HTC has launched its latest and India centric smartphone – HTC Explorer. The phone has been designed especially for the Indian market and is arguable the first time HTC has done so. India is also the first market to get this Smartphone.
The phone is priced attractively at Rs 11,600 and comes with a 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen with 320 x 480 resolution, and is based on the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread, with HTC Sense user interface’s latest 3.5 version sitting on top of it. Besides, it features a 3 Megapixel camera. Indian consumers will enjoy exclusive pre-loaded content and applications including Saavn, Bollywood Hungama, NDTV Cricket, NDTV news, eBuddy XMS, HTC Flashlight, Asphalt Adrenalin, Uno and Cricket Pro.
The phone has very modest specs with just 600 MHz processor, 384 MB RAM and 3.2 megapixel Autofocus camera. However, given the price and HTC’s quality and user interface, it makes a good value for money smartphone. The also comes with several India specific applications.
What makes it all the more attractive is the special offer from Vodafone, which is available to all users of Explorer who buy the device before December 31st 2011. Vodafone will offer double the 3G data compared to plans available to other users. So HTC Explorer totting individuals will get 200 MB data for Rs 100, 1 GB for Rs 375 and 2 GB for Rs 650. The offer will be valid for three months after activation.
Kumar Ranganathan, chief marketing officer of Vodafone India said: “This phone is customised for India, with Indian applications built-in. We are confident of its success in the country”.
Lennard Hoornik who is the president of HTC South Asia is equally confident of the device. He said, “We are pleased to announce this smartphone for India, and we believe that it will get a favourable response from Indian consumers.”
The phone gets all that you expect from a typical Android phone, but all that you get is the latest for instance the EDGE offering 560 Kbps, latest Bluetooth 3.0 version, and WiFi b/g/n. Not that it is the only device to do so, but it certainly one of the cheapest with all this and more.
However, 600 MHz processor and just 384 MB of RAM mean that it will not be the fastest even amongst its peer in this price range, with the norm being 512 MB RAM, and many having 1 GHz processor.