HTC Magic Vodafone Android Phone Revealed

 

Vodafone have today officially unveiled their first mobile phone powered by the Google Android operating system.

The HTC Magic as it will be called is the same handset that we’ve been following for a few months now, with many believing that this new model will be the successor to the HTC G1 – the G2.

The Vodafone HTC Magic will be available exclusively to the Vodafone Europe network and it is unlikely to be made available in the US anytime soon.

As you can see from the press photos, the HTC Magic is a purely touchscreen handset. Unlike the G1 the Vodafone Magic does not have a physical keypad and instead relies on the new features developed through the Cupcake Android developer branch.

New features of the Android platform on the HTC Magic include an onscreen keyboard for text entry, and the functionality to capture video footage.

Sadly the HTC Magic does not include a headphone jack and instead uses the same USB/adaptor setup as the G1.

The Vodafone HTC Magic will go on sale first in the UK in April followed by Spain, Germany, France, and Italy later in the year.

Here’s some snippets from the Vodafone press release issued earlier today.

The introduction of the HTC Magic is the result of a successful relationship between Vodafone and HTC, and Vodafone’s joining, late last year, of the Open Handset Alliance.

A tablet-style device, with a sleek design and unprecedented compactness for a smartphone featuring the Android platform, the HTC Magic enables a superior mobile internet experience, providing broad flexibility for personalisation via the application-rich Android Market. Available in white in the UK, Spain and France, black in Germany and in both colours in Italy, the HTC Magic will be for sale in several other Vodafone markets over the next few months.

Available from free on various price plans, the HTC Magic has a 3.2” QVGA touch screen display and features a trackball and navigational buttons for quick, easy access. The HTC Magic includes a variety of email options such as Google Mail™, POP3 and IMAP as well as Google Talk™ for instant messaging.