HTC has launched the QWERTY-bearing Desire Z in India, priced at Rs. 25,590 (MOP). Launched suspiciously close to the Nokia E7, HTC is extolling the same ‘best of both worlds’ virtue of the Android 2.2 Froyo-based Desire Z, offering users the benefits of both a 3.7-inch touchscreen (no Super LCD for India) and full four-line hardware QWERTY keypad.
The aluminium unibody-encased HTC Desire Z slides open to reveal its keyboard using an innovative ‘pop hinge’ design, responsible for maintaining a still relatively slim 14.2 mm average width. The keyboard interestingly also features two customizable keys. With the hardware keypad and sliding form factor, HTC is clearly aiming at the professional market as well as a social networking one, and interestingly, also includes a unified email inbox.
The Desire Z is powered by an 800MHz Scorpion processor with an Adreno 205 GPU (Qualcomm 7230 chipset), running with 512MB of RAM. It has 1.5GB of inbuilt storage that is expandable to 32GB with a microSD card. The Desire Z’s 5MP autofocus camera is equipped with LED flash, and is capable of 720p HD video recording.
[RELATED_ARTICLE]Other major features include GPS (with A-GPS support), digital compass, stereo FM with RDS, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with DLNA support, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, and, of course, 3G support in the form of HSDPA at 14.4 Mbps, and HSUPA at 5.76 Mbps. The 1300 mAh battery onboard is manufacturer rated to provide up to 430 hours of standby time, and nearly 10 hours of talk time.
Featuring Android 2.2 Froyo skinned with the acclaimed Sense UI, the Desire Z also has access to HTC Locations for their mapping needs, and HTCSense.com for remote access and wiping functions, as well as backup and cloud storage. As reported earlier though, the phone is due to receive an update to Android 2.3 Gingerbread sometime in the second quarter of 2011.
For more details of the HTC Desire Z, refer to our previous coverage of the device, and, stay tuned to thinkdigit.com for our upcoming review.