FCC outs HTC Dream's dimensions: it's smaller than the iPhone 3G

Attempts to keep the most hotly anticipated consumer electronics devices under wraps these days are getting more and more futile. It's hard enough for companies to control disgruntled employees and leaks in the international supply chain, stir in a giant government organization and things quickly unravel. Case in point: T-Mobile's HTC Dream, widely believed to be the world's first Android handset. After Engadget loosed the Dream from its FCC constraints on the 18th of August, HTC contacted the agency on the 19th with a request to use a less detailed diagram for the FCC label placement. Fortunately for us they complied, giving us what can only be construed as official measurements in the process. The newly unveiled 115 x 55-mm dimensions tell us that it beats the iPhone 3G in terms of length and width but is almost certainly thicker than the iPhone due to the Dream's sliding QWERTY. The tiny dimensions come as a surprise if you've seen the videos of the purported Dream and Dream reference design. So small, yeah, but it's still longer and wider than both the Xperia X1 and HTC's own Touch Pro QWERTY handsets.

Here's how the smartphones compare:

• HTC Dream: 115 x 55-mm
• iPhone 3G: 115.2-mm x 62.1-mm
• Xperia X1: 110.5 x 52.6-mm
• HTC Touch Pro: 102 x 51-mm

Image of HTC's label exchange request after the break.

[Thanks, OC]

[Yay. @ Aug 25th 2008 3:55AM]

I never liked Doom.

[Adam @ Aug 25th 2008 3:59AM]

What?

[gad get @ Aug 25th 2008 4:49AM]

"But will it play Doom?"

"I never liked Doom."

See, it's just a preemptive comeback.

[GeorgeSinclair @ Aug 25th 2008 7:27AM]

Well by that logic:
"Why would you blend it? I won't play Crysis anyways, I refuse to bite its shiny metal ass, I too, bow to our new robotic overlords, of course its a lie, and yes, that IS what she said."

[Macca @ Aug 25th 2008 8:07AM]

Does it play do-

Dang, he got in before meh.

[OneLove @ Aug 25th 2008 12:05PM]

its not the size that matters.

[TheMagnificen7 @ Aug 25th 2008 4:00AM]

And this is why Apple decided to out the iPhone before it went through the FCC, so that Jobs could show it off first. That and to build crazy amounts of buzz over the months leading up to the actual release. Clever bastards. Suck me into buying their stuff will they? *Shakes fist (while browsing the App Store)*

[msalivar @ Aug 25th 2008 4:06AM]

"Suck me into buying their stuff will they?"

Clearly you aren't very smart, you should take the honorable way out.

[TheMagnificen7 @ Aug 25th 2008 4:47AM]

I could make the exact same argument, saying that intelligent people are influenced by Apple. There will be no 'honorable way out.' And when I do go out, I'll go in style.

[nxtiak @ Aug 25th 2008 4:20AM]

I can't wait for this. If the rumored prices are true, I'd be a very happy man. Go T-Mobile!

[white_ultras @ Aug 25th 2008 6:29AM]

Is it partly American product like iPhone?

[BluesK1d @ Aug 25th 2008 11:18AM]

@white_ultras
Why, yes it is. How about you attempt to do without our other lame American devices like AND/Intel CPUs and ATI/nVidia GPUs

[imgroupie @ Aug 25th 2008 4:28AM]

omg Those 4 smartphones are the gods among smartphones. in fact they are superphones.

this is getting sweeter and sweeter everyday. a battle 2 the death it shall be..
go htc dream! wooh!

[loosely_coupled @ Aug 25th 2008 4:37AM]

"gods among smartphones. in fact they are superphones."

You are kidding, right? I don't care how great the screen resolution/contrast/size/keyboard/call quality/etc is, if it is running the abomination that is Windows Mobile, then it is definitely NOT a "superphone". The iPhone is as close as it gets, although it still fails until it has native MMS and video recording! Android is looking good, but we'll have to see how this phone turns out.

HINT FOR ALL SMARTPHONE MANUFACTURERS: QUIT USING SHODDY TOUCHSCREENS! HIGH-QUALITY CAPACITIVE ONLY!

[deyanimay @ Aug 25th 2008 5:29AM]

The other 3 phones are all HTC.

[Heath Stahl @ Aug 25th 2008 10:31AM]

@ deyanimay

Sony-Ericson would beg to differ on all of them being HTC phones.

[BluesK1d @ Aug 25th 2008 11:20AM]

@eath Stahl
Actually, no they wouldn't since they paid HTC for the Xperia X1

[El Taco @ Aug 25th 2008 2:11PM]

Xperia1 was designed by HTC but is made by Sony Ericsson

[TareX @ Aug 25th 2008 5:57PM]

Nope, Xperia X1 was designed by SE but built by HTC.

The other way around.

[heshmati4 @ Aug 25th 2008 4:34AM]

Aw Man!

That means it has a smaller screen than the iphone (3.5in)

[Rishone @ Aug 25th 2008 4:40AM]

It isn't HTC Dream anymore. its my Dream Phone!

[peestandingup @ Aug 25th 2008 5:54AM]

HTC/T-Mobile just needs to go ahead & unveil this thing. Between the videos & FCC stuff, cats pretty much outta the bag already.

[imgroupie @ Aug 25th 2008 7:04AM]

hey loosely_coupled.

i agree winmo will do shit even with great hardware.
iphone, good os , not great hardware
all ya need is the best hardware with the best os
android and these "GODS" will be the next best thing.

[gm76 @ Aug 25th 2008 11:32AM]

Why is the iPhone's a good OS when apps bought from the app store crash it, and imposes a one running app at a time restriction?

[resource @ Aug 25th 2008 7:35AM]

How big is the screen!?

[TareX @ Aug 25th 2008 8:13AM]

Amazing news.... This is absolutely great and unexpected... specifically for these reasons:

1) The huge ugly white device in the Vader video is definitely NOT the HTC Dream. Thank God. It makes a great prototype design, nonetheless.
2) I always thought the iPhone was a tad too wide.
3) The rumored 3" X 5" dimensions make a really big device... maybe unpocketable if also thick.

However, with the reduced width, The screen will definitely not be as big as the iPhone's (because the iPhone has a flush screen). This is the only not-so-good news. At least it will TILT.... right? right?

There was a very old Dream prototype which is close to the Vader prototype... the way the screen tilted was beautiful. If it tilts then it will definitely beat the iPhone's screen even if it was a bit smaller.

Here's the tilting Dream old prototype I'm talking about:
http://www.devicepedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/googlephone_htc_dream.jpg

[gm76 @ Aug 25th 2008 11:32AM]

The O2 Xda Flame's dimensions is a shy away from 3x5" and it is definitely pocketable. It also has a bigger screen than the iPhone (same screen height but wider)

[Tao @ Aug 25th 2008 8:29AM]

I thought we lived in a three dimensional world. Why in the world do they just measure two dimensions?

[hitsthings @ Aug 25th 2008 9:12AM]

It "beats" the iPhone in length and width? But not in depth?

So... the screen is smaller and it's fatter. And that's better?

[Big Al @ Aug 25th 2008 9:46AM]

I was about to post the same thing... beat me to it :)

[TareX @ Aug 25th 2008 10:16AM]

It's relatively "fatter", because it has a qwerty. It won't be "Touch Pro fat".

The qwerty is very important if you are serious about an internet geared device. With potential blogging, chatting and thread responds. If that makes the device a bit fatter then no problem. The iPhone is already a skinny device, it's natural for other superphones to not be as slim, esp if they'll feature a qwerty keyboard.

It's good news because the dream was rumored to be 3"X5"... which is a bit too big.

[ALLurGroceries @ Aug 25th 2008 5:49PM]

@Big Al - You seem to have ganked my icon. GIVE ME ALL YOUR GROCERIES!

[Abuzar Baloach @ Aug 25th 2008 7:48PM]

Funny thing is, to most people it's more important how "fat" it is then how much width or height it has.

[Heath @ Aug 25th 2008 10:21AM]

That title is totally misleading considering the depth is not specified. How can you say the dream is smaller if you don't know it's depth?

Really bad engadget reporting strikes again. 3rd time in about 3 days.

[BluesK1d @ Aug 25th 2008 11:22AM]

"...but is almost certainly thicker than the iPhone due to the Dream's sliding QWERTY."

Read much?

[Heath @ Aug 25th 2008 1:24PM]

@BluesK1d

thanks for proving my point. the depth is not specified (as i originally stated). so please tell me, how can you say a phone is "smaller than the iphone 3G" when it's depth will likely be 2x that of an iphone. go break out your geometry books and let me know when you figure that one out. for the record, i plan to buy the diamond and do not own an iphone.

i read plenty. but i question whether you think much.

[FllyZR4 @ Aug 25th 2008 11:41AM]

People.... Do you seriously thing Google will get this right of the bat on the first swing?!?!? Chill... wait for a while before jumping on this boat. WM and Iphone haven´t gotten it right yet .... Google won´t either.

[Joel Stephen @ Aug 25th 2008 11:52AM]

I'm thinking the screen will be smaller as well bu correct me if I'm wrong but the iphone screen is not a widescreen. what if this is a widescreen? I'm not sure since I dont know its resolution, but I wonder.

[TareX @ Aug 25th 2008 12:07PM]

You're right, and almost certainly the HTC Dream will have a widescreen. It's more rectangular than the Xperia X1, which has a widescreen.

If you think about it, when watching a movie on the iPhone, you either have a huge upper and lower screen border blacked out, or you double-click and have movie cropped out from both sides. So in reality, the HTC Dream may just happen to have a bigger screen for watching widescreen movies.

Add that to a possible tilting capability...

[JimDab @ Aug 25th 2008 3:06PM]

Did anyone notice the dimentions of the label are wrong? They got the length and the width mixed up I think.

[Tony @ Aug 25th 2008 5:06PM]

damn, HTC needs to think about the golden rule when they design. Ipod sticks to it when they design, I'd rather have the Dream be 115 by 62 rather then 115 by 55

[Virtuous @ Aug 26th 2008 1:07AM]

After using my iPhone for several months I would have difficulty using a phone with a smaller screen. If the Dream can fit a screen the same size and resolution as the iPhone's in a smaller body, HTC would be on to something. I find the screens of most smartphones to be much too small.