. Well BREW is not as popular as Symbian or windows mobile , but still considered to be a light weight and fast platform. Although softwares like opera are available for BREW, but I don’t see any big software compatibility list for BREW. Anyway Huge compatible list of Java applications is available.

Camera
HTC Smart camera is just a mobile camera for fun.. without any special feature. It offers a fixed focus camera, which is only good for some casual shots.

Music and Radio
HTC Smart can play Stereo FM radio with RDS and music formats like MP3/eAAC+/WAV/WMA9 player. Sound quality is normal, but I think they should have designed the speaker location in such a way if I place phone on table speaker sound shouldn`t face any direct interference.

Touch interface is very handy and easy to use in music player. A 3.5mm Headphone jack is always an advantage.

Video playback
As we have already discussed HTC Smart is a entry segment mobile in smart phone series. HTC Smart supports MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV9 player.. No DivX support.

Sensors
HTC Smart is a fully touch screen mobile phone with Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate. Gaming is always a fun on these phones.

Smart ZOOM feature
Unique smart zoom, which enlarges and reflows the text for your reading pleasure with just a double tap on the screen.

Thread Type messaging
HTC Smart offers thread type messaging. This gives a new exciting look to your message inbox.

No GPS (Global Positioning System)
HTC Smart is not smart enough to guide your way in journey. To reduce cost of the mobile phone HTC has not provided inbuilt GPS hardware in the phone. But I think if you want to use GPS navigation then Bluetooth based GPS equipment will be a good option for you.

Social Networking and Email
HTC smart has inbuilt application to connect with Facebook and there’s a single view of all your communications, be it email, text, or a Facebook update with any one of your contacts. Email client support push mails.

Network Type (2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900)
(3G Network HSDPA 2100) 3G, only work in ASIA and Europe

Specs
Size & weight (104 x 55 x 12.8 mm 108 gm)
Display (TFT touchscreen, 256K colors, 240 x 320 pixels, 2.8 inches)
Internal Memory (256 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM)
Card slot (microSD (TransFlash) up to 16GB)

Data & Connectivity
Class 10,32 - 48 kbps, EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps
No WLAN
No Infrared port
Bluetooth (Yes v2.0 with A2DP)
USB (Yes, miniUSB v2.0)
HTML Browser

No inbuilt GPS

Camera (3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, LED flash with Video) (Fix Focus Camera)

Core
Operating System (Brew Mobile)
Java Compatible MIDP 2.1
CPU (300 MHz processor)
Memory(256 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM)

Multimedia
Radio(Stereo FM radio with RDS)
MP3/eAAC+/WAV/WMA9 player
MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV9 player
3.5 mm audio jack

Messaging (SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, IM)

Battery Performance
Battery (Standard battery, Li-Ion 1100 mAh)
Stand-by time (Up to 450h in 2G/ Up to 600h in 3G)
Talk time (Up to 7h 30 min in 2G/Up to 6h 10 min in 3G)

Others
Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
Phonebook Memory 1000 entries, Photocall
Games Yes
Organizer,Voice memo,T9

===========================================

Price

INDIA -- 9900 INR with Airtel connection
Europe -- 180 - 200 Euro

Final Words
Overall HTC Smart is a entry segment smart phone from HTC. After reviewing the mobile I wonder why this is a smart phone. In my opinion smart phone is a phone which provides you almost all type of facilities either by inbuilt applications or through external application. If HTC would have provided windows platform then it would be better as the Samsung has provided in Samsung C6625 with almost same price tag.

Overall this phone is good for people fond of HTC brand and want a stylish but not so smart phone in average budget.

29 comments:

  1. what do you mean by fixed focus

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  2. it means its not autofocus

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fixes focus means that once you set focus in Video mode throughout the recording .. so Auto focus is always recommended

    ReplyDelete
  4. So what bad is samsung corby M5650 ?
    Same specs, actually better they have got wi-lan 3.2 mpics, good sound, and its a good touch flow asa soft as iphone and that to @ Rs.8900

    ReplyDelete
  5. THIS FONE SUCKS BIGTIME.
    NO call management...no wifi...no fm or voice recording...no inbox outbox in sms...ONLY ONE RINGTONE FOR ALL CALLERS !!...NO ACCELEROMETER(REVIEW HERE IS WRONG).

    NO EQUALIZERS IN MUSIC PALYER, STUPID SOFTWArE.

    LIST GOES ON......

    ReplyDelete
  6. Is it possible to install skype on HTC smart?

    ReplyDelete
  7. check for any Java application for messaging... but no regular skype for HTC smart BREW platform

    ReplyDelete
  8. please someone tell me how to install java applications in this phone.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Though i am a big fan of HTC phones but still. HTC Smart + The Brew platform is really a joke. BREW is the kind of brew that provides you with a major hangover and stomachache over spending money on it.

    My Girlfriend has her new HTC Smart for about 4 weeks now and it is not a phone to be excited about at all, though the first impression might trick you as well into picking this handset. The battery time is nowhere near the what HTC tells you in their specs list. Though the phone got a replacement battery already (provided for free after an inspection by the htc service center),it doesn't last any longer than a day. And i am not talking about excessive usage of all phone functions, but basic phone function only (no 3g data auto update/ bluetooth/ etc enabled). the battery is almost completly depleted at the end of the day and needs to be recharged overnight. so far my girlfriend overslept 2 times already due to fact that her alarm on the phone didn't go off.

    In Terms of the phone and the UI itself one can say that it really feels a bit like window shopping. you can see all the nice things you could get on a android phone and then reality strikes and you realize that though your brew phone kind of looks and feels the same its just not the same.
    Regarding the options of personalizing your brew phone with apps you will be seriously disappointed. except for a very restricted HTC Sync software you will hardly be able to find anything like an app store (neither from htc nor 3rd party pages). Surfing the net in order to find some answers about brew and apps to add left me with even more disappointment.No official apps,no work arounds,no developers (unless you pay $400 to get the apps development package with a digital signature / . ),no nothing. According to several forums the whole brew system is so protected against any sort of alteration that in the worst case the phone will just shutdown for "safety" reasons in case not properly digital signed software is detected.

    The BREW platform can be best discribed by making use of the F-word in every possible way.

    Next step: get rid of the Brew phone and replace it with either an android or and iphone asap.

    I hope this review helps to prevent others fromgetting the BREW-hangover as well,
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  10. can any one tell how can I activate accelerometer sensor? Does this phone has this feature????ans me now........

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  11. i plan to buy htc smart phine this ,, i want install nimbuz and some other application is it possible in this mobile

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  12. I have a similar bad experience with HTC Smart. Its like a different planet phone, there is no apps available. Not support in open source community. HTC has done wrong choice to have Brew on their device. It finally chokes the end user for getting any 3rd party applications like browser, music player etc.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Never buy this worst phone. I purchased this phone one week ago and feel cheated.
    Yhe battery back up is worst. If the phone kept idle for 2 hours, the battery charge goes exhausted. It is being impossible to attend calls or to make calls for irritating battery. I think, the battery for cheap chinese phone is superior to this.

    It frequently hangs. Everyday I have to pull out the battery and insert it again. It is my daily duty.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The phones battery is a big Joke. It has to be attched with the socket all the time. Better call it a land phone

    ReplyDelete
  15. benggong....bukan htc smart kalau mcmk ni....harap kan design je lawo...

    ReplyDelete
  16. smart phone is waste do not get anybodies waste money and waste time

    ReplyDelete
  17. I used to have Nokia N81, it was working great for me. And now I have HTC smart F3188, I feel so disappointed using it with no Wifi, no Skype nor Fring, no sound recorder, no picture edit...it has almost nothing special than a normal phone :(

    ReplyDelete
  18. HTC smart F3188 is just a Very very basic n nomal phone.

    ReplyDelete
  19. for me, it just a nomal basic phone with HTC logo.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Yes you are right HTC Smart is based on BREW platform but Samsung The C6625 is a traditional candy bar smartphone with a Qwerty keyboard below the screen is based on window platform with but The main limitations of this are that you can't create Microsoft Office documents from scratch, just edit and save them, and you can't run Opera Mobile, just Mini.

    ReplyDelete
  21. iam big fan 2 htc,,,, but dis is very dabbbbbaaa mobile, pls dnt take anybody,,,, no volume,,,ooops errorr,,,,,softwer problems,,, pls friends ,, save 7500rs and ''''

    ARAVIND
    BANGALORE,,,

    ReplyDelete
  22. very bad phone i have ever used before. It hangs frequently. Very slow by its performance. Worst phone of Htc. Htc is actually losing its brand name.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mine too. it hangs frequently too. everytime i need to make emergency calls/ rush calls i need to wait for 10secs for it to resume.

      Delete
  23. THIS PHONE IS REALLY BAD!! i wasted my money on this junk. Ajay was right... no wifi...no fm etc..

    Dont purchase this phone... its realy not worth it.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I wish I had seen all these comments before I purchased this phone. I bought one for myself and one for my fiancee. Now I'm regretting my choices.

    HTC Smart, pls how can I edit and save Microsoft word document when I cant even open it at all on the phone?

    Where can I find PDF viewer application that will work with it. Atleast I should be able to open my attached files from my email. I have spent the whole night online trying to do this. I'm tired and sad now. Pls I need your suggestion.

    ReplyDelete
  25. worst product by htc........

    ReplyDelete

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