14 DAY TRIAL // Rumored for quite some time now, the HTC Merge made its appearance at this year's SXSW (South by Southwest) festival in Austin, Texas
The device is a rather simple mid-budget Android-powered smartphone, but it distinguishes itself through its dual-mode capabilities.
As the Taiwanese manufacturer stated, this is the first CDMA world phone and it is expected to be retailed by a wide range of carriers in the U.S.
Currently, the smartphone is rumored to be scheduled for a Verizon release, but no official announcements have been made until now.
Thanks to the guys over at IntoMobile, who got their hands on an HTC Merge recently, we know that the device will be shipped with an average 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM7X30 processor.
The device runs on Android 2.2 Froyo platform with HTC Sense UI and features a 3.7-inch capacitive touch screen display with 16 million colors support and 480 x 800 pixels resolution.
Strongly resembling the Desire Z, HTC Merge packs a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a 5-megapixel photo snapper with LED flash and autofocus. According to IntoMobile, the phone's QWERTY leaves a bit to be desired and is not the most comfortable out there.
Other standard features of the HTC Merge include: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, DLNA function, GPS with A-GPS support, microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB) and Stereo FM radio with RDS.
Apparently, the phone feels solid and could be a good match for men and women looking for a mid-range Android smartphone.
There are no further details regarding the phone's release date or price tag, but rumors place the HTC Merge in the $100-$150 price range.
Just like HTC Droid Incredible, the Merge features red accents on its QWERTY keyboard, earpiece and Search key, which might suggest that the Android smartphone will soon be available from the Big Red.