HTC introduces the Advantage (X7500)
Actually, given the amount of coverage slathered onto its Athena, Dopod U1000, and other aliases, it’s really just a re-introduction.
Hours before the live countdown at the SeeHTC website (now overflowing with content) was supposed to tick off its last second, the HTC Europe website posted a press release and high-resolution photos of the drool-inducing handtop. Other than the black paintjob, the Advantage is identical to its brethren: Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition, 5-inch TFT touchscreen (640 x 480, 65K colors), Wi-Fi, HSDPA, GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth, GPS, 624Mhz Intel PXA270, 8GB microdrive, 256 ROM, 128 RAM, 3-megapixel camera, etc. When the Ameo is released next month in Germany, Austria, Poland, the UK, and the Netherlands, the Advantage will roll out "in selected countries" as well.
Lovely as all of this is, I have to confess that I’m officially Athena-ed out. Until word of a U.S. launch is spoken, of course.
Advantage-related portions of the press release below.
From page 2 of the PDF:
The most powerful mobile office to date, the HTC Advantage is smarter and lighter than the smallest PC notebook. It supports Microsoft Outlook Mobile for quick access to email, calendar, task and contact functions. It is also the first device to feature HTC’s VueFLO easy navigation technology and detachable keyboard. A first for business functionality with high-speed global connectivity (Tri-Band 3G/3.5G (HSDPA) and Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE), the HTC Advantage is packed with PCstyle power, functionality and multimedia features.
From pages 3-4 of the PDF (redundancy alert):
The most powerful mobile office to date, the HTC Advantage is lighter, more compact, and more portable that even the smallest PC notebook. Offering online connectivity anytime, anywhere, it’s the ideal companion for the business traveller who needs instant access to email and the capability to view, edit and/or print on-network Microsoft Office documents, including Excel, Word, or PowerPoint files. The HTC Advantage boasts a massive 8-hour battery life – far in excess of the average laptop – to ensure a full business day’s worth of productivity. The storage facilities, 8GB hard drive, and handy miniSD are also unrivalled by any other mobile office device, providing a seamless document management and usage experience.
The HTC Advantage uniquely has built-in video output capability, empowers its users with freedom to make presentations anywhere. Users can run presentations directly via the projector and TV output. Its 5-inch VGA colour touch screen and innovative, magnetic QWERTY keyboard are ideal not just for editing Microsoft Office documents, but also for enjoying leisure time. Users can watch videos, browse the web, use instant Outlook push e-mail, synchronize their contacts, tasks and calendar, and navigate anywhere with inbuilt GPS and TomTom NAVIGATOR 6. Screen navigation is made super easy thanks to HTC’s VueFLO technology. Using G-Sensor technology, users simply tilt the device to intuitively move around the page. Add to all that an on-board business card scanner and 3-megapixel camera to convert business cards to Microsoft Outlook contacts, a range of connectivity options such as HSPDA, Tri-band 3G, Wi-Fi and stereo Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity and a second VGA camera for video telephony and its easy to see why the HTC Advantage is the most powerful mobile office device available.
