Touch Viva: the "Opal" materializes as HTC's low-end champion

Billed as an "affordable touch phone with the benefits of HTC's TouchFLO," the Touch Viva picks up where the original Touch left off and move things just a little bit downmarket for the benefit of smartphone lovers in emerging markets. To that end, the screen stays low-end with QVGA resolution, the radio tops out at EDGE speeds, and the camera's a mere 2-megapixel piece -- but by the same token, the Viva hangs onto WiFi, 256MB of ROM, and GPS. It also gets blessed with a tweaked version of TouchFLO that doesn't rely on 3D acceleration found in HTC's higher-end units. It'll be available starting next month for what we can only imagine will be a pretty reasonable price; backup smartphone, anyone?

[Hellaphunt @ Sep 15th 2008 11:45AM]

ZOMFGANGBANG! I'm losing track of what's what with HTC!

[absinthe party @ Sep 15th 2008 11:57AM]

yeah, like.. what is this? htcgadget!?

[Ike Turner @ Sep 15th 2008 11:47AM]

HTC is HunGRy Bitch!

[Mike @ Sep 15th 2008 11:51AM]

Sounds good ... looks a little dull.

[Martijn @ Sep 15th 2008 11:51AM]

Some nice Viva pictures with the screen on;

http://www.newmobile.com/092647/2656/HTC-Touch-HD%2C-Touch-3G-and-Touch-Viva%3B-approaching-offial-announcement-%28update%29.html

[greyscale @ Sep 15th 2008 11:52AM]

Since when are millions and millions of Americans an "emerging market"? Not everyone here can afford to spend $200, $300, $400, $500+ on a phone.

Especially in a GWB economy.

[Erwos @ Sep 15th 2008 12:04PM]

I would presume that this is HTC's first phone to push in the "super-cheap subsidized" market, much like the Centro.

[schmitty338 @ Sep 15th 2008 1:50PM]

"Super cheap subsidized market"???!!! The CDMA HTC Touch (The vogue) has been available for $0 on a 3-year contract here in canada for over 6 months and can easily be had for $99 on a 2-year. How is that not in the aforementioned category?

[Richard Lai @ Sep 15th 2008 12:10PM]

Well, this kind of phone keeps the kids happy.

[substance90 @ Sep 15th 2008 12:14PM]

Americans get "backup smartphones"?! Wow, you guys really do consume too much!

[greyscale @ Sep 15th 2008 12:32PM]

It really is out of control. I know people with 3 or 4 computers at home, all used for a specific task.

I don't know how some people manage to do it all with one box.

[Malikye @ Sep 15th 2008 12:19PM]

if this phone is $300.00 or under, i'm all over it. i can use it when i travel so i don't have to carry my bigger HTC Trinity around when i'm out at a bar or club

[greyscale @ Sep 15th 2008 12:30PM]

Malikye is in the club. With his smartphone for peasants.

Shit is gangster, son.

[Kasey @ Sep 15th 2008 1:07PM]

You can find me in the club
I touch I don't rub
I can use my GPS if I want to find some luv



I embarrass myself sometimes

[Tony C @ Sep 15th 2008 12:39PM]

If the Touch Viva's QVGA screen is "low-end" resolution then why is the upcoming Touch 3G still QVGA too? Just because it comes in a smaller package and has 3D acceleration?

[khamel @ Sep 15th 2008 12:50PM]

this sounds like my kind of phone. i dont want/need 3g (att wont get any extra money out of me if i can stop it) and it has wifi which is really sweet. although if this kind of thin 'low-end' phone could get a keyboard, that the holy grail (for me).

[tuna @ Sep 15th 2008 12:51PM]

FWIW, as soon as you put WM on a device it's automatically low-end. HTC has some fantastic hardware, but in the end it's still hampered by a cumbersome OS. Hopefully future releases of Android will change all that.

[meepzork @ Sep 15th 2008 1:37PM]

????? crap. I was thinking of upgrading my Touch... but I have no clue which model is the upgrade I want. Is there a site thats giving a comparison between all of the new HTC models?
(viva/opal vs diamond vs pro vs touchHD vs yadda yadda)

[Matt @ Sep 15th 2008 2:10PM]

Here's a clue, this is a downgrade from your Touch. The Diamond/Pro are definite upgrades, but the HD looks amazing. If you want a keyboard, get the Pro.

[maxz @ Sep 15th 2008 1:51PM]

Please tell me it has a memory card reader? Please... This would be perfect for me if it did.

[Ron @ Sep 15th 2008 1:59PM]

HTC is on a roll! They've always been my favorite phone manufacturer, ever since the first time
I used a Dash, then the tytn and tytn II. Now I'm using an iPhone 3G but if I was to ever use another smartphone it'd definitely be an HTC.

[JerryA @ Sep 15th 2008 2:11PM]

Also, if you check out xda-dev and ppcgeeks, you'll see that they ripped the touchflo from this device and made it so you can install it on most of the other ones like Titan, Kaiser, Vogue, etc. It's a nice little upgrade.

[Angus Hedger @ Sep 15th 2008 3:03PM]

Yup, it works smoothly, but your going to want more than 64megs of ram, or you will end up running dry.

Still works on my Hermes though :) (Tynt)

Heres one of the main topics on it:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=398173

[TJ @ Sep 15th 2008 5:32PM]

I think HTC's strategy is smart. They are releasing a range of smartphones from entry level to high end. I was going to switch to the iPhone, but think I'll wait and take a look at the Touch HD.

[unL33T @ Sep 15th 2008 8:22PM]

Why is TouchFlo always mentioned as if it matters on these devices? I've been able to have TouchFlo 3D and various other flavours of the same idea for quite awhile on my Mogul and I always end up going back to a simple SPB Pocket Plus with SPB Diary for calendaring and a Today plugin that shows some indicators. The TouchFlo stuff is just eye candy so I don't see what the big deal is with it that it needs to be mentioned with every WM device...

[DaN @ Sep 16th 2008 4:01AM]

Touch Viva doesn't have GPS as mentioned... Its the same specs as the original Touch just with the new TouchFLO and WinMo 6.1.

I still hope they'll be rolling out WinMo 6.1 upgrades to the original Touch...