TechyLife.com

Airtel Launched the first Android phone in India : Htc Magic G2

Short after the launch of HTC Magic G2 by Vodafone in Europe, Airtel today surprised the Indian customers by bringing it to us at a somewhat reasonable price range of 26,000INR to 28,000INR. Considering the features and the superior OS – Andorid from Google, the price is perfect. A couple of apps will be bundled along which are customized for Airtel like Hellotunes application which will help you to manage the Hellotune subscriptions.

The phone will not be locked to Airtel as it is done to Iphone. So you can use it with any network. Unlocked Htc Magic phones are available in grey market for around 20,000 INR.  As with all Android phones, it will come preloaded with google applications like google maps, gmail , gtalk , etc. Without a physical keyboard the Magic is perfect design wise. Loaded with G-Sensor and Digtial compass, you can expect a variety of interesting apps being developed for this phone.

Specification as listed in HTC Site :

Here is the press release by Airtel.

•     The Android ™ platform opens up an unique  opportunity to Airtel customers to customize their device with multiple mobile  applications
•     Airtel  customers can avail many utility based applications such as Portfolio Manager,  Hello Tune Manager, Weather Channel, Mobshare, In-mobile search and City Search
•    HTC Magic offers cutting edge innovation with 3G  capabilities, 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen, and 3.2 mega-pixel camera for an  unmatched personalised mobile Web experience
•    Airtel customers to get free data download of 100 MB  per month for 6 months
•    HTC Magic available at Airtel Relationship Centres  and authorised HTC resellers across 17 cities

New Delhi (India), June  23, 2009 : Bharti Airtel, Asia’s  leading integrated telecom services provider, and HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile phone innovation and  design, today announced the launch of India’s First Android™-powered mobile  phone – The HTC Magic.

Airtel has been a  frontrunner in bringing innovative and cutting edge technology to its  customers. The Android™ powered HTC Magic opens new arena for customers and the  developer community to interact in order to bring new applications to  Android-based phones. The introduction of the Android™ platform in India  is a step in this direction where innovation, development and deployment of  mobile applications are encouraged in an ‘open ecosystem’. The Android™  platform not only gives Airtel a faster go to market capability but also helps  to provide more rich & varied service offerings for all Airtel users while creating  commercial viability for small developers/entrepreneurs.

“Airtel has been at the forefront of innovation and customer  delight in the Indian telecom sector. Being the first to bring the Android™  powered HTC Magic to India  further underscores our commitment to enrich the communication experience of  all Airtel users.” said, Raghunath Mandava, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile  Services, Bharti Airtel. Added, “The HTC Magic presents a  powerful mobile internet and multimedia experience that should drive the uptake  of accessing the internet over mobile amongst Airtel users.”

HTC Magic opens up a whole new mobile experience for all Airtel users. A tablet-style device, with a sleek design and extraordinary compactness for a smartphone, the HTC Magic presents a supreme mobile internet and multimedia experience. Enhanced with Outlook synchronization, Smart Dialler, and an onscreen keyboard with predictive text, the HTC Magic is a true entertainment and communication powerhouse. Also, to begin with, Airtel customers can avail many utility based applications such as Portfolio Manager, Hello Tune Manager, Weather Channel, Mobshare, In-mobile search and City Search on the HTC Magic.

Jack Tong, Vice President, HTC Asia, said, “HTC  is proud to partner with Airtel in launching the much-anticipated  Android™-powered HTC Magic in India.  The HTC Magic opens up a whole new world of possibilities for people to enrich  and customise their mobile phone.  HTC  has always been known for its industry firsts and technology advancements, and  is thus a natural partner to Airtel.”

For Airtel customers, HTC Magic also  allows free data download of 100 MB per month for a period of 6 months. The HTC Magic will be available at a market price of  Rs. 29,990/- at Airtel  Relationship Centres and authorised HTC resellers across 17 cities. The cities  include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore,  Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Coimbatore,  Cochin, Ludhiana,  Jalandhar, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar  and Patna.

The  Android™ platform constitutes a complete  set of software for mobile devices: an operating system, middleware and key  mobile applications. Developed by the Open Handset Alliance, a group of 47  technology and mobile companies, Android™ brings Internet-style innovation and  openness to mobile phones and enables developers to create mobile applications  to optimise the functionalities of the mobile phone. Android™ does not  differentiate between the phone’s core applications and third-party  applications, thus providing users with a broad spectrum of applications and  services.

Airtel applications available with HTC Magic

1     Portfolio Manager
Portfolio Manager is Mobile Client application to provide general public a secured and user friendly service platform. Its objective is to facilitate investors in Indian share market to manage their portfolio in a handsome way. Special offer for HTC Magic users – 3 Months subscription waiver

2    Hello Tunes Manager
Hello Tunes Manager will be used by subscribers to search for, buy  and share hello tunes/hello tune albums. You can use Hello Tunes Manager to  send/receive hello tune recommendations from friends, rate hello tunes and much  more. Special offer for HTC Magic – Free Hello Tune downloads for one month.

3    Weather Channel
This application provides detailed weather forecasts for the current day  and next 6 days. Any location of user’s choice can be marked as favorite. The  user can obtain weather forecast for (a) Current location (b) Favorite location  (c) Any other location of choice.

4    Mobshare
MobShare is a Mobile phone picture sharing Application that  enables Immediate, controlled, and organized sharing of mobile pictures, and  the browsing, of the shared Pictures.

5    In-Mobile Search
This application enables the user to search for contacts, image  files, audio files and video files from a single interface. The user can search  any of the above mentioned files starting with the query string entered. It  provides the user to view the image or play the audio / video files without the  use of any external applications.

6    City Search
This application incorporates both location and data call technology,  steering you towards the very best activities that your city has to offer. For  the selected category, the application retrieves appropriate list of options  for any location review. The application provides the full information  (address, contact number and other information) for any selected option. User  also has an option to call the selected option or SMS the info from the  application.

The unique features of HTC Magic
1     Superior support and unbeatable mobile internet  experience
HTC  Magic features a trackball with zoom in/out function. It is also equipped with  fit-the-width rendering, and auto screen rotation for an easier navigation  experience and internet browsing.

2    Providing broad flexibility for personalisation
The HTC Magic has a 3.2” HVGA touch screen display and  features a trackball for easy access and a 3.2 mega-pixel camera. It provides  full fidelity PC browsing experience, where users can expand and personalise  their phone to fit their lifestyle.

3    Simply Better
HTC Magic is enhanced with cool HTC goodies like Smart  Dialler and a versatile on-screen keyboard. Smart Dialler lets you call people  in whatever way you like, by either dialling the phone number or by dialling  the first few letters of the name of the contact. The versatile keyboard helps  to choose the favourite way to type and the predictive text completion helps in  typing much faster.

4    Choose Your Connections
Take your inbox with you wherever you go. HTC Magic allows  Microsoft Exchange server synchronisation for email, calendar and contacts.  Simply put, with HTC Magic, one can always keep the personal and office emails  flowing.