Review: HTC Magic

Tom on July 04, 2009

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

— Arthur C. Clarke.

The latest Android handset from Taiwanese manufacturer HTC, the Magic, may not fulfil dreams of any wizardry taking place beyond its pebble-like form, but is it sufficiently advanced to satisfy Sir Arthur’s definition?

As a fan of HTC’s developing work with the open-source Google Android platform, I was keen to use the Magic after observing the potential of the first phone produced by HTC using that operating system, the Dream. That phone, while demonstrating what really could be possible in the future by mixing HTC’s excellent skill set with handset design with the power of Android, failed to show any real progress in the user experience field.

Despite this, the Dream, sold as the T-Mobile G1 in the USA and Europe, has been a massive hit with punters who are looking for a capable, reliable alternative to the Apple iPhone. Despite its flaws the nature of the phone won over people looking for that potential and for a future investment.

A year has passed since the G1 hit the US market and six months since the Dream was unveiled here in the Asia-Pacific region. The Magic deletes the popular QWERTY keyboard that featured on the Dream but adds more solid hardware, a better all-round design, and more refined technology to improve the overall experience of the phone.

Hardware design

The Dream was a ‘different’ course of action for HTC – and not just with the inclusion of Android. The sleek designs of handsets of the day, like the original Touch Diamond and Touch Pro, were thrown out and in their place, a wide, matte-black sliding brick of a handset (to be crude) emerged. Practical, yes; aesthetically appealing, perhaps not.

The Magic, however, cures any hurt feelings generated in the HTC-Android fan crowd; the Google operating system camp no longer has to put up with sub-par design. The Magic is beautiful. It sits in one’s hand like a small, rounded white pebble. It is light and sleek and glossy. However, the white colour hides most finger trails around the body.

The crisp and large 3.2-inch screen nearly fills the width of the phone and, when off, the blackness of it somewhat overwhelms the more feminine beauty of the body shape. Turn it on, though, and it is colourful and vibrant. While the screen does not offer the haptic feedback (vibration when touched) of its Windows Mobile sibling, the Touch Diamond2, it is visually satisfying. All portions of the Android system are produced well on-screen and there was no trouble with size limitations.

The front face of the phone is dominated by this display. Below it, are some handy soft keys, though, including the standard Android home, contextual menu, return and search keys, plus two send-end shortcuts. An indented, lit rollerball seperates the two sides.

The border of the phone is nearly clear of obstacles for the hand. A piece of (plastic) brushed silver trim adorns the sides. On the left, a simple, unmarked up-down volume rocker alters the sound level of the phone. The top is similarly devoid of features and the bottom of the phone is interrupted only by the semi-proprietary HTC ExtUSB port, used for charging and syncing. Any standard mini-USB cord can be used but only HTC headphones need apply; there is no 3.5-millimetre port to be found here.

The rear face of the handset is similarly glossy white and features the small Google branding as seen on the Dream, plus an upgraded 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera. Featured here is the only HTC branding on the phone.

In terms of size, the phone is about 90% the size – height and width – of an Apple iPhone 3G S and the same thickness. It is significantly less wide than a BlackBerry Bold, but larger than most consumer Nokia handsets such as the 6210 Navigator.

Software operation

The Magic for Australia, sold and licensed by Vodafone AU, is loaded with a vanilla copy of the Google Android 1.5 “Cupcake” system. This update has substantially increased the stability of the system, and added creature comforts like the on-screen QWERTY keyboard that should have been delivered in the Android 1.0!

The Android system works remarkably well and is fairly easy to adjust to if you are coming from a standard phone. Coming from other smartphones is similarly simple. The Android software layout is pretty well the same as other common mobile OSes such as iPhone OS and the new LG S-Class system; graphical icons, sliding screens, flickable lists. You get the gist.

Operating the core features of the Android system, like the scrolling application selection field and the three home-screen layout, where “gadgets”, like clocks and web-links can be placed systematically, is easy. Android is designed for the consumer in mind; there are few advanced features on this phone, and this is a plus for the kind of person interested in the Magic.

Disappointingly, the Google branding on the phone (which does not appear in countries like Singapore) prevents any Microsoft Exchange support from being added. If you are looking to use a work or school e-mail account which utilises Exchange on this phone, you need not apply.

Similarly, the support for even IMAP4 type e-mail is spotty. My own TB Tech mail server, hosted by Bluehost USA, was rejected for failing to authenticate properly. There is no option to override this and confirm its safety – even though I obviously know that my account is virus free. It stubbornly resists.

Luckily, the Magic redeems itself somewhat by offering a great web browser. It’s no Mobile Safari, but it’s far better than the Opera mini offered on the Touch Diamond2. It is fast, renders quickly and is easy to navigate around.

Large, finger-friendly graphics are the norm in the operating system. Unlike the HTC Windows Mobile builds, there’s no mish-mash of old and new portions to the system. Everything is perfectly designed for easy operation and it delivers. The processor needs to be faster, though, to deliver that iPhone-like immediate reactions!

Those who chide the iPhone for still not featuring application multi-tasking will be satisfied by the Magic, though; Android 1.5 offers much better support for running several applications at once and the handy notification bar, which remains at the top of the screen at all times, can be dragged down to show all new notifications like updates from Twidroid, the excellent Twitter client for Android which I discovered during my evaluation.

Everyday use

The Magic is touted as a smartphone, so it was a severe blow to my impression of the phone that my Bluehost IMAP e-mail was not supported. It was a problem on the Dream and I expected it to be rectified on the Magic. Alas, no. Not having instantaneous access to my work e-mail was a problem at times, but something I could go without for a few hours on end!

Walking down the street and using the Magic was no problem, especially due to its diminished size in comparison to the behemoth HTC Dream. However, the on-screen keyboard offered with Android 1.5 was simply atrocious.

The keyboard was so bad and so inaccurate for double-thumbed mashing that I nearly had to resort to using my Nokia E71 during the evaluation period. Luckily, a pretty good auto-check system is built in for the inevitable mis-typings that you will experience. In two weeks I did not become accurate which is simply unacceptable.

This is the fault of the Android operating system, mostly; but HTC are to blame for not offering better integration with their handset. I have come to expect an iPhone-like typing experience, but clearly this is too much to ask! It was awful to type on this handset. I could perhaps have got used to it with a longer period and it was not as if I could not type. It was just bitterly slow.

Using the web was a much better experience, though. Google Search is built right in, as one would expect from a Google operating system. Handy links to Facebook, eBay, and the like were already included and this was a blast to use such features right out of the box.

The camera is a heinous blow to the credibility of mobile phone cameras of 2009. How dare HTC build in such a disappointing camera that cannot handle any low-light situations whatsoever. The iPhone 3G S can basically serve as a replacement for a point-and-shoot. So say it mildly, the HTC “cannot”.

This phone does not suit me for day-to-day use. It might have, had the e-mail worked. I do hope this is fixed in the future, along with that keyboard!

However this phone is not aimed at BlackBerry-rocking addicts like this journalist. It is aimed at lifestyle-phone enthusiasts who have a GMail account, keep their calendars on Google Calendar, use YouTube all day long and want to navigate their way around with the excellent Google Maps client built in. It’s a half-baked smartphone, but that won’t matter to its owners.

Indistinguishable from magic? The HTC Magic offers no special features, but it delivers well on everyday tasks like web browsing, is designed impeccably, and offers the benefits of the Android system. A great upgrade from the Dream, but, no, it’s not quite there.

That responsibility rests on the shoulders of the HTC Hero!