Digi HTC Aria - mobile snapper

One fine Saturday morning, while wifey and I were having breakfast, I stumbled across an ad in the newspaper. Digi was having promotions on some of their mobile phones packages and it displayed a Garmin-Asus A10 for Rm499! I was delighted! First, it has Garmin navigation software. And it's an Android phone. I kind of interested in Androids since Motorola released its Milestone.



So that evening, off I went to Suria to ask for the packages at the Digi centre there. I waited for 10 minutes as there's few customers were busy ordering their Iphones. To my disappointment, it wasn't offered there, so I was asked to go to 1 Borneo.

Same thing happened there. And the whole thing made me slightly furious. Here I am, a happy Digi prepaid customer for years, and finally wanted to get a phone package from them, only to be told that they didn't know such ad, let alone the phone. One of the staffs there informed me that they only provide service for Blackberry and Iphones. Damn!



I walked out, cursing those two phone brands for making 'my' phone so unpopular. Luck was on my side I guess, I saw the add at a small Digi booth. I was informed that it was sold out, and new stocks will arrive the other week. Luckily the staff was friendly, or I would curse even more. Anyway, he then introduced me to the Aria.



I sat down, handled and browsed through the menu for a while and I instantly like the phone. And the staff patiently showed me the capabilities and features of the phone. Half an hour later, it was mine. :D



Some specs of Aria (taken from GSMArena :

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 1900
		HSDPA 900 / 2100
	Announced	2010, June
	Status	Available. Released 2010, June

Size	Dimensions	103.8 x 57.7 x 11.7 mm
	Weight	115 g

Display	Type	TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors
	Size	320 x 480 pixels, 3.2 inches
		- Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate - Proximity sensor for auto turn-off - Optical trackpad - HTC Sense UI - Flip-to-mute a call

Sound	Alert types	Vibration, MP3 ringtones
	Speakerphone	Yes
		- 3.5 mm audio jack

Memory	Phonebook	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
	Call records	Practically unlimited
	Internal	512 MB ROM, 384 MB RAM
	Card slot	microSD, up to 32GB, 2GB card included, buy memory

Data	GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	EDGE	Class 10, 236.8 kbps
	3G	HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
	Bluetooth	Yes v2.1 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

Camera	Primary	5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus
	Features	Geo-tagging, face detection
	Video	Yes
	Secondary	No

Features	OS	Android OS, v2.1 (Eclair)
	CPU	Qualcomm MSM 7227 600 MHz processor
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	Games	Yes
	Colors	Black
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	Via third party application
		- Digital compass - Google Search, Maps, Gmail - YouTube, Google Talk, Picasa integration - MP3/AAC+/WAV player - MP4/H.264 player - Voice memo - Predictive text input

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1200 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 372 h
	Talk time	Up to 6 h

Actually, this is my first, full touchscreen phone and postpaid line. The phone costs RM799 (almost half than the actual retail price), and I paid another RM568 (advance payment for bills and data usage). Owh, another RM70 for two-year warranty. I was worried that I couldn't SMS while driving as I am used to my Nokia 6110 keypad. After a few days however, it was kinda easy too cause I set the Aria's onscreen keypad just like my Nokia. QWERTY keyboard is available, but the button is small for me.



What I like about this phone? It fits nicely in my hand and it's light! Next thing is Android! I can personalise it with free apps from Android market. I can write more about the other features, but the only way to experience it is to test it or own one. :D Owh, with its 5 megapixel camera, I'm getting the hang of taking photos using some nice apps apart from the phone's default camera app. Currently I installed FXCamera, Camera360 and Retrocamera. Below are shots using those apps in no particular order.


Seeing double?






Vintage look.






HDR effect.




The recent flood at school.


Hehe. I'm transferring to Sabah end of this year!




Purnama Hotel, Limbang.




My new addition...Nex's strobist project.


Hehehe...going to watch Iron Maiden concert next year!

Anyway, there are some cons. Battery is weak. With moderate calls and data usage, it can only last for a day. The screen is a finger print magnet, not a big deal though, it makes the phone looks less shiny hehe.

Apart from that, I would recommend anybody to get one!