HTC Magic Review

Introduction:

Last year, HTC released the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, but the second handset to run the OS is also an HTC product. Meet the Magic – a slimmer and QWERTY-less smart phone, running on the Android 1.5 Cupcake OS. It is currently offered in Europe and Canada and is going to be available as the T-Mobile myTouch 3G in the States. We’ve had a chance to spend some time with the HTC Magic from TIM and are excited to share our experience.

The Magic is packaged with a 2GB microSD card, an AC adapter, USB cable, wired stereo headset, and a carrying pouch.  One thing lacking is an adapter for using 3.5mm headphones.  Instead, you have to use miniUSB connector headphones like the ones provided unless you purchase your own adapter.

Design:

The HTC Magic is smaller than the G1 in every way.  It measures 4.45 x 2.19 x .54 inches (113 x 55.56 x 13.65 mm) and weighs in at 4.09 oz (116g) with the 1340mAh battery installed.  It is significantly thinner than the G1, making the G1 rather clunky by comparison.  The Magic’s thinness is possible due to the lack of the hardware QWERTY keyboard.  The Magic is extremely friendly to one-handed operation due to its smaller size and on-screen keyboard – more about the Magic’s keyboard in a bit.




You can compare the HTC Magic with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Other than being thinner and sleeker, the Magic has retained the same button scheme as the G1, more of a requirement of the Android OS than anything else.  Along the bottom, it has chrome-colored Home, Menu, Back, Google Search, Send, and a double-duty End/Power buttons.  A trackball occupies the bottom center and lights up and pulses when a message is received.  A simple, elegant volume rocker button is on the upper left side and a miniUSB port is on the bottom for charging, syncing, and headphones.  The camera is located on the top center of the back, and the phone is rimmed with a strip of satin-finish material for a better grip.



Like the G1, the HTC Magic has a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, making it very finger-friendly and is the main way for navigating around the Android OS.  The screen is bright, crisp and clear and very responsive to touch, like tapping and scrolling with a finger swipe.  The Magic is equipped with an accelerometer, so tilting it sideways will activate a smooth transition from portrait to landscape. Other than the home screen and dialer, screen rotation works in most other areas of the Android OS.

Interface:

As both the G1 and the HTC Magic use the same Android 1.5 OS, they are almost identical when it comes to software. Unlike the HTC Hero, the interface is not personalized and what you see is the naked Android system.




The Keyboard:

Besides the physical size difference, one of the greatest differences between the Magic and the older G1 is the lack of a physical keyboard on the Magic.  The iPhone’s on-screen keyboard is the keyboard by which all other on-screen keyboards are measured, and we’re glad to report that Google has delivered a keyboard experience that is at least on par with the iPhone and, dare we say, is better in some ways.  The keyboard pops up in either portrait or landscape mode when text entry is needed. 

There are two main ways that this keyboard rises above the fray.  First, each press of a key on the Magic’s on-screen QWERTY keyboard delivers haptic feedback, an ever-so-slight vibration for the user.  One of the more difficult things to get accustomed to on a virtual keyboard is the lack of tactile feedback when a key is pressed, and the vibration response, even one as subtle as on the Magic, is very well done.

Secondly, Google does a nice job implementing some on-screen helps when typing.  A preview of the letter you type briefly appears above your finger press so you have a visual verification of what you are typing.  If a different character is needed, just press and hold, then slide your finger across to the character needed to select it.  Also, to further assist the typist who is all-thumbs, the Magic suggests words in a scrolling bar above the keyboard as you type.  Then, just select the proper word and let the Magic correct your misspellings.  It works just like, well, magic.

Typing in either portrait or landscape mode is fairly easy on the Magic.  Landscape mode gives you more room for two-handed typing, and portrait brings the keyboard in closer together for easier one-handed typing.



Camera:

HTC Magic has the same 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera as the G1, along with improved imaging abilities that have come along with Cupcake, now offering video capture and playback.  Media can be shared via email, messaging, and better integration with YouTube for videos and Picasa for sharing photos.  Unfortunately there is no LED flash or any other kind of lighting offered by the Magic, so low-light pictures look dark.  It’s a good idea to have strong lighting for best results.  Outdoor picture results are pretty good, but unfortunately lacking in finer details.





Video recording and playback is as simple as one press of the button, but the quality is merely adequate for a smartphone.  The video is rather jumpy, especially if you pan a little too quickly.  By tapping the screen, a zoom slider appears on the left side of the phone display for zooming in and out of the subject matter when taking photos.  This feature works pretty well and the autofocus manages to keep your picture in focus even when zooming.

HTC Magic sample video at 320x240 pixels resolution

Connectivity:

After using an iPhone, it’s easy to get used to pinching and stretching to zoom in on points of interest on a web page.  With the Magic and Android 1.5, you are left with the same zoom in/out controls as found on the G1, due to the lack of multitouch.  However, there are still some good things to say about the Magic browser experience.  Page rendering is fast and it’s easy to isolate the part of the page you want to view and zoom in or out for the best viewing experience.  The Magic handles bookmarking very well, adding a current page easily or even selecting from a list of most-viewed pages and instantly adding them to your bookmark list.  A history tab is also added to make previous page-viewing and bookmarking easier.



Another added feature of Android 1.5 Cupcake is improved Bluetooth A2DP connectivity with wireless headphone support.  Bluetooth is simple to connect and is very effective with both the stereo headset and traditional Bluetooth headset.  Also, Wi-Fi quickly discovers and connects to new networks and re-connects to previous networks without difficulty.

Unfortunately, the HTC Magic lacks native Microsoft Exchange support.  You can set up your Gmail inbox or any POP3 or IMAP account, but no Exchange out of the box.  Another connectivity disappointment is that there is no easy way to connect to a computer – the Magic will not show up as a USB drive and requires installing drivers and other adjustments. 

Performance:

In our tests, the HTC Magic has excellent call and data connectivity.  It could find and hold the signal and no dropped calls.  The call quality is high with no echo, both callers on either end enjoying clear audio.

Battery life for the HTC Magic is rated for 450 minutes of talk time and up to 420 hours of standby for the GSM version.  Using the phone moderately over the course of several days only required one recharging, so the Magic seems very power efficient.  Obviously, heavy use of data and media result in shorter battery life, but average use should get you through the entire day and into the night before needing a recharge.

Conclusion:

In a nutshell, the HTC Magic offers a slimmer and smaller form factor than the G1 but lacks a QWERTY keyboard. Software wise, they are almost identical (once the G1 is updated to Android 1.5) and there isn’t anything too cool about the Magic. It is a nice phone - it feels nice in the hand, the on-screen keyboard is well-implemented - but we are disappointed that it is lacking the Sense UI that would really give it the “WOW” factor.  We can only hope it will be available as a software update. 



HTC Magic Video Review: