The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

HTC inks in Android-based Tattoo

Nice, but we'd rather have Audrey...

Some people eventually regret tattoos as they age, but HTC has designed an Android-based smartphone that it hopes you’ll always want about your person.

HTC_Tattoo_01

Aspects of HTC's Tattoo can be personalised

Called Tattoo, the smartphone will supposedly deliver “broad personalisation to the masses”, HTC claimed, by allowing users to choose “all aspects of the phone” – right from the hardware and applications, through to content.

Running on Google’s OS, it’s no surprise to learn that Tattoo’s applications can be installed, deleted and moved around at whim. However, buyers will also apparently be allowed to design unique covers for the handset - harking back to the days of Nokia’s Xpress-on covers.

Exactly how buyers can personalise the handset’s hardware remains a mystery. Are we to believe that HTC will allow you to swap out the phone’s 528MHz Qualcomm processor for a 628MHz chip?

Such swap-shop options seem unlikely, because HTC’s already announced the handset’s hardware features.

For example, Tattoo features a 2.8in display and connectivity support including 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and HSDPA 3G at 7.2Mb/s. The phone is equipped with on-board GPS and a digital compass – as seen on the iPhone 3GS.

HTC_Tattoo_02

The 3.2Mp camera's a little sub-par these days

Mobile photography fans could be disappointed by the Tattoo’s 3.2Mp camera, however. Images and media files – with the phone’s supported formats including WMA and MP3 – can be stored on Micro SD memory cards, HTC added.

One thing that can’t be changed is Tattoo’s physical size: 106 x 55 x 14mm.

HTC’s Tattoo smartphone will be available next month, with online retailer Expansys pricing the device up at £320 ($528/€366). ®

Latest Comments

@Nicholas

Except that operating systems could no longer be tweaked to match the hardware, at least not without needing to install a bunch of kernel patches after every update, which would make future software updates difficult at best.

0
0

A suggestion

What would be nice is that mobile phones could be configurable like PCs.

Want a good camera? That's £100.

Don't want the good camera, that's £25 less.

Want fast CPU, add £25, etc, etc

Wifi? Not really.

3G/unlimited internet - yes.

0
0

More from The Register

Android is a mess and needs sprucing up, admits chief
Can Google really fix it? It isn't in control any more
New Lumia 925: This, loyalists, is the BIG ONE you've waited for
Nokia veep drills high-end master plan for El Reg
Android device? Ooohhhh, you mean a Samsung phone
Koreans nabbed nearly all the Q1 profits – more even than Google
Review: HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook
All roads lead to Chrome?
Borked your iDevice? Pay EVEN MORE to have it fixed by Applecare
Or scream at their hapless techies on their forums
Euro PC shipments plummet into bottomless pit of DOOOOM
11th quarter of decline, 20pc drop on last year - Gartner
MIT takes battery-powered robot cheetah for a gallop
Biomimetic big cat needs no power cord, just a walker