HTC Touch Viva boasts TouchFLO on the cheap
While phones, gadgets, laptops, mp3 players and other gadgets are lots of fun to play with, their price tags certainly are the least appealing aspect, especially considering the condition of today’s market. HTC now has an affordable alternative touchscreen mobile handset for those of you who refuse to sacrifice your lunch money to own the latest and the greatest.
HTC’s latest “low-end” handset, once called the Opal and now being tagged “Viva,” offers most of the perks one might expect from the handset manufacturer, but with a serious weight reduction in the price tag area. Unfortunately HTC isn’t simply offering Touch Diamond, Touch HD, or Touch Pro functionality in a pebble-like shell; the new handset isn’t quite as impressive as its other Touch siblings, according to Engadget Mobile.
The HTC Touch Viva will have a mediocre 2.0-megapixel camera, EDGE data speeds (mind you, in a time where most handsets emerging boast 3G), Wi-Fi, GPS and 256 Mb ROM. Because it isn’t a powerhouse, the Viva won’t have TouchFLO 3D like most other new HTC handsets; however, HTC has reworked the TouchFLO 3D GUI to run on the Viva’s inferior hardware, so buyers will still be able to enjoy TouchFLO on top of Windows Mobile.
There isn’t any word yet as to what carriers will be adopting this handset, but I have suspicions that it will be a very appealing handset for those customers interested in breaking into the touchscreen arena without shelling out large piles of cash. For that reason, I can see many carriers picking up the handset in hopes of seducing customers to the dark side of high-end touchscreen handsets.
There is 3G version of the classic Touch (which is what the Viva is replacing) that you can find on HTC’s website; aside from being slightly larger, 3G data speeds are certainly appealing, though there is similarly no information as to what carriers will be offering this handset either.
So if you’re interested in playing around with the sexy TouchFLO interface, you can do so at some point, probably next month, for a reasonable price. Just don’t come whining to me when your friends rub 3G goodness in your face while you weep for the sadness that is EDGE data.
Related Posts:
