HTC Magic Candy Bar Touchscreen 3G mobile phone handset reviews and tariffs

+ Fantastic web browser, lots of free applications to download.

- Cannot transfer data via bluetooth

+ The screens size and the look of the phone

- The camera is terrible. No flash, and no zoom. And the inability to send things via bluetooth

+ The phone is a joy to use. HTC has produced a slick phone and Google has introduced an excelent operating system for the phone

- Unable to send/receive images with bluetooth, which doesn't make. Every phone I've had until now, was capable of this no problem. Surely Google can design an app to make bluetooth file sharing more secure, and release the app. disappointed

+ I had an iphone previously, and find this one more compact. I don't think the features are much different, but this is lighter and better looking.

- It has a short battery life,but its no problem I just charge it up every night.

+ Ease of use and a powerful machine.

- Battery life could be better.

+ Good battery , ease of use , free stuff , cool looks

- Camera has no light / flash or zoom same with camcorder function , security on phone is bad as when you get apps it tells you oyher people have access to your phone and functions etc. and since I got it I've got spam emails from unknown people who said Vodafone give your details to third parties

+ excellent for browsing the internet,screen size good,applications are easy to manage,fone has an overall nice feel to it.

- battery life is extremely poor,no zoom on camera or video,music volume could be louder,also absence of bluetooth or infrared makes it feel a bit less social

+ Brilliant phone, Better than My previous N95 8GB and P990i. Lots of future possibiles with this phone via software. Good build quality. Better than an iphone. And it will work at over 35 degrees C :-) without melting or injuring you. Very good music player. Dont be put off by no headphone socket, adapters are cheap and work well.

- Camera is OK not great. Still this will make me use my proper Canon camera more often. Memories should be recorded in the best quality possible.

+ Ease of use, Multiple E-mail accounts, Speed of use, Availability and variety of apps', Looks, size, Operating system, ALL brill.

- Battery Life, Limited Bluetooth use, limited USB use.

+ The PHONE is so much better than my previous HTC, really quick / responsive dialing.Looks good, and I think is just the right size, not as large as its obvious inspiration.

- 1) It could have come with a screen protector in the box. 2) Any other limitations are that of applications not yet written for Google Android though they appear to be coming thick 'n' fast. I possibly would have been bothered about the lack of MS Outlook integration in the past but I have switched to Google Mail / Calendar and for personal use that's fine for me.

+ - Very nice screen
- Syncs with google apps perfectly
- Apps are generally good

- - Battery life is poor
- No ability to close programs running in the background

+ flexibility, cost, Android OS

- blue tooth still crippled by google

+ HTC Magic looks good and is easy to use with great applications

- Battery life is poor and is only down side to the phone.

+ really easy to use, quicklu got used to the keyboard, and even though battery life is awful, it only takes two hours to charge it.

- battery life!

+ Very easy and fun to use, touchsceen works great, lots of features.

- .Camera could be better, not proper bluetooth, quite poor battery life,

+ Nice dsign, email, internet and phone in one neat package.

- Browser does not support websites that have flash content, a fairly basic need with todays websites. This is not clear in the advertising. You have to hunt for android packages to do basic things like open pdf or word attachments in email these ought to be preloaded so that it works out of the box. Yet to find a satisfatory word veiwer.

+ Google integration

- Battery life

+ I like that I can customise it with extra apps. The screen is very clear, and the internet is great on it. I like the music player, the way it's set out is really good.

- Battery life is terrible if you use it alot, and the brightness has went down on the screen for some reason, even though it's on the same setting as always. Also, the lack of accessories for the phone isn't great, but it's very new so those will come along soon I'm assuming.

+ Easy to use simple interactive display. Lots of free applications to download wherever, whenever.

- Battery life is terrible. Can last up to 2 days without using the phone much, or 1 day when using the phone a lot.

+ Intuitive touch screen is easy to use. Web browsing experience is very good. Notifications bar at the top makes important things easy to find when you need them.

- The phone struggles to get through a full day of heavy use (i.e. a couple of hours with the GPS on, a few phone calls and a couple of hours or web browsing) but it is quick to charge up, so don't let it put you off this great phone.

+ Very easy to use, interface is great and the apps are easy to browse for and install. Linking to my igoogle account was a BIG plus. Sync's all my contacts, calander, and emails with just one log in; GREAT! Chat was also an unexpected bonus.

- Battery life sucks, especially if you start using the web. It's bearable, but if you forget to stick it on charge when you got in from work your stuffed the next day.

+ The phone is awesome. Easy to use, quick and responsive. Loads of good apps available.

- The only one negative thing i can say is that the Battery needs charging nearly every night if used a lot

+ Android is the best software I have ever used. Sleek and so reactive. The software available on the market is excellent!

- Battery could be better but everything else is great

+ loads of applications can be loaded and used on this phone

- battery life is very very disapointing

+ I love they style

- Battery needs improving.

+ I'm really happy with this phone. The software is great and the phone looks good and feels good in the hand.

- Yes the battery lfe isn't as good as you get used to with other phones but it's not all that bad. I'm sure batteries will improve soon enough.

+ does everything I want it to do and is easy to use

- battery life could be a longer

+ Very good looks, the app store is fully of great apps.

- When using the WiFi the phone battery dies way to fast I find i have to take my charger with me to work as by lunch time my battery is in the red. Even with out using the WiFi the battery needs a charge when i get home from work.

+ Excellent all round phone, and have now relegated the iPOD touch to home use only. Android Marketplace has loads of interesting apps, mostly free. Easy switch from 3G to WiFi, and works well even with GPRS.

- Camera is mediocre, and battery life although good does get hit when everything is turned on (browsing, wifi, bluetooth, gps, playing music)

+ the phone itself is one of the best i have ever had , easy to use and with my monthly tarrif i can get all in need and more

- BLU-TOOTH
it has a blu-tooth connection but unfortunalty it is only for a headset and not for anything else .

+ Ease of use

- Battery life

+ The amount of google apps available to download from the market for free.
Out of the box synchronisation with your google mail, contacts and calendar.
It's cheaper than an iphone.
Built in software is brilliant, web browser is really easy to use. Google maps is great.

- Lack of built in Exchange support although there are 3rd party applications to do this (not free!)
Not possible to connect to WPA Enterprise wireless networks without modifying the firmware on the phone.
Texting takes a bit of getting used to with the on screen key pad.

+ Excellent integration of apps in the Google Android operating system particularly if you're a Gmail / calendar user.

- Battery life could be better along with touch screen sensitivity at the edges.

+ Nice looking phone. Some great features. One to look at for future Is updates.

- Android is slow and incomplete. It has potential but too many basic features you'd expect from even budget phones are missing

+ Looks good and great feature,s

- It won't let me delete my emails

+ Reviewer left no comment

- The keypad is difficult to type on and you can easily make lots of spelling mistakes when typing quickly.

+ Very easy to use.

- Difficult to see the screen in sunlight.

+ The operating system is very good amd makes the phonw a worthy competitor to the iphone.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Great for internet and email as well as music and applications

- Texting is difficult

+ very attractive phone, apps are easy to download and use, camera is very good quality though still not worked out how to zoom in! easy to use in general and size is great for handbag/ pocket. messaging is great as it allows for mistyping on touchscreen keyboard in th prodictive text.

- Nothing actually wrong with phone just still trying to work it out as i'm too lazy to read book cover to cover!

+ lots of free downloads an quite easy to use. texting is great.

- battery doesn't last very long I have to charge it almost every day.

+ So many excellent features in one place, if you love your music you will love Last.fm, surprisingly good web browsing on small(ish) screen and email/calendar synching with google just to name a few. Overall the best phone/PDA I have ever owned.

- Not many, the trackball seems like it could aquire dirt easily (not that it has yet) and battery life. The battery life point is actually a bit unfair as using the features of the phone would of course drain the battery life quicker and there are a multitude of ways to extend it (I just would like it to be a bit longer)

+ Where to start? It has it all....Email on the move, google maps, google marketplace, totally customiseable. Cant fault this phone really.

- Battery life is poor but then what smartphone isnt? Also the vodafone version of the magic is a whole 90mb lighter on ram and uses a different board to the htc one.

+ it is a great slim phone

- u can not bluetooth from one phone to another

+ The android operating system is fantastic and the gps is a real boon.

- A longer battery life would obviously be nice

+ Great phone - I used to have an i-phone but think this is much more user friendly and not so common! The camera on the phone is great and the quality of the pictures as good as a regular digital camera. The download time is much quicker and the main thing for me is that with Vodafone I can get a signal anywhere - not so with 02 which drove me crazy.

- Took a bit of getting used to finding things but once I got the hang of where everything was it is easy to use.

+ brilliant phone with a great interface and connectivity. the market place is brilliant with everything you could need

- the battery life can be a bit limited when using lots of apps. still not as bad as a nokia though

+ The best thing about this phone is that no one else has one and when you pull it out to your friends they're all intrigued and you feel just that little bit cooler. The touch screen is excellent, a point which has been a bit iffy on other phones.

- Camera is a little bit grainy, not really a big problem if you dont take alot of pictures like myself. The battery life isnt great either.

+ The market place is good for apps and new stuff all the time

- Still needs a good satnav like tomtom

+ The apps, there are so many applications to download and the phone seems to have a lot of memory. good job htc.

- battery life is very dire i have to charge every day.

+ Amazing phone, great OS, loads of useful software

- Camera

+ easy to use its light

- the battery life is not good it gos to quicky

+ Brilliant phone 100 times better than the i phone would urge anyone to get the HTC, only down point is cant really sync with other phones on bluetooth but if that doesnt bother you GET THIS PHONE.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Phone is good, Loads of apps to keep you busy!

- No Facebook link to contact like the HTC Hero Batt life could be better!

+ Really like having a portable device that's fully sync'd with all my online Google stuff, and the Android Marketplace means that there's an app for everything.

- Only gripe is battery life, which isn't brilliant if you regularly make use of all the features.

+ easy and straightforward to use, very easy to sync to my pc overall a great phone

- not having a stylus can be frustrating

+ Easy to use grower.

- When making a call keypad vanishes and you have to reload before you can select numbers whilst making a call with options.

+ Google/web/Internet and calling friends

- the key pad is too small and you need to press keypad firmly all the time.

+ The phone is sleek and very functional. The market is great and I've gotten loads from it already such as being able to open and edit word docs, to stream content from my laptop anywhere with network access.

- The battery needs charging everyday. every now and again it forces a close on a program but that the nature of an open system.

+ once i got to know how to control the key pad i found the phone easy to use and being a person with large fingers not many phones are designed for people like me

- Reviewer left no comment

+ - Great User Interface - Comes with powerful apps that just work and are really easy to set up and use. - Automatic synchronisation of data in the background (e.g. calendar, contacts etc). I never had to enter any contacts when I first got the phone as it had already got them from my Gmail account. - Marketplace with zillions more great apps most of which are FREE (unlike iPhone apps!) This phone is especially good if you already use Google Mail and/or Google Calendar - just switch on phone for first time, sign in once and its all there. You can of course use it with other services though or port your data across.

- Battery life is a bit short, but still better than the iPhone from what I have seen of it (not sure how it compares with new iPhone 3GS though). I just put it on to charge every night to keep it topped up, and take the charger with me whenever I go away. Takes quite a while to start up when switched on, although I think its really intended to be always-on. I have just got into the habit of putting it into silent mode or aeroplane mode instead of turning it off.

+ Massive range of great functionality available through the apps available on Android Marketplace, many of which are completely free. It's pretty hard to get bored with this device, there's always something new to try out, if you want.

- It takes a while and some discipline to get the battery life up to it's best. You need to "opportunity charge" it whenever and where ever you can - gradually the battery life will then improve. Also, I now leave the wireless network enabled all the time - initially thought this would drain the battery quicker, but if wireless network is disabled, it uses 3g network instead, which inside a building, requires a lot of battery power.

+ Just an amazing phone - does everything you could possibly need and looks stylish too. Really easy to use after getting used to it, application market is brilliant - so many free apps on offer! Camera is pretty good, which surprised me as I used to have a 5mp camera on my old nokia so this was a downgrade but it works well (no flash though!).

- Battery life... I think its better than the G1 but it still needs charging every night if you've used a few apps throughout the day, however its a bad point i'm willing to put up with because i love the phone so much!
The only other bad point I've found is the on screen keyboard in the 'portrait' view - I think the screen could do with being slightly wider to make it easier to use - the iphone is a lot easier to text on than this.

+ The vast amount of free software, some of the best being
- file browsers
- linux shells
- the skymap that tells you at which constellation or object you are pointing the phone
- the tone generator you can use to annoy those with better hearing than you yourself i.e. the young
- the metal detector (range of less than an inch but what the heck)

- Battery life is terrible. Really poor. The first night I had it I awoke to find it discharged. Still not getting much more than a day out of it.

+ Easy to use. great sound quality on listening to music

- keypad very sensitive to touch

+ Great design, completely customisable, very responsive touch-screen and altogether a very powerful and useful phone.

- Only thing I have a problem with is the battery life... If you're just a casual user who only texts/makes phone calls and doesn't use this phone's full capabilities it will be fine, but if you know how to utilise its full potential you will probably have to charge it every day. Even listening to music runs the power down very quickly.

+ Does almost everything you think its going to do and does it well.

- Heavy use of GPS and other things can drain the battery quite quickly. Syncing couil be improved.

+ excellent product at an exellent tariff

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Web, downloadable Android stuff - games and applications. 3 screens and stuff you can put on em.

- Keypad but I got used to it.
That you can't forward text messages that you have received.
That it lumps all text messages together in one string from individuals so you can't delete an 'I'll be home for 6' type of message without deleting an 'I've loved you all my life' kinda message that you want to keep from the same person. Hope you get what I'm on about :/

+ Internet on the go is just seamless and easy

- Keyboard is hard to get used to

+ Android OS is fantastic, I love having a Linux based OS on my phone. The application selection is great, there are so many that you have a great choice of what to have. I find it to be easily an iPhone beater, I laugh at the people spending all that money on a phone that is leaps and bounds better.

- The battery life is not too great, 2 days is not nearly as long as I would like. The only improvement I would suggest would be a larger battery capacity. Perhaps for at least a week.

+ fantastic layout easy to navigate round, good choice of applications and simple to download. even better most of the ones you need are free. overall really pleased with this handset

- just the usual bad points what everyone picks up on about this phone battery life is terrible for a handset you dont want to put down, bluetooth another problem but ther is an app so u can send files but still none to recieve

+ There are lots of good points to the phone which makes it more than just a phone. its my office at the present

- With out dout the battery life is the worst I have ever come across on mobiles. my phone needs to be on 24/7 not connect to the mains for a good portion of the day.

+ Glass capacative touchscreen looks fantastic and responds beautifully. Android runs slickly, is fun to use and is extremely customisable to the extent where the standard applications, such as messaging, music player or browser, can be completely replaced by alternatives from the Android Market if you don't like them. There is also lots of potential for new features (Flash support please!) with future updates to Android. The phone itself looks good and is slim and light enough that it feels like a normal phone in your pocket, not large and bulky like some other smartphones.

- Battery life is quite short (although ok for a smartphone) but improves over time if you charge as often as possible ("topping up" the battery whenever you get a chance rather than letting it run out). No 3.5mm headphone jack (although A2DP bluetooth headsets work) and no bluetooth file transfer.

+ The tie-in to web services make this phone excellent, instant access to and notifications from GMail, Facebook, Twitter et al are a godsend. All of this without the wealth of applications available on the Android Market

- The battery life is horrendous, if you use Wi-Fi or GPS features heavily and can't plug into a power point or laptop daily, seriously consider something else. A charge overnight won't see out the battery for the whole day.

+ Looks good, has loads of features

- Just the battery life - it seems to only last 1 day

+ the phone is easy to use and looks good the apps are easy to download

- the battery life is too short

+ Looks great, loads of apps to download, really straightforward to use. Big screen great for web browsing. Excellent phone.

- Short battery life!! Needs charging most nights.

+ Good compact size but still with ample screen space. This is the number one priority in a mobile device. Great display. Good operating system, with flexibility to choose your own applications, unlike blackberry. Open Source.

- Battery life is quite poor, I cannot take the phone out all day without a charger.

+ Ability to install free applications, with masses of applications already available. Google skymap is fantastic.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ the phone itself looks good relitively easy to use

- only had it a month it has been fine until charged battery fully on wednesday and by Thursday afternoon battery went dead and I had only used it to send 4 text messages.
Also cant seem to have different tunes for different people for ringing tones got to have same one for all.

+ The phone is very very good

- Battery does not last very lon i have gone from a i phone to this and the battery on the i phone last days longer.

+ Android ;-), screen and good integration with google products

- Access to voicemail. I like to see a similar applicatin to access voicemail such as the one on the IPhone. It allows to select, rewind your voicemail message through a application.

+ Second gen. Google phone form HTC, much better than 1st, handy, unlimited internet from Vodaphone, a better product all in all than iPhone!

- none so far

+ Really nice touch screen and sensible menus to make it easy to get used to. Web browsing is good. I've only had one site that didn't load too well for the screen. There are heaps of apps to download so you can use the phone for pretty much anything.

- Battery life isn't good. When I first got it I had to charge it every night, because I was spending a lot of time downloading stuff. Now, under normal use, I charge it every other night but it will be off if not plugged in by 9pm.