HTC Magic is a glossy white handset, without doubt a slim and slender object of great beauty. However, white is most definitely not a wallflower’s colour of choice, at least when a handset. Therefore when HTC releases the Magic in a glossy black finish as well, they get the nod of approval – and widen their potential clientele. 

Starting off with the physical attributes, the phone is probably going to launch as a white mobile phone handset first. The model is sleek, with a silver band running around the sides. It has a 3.2 megapixel camera, with no flash. 

The phone will come packaged with Android, so the Internet capabilities are stellar. There is HSDPA/WCDMA of 900/2100 MHz, and up to 2 Mbps uplink and 7.2 Mbps downlink speeds. The GSM, GPRS and EDGE are quad-band, and have speeds up to 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; although these are ideal speeds and altogether dependent on the operator or carrier in question. The connectivity capabilities of the phone include Bluetooth, WiFi and a mini-USB port. There is also a micro-SD expansion slot.

The hard buttons across the bottom of the screen are similar to most of the other Android phones in the market. There is also a trackball with an Enter button. The touch screen is a generous 3.2 inches, with a resolution of 320X480 HVGA. 

The innards of the phone operate on Android as mentioned before. There are three different customizable home screens, which is becoming a standard feature on many of the new designs that have appeared recently. All kinds of applications can be added to the home screens as per preference. The interesting feature about these home screens is the ability to bring up a veritable laundry list of possible applications merely by pressing firmly down upon the screen. Once an application has been added to the home screen, it can be selected by pressing and holding down on the screen. The application can then be moved easily by dragging and dropping, similar to the actions carried out by a mouse attached to a PC. 

The browser has an interesting feature too, where it has an icon in the bottom right corner that allows the user to zoom out. There is a box which the user can drag around to select a portion of the page to view. This works well instead of scrolling around looking for a particular part. The touch screen is incredibly responsive, and there is no visible time lag. 

There is a definite move to integrate all the Google applications, where it is possible to search for something using Maps and then save it as a contact by selecting it. Additionally, there is a notifications bar at the top of the screen, which can be maximised whilst in any applications to view the notifications at once. 

The white phone will be available to the inhabitants of Europe with Vodafone in April. The devices will carry the logo of Vodafone proudly emblazoned across the front. Perhaps the black version will either be an unlocked one, or sold with another carrier elsewhere in the world. That remains to be seen as of now. 

Check out the HTC Magic, here, on the company website.