Taking A Closer Look At The HTC Imagio Hardware

By: Tariq Bamadhaj (Senior Editor)

When the HTC Touch HD was announced late last year, many on this side of the pond were disappointed that it would never make it our soil officially. Then came the leaks of upcoming HTC devices in early 2009 and there was one codenamed Whitestone that was rumored to be coming to Verizon. That materialized to what we now call the Imagio, the sibling of the Touch HD. Before I go through my experiences with it, let’s take a closer look at the hardware shall we?

Front

Right off the bat, the Imagio srikes you as a very sophisticated device and it definitely is one. The screen is protected by a single glass over it, which makes having to access buttons in the corners (such as the minimize/close button) a lot easier. Just below that, we have the zoom bar which appeared on many HTC Windows Mobile devices this year. Through this bar, you control the zoom level within some applications by sliding your fingers across.

Lining up the bottom is a row of 5 buttons, 4 of which would be familiar to those who have used Windows Mobile: Green answer button, red end button, Windows/start button and the back button. What’s interesting is the 5th button which brings up the V Cast Mobile TV by Verizon. What’s great about this button is that you can change it to launch your application of choice should V Cast not be your cup of tea.

Surrounding the perimeter of the front is a grill-like cover and it cleverly hides the speakers of the device. Remember, the Imagio, like the Touch HD, is touted as a multimedia device and you’ll see in just a bit, how Verizon and HTC maximized this!

Left

Nothing here unfortunately.

Bottom

Here, you’ll find HTC’s USB port for both charging the device and sync-ing data between computers. Just beside that we have a standard 3.5mm port! HTC had promised earlier this year to bring the standard audio jack to all devices from and has definitely kept that promise with the Imagio. If you don’t fancy the headset that came with your Imagio, feel free to plug in your favorite pair.

Right

This side is almost sparse like the left if not for the volume button. Nothing fancy here, just 2 buttons to increase and decrease the volume.

Top

Yup, you guessed it, nothing here again. HTC has been cutting down on the number of hardware buttons since late last year, and while many welcome this change for the sleek look, I for one wish for a few more. Oh well, let’s turn the device over.

Back

Besides the standard camera lens rated at 5 megapixels and another speaker grill, you’d think that there was nothing else to it. But wait, press that black button near the end and out pops a kick stand. How sweet is that!

The kickstand lets you rest your phone at comfortable angle so you could watch videos on the Imagio while sitting at your desk, all without having to hold it up. Didn’t I tell you that this was a multimedia phone? But you don’t have to use the kickstand only for media and this has me wondering why we don’t have more devices set up like this.

Conclusion

The Verizon Imagio by HTC was definitely built with multimedia as a top priority but it has the looks to make it a winner as well. My initial impressions of it has been rather positive and I can’t wait to put it through the paces. Would the Imagio be a clear winner for Verizon users seeking a Windows Phone? Find out in the rest of this series!