Hey Android lovers! As a fellow Android lover I realize that it sometimes gets hard to choose the right phone, so I will be “rounding up” a few devices worth mentioning to help you out, but be warned! My motto is “If it ain’t HTC, it ain’t for me.” We’ll start with some popular lightweight devices, when I say “lightweight”, I ‘m talking about POWER and not actual weight. The power scale is as follows:
- Scale 0 = Less than 600MHz Speed
- Scale 1 = 600 MHz – 1GHz
- Scale 2 = 1GHz – 2GHz
- Scale 3 = Dual Core
*Scale is from slowest speed to fastest*
We’ll skip Scale 0 because I really wouldn’t wish such a phone on anyone, but if you’re curious, the T-Mobile G1 and MyTouch are in this bracket with a few modern devices such as the HTC Wildfire. Let the list begin!
HTC MyTouch 3G Slide
T-Mobile’s first flagship Android Sense Phone equipped with a custom version of HTC Sense dubbed Espresso. Espresso Sense is a Sense 2.0 variant and has since been released on its successors the MyTouch 4G and MyTouch 4G Slide. The MyTouch’s low memory and 600MHz (total speed) processor set to 528MHz were actually unsuited for the bulky GUI which makes this phone a bit of a bust, but if rooted and flashed with a lighter ROM the phone can become a speed demon!
HTC Evo Shift
The Evo Shift is a lighter, and in my opinion, more intuitive version of its older brother the HTC Evo. Being a keyboard fan I can say this was a clever move for Sprint, although you get the keyboard at the cost of a smaller screen and a 200MHz slower processor, but a pretty fair trade if you ask me. The Evo Shift rocks out at 800MHz on stock HTC Sense 2.0.
HTC G2
One of my personal favorites, the second T-Mobile USA branded HTC phone to ship WITHOUT HTC Sense (G1 was the first). While its European counterpart the HTC Vision shipped WITH HTC Sense, T-Mobile USA customers were forced to deal with stock Android 2.3 at launch. At the time I felt cheated, but in retrospect is was a great decision by the carrier. The 800MHz processor, plus a Sense ROM would mean a slow, laggy interface and a maximum battery time of about 6 hours for a light user.
My HTC G2 is overclocked at 1.5GHz and after all of my crusades for root access and Sense ROMs, I’ve reverted to normal Android ROMs. The overclock plus regular Android software nets me a whopping 8 hours of battery! …OK that’s not impressive at all, but it’s a work day. Like most phones, this one could do with a better capacity battery.
HTC Cha Cha
The form factor of this device is very out of the ordinary for HTC, but still a very clever thought. The modest frame and relatively small touchscreen powered by an 800MHz process could yield superb battery life and speed. While I’ve never used this phone I would imagine that it would knock a blackberry user’s socks off. Cheers to those who can deal with a small screen, I for one cannot.
HTC Shift
This is an older HTC device built to be more of a mobile PC than a phone. It has an 800MHz processor and runs a mobile version of Windows Vista. The device never got much consumer press though; after all….who would buy this? Either way it is a very powerful feature filled device, a fully functional mobile OS on a device this small was unheard of at the time. I say it’s a testament to HTC impeccable knack for design.
Take your pick here ladies and gentleman, HTC’s got phones of all flavors. These Scale 1 phones will offer you a decent experience without any changes or tweaks to the phone, happy hunting!
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Alton Brown is a freelance writer who has contributed to many articles to both the Music and Mobile Tech communities the web. You can follow him on Twitter.
