HTC Athena gets previewed and fondled

We'll admit, we're a bit envious of this one, as it seems one lucky soul has got his / her palms around an HTC Athena, and thankfully, hasn't kept it all bottled up. In a rather nice preview of the unit, we find an (expected) 624MHz Intel PXA270 processor, 128MB of RAM, 256MB of Flash ROM, 8GB hard drive, TV-out, five-inch 640 x 480 resolution backlit screen, three-megapixel camera, VGA mode for video telephony, rechargeable Li-ion battery, built-in microphone, GPS receiver, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, USB, and of course, a bevy of communication options including GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, and HSDPA. Yeah, we know you're burning through this text just to find out about the photos, so if you've hung in there this far, be sure to click on through for a few more shots, and hit the read link for even more pictorial delight.

[Thanks, KC]

[Mile @ Jan 25th 2007 1:40PM]

I think I want one.

[applesucksLeo @ Jan 25th 2007 1:45PM]

Stop teasing us...when will we get it here in USA? Or will we get it. The specs. almost seem to good to be true.

[startrekguy @ Jan 25th 2007 2:07PM]

That thing looks huge!!! As if Hermes wasn't huge enough already for a PPC Phone. The previous article photo shots makes it looks smaller somehow than what's here.

I was hoping they keep the same size factor as the HTC Universal or Hermes with all the specs mentioned here. I don't see why that's not doable. Maybe it sucks battery so much that you need a brick of a battery.

[Andrei Vassiliev @ Jan 25th 2007 2:13PM]

Imagine holding that up to the side of your face :)

[george Fisher @ Jan 27th 2007 11:01AM]

I wonder if you can hold it to your ear and talk. Or do you have to use a headset or hands free
I think it will work great with spb full screen keyboard.

[Asad @ Jan 25th 2007 2:14PM]

Here is a thread with all the pictures you could want, http://forum2.mobile-review.com/showthread.php?t=58668

Now will someone throw down an importer or ebay store I can buy it from already? I want to pair this with a jawbone bluetooth headset and piss off my friends waiting for the iPhone.

Not going to lie though, I was considering selling my 100GB Archos AV500 and instead getting an OQO 02 and buying a w900i rather than this + a dedicated PMP. Any suggestions?

[len @ Jan 25th 2007 2:48PM]

An 8 GB hard drive and it won't fit in my pocket? Can you say "iPhone" rip-off?

Oh, wait, this one is already in production. And it has a keyboard. And it does 3G. And you can actually install software on it...

I'm sorry, but if I can't resize pictures with my fingers, that just isn't cool enough for me.

[Stranger @ Jan 25th 2007 2:52PM]

Looks fairly complete - but am I the only one which find a 640*480-resolution a bit low? A 5" screen ain't big but 800*600 should have been much more useful. Still, would love to be able to always carry one of these bad buys with me for those need-google-right-fucking-now moments.

[Lucas @ Jan 25th 2007 3:05PM]

this device has it all. I want to sell my iPaq 6945 and get this NOW!

[Legodude522 @ Jan 25th 2007 3:17PM]

First person to use the term "fondle" with a gadget was Mike Cane when the Palm LifeDrive came out.

[drew @ Jan 25th 2007 5:24PM]

Screw the iphone... what the world needs now is this device on Sprint's network.

[Jonathan B @ Jan 25th 2007 7:18PM]

I'd like to see a comparison of this against the Universal, cause when it's open, it's probably bigger. Oh, and those specs kick ass, finally something that kinda beats the Axim X51v...

[wi @ Jan 25th 2007 9:12PM]

I want something like that with an RJ45 plug and a useful OS, strip out the GSM, EDGE, etc.. That would be so useful over yanking out my notebook to test network connections and lookit traffic.

[Z @ Jan 26th 2007 3:49AM]

The specs on this thing are absolutely fantastic. The only thing I wish it had was a slider keyboard (like what we see on the Sony UX series devices. A tiny detachable keyboard makes no sense. You can't thumbtype with it, which really decreases the usefulness of the Athena, and you can't touch type on it, either. So the keyboard, IMO, is completely useless. Poor implementation there.

But everything else looks fantastic. If HTC had gotten the keyboard implemented correctly, this would have most likely been my next device, but with no usable keyboard, it's a complete deal breaker for me (and will be for a lot of people).

However, I've heard this is going to be very expensive and it's absolutely huge, so I can't say that a lot of people are going to go for it. They'd probably opt for a Sony UX or an OQO and a separate cell phone before buying this.

[PPC @ Jan 26th 2007 5:25PM]

Is this runnig Crossbow or WM5?

[Geert @ Jan 27th 2007 9:56AM]

The specs are awesome, I even think it has everything you could need but it is in no way pocketable.... Personally I would have liked it when HTC could cram it into the package of an HP hx4700 (Number 2 in PDA screen estate with 4") since that device is already pretty great, but could some new nifty features.

Anyway in some way the perfect PDA does not exist and probably never will....