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HTC's New Smartphone / UMPC / Huh? Is Finally Available

Today geeks of every stripe have access to the HTC Advantage smart device at certain retail locations across the U.S. This odd-ball piece of hardware is part PDA, part smartphone, part UMPC, and part weird. But what the heck, it looks like it just might be fun to use.

HTC pitches the Advantage as a laptop stand-in device. It imagines a scenario in which you're traveling for just a couple of days and need access to your email program, along with basic Office applications, but don't want to lug your laptop. "For us the Advantage is interesting because it is perfect for 2 or 3 days on the road," said Todd Achilles, VP of HTC. "It has VGA output to drive presentations, GPS, a hard drive, and media capabilities. But it is running Windows Mobile, so it is not replacing the laptop."

In case you're interested in the specs, here's a quick rundown. The Advantage is a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE smartphone that also has the HSDPA/UMTS flavor of 3G on board. If you're interested in getting it via T-Mobile or AT&T, don't bother. It is only sold unlocked and without a SIM card though Amazon.com and CompUSA (for $899). You'll have to add your own SIM after you purchase it. It has a 5-inch VGA touchscreen display, 8GB hard drive, 256MB ROM, 128MB RAM, miniSD Slot, and Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi.

But the thing you'll notice most about the Advantage is the unique slide-out keyboard. It is a thin tray that covers the Advantage's screen and can be removed. Once removed you can set up the Advantage so that it looks more like a traditional laptop, albeit, Lilliputian-sized. The keyboard is full QWERTY, but it looks like it would be pretty uncomfortable to type overly-long email messages.

Still, for enterprise users interested in the Franken-phone that it is, the Advantage offers several, er, advantages compared to other smartphones. The larger screen, generous on-board hard drive and multi-radio technology make it an enticing option.

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