As a purveyor of fine Windows phones and Android phones, HTC has been cranking out some great hardware and software lately. With great design and some refinements to TouchFLO 3D and Sense UI, 2009 has been a great design year for the Taiwanese OEM. We have been following the leaks of upcoming hardware that came out of the company earlier this year. How accurate were the leaks? What devices are released, and more importantly, what devices have yet to be released? Read on to find out!
The Topaz C is another hardware variant for the Topaz design (seen later in the list). The device was recently released with Windows Mobile 6.5 as the HTC Pure on AT&T in sleek, fingerprint-prone glossy black plastic.
The Iolite never made it to the States, but on other shores the device appears as the HTC Touch Cruise for navigation and smartphone use.
The HTC Rhodium is the reference design for the un-branded Touch Pro2, a Straight-Talk design that has spawned many variants for different carriers.
The Twin evolved to take on its name as the Dopod Tachi, which isn’t available in the US.
The Maple is a great device that uses a trackball and has a front-facing QWERTY keyboard without touchscreen. BlackBerry killer? See for yourself in our review of the HTC Snap.
We learned earlier that the Topaz C took on form as the HTC Pure on AT&T’s network. The Topaz is actually the Diamond2.
It looks like the original Topaz, or Diamond2, reference design was supposed to head to AT&T. Looks like America’s second largest carrier scrapped the Diamond2 design and went with the Topaz C design to arrive at the HTC Pure.
We’re still waiting on the Barium. This is a Touch Pro2 variant that is supposed to hit AT&T as the Tilt2, a name that makes sense given the tilting screen.
The Tungsten is another design for the Touch Pro2. This time, it appears on T-Mobile‘s 3G networks in the US clad in copper color.
The Tungsten W is a Touch Pro2 for Sprint in hybrid CDMA/GSM flavor.
Perhaps the cheapest Touch Pro2 variant on a US carrier is the Rhodium W, which evolved to become the Verizon Wireless Touch Pro2.
The Willow W is the Sprint version of the HTC Snap. In the US, this is called the Sprint Snap.
The Cedar W also evolved from the HTC Snap reference design. It became known as the Verizon Wireless Ozone.
This looks to be the HTC Touch Viva, which was a low-cost device meant to refresh the HTC Touch line.
The Firestone has been linked to the HTC Leo before, a device that has also been called the HTC PRO.Three. We later know the Leo as the HTC HD2, a device which luckily for Americans will also tread the cold Atlantic waters to come to American soils in the first quarter 2010.
If I haven’t said it enough before, the Whitestone is one of my favorite devices for 2009. Surprisingly, even with a user replaceable battery and removable battery cover, the device feels really, really solid like it has no removable parts. Amazing build quality, mobile TV antenna that serves as a kickstand, and large, responsive resistive touchscreen makes the Whitestone–released as the HTC Imagio on Verizon Wireless–my personal daily driver. The device may only be second to the Firestone with the latter’s capacitive touchscreen.
The Toth is heralded as the Athena successor, well dubbed the Athena 2. So far, no word on release.
I still haven’t seen anything mentioned about the Magnet, which also goes by Iolite II. This device, as far as I know, hasn’t been released.
This looks like a T-Mobile MyTouch 3G for other networks. Definitely Android. Perhaps this is the HTC Magic for Vodafone–a guess given the VF in the name.
The Sapphire 15 looks to be the wildly popular MyTouch 3G for T-Mobile.
Other than a sliding and non-tilting keyboard with curved edges, we haven’t heard any news of the Jasper. It looks like a non-tilting, curvaceous version of the Touch Pro2. This device has not been released yet.
