Device Arena

It’s been a while since we last heard about HTC Omni communicator, the info about which leaked last July together with HTC roadmap for 2007.

Now we may know why it was never mentioned again. Looks like HTC was persuaded to drop Windows mobile OS and made Omni into Google’s Android demo phone.

Don’t believe me? How about this Forbes description of HTC “Dream” handset used in Google’s Android demonstrations:

The phone, code-named “Dream” inside Google, looks somewhat like Apple’s iPhone: It is thin, about 3 inches wide and 5 inches long, and features a touch-sensitive, rectangular screen… The bottom end of the handset, near the navigational controls, is slightly beveled so it nestles in the palm. The screen also swivels to one side, revealing a full keyboard beneath. (The screen display changes from a vertical portrait mode to a horizontal display when someone uses the keyboard.)

Let’s take a closer look:

It’s thin. Check

Length: 130 mm - 5.11″. Check

Width - 81 mm - 3.18″. Check

Touch-sensitive, rectangular screen. Check

bottom end … slightly beveled… Check

screen swivels to one side, revealing a full keyboard beneath. Check

HTC Dream looks very similar to HTC Omni for me. So what else is new about it?

Forbes tells us a few interesting things that will be in HTC Omni/Dream:

time-sensitive touch gestures: Hold down your finger longer, and the area you’re controlling expands

easy navigation with icons for e-mail, text documents and YouTube along the top of the screen

virtual machine for true multitasking. Applications can launch once during a session, then reside in the background

it should go into production soon and start shipping next summer

And from the former leaks we know HTC Omni/Dream specs that were planned few half year ago, so some of them could have changed to the better. And they already are really impressive:

32 bit Qualcomm MSM7200 Chipset, 384 MHZ CPU Clock

256 MB ROM

128 RAM

800 x 480 px TFT 262 color touchscreen

GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS850, UMTS1900, UMTS2100 connectivity

CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA data support

Built-in QWERTY-type keyboard, 65 keys

SDIO, microSD, TransFlash expansion slots

USB 2.0 client, 60Mbit/s , USB Series Mini-B (mini-USB) connector

Bluetooth 2.0

802.11b, 802.11g

NMEA 0183 , 20 channels built-in GPS

3.1 Mpx camera with LED flash

640×480 VGA secondary camera

Dimensions: 81 x 130 x 16 mm

Well if my ramblings above are at least half close to the truth, come next summer, with HTC Dream/Omni Google may have a real killer flagship to introduce it’s Android platform to masses.

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