The Android is finally here and it is more human than ever. HTC’s Magic is an attempt from the well known Windows Mobile phone maker to venture into uncharted territory. Magic sports a very unique design-HTC has tried to keep up to the name, with a white body and unusual hardware buttons. The phone comes with a lot of features that simply are not possible with a Windows Mobile OS. More over the phone comes with system scalability which makes the Magic a very formidable player in the PDA phone arena.

For starters, the phone is Magic-ally white and at just 118 Gms could very well float in the pocket. The phone is designed aesthetically and features mostly curves and no edges. Most of the front façade is occupied by the large 3.2 inch screen below which are placed the hardware shortcut buttons and the trackball. The menu key launches a mini options menu which is different from the main menu handled explicitly from the touch screen. The other keys are Home, Back, Search and the call keys. The trackball is placed at the center surrounded by the other keys. The edges of the Magic are bereft of any other controls except for the volume control which is placed at the side and the mini USB at the bottom of the piece.

The screen is another aspect of the magical Magic. The 65 k TFT capacitive screen is bright, perfectly color co ordinate and shows some excellent responses when touched. The Android UI has seen an overhaul and the version 1.5 comes with some fantastic features like widgets and live folders. Live folders get automatically updated with the content they are supposed to have. A preinstalled live folder is "Contacts with numbers". Preinstalled widgets are Clock and music player which can be added with other downloadable ones as needed. Navigation can be through touch or through the trackball which is provided.

The phone comes with a basic 3.2 MP camera that is capable of capturing satisfactory pictures in adequate light. Surprisingly the phone comes without a flash and that is simply unforgivable. Digital zoom and auto focus is provided but fail to impress.

The Android makes a video recoding debut with the Magic, not very impressive but then “everyone falls the first time”.

The ramped up audio player delivers appreciable quality and comes with enhanced icons and features. A cool feature is the search wherein you can hold down on a song title to look it up in Google or YouTube. Play lists and equalizers are all very common features these days.

A single application acts as both video player and photo gallery with support for all major formats. The quality is formidable and the player manages to impress more than the audio player. An external audio jack is however sorely missed.

The Magic features an excellent organizer with a highly customizable calendar and alarm clock. The organizer can be viewed in different modes and events can be added easily.

The browser is the best part of the Magic. The browser is built on the same web kit as that of the Safari and features a clean and user friendly interface. Though flash support is yet to be added, the pages can be surfed easily and efficiently. Multiple pages can be opened simultaneously and switching from one page to another involves cool transition effects.

The phone comes with a Google Maps based navigation system for GPS. Though not voice based, the GPS manages to deliver.

Display: 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touch screen with support for 65K colors.
Dimensions: 113 x 55 x 13.7 mm.
Weight: 118.5gms.
Camera: Main camera – 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, auto focus, video recording.
   Secondary camera – No.
Audio: Media player with support for MP3/WMA/AAC/WAV player.
Video: Video player with support for DivX/XviD/3gp/MPEG4/WMV.
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email and Instant Messaging.
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, mini USB.
Internet: EDGE, GPRS, 3G HSDPA, HSDSC, built in browser.
Games: Built-in and downloadable.
Memory: 512 MB internal with support for microSD.
Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1100 mAh with stand-by time up to 420 hours and talk time up to 7 hours 30 minutes.
Extras:
* Android OS v1.5 Cupcake.
* Accelerometer for auto rotation of the screen.
* Gesture locking allows for setting up a pattern for locking the screen.
* GPS with A-GPS support and Google Maps.
* Digital Compass.
* Widget support.
* Organizer.
* Quick Office for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF.