Okay. So we now have one decent Android phone at Mobile World Congress, but it is very, very much not for the US. Today Vodafone announced the HTC Magic, the follow up to T-Mobile’s G1 Android phone, for the UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy. The Magic will also be for sale in “several other Vodafone markets” over the next few months, the company said. Vodafone does not operate in North America.
The Magic is an all-touch-screen device with no physical keyboard. It has a 3.2″, 320×480 screen, with a track ball similar to the one on the G1. According to HTC, it runs on a 528 Mhz Qualcomm processor, has Wi-Fi, and its 3G radio absolutely, positively does not work at all in North America. Presumably, there’s a software keyboard for inputting data, though oddly, it doesn’t show up in either Vodafone’s or Android’s photo galleries. The phone also has a 3.2 megapixel camera, HSDPA 3G Internet and GPS.
A Vodafone exclusive makes it complicated for this phone to come to the US. Vodafone owns part of Verizon Wireless, but the two companies don’t use the same phone technology.
The HTC Magic will be available in Europe in April. You can learn more about it on Vodafone’s site.
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