14 DAY TRIAL // Taiwanese manufacturer HTC has quietly introduced its first Brew-based handset, the HTC Freestyle. The device is expected to be released by AT&T carrier, but there's no information regarding its launch date or price.
Previously known as HTC F8181 or HTC Smart, the Freestyle has been leaked in September 2010 and it was labeled as sub-smartphone thanks to Qualcomm's Brew MP platform.
Even though it hasn't been tagged as a smartphone, Brew mobile platform has grown up to become a full operating system, as new functionalities have been added, allowing developers to deliver new UIs, applications, as well as services.
Brew stands for Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless and is an application development platform created by Qualcomm for CDMA mobile phones, but lately GSM has also been supported.
The main advantage of the mobile platform is that the developers can easily port their applications among all Qualcomm devices.
HTC Freestyle is the company's first Brew MP handset and features a sleek aluminum unibody design, that might resemble the HTC Desire HD.
The device is powered by a Qualcomm MSM7225 528MHz processor and runs on the Brew MP platform with HTC Sense UI. It comes with a 3.2-inch HGVA capacitive touchscreen with 320 x 480 pixels resolution. The Freestyle sports a 3.2-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities.
Other key features of the HTC Freestyle include: HSDPA technology, 256 MB RAM, 512 MB of internal memory, microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB), Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR support, built-in GPS receiver (AT&T Navigator), FM radio and 3.5 mm audio jack.
HTC Freestyle measures 106.7 x 55.9 x 12.7 mm and weighs 128g (battery included) and is powered by a standard Li-Ion 1300 mAh battery.
FriendStream social network interface is also on board, along with Facebook and other social network services.
