HTC Magic review

If the Android operating system is to take over the world, it needs to get a move on -- seven months between handset launches isn't exactly what you'd call flooding the market. That said, the HTC Magic differs considerably from the T-Mobile G1 -- the only other Google Android-based phone available in the UK. Not only does it do away with the G1's physical keyboard but it's also turned up on a different mobile network, with Vodafone bagging the Magic as an exclusive.

Vodafone is offering the Magic for free when you take out a £30 contract with a long, 24-month lock-in period, or you can reduce the lock-in period to 18 months and pay a higher monthly fee of £35.

Design
The Magic is, thankfully, a step up from the G1 in terms of design. It's a slimmer and more compact offering, partly because HTC has done away with the flip-out keyboard. As a result, comparisons with the iPhone are inevitable, and the Magic doesn't come off too badly. With a white or black plastic finish, it doesn't look quite as classy as Apple's handset, but the Magic is more comfortable to hold in your hand, as it's slightly shorter and narrower. This means that the screen is also slightly smaller, but, in truth, this isn't really noticeable when you're using the phone.

We're not sure why HTC has included the trackball -- the high-quality touchscreen makes it redundant

The most significant difference between the Magic and the iPhone as regards design is that the Magic has more buttons positioned below the display. As well as call-answer and hang-up buttons, there are dedicated home, menu, back and search keys. There's also a mini trackball. The trackball is an odd inclusion -- it feels almost as if HTC didn't have the confidence to allow users to rely totally on the touchscreen. In fact, the touchscreen is so good you won't need to use the trackball at all.

We like the fact that the rear of the handset slides off, giving you access to both the removable battery -- take that, Apple -- and the microSD card slot. But HTC gets points knocked off its score card for not including a standard headphone jack. Instead, the supplied headphones connect to the mini-USB port on the bottom of the phone. This means you can't use the phone to listen to music while it's charging or syncing.

Features
The Magic is a quadband handset, so you can use it pretty much anywhere in the world. As it supports HSDPA at speeds of up to 7.2Mbps -- although you're more likely to get a connection of between 1 and 2Mbps when you're on the move -- it's fast to load Web pages, pick up email and display online maps. There's also Wi-Fi support, so you can surf the Web via your broadband connection when you're at home.

The 3.2-megapixel camera is fairly basic and offers only average picture quality

Like the iPhone, the Magic has a capacitive display, which is much more responsive to finger presses than a traditional touchscreen. This is especially important as there's no physical keyboard on the Magic, so all text has to be entered using an on-screen virtual keyboard. This soft keyboard is surprisingly easy to use, and the phone is set by default to vibrate slightly every time you touch a key, giving you extra feedback. You can turn this feature off in the menus, if you like.