There are many reviews out there of the HTC Magic, so I will focus on those aspects that are important to me, i.e. multimedia, podcasting and GPS capabilities.
In a nutshell, here is my impression of the device. Google has designed a very nice mobile OS and I really like the idea of a notification bar. However, the hardware of the HTC Magic is just not beefy enough to deliver the android goodness. If you want more details, read on.
What I really liked:
- The moment I powered on the device, it asked me to sign into my Google account. It then automatically setup my contacts, gmail and calendar. A big plus for sure.
- Three screens of widgets and a wallpaper that stretches across the three screens. If you like desktop widgets, you will certainly like this platform. There are a few built in widgets such as a clock, calendar and weather. Although I did not try, I am sure there are more available in the android marketplace.
- The interface is very laggy, the touch screen keyboard is very hard to use in portrait mode and the bottom edge of the screen seems to be less sensitive than the rest of the screen. This makes typing a really frustrating experience. There is no multi-touch.
- Video playback simply sucks! Although, the specifications say that the device can play mp4 files, most of the ones I tried refused to play. The ones that did play lacked the sharpness and fluidity that is found on the iPods or the Creative portable media players.
- The 3.2 MP camera takes ok still pics. However, the video recorder is just not acceptable. The videos are really low res and the audio is recorded at a really low bit rate.
- There is no built-in support for podcasts. However, there are a number of third party podcatching applications available in the marketplace. The one I tried seemed to be a really capable application. It gave me the option of managing all the podcasts directly from the phone, no need to sync with a computer. However, because of the subpar video playback capabilities, most video podcasts I subscribe to, did not play.
- GPS seemed to have a mind of its own. It would not automatically update the location unless I pressed the 'My Location' button. The locations almost always seemed to be off by a couple of blocks. I tried to use it in downtown Vancouver, North Burnaby and Surrey.
- The device also seems to be very buggy. Applications seemed to be crashing a lot making the device even more sluggish. I found myself occasionally restarting it, so that it would be usable again.
In my opinion, most of the problems associated with the device are really hardware related. Perhaps the HTC Hero, if it is released in Canada, will iron out the kinks. I really would like to see android taking up a fare share of the smartphone market as it seems to be a very capable OS. For now, however, I suppose we are better off with the Blackberry, iPhone or even Windows Mobile.
