HTC Imagio (Verizon Wireless) – The best multimedia business purpose smart phone for the Verizon subscriber.

Sum n Substance:

Thumbs Up:

• V Cast Mobile TV and V Cast Multimedia Support
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• Productivity Applications
• Wi-Fi
• GPS, EV Do Rev. A
• Global phone features
• Spacious touch Screen,
• 3.5 mm headset port
• 5 mpg Camera
• Antenna cum kickstand

Thumbs Down:

• MicroSD behind battery cover
• Call quality not smooth

Inside the Trunk:

• Price – $ 269.99
• Band / mode – GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband) / CDMA 800/1900 (Dual Band) / HSDPA 2100
• Digital Camera: Yes
• Operating System: Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional

The Whiz Kid Speaks: Verizon always included high profile multimedia features like the V Cast Video and music features for its high end phones. But the HTC Imagio is the first smartphone to not only include the V Cast video but also the V Cast mobile TV, Verizon Wireless’ pioneering live mobile TV service. The first Windows mobile 6.5 service of the company is also heralded by the HTC Imagio.

Superb multimedia features, this smartphone does have. Apart from the spacious headphone jack and the high resolution camera, you’ll always vouch for the classy touch screen. You even have mount to watch the videos. The QuadBand GSM is a boon for a world class traveler. All at a reasonable price without a premium.

Razzle Dazzle: Well, all that glitters is not gold! This smartphone is a truly worthy phone that does not have a dandy exterior like its counterparts. It’s simply elegant without being excessively showy. The touch screen, smooth edges and tapering edges are classy. The speaker and heavy plastic cover make it look like a formal industrial gadget. Though with a rough and tough built, and a soft-to- touch matte exterior this phone feels good in your hands.  The most impressive part is its spacious touchscreen with its 65,000 hues and 480 X 800 pixel display. The ultra smooth glass surface displays clear and bright pictures. You can toggle the picture from portrait to landscape views when using different utilities like internet applications, and shooting for videos and still photographs.

The Touch Flo and Start Menu (with grid view presentation) are designed for convenient usage. Though a resistive touchscreen, rather than a capacitive one, you’ll not complain about it. It’s convenient to use and is easily responding. The virtual QWERTY keyboard is also very convenient to use. A landscape view of the keyboard will result in fewer typing errors.

The zoom in and zoom out bars really are of great help when you have read text or visit urls given as hyperlinks. However the zooming in action takes sometime. It’s a convenient to use feature. You just slide your finger on the bar and you operate it. The keys are flat and distinctly laid so that there is no cluttering and you also don’t press the wrong keys by mistake. Use the antenna as a kickstand for your ultra mini TV and just enjoy. However the micro SD card slot is located in the rear, behind the battery covert and this is a feature that you may not like much. But you can’t expect everything to perfect right? This seems to be one of the very few snags of the HTC Imagio. I can do with this given the other features that are highly appreciable.  A lot of other multimedia features are also found.

Inside Dope:
Everything about the Imagio seems to be for one’s advantage, be it multimedia or business applications. The information management system and productivity tools are too good. The Direct Push Technology allows you to coordinate your email, calendar and other tasks through the exchange Server. Mobile E Mail for POP3 and IMAP are available.

Windows Marketplace for Mobile, My Phone backup utility, and Mobile Browser are some of the new utilities that the OS brings in. The Imagio is a dual mode smartphone that supports both CDMA and GSM networks which is a welcome feature for world class travelers. However, you cannot swap it with a T-Mobile or AT &T SIM card. Voice and data communication facilities are available world-wide. However, you’ve got to be wary of the roaming charges because in some international areas the roaming charges can be very high.

Advanced Bluetooth features are present. High speed connectivity is always available to you regardless of time and location. When it comes to web browsing, the Opera browser is preferred over the Internet Explorer Mobile 6.0 because it allows for tabbed browsing and has a very interactive interface. Flash Lite inclusion in IE allows you to watch movies online.

Nitty Gritty: The HTC Imagio is a smartphone that comes in with a lot of good features both on the multimedia and business fronts. This is what I call a complete package which has equally good business and multimedia features.

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