Review: HTC Aria

Pros: Feature rich Android phone, great size, 5 MP camera, really cool yellow background under battery cover.

Cons: AT&T has locked down the external app installer, not a flagship phone, screen resolution could be higher

Summary: AT&T finally has an Android phone that isn’t embarrassing like the Motorola Backflip. Definitely worth checking out.

Design and Hardware

The phone has a nice build that feels firm and a soft touch to the back. The accents definitely highlight the style that HTC is going after. The 3.2″ Capacitive touch screen (480 x 320) could be bigger, but it does give you enough room to work with what’s on the screen. HTC’s Aria also sports 600MHz MSM 7227 processor coupled with 512 MB rom and 384 mb ram. Although not the speediest of the phones, this phone does give good performance in everyday use. We’d like to consider it a keyboardless, cuter version of the Motorola Droid (yes we are aware these are two completely different companies).

The phone also has a 5 MP camera which seems to be the new norm, with a select few phones surpassing the bar. Unfortunately there is no flash, but that shouldn’t be the deal breaker. The overall size of this phone makes it a great offer for those that think some of the new touch screen phones are too large.

Software and Features

The Aria comes with Android 2.1 (unfortunately no froyo yet, thanks to the wonderful AT&T) . There are a plethora of apps in the market that will accommodate your ever growing needs. It will have all your basic google integration such as gmail, calendar, docs, contacts, etc. Furthermore this device sports the HTC Sense UI which has gotten quite a bit of attention since it is currently on a plethora of phones. HTC did an excellent job incorporating weather, Facebook, music, and multimedia right into Android, something the earlier version of Android didn’t do quite so well. Furthermore, the phone also has HTC’s custom keyboard which we found much more usable and sensitive than the default Android one. And for all you techies out there, this phone can be rooted! (and yes! there is a froyo port, although rough it will hopefully make way to a real stable and usable port.)

Performance

Photo taken using Aria's 5-MP camera. As you can see quality is great in in good lighting

Although this phone only has a 600 MHz processor which seems like a shortfall compared to the Snapdragon, Hummingbird, and modified TI, this phone definitely doesn’t seem laggy in the least bit. It runs smooth and coherently. The actual phone feature of the “phone” works great, and the speaker is plenty loud. This phone will definitely not disappoint, although it is not the stunner that AT&T needs to get into the Android crowd.

The camera takes great pictures in good lighting conditions, but falls short in dimmer situations. The addition of flash would have greatly improved its performance. Call quality and 3G reception is what can be expected of AT&T – both good and bad.

Design and Hardware Rating: 8.0/10

Software and Features Rating: 9.0/10

Performance Rating: 8.0/10

Overall Rating: 8.33/10 – Very Good

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