HTC 'Snaps' To It With E-mail-Prioritizing Smartphone
"Recognizing that people are being overwhelmed by an avalanche of e-mail, the HTC Snap introduces Inner Circle, an HTC innovation that makes it easy for people to prioritize messages from the most important people in their lives at the press of a button," said John Wang, HTC's chief marketing officer, in a statement. "The HTC Snap represents the latest step in HTC's mission to create a range of innovative smartphones, each with specific benefits designed to both surprise and delight our customers."
The Snap runs on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.1 platform, and includes a 3G connection, GPS and a camera, but it's the Inner Circle feature -- which allows users to press one button and bring up e-mails from preselected names and groups -- that will resonate most with frustrated mobile e-mailers, HTC said.
HTC cited results of a study it commissioned from Harris Interactive that said 44 percent of U.S. adults it surveyed were "often overwhelmed by the amount of e-mail they receive," and 55 percent of them prioritized five or fewer people they communicated through e-mail.
As for its specs, the HTC is 12mm thick, weighs 4.23 ounces and delivers eight and a half hours of talk time, thanks to a 1,500mAh battery. The QWERTY keyboard is fully exposed and comes with a jog ball and large, domed keys. The Snap sports 192 MB of RAM and enables sync-ing of e-mail, calendar and contacts through Microsoft Exchange.
HTC said the Snap would be available in select, unspecified channels by the end of June, and would reach markets worldwide by the second half of 2009. The manufacturer also said it would release an unlocked version of the Snap -- dubbed the HTC S522 - that supports HDSPA at 850/1,900MHz and will be available in the summer.