It takes a long time to produce a top end mobile phone, with many months passing from first concept drawings to final production. Any leading manufacturer worth its salt will have a roadmap of handsets projected 6 - 12 months in advance, and that information is jealously guarded to avoid leaking information to rival manufacturers. Occasionally though, certain information does leak out, be it by a mis-placed slide at a presentation or deliberately placed info supplied by the manufacturer themselves to generate internet chatter and interest in forth-coming devices. How the information leaked about the HTC roadmap came about, I'm not too sure, but it does give us a chance to look ahead to devices that will be on the market and in our pockets in 2010.
The devices mentioned are all either Windows Mobile or Android. Of the three Windows Mobile, two we currently know the code name for, the Photon and the Trophy. The third, Tera, has a flip up style keyboard that doesn't look too different to the Nokia N97.
The remaining devices are all powered by Android, and it looks to be a strong line-up. Firstly, we have Buzz, an up market style Tattoo device, with changeable back covers, followed by Tide, a traditional candy bar style handset, with keypad. Will be interesting to see if this type of device really opens Android out to a wider audience. Next we have the Salsa, which has a form factor similar to the Nokia E72, with full QWERTY keyboard, and then the HTC Legend, the upgrade to the Hero. The Legend replaces the trackball found on the Hero with an optical trackpad, and comes with a 5.0 Megapixel camera and large, 3.2 inch display. Rounding off the forthcoming devices is the awesome Bravo, a handset that could break Android into the leading multimedia smartphone section. The Bravo promises HD (720p) video capture, plus 5.0 Megapixel camera with LED flash, a 3.7 inch display, and powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor.
Certainly a promising line-up, which just reinforces the view that next year is going to be all about Android.
11:24 am
I was thinking of buying an HTC Legend. After reading this article, I guess I will buy it as soon as it is out.