back to article HTC Smart: A smartphone for the rest of us?

Last week's Mobile World Congress reinforced the trend for smartphone capabilities to migrate down the food chain in to low cost handsets, spreading the mobile internet to wider user bases. Phones like the HTC Smart are leading the way, and the operators are coming up with consumer propositions to match - often involving their …

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  1. Robin Weston

    Holiday Season

    As we're talking O2, I'd be right to assume we're using the proper definition of holiday season, ie Summer, rather than the transatlantic November-Christmas one wouldn't I?

    The answer would help me choose the appropriate icon!

  2. fixit_f
    Thumb Down

    Bit sad really

    "lower end users are more likely to be hooked into operator controlled experiences, since they are less web-savvy" - and they're going to base these handsets on Android. Greedy corporates making money out of stupid people isn't really what LINUX was supposed to be about, was it? So what they're saying is that they can use Android to drive down the initial cost of the handset so that it's within the reach of the unwashed masses, and then offer them premium priced ringtones, wallpapers and games that they could obtain for free elsewhere if they only knew how.

    Still, was only a matter of time before some greedy feckers took an excellent codebase (developed largely for free by people with a sharing mindset in their spare time) and used it to rinse the proles out of their pennies. If I was one of the developers that spent so much free time working on the kernel in it's formative stages I reckon I'd be pretty upset that the fruits of my labour were about to go to the shareholders of big telcos.

    1. paul481

      where can the "less web-savvy" get timely news telcos don't want you to know ?

      For example, if visitors to UK already have an unlocked 3G phone+Wifi or modem, where can they buy a data SIM on monthly PAYG ? You walk into any high street shop, eg Vodaphone, and you are told you MUST buy their USB modem just to get their SIM - and if you don't return to UK within 3 months, you must buy another Modem+SIM, as they will disable the one you 'bought' [in order to fatten their profits and do their bit for landfill and global warming].

      Where is there a non-telco controlled website that points to hardware-free low-cost Data SIM PAYG and similar intelligence on actually using your modems/handsets to the full ?

  3. Torben Mogensen

    Prices

    When you quote prices, please don't quote "prepaid" and "subscription" deals, as these typically hide a large fraction of the real price in inflated usage costs.

  4. Ben Rosenthal

    HTC phones

    if they're not perfect according to release reviews then don't bother, because they don't ever seem to get updates :/

    1. Steve Beesley

      Updates?!

      http://www.xda-developers.com/ - how many updates do you need?

      One of the few positives of WM based handsets is that you can install what you like on them including any iteration of the OS (not to mention Android) rather than being locked into anything.

  5. Stef 2

    Or...

    just buy a nearly-new G1 from a well-known online tat bazarre for around £150.

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