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We’re looking forward to big things from HTC at next month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and leaked renderings of the company’s new phones on mobile blog PocketNow have got us salivating.
First up is a rounded phone (left) that’s the spitting image of the HTC Desire, except for a prominent front-facing camera. The touch-sensitive buttons evoke the Google Nexus One, which is a pity, because we always preferred the physical buttons on the Desire to its Google-branded twin.
The optical trackpad is also gone, as it was on the Desire HD, reflecting HTC’s hard work in making it easier to select text in Android using only the touchscreen.
With the typical Android buttons — home, menu, back and search — all present and correct, there’s no doubt this phone will run Google’s software. Other than that, we don’t know much more about the specs of this mystery phone.
We’re surprised to see the trackball make a reappearance on a smallish-looking Android phone (right) that also leaked. Not even the zippy optical trackpad, which we quite like, but the now old-fashioned ball. But if it makes this phone super-duper affordable,we can get used to rubbing the nub again.
Eagle-eyed Engadget readers spotted it as the HTC A3380, which has been selling in China, where it’s been filling the shoes the HTC Wildfire has been wearing over here in the UK. If it does make the trip west, here’s hoping it’s cheap as noodles.
The leak also showed off a phone that could be a reboot of the HTC Smart, and a big-screen square that sports a China Telecom logo, so may be bound for the Far East.
HTC is certainly sticking to what it knows best, by producing touchscreen phones so similar they could swap IDs to get into bars. It’s almost enough to make us miss the heady days of the HTC Hero, with its wacky Teflon paint and angular chin, or even the HTC-built T-Mobile G1, with the keyboard that flipped out like it was trying to hitch a ride.
What do you think of HTC’s potential new recruits? Let us know in the comments.
