Up Close And Personal With The HTC Athena

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.hpc.ru/lib/arts/2281/' target='_blank'>http://www.hpc.ru/lib/arts/2281/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"As mentioned in the article on HTC plans for the current year, H7500 is a peculiar form leading producer Communicators leadership in the mobile world, a imijewoe device, in a sense, the concept.This apparatus is not continuing the Qtek 9000 (Universal), as well as the current odnoclassnikom Communicators. The news was much higher on a combination of factors. First, thanks to the availability of the largest in the history of a 5 "VGA screen together with 8 GB hard disk. Secondly, through unusual form, a multiple Qwerty-claviaturu and impressive size. Thirdly, because of the presence of typical laptop connectors like VGA and TV Out. The standard for the models navorotah and out of the question. That is why HTC is not too napragaacy levels assigned apparatus index X."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/hisham-20070125-htc_x7500_in_hands2.jpg" /><br /><br />We're really getting close to launch time, aren't we! Russian site HPC.ru have gotten a good look at an HTC branded Athena, this time all in black - they also made a LOT of clear pics for everybody to enjoy. I'm liking a lot of the features of this device, with some reservations (Intel PXA270 624MHZ CPU? Why not one of the new Marvell chips?). The real bummer is the price - at that level and given the size of the device, I'd rather put down my cash for a UMPC. Still this is a compelling device, and a very worthy flagship for HTC's own-brand efforts. Link to the halfway decent translation <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hpc.ru%2Flib%2Farts%2F2281%2F&langpair=ru%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools">here</a>.

[virain]

Nice try by HTC to enter UMPC market. But, it's too big for a PPC Phone and has too little to offer compare to UMPC, let's just say OQO O2, with full blown windows Vista. And looking at a price tag, I would go for OQO maybe it's $500 more expensive, but it has much more to offer. If only it had 3G GSM module instead of Sprint EV-DO, As for phone functions, I could use VOIP, same Scype or The one I use on my PC this days Vonage. But that's just me :lol:

[jaytee]

Wow! Forget the O2 Flame! the screen would be huge for artists. love the vga screen! i was looking forward to the clio nxt but when i found out it is win ce i thought forget it. this is perfect for drawing! but i can imagine using spb full screen keyboard lol :lol:

[alese]

I just don't see the actuall use for this. Yes it has great features, but it's size and price are just too much.
You can find a better suited device for less money, for just about anything Athena can do, from Phone to PDA, UMPC, Internet tablet, Multimedia player or even GPS device...

[Silver5]

I am trying to think of how this would be a useful product. It is too big to put in a pocket and carry around. It has no real thumb keyboard...I'd have to peck at the keys one at a time. It is much too expensive for what it is capable of providing. Yet, it has the feature so many of us would LOVE to have on a PORTABLE device!

The Universal was a great start. It was really impressive! I still miss mine. They need to look back at that device, upgrade the radios (GSM...need quadband, EDGE, GPRS, wireless broadbands...for the USA as well), keep the VGA screen, shrink some of the unnecessary excess size, add application buttons, add GPS support, and include a small (one or two line) simple caller ID screen. I know there are people who want more...but these are things that can be done while still making the Universal's form slightly smaller. The idea is to keep it portable...not just add everything in the wishlist...that's what laptops are for.

[zoidberg]

OK, the price is quite high, but here in Germany the HTC will be quite affordable, because T-Mobile will sell the Athena (http://www.insidepda.de/blog/pda-hardware-news/t-mobile-ameo-fuer-unter-500-eur/) with a contract for 499,- EUR. Nevertheless I would NEVER buy such a gadget. If I want more power, I take my small Vaio Subnotebook, if I need a UMTS-PDA, I take the MDA Pro (HTC Universal), which is also too big and too heavy for carrying it everywhere... The Athena (T-Mobile is going to sell it as Ameo) is neither fish nor flesh.

[jlp]

you have to wonder if they know what marketing research is :roll:.

Just looks like they put everything they like and hope it will sell :?.