HTC EXPLORER REVIEW

The latest addition to HTC's
bulging pockets stuffed with
Android smartphones isn't aimed
at aficionados or riders at the
high-tech gates of mobile internet
dawn. The HTC Explorer is
designed for the newcomer to the
world of "connected everything",
who's just starting to realise that
modern mobiles are about a lot
more than making calls and
sending texts.
Design
So the Explorer is very much
Android on a budget. Inside its
sturdy rubberised plastic casing
it's more or less up to date,
running Android 2.3.5
Gingerbread (the one before the
very latest 4.0 Ice Cream
Sandwich) and also has HTC's
latest 3.5 version of its rightly-
praised Sense user interface.
Actually, make that 3.5a, which is
the stripped down version that
does without the fancy dancy 3D
graphics -- much easier for the
modest 600MHz processor inside
the Explorer to handle.
The 3.2-inch screen is just about
big enough for viewing movies
and surfing the web without
squinting. And while its 480x320-
pixel resolution is far from the
sharpest, it's not obviously fuzzy
or pixelated.
Performance
Going back to the 600MHz
processor, it might look
underpowered on paper, but it
actually holds up pretty well in
practise -- not super nippy, but
not held back by obvious lag
when switching between apps
either, so long as you don't have
too many running at once.
Usefully, a Task Manager app
makes it easy to keep an eye on
what's using those precious
megahertz at any given time.
Just like more expensive
Androids, you can populate seven
home screens with all the usual
widgets and shortcuts, including
the Microsoft Outlook-compatible
calendar and FriendStream,
which pulls all your social
networking updates together.
Smartphone newbies have also
been considered with the option
of written descriptions within
apps such as messaging, so you
don't have to wonder about the
symbols for forwarding or
creating new messages.
Camera
While pricier HTCs have been
making some noteworthy
improvements to the on-board
camera, the 3-megapixel model
on the Explorer takes us back to
the bad old days of HTC snappers
-- poor colour balance, lack of
sharpness and too much
tendency to noise in less-than-
perfect light conditions. There's
no autofocus or flash and really
just there for emergencies only.
The budget specification also
extends to the lack of memory --
it can take up to 32GB microSD
cards but there's none provided
as standard and you'll certainly
need one, since there's only
90MB of storage onboard. There
are no headphones supplied
either -- not a disaster since they
wouldn't have been much good
anyway, but it means you're not
completely ready to go straight
out of the box.
With its modest screen and
processor, plus the scaled-down
UI, the Explorer's 1,230mAh
battery was able to give a fairly
good account of itself, giving
almost two days of consistent use
without the need for a recharge.
Conclusion
It's not really an object of desire,
but as a solidly built and well
equipped introduction to
smartphones, the HTC Explorer
could end up on an awful lot of
shopping lists this year, and
rightfully so.