Month after month, HTC throws in a wide range of Pocket PCs and Smartphones on the market in the hope of overwhelming its rivals (e.g. Eten, Palm, HP). Regardless the fact that HTC has already won the fight, I still think that the newcomers on the market like Asus, Gigabyte and even I-mate will make it hard for HTC to maintain its number 1 spot as a Pocket PC manufacturer. The Taiwanese company seems to develop a flawless market strategy which pursues a single goal that has become nearly an obsession - “the offerings of many models for as many targets as possible”. Furthermore, starting with the X7500 Advantage, HTC takes on a new adventure that will ultimately make it stand out as an UMPC manufacturer. Top of the HTC’s high-end lineup, Advantage is destined for the road and businessmen will soon find out that it’s better to get the 350 grams HTC device than a 3 kilograms notebook.
Officially announced in January 2007, HTC X7500 Advantage also known as HTC Athena has been made available in February through T-Mobile and Dopod operators. The price of the device starts from 1,200 USD and can reach almost 1,500 USD, depending on the location and the sales package.
Design
At first glance, you will surely notice that this is no ordinary phone or PDA. It doesn’t look like neither of those two, but still it embeds both and even more. When the user combines the two independent parts, the device becomes a miniaturization of a notebook. If you don’t need the detachable QWERTY keyboard you can easily handle the device with your stylus because of the extra-large display. Moreover, if you are by any chance a trekkie (Star Trek fan), then you’ll be thrilled to own the device that has been the well-known multipurpose tool used by Spock. Even if it’s not, it surely looks like, so are you prepared to communicate, scan, search or localize (with) your target ?
Somewhere between a Pocket PC and a notebook, Advantage weighs no more than 359 grams (battery included) and measures exactly 133.5 mm x 98 mm x 16 mm (20 mm with keyboard). The main part of the device is actually a huge display framed in a black polished compound. Useful in both modes, landscape or portrait, Advantage has a few external keys more or less intuitive. I will describe those by handling the device in landscape mode as it seems to be the “default” mode.
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