HTC Gets Shorty With HD Mini Smartphone

After Sony Ericsson and Nokia, it is the turn of HTC to launch the mini version of its flagship handset, the HD2 but then even the HD Mini is not as small as its name suggests, especially compared to the iPhone.

The HTC mini has a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen with a 320x480 pixels resolution, multi touch capability, proximity and light sensors, 512MB ROM, 384MB RAM, a 600Mhz Qualcomm processor, HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth and a microSD card slot.

There's a 5-megapixel camera with Autofocus but alas, no flash plus for some weird reasons, there are FOUR rather ugly-looking screws at the back which wrecks the design of the HTC Mini. When was the last time you saw screws at the back of your phone?

As expected it comes with Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and won't be upgradable to Windows Phone 7 when the latter is launched (ed : talk about rapid obsolescence!). That said, it is the first Windows Mobile phone to come with a capacitive screen - you won't need a stylus to navigate the menus.

No pricing yet and no release date although we expect the HD Mini to cost around £400 and be available before the end of June.