HTC Magic Review

Overall Rating

Pretty much everything, but especially.. the screen, the os, the market

Battery life ( notice it being avoided in the review??? ) is average.. but when you consider what this phone can do, its allowed one faux pas, anyway, who doesn't charge everynight?

Guys n Gals, get ready 'cause Android is here and its here to stay,

Yeah yeah, I know we've already had a look at Google's much talked about mobile O/S on the fabulous G1, but here on the HTC Magic ( exclusive to Vodafone in the UK ) its available in updated format in the form of the Cupcake update ( already available to G1 users to the best of my knowledge).

Not being new to touchphones I was not worried in the slightest about my ability to get to grips with that side of the UI and in any case I would have my usual 'practice' entering contacts .... or would I??? In a word, NO.

To use the fabulous Android Market, more of which later, you are required to have a googlemail account, which is fair enough i suppose. Take the time to enter your contact details ( phone/email/web/postal ) in your googlemail account and then enter your mail address into your phone and it will sync the contacts... easy.. simple, brilliant.

As far as the interface/ui/os are concerned the android platform and the capacitive touchscreen of the Magic are dream partnership. General navigation and web browsing on the handset are a dream, simple taps and swipes of the hand are enough to whizz thru menus/web pages. And as far as text messaging is concerned, have no fears again, especially in Landscape, its simple. Let the phone help and never expect to be quite as fast as a hardware T9 enable keypad and you'll never go far wrong.

And so, to the market, Androids 'app store'.... Where to begin, iplayer, check... MSN, check... compass, check... Navigation, check... all for free. Over 3G, over wifi, over 2G the apps download without a hitch ( tho obviously quickest over wifi, slowest over 2G ). There are apps which let you configure the phone to switch profiles based on location/time. And more being added on a daily basis, Android is JUST starting, given time this is going to be HUGE. If your not convinced have a hunt around on google and there are lists and lists of apps for android.

As for the phones 'other' features, the 3mp camera is acceptable if basic, but in daylight it will take a decent snap while never replacing a dedicated camera, how can it?? the sensor is like a pin head.

The phone is bundled with a 2gig sd card, data cable, charger and soft leather wallet.

To surmise, for too long the mobile phone market has been obsessed with megapixels and such, when in fact, the way forward has been a truly intuitive and open OS, Google have nailed it and then some.