Fridae

Announced at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, HTC is pitching the Smart as a smartphone for the masses. The touchscreen handset runs on Qualcomm's Brew mobile platform with HTC Sense anchoring the user interface. While we're not sure if we need another operating system in the mix, it makes for a sensible option if HTC intends to increase its focus on low-cost smartphones or feature phones.

With the Sense UI, the company can deliver a familiar and consistent user interface across its product range. This is the same as how Samsung and LG are moving forward with the TouchWiz and S-Class software, respectively. Eventually, the underlying operating system may eventually be no longer apparent to the end-user, as customized software interface steps up to define the smart in a smartphone.

The Smart has modest specifications, which isn't surprising as it's targeted at the masses. It has a 300MHz processor, 256MB RAM, 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, a 3-megapixel fixed-focus camera, Bluetooth stereo, 3-megapixel camera and microSD card slot. The Smart is also a quad-band phone with support for the WCDMA 2100MHz spectrum commonly used in Europe and Asia. Ostensibly missing are Wi-Fi connectivity and camera flash.