The HTC Aria arrived on my doorstep today and I’ve had a little while to play around with AT&T’s latest Android 2.1 smartphone. It’s the second Android smartphone that AT&T will offer, behind the Motorola BACKFLIP.
The device looks a bit like the HTC Incredible, mainly due to the optical pad below the display, but it’s a bit smaller. Its specs aren’t as fast, either. It has a 600MHz processor under the hood, as opposed to a 1GHz one, but HTC’s Sense user interface still felt plenty smooth on top of it. The phone is a bit smaller than the HTC Incredible, and it has a smaller screen that lacks the AMOLED technology the Incredible had.
So far I’m loving the phone. It’s very compact and barely noticeable in the pocket, but it’s not too small to use. I’m a sucker for high resolution displays, so the 480 x 320-inch resolution paired with the 3.2-inch display is a little low-res for me, but it’s certainly not a deal breaker. My biggest gripe is that the keyboard feels a bit small due to the screen size, but I think I’ll get used to that shortly.
The Aria has a soft rubber back to it, with four screw accents. The back cover is easily lifted off to reveal an awesome yellow internal area, complete with a yellow battery. Unfortunately, I had to remove the cover to access the microSD card, which was a bit of a pain.
I found the volume keys to be in good reach while on the phone, but I do wish there was a hardwarecamera button as well. Also, there’s a 5 megapixel camera on the back of the Aria, but it lacks an LED flash, which is a bit disappointing.
I’m going to be using the phone for a bit before writing my full review, which should be ready in a few days. Stay tuned for more information on the HTC Aria, which will retail beginning on June 20th for $129.99 after a $100 mail-in-rebate.