Vodafone to launch HTC Tattoo in October
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted September 22nd 2009 10:24AM
posted September 22nd 2009 10:24AM
This next item is sure to please HTC fanboys and Anglophiles alike: according to some well-crafted PR, Vodafone has confirmed that it will be launching the HTC Tattoo sometime next month. Indeed, if Android, resistive touchscreen, and FM Radio aren't enough to blow your mind, wait'll you hear this next bit of news: this one is available in black -- a UK exclusive! Maybe not worth moving overseas for, but possibly worth pre-registering for? If you think so, hit the read link and get started.
VODAFONE UK ANNOUNCES EXCLUSIVE HTC TATTOO
Following last week's announcement of the Nokia E72, LG GM750 and Sony Ericsson XPERIA™ X2, Vodafone UK will be ranging another innovative smartphone exclusive. The new Android-powered HTC Tattoo is a smartphone which will keep you entertained and up to date wherever you are.
The HTC Tattoo, available exclusively in black on Vodafone UK, lets you customise your own mobile experience using the latest HTC Sense technology. It delivers lots of the features of the enormously successful HTC Magic at an affordable price, for example, you can create shortcuts to your favourite internet sites, social networks, games, widgets and applications – and there's an amazing opportunity to personalise your phone further with thousands more applications and widgets available for download in the simple to use Android Market. Android also gives you quick and easy access to popular Google services such as Google Maps, Google Mail and Google Search as well as favourites like YouTube.
Take your favourite snaps with the 3.2 megapixel camera with sharp focus, and view them on the HTC Tattoo's high resolution screen or upload them to your social network via the handset's superfast internet connection. And you are able to alter the look of your phone further with the unique covers that you can design yourself and purchase, or simply choose one from popular cover designs available.
Key features of the exclusive black HTC Tattoo include:
Following last week's announcement of the Nokia E72, LG GM750 and Sony Ericsson XPERIA™ X2, Vodafone UK will be ranging another innovative smartphone exclusive. The new Android-powered HTC Tattoo is a smartphone which will keep you entertained and up to date wherever you are.
The HTC Tattoo, available exclusively in black on Vodafone UK, lets you customise your own mobile experience using the latest HTC Sense technology. It delivers lots of the features of the enormously successful HTC Magic at an affordable price, for example, you can create shortcuts to your favourite internet sites, social networks, games, widgets and applications – and there's an amazing opportunity to personalise your phone further with thousands more applications and widgets available for download in the simple to use Android Market. Android also gives you quick and easy access to popular Google services such as Google Maps, Google Mail and Google Search as well as favourites like YouTube.
Take your favourite snaps with the 3.2 megapixel camera with sharp focus, and view them on the HTC Tattoo's high resolution screen or upload them to your social network via the handset's superfast internet connection. And you are able to alter the look of your phone further with the unique covers that you can design yourself and purchase, or simply choose one from popular cover designs available.
Key features of the exclusive black HTC Tattoo include:
- 3.2MP Camera
- Android technology
- FM Radio and MP3 player
- 2.8" Touchscreen
- Unique personalised covers
any idea about it's unlocked price?
Online retailers have been pitching it at about €350. Rumours are putting it at €200, which would tally with other budget Androids like the Pulse. Nothing official yet.
£289.99 from play.com
All Vodafone handsets are unlocked!
You can almost feel the seething hatred when reading the words "resistive touchscreen". Too funny.
I dunno, Engadget raved about the Pulse's screen, and there's every sign that it's resistive too.
Well that just cut all interest I had in the phone...sorry but resistive = crap
I had it on the Touch Pro 1 and I hated it. Completely and absolutely. So much in fact that after trying out a friends iPhone I switched to AT&T within 2 weeks and I haven't looked back at Sprint once.
The only way I'm going back to Sprint despite their lower cost plans is if the iPhone or a phone of equal capability is on it. And no the Pre doesn't count.
I'm liking this "Show Press Release" function. Nice.
As far as the device goes, I'm going to wait and either get this SIM-free or a PAYG T-Mo Pulse, depending on which one has the more effective touchscreen and feels less crappy in the hand. The Pulse is sure to be shoddier, and it's a bit of a brick, but on the other hand there aren't any QVGA compatability questions.
I'm not sure why Voda are pimping an exclusive colour on a device with interchangable faceplates. ;)
I think we are seeing the flexibility of Android coming out more now. The OS can be adjusted to run on lower end phones (maybe even feature phone levels) or be fully flexible to higher end units.
WinMo and S60 was the only other flexible mobile OS that did that before.
All the android phones run on the same crap hardware.
And it actually runs quite well on crap. The newer high end versions ready for 2010 will allow it to do more, but the "crap hardware" is quite capable of creating more feature phone like devices for the masses but allow them some of the nice features of a smartphone OS.
Most people don't need a super fast phone. I think next year we'll see android pop up on a lot of lower powered devices along with Tegra/Snapdragon devices.
This was the whole problem for Windows Mobile. All these manufacturers made their own device with their own specs, took the OS and tailored it, but when it came to developers, they had to deal with different Bluetooth stacks, different screen resolutions, orientations, and touchscreen methods, different Wi-Fi chipsets, different cameras, different hardware buttons, different methods of talking to the hardware, different CPUs and speeds, etc.
In fact, you even get this issue with BlackBerry devices. How many devices has RIM put out with different screen shapes and sizes, causing you to get apps specific for that model?
Suffice to say, I'm an Apple fanboy by design now. I used to be that WinMo boy that just dealt with all these issues described earlier. Granted, there are a few different models of iPhone and iPod touch now, but the compatibility of an app written just once is more guaranteed when the hardware is very similar across the board and the API's are well-designed so it can talk to the GPS or the camera, or the Bluetooth/Wi-Fi, etc.
I can't say for sure about Android, as I never delved into the SDK, but if a developer can write the app just once and have it work on all Android devices, they may have the upper-hand, at least over Windows Mobile.
I don't see it as a problem for WinMo. It's pretty much just like PC OS's.
Many application in WinMo is compatible with newer versions. Hardware specific operations such as cameras don't use WinMo software. It's usually device designed. HTC has their own camera app for the specific device. WinMo doesn't have any camera applications. Pretty much the same thing with GPS. There is a generic GPS driver that apps like GoogleMaps and LiveSearch can easily operate.
Having had four WinMo phones over the last 7 years, I've quite enjoyed the experience. A true tinkerers paradise. Android and potentially WebOS will offer the same fun. Iphone doesn't give that much control to the user unless they jailbreak.......
@BeyondTheTech
Background Applications....and thats it....
@Oinquer: To each his own, I suppose. I originally chastised the iPhone for not multitasking, but as a tech, I'm coincidentally sitting here, deleting applications off people's BlackBerry because they don't know how to close down their games and apps that are running concurrently, then blaming IT that their device has gotten slow as hell and it's always showing the hourglass. I'm content in listening to my iTunes library while surfing or playing a game, but I don't need to steal anymore CPU cycles away to do anything of importance, and most of the time, I'll just remote into my home machine to do any other bidding as necessary. What I would appreciate is a complete suspend mode for iPhone apps, so I'll return exactly where I left off, but the way things are, like AIM having push notifications, and iPod functionality in the background for most apps is good enough for me.
I wish this phone were coming to Sprint or AT&T. I think my younger brother would like it a lot. It's a lot better than that fugly Samsung Instink crap in the earlier thread...
Oh well...they get the bad ass phones overseas. Guess we really can't do anything about that.
Anyone know though if this phone would work on AT&T 3G network?
The reason so many mid featured phones are being released in the UK is price. The recession is NOT over according to the people I talk to in the stores and so top end devices are being discouraged. (Hence, 3MP camera and lack of slide out keyboard.) Everyone but the consumer wins because 6 months down the line, people will desire more features and power. But being stuck in a contract, they will need to flog their Tattoo or other mid range device and then plonk down for the extra sexy do it all device at the end of the 1st QTR of 2010.
Ah, capitalism, heads or tails, you spend.
CDMA version please....ASAP!!!
Summary a bit misleading, beware :
"It delivers lots of the features of the enormously successful HTC Magic"
"Tattoo's high resolution screen"
" thousands more applications and widgets available for download in the simple to use Android Market"
But do not forget its main "weakness" : Tattoo's screen has got half the resolution of the Magic (and other current android phones).
And (for this reason) most current applications won't be available. (Android Market will even automatically filter out them till they are adapted).
I was going to get this when my vodaphone upgrade is due next month, however the screen res is lower than the current android phones, so the old apps wont work unless they are modified for the lower res. HTC magic it is.
What, No Vodafone Ireland?
Well that's shit... :(
it'll be in the emerald isle too...
https://forum.vodafone.ie/index.php?/topic/1065-win-a-htc-tattoo/